A Little Snow

A LOT OF WIND

A Touch Of Green

IT'S NOT ALL BROWN YET

WALLPAPER

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The Good Life

Prancing Horse Fly Fisher

Visits West Yellowstone

MONSTER IMAGE FOR WALLPAPER

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A Caddis Afternoon

WALLPAPER

There's Fun Here

MADISON RIVER WALLPAPER

Pick A Fly - Any Fly

WALLPAPERS

 

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Pinhole Fly

FLANGE FOCAL DISTANCE:  44mm

Subject Distance: 1 inch
[brief report]

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.. Not art, not clear and sharp, but we like the novelty of it all.
.. Got another 4" of wet snow last night.
.. Snow pack is now 120% of historical snow water content.
.. Gloomy weather leads to indoor entertainment.
.. The whole damn house is getting documented with pinhole photography. We'll not bore you with details. This shot makes pretty good wallpaper.

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.. Midges and giant streamers sighted in the environs of Craig, Montana. Get thee to the "Mighty MO."
.. Lower Gallatin River Canyon heating up like wildfire. No stonies reported but the fish are taking giant subsurface offerings.
.. The Madison River in the lowlands, where open, is seeing the first of the mayflies and squadrons of snow flies are permeating fisher folk's orifices. Might be a good time to visit.

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Bare Pavement

CITY CREWS SUCCESSFUL

Bottom Found

wallpaper

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.. We have glimmerings of impending Spring. The temperature hit 40° F, and the sun was readily apparent in the broken cloud cover. Things are looking up.

Winter Sun

Winter In West

DEEP IS DEEP

A Winter Wallpaper

(1600 x 1192)
click on image for large size

Took Camera For A Walk

Five And Counting

JUST PLAIN FUN

Slow Start

just friendly news

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.. We started this blog about five years ago to let our friends and visitors know what was happening during the open water fishing season in the neighborhood.
.. It seemed easier than constantly answering the annual flood of email that started in April and continued through November.
.. As is often the case, we were wrong. It takes about the same amount of time. But, it's a bit more fun.
.. As a woefully inept computer jockey, we've come to appreciate the fancy blogs with many pages and glorious illustrations. We are awestruck by the daily posts of so many intrepid fly fishers and bloggers. We salute all of you.
.. We've made a few friends along the way and noticed that our annual visitation is now about what Tom Chandler, at the Trout Underground, gets in a day, (about 130,000.)
.. We've learned how to read statistical charts about visits vs. unique visits, (though we don't often do it,) and we discovered which other sites refer to this site with a link.
.. There's even statistics about what pictures were downloaded and how often - my my. You may or may not be surprised by the images that appeal to our readers. They certainly are diverse.
.. Some sites, "out there" were grabbing our posts and re-posting them with no acknowledgment. We wonder why?

.. Pete over at Fishing Jones along with the good folks at Chi Wulff came to our aid and helped us figure out how to foil that sort of thing.
.. Pete has gone through several site hosts and page layouts, (seems to be the norm,) and the folks at Chi Wulff have left the neighborhood but not the planet. We miss their detailed and insightful musings about our neighborhood fishing.
.. One thing seems apparent, Blogs are becoming "in vogue," and "de rigueur." in the fishing world. Manufacturers, feather merchants, guides, magazines, fancy fishers and just plain fishers are getting in on the act.
.. Thanks are in order. Thanks for reading. Thanks for blogging. Thanks for visiting. Thanks for helping.
.. We've learned about videos and posting them, cameras and how to abuse them, multiple page sites, (ours are separate pages,) and many other things that are entirely useless but gently enjoyable time-wasters.
.. We plan to keep it up. As we said, it's fun - and not too hard on the ego. After all, who really wants to know what happened yesterday? Who really wants to know about ice fishing with flies? We would have never guessed!  Thanks again.

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Stuff & Such

Winter Wallpaper #2010-x

THE "BOMBS" ARE RUNNING

 

(1600 x 1314- big)

A Day To Remember

SOFT WINDS: FLUFFY CLOUDS

Pretty Pictures

many fish

(mostly enormous images - click for high resolution.)

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.. It was a fitting end to this year's season in Yellowstone National Park. Elbows have returned in throngs as fishing and catching reached a mighty crescendo on the final full day of our fishing access.

.. The water has remained very low, cold, and quiet: the fish bunched up like cord wood in the few available parking places. The bugs have filled the air with the silent fluttering of diminutive wings.
.. Gawking at the beautiful day replaced lunch for many fishers on the final day of dancing.
.. On occasion the winds were crisp with of a hint of moisture from the peaks surrounding the plateau. They were not so strong as to disrupt the perfect placement of cast flies.
.. The Firehole River addicts were traipsing through the cold deep runs and risking erect nipples in their efforts to kick a few fish loose.
.. The "FIREHOLE FANDANGO," (practiced by some neighbors and visitors alike,) is similar to the 'SAN JUAN SHUFFLE.' It's a herky-jerky triple-metre jog dance: step - scuff bottom, step - roll rocks, step - twist feet; repeat.
.. About 35 feet of fly line is followed through each run. The offering at it's end is anything that the capricious angler desires. Tripping and falling in this river is not usually fatal. The fish however, sometimes die of laughter.
.. Fisher folks on the Madison River had a chance to practice both their casting techniques and their social skills as the famous runs drew too many cars and too many elbows.
.. Quite a few of the neighbors have discovered new depths and hides that resulted from the heavy early runoff. They have taken an obscene number of fish that the feather merchants haven't heard about. Oh well.
.. The arrival of real fall weather late in the day did not seem to dampen any spirits. Stories in pubs ran longer than the fish that they depicted and were way more colorful - and that's saying a lot.

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.. This has been a memorable season in Yellowstone. Old farts and newbies alike have commented on the gentility of the waters and the density of fish.
.. The early runoff, (record setting on some rivers,) moved the gravel, and moved the holes. The rejuvenated river beds should be healthy for quite some time.
.. The bugs were prolific as ever, but not as predictable as the feather merchants would have it. This situation obtained throughout the season and added some spice to fly selection as well as some unique marketing techniques for newly hired clerks in the feather emporia.

.. Guides did well, of course. They carry every fly known to man and can re-tie a rig with lightning speed. Hatch matching and contrarian techniques are their bread and butter. They are good at it.
.. Bears, bison, cantankerous elk, and wolves haunted the meadows of our favorite creeks. Some closures lasted longer than we have been used to. The upper Gibbon River and Nez Perce Creek closures put a kink in our seasonal habits. Change is frowned upon by our very epitome. We did survive.

.. Even Norris Campground was closed for marauding bears. The berry crop has failed this season and the Whitebark Pines have dropped very few nuts - the bears have stayed down low to forage in the meadows and in town.
.. A couple of bears up on the Gallatin River never left the valley floor. The same situation was found in the willow bottoms of Duck Creek and Cougar Creek. Not the kind of occurrence to encourage exploration of new territory in either case.
.. All during the year there were very few days that were too hot, and there were even fewer that were too cold.
.. This Autumn has been the stuff of calendar pictures and mild temperatures. We're still waiting for mom's payback. It could be brutal but maybe not too deep - we'll see. The evening's snow sprinkle is just a taste.
.. The images below summarize the final day. all are big enough for wallpaper - should you choose.

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Our Favorite Stream