Reflections of Summer

Summer is officially over, for the first time since last winter I froze my ass off while out fishing.  It wasn't extremely cold but I was still in summer mode and did not dress as warmly as I should have.  The fishing was good, but I am already missing those golden days of summer.  As I stood in the rapidly cooling water, with melting snow slowly dripping down my neck, thoughts drifted back to warm sunlit days on the Madison River.

Three Dollar Bridge can get a little crowded (by Montana standards, not New Jersey) on a July afternoon but the fishing can be remarkably good.  I will usually walk a distance from the parking areas before fishing, but on this day I just walked to the river bank and started fishing my way upstream.  No doubt, fishing in the footsteps of many anglers who proceeded me.  It did not seem to make a difference though.  The fish came very regularly to small nymphs drifted through likely looking lies.

Some big...

Some small...

But they were plentiful and in a 100 yards of river I bagged a dozen or more fish under a blazing mid day sun. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.  But there were signs that this section of river is maybe seeing too much angling activity.  More than once I observed fish that should signs of being hooked a few times. Then I caught this emancipated looking fellow.

More snake than trout, not a very healthy looking fish, I doubt it survived the summer.  This was the only day we fished that section of river.  After that we looked for water off the beaten track to give these fish a break.  More anglers should do the same.  The Madison is a big river with fish everywhere.  It still amazes me how many people (myself included) flock to this particular place, and how good the fishing could be inspite of it all.

Grayling In the lower 48

Grayling are a species of fish that have always intrigued me.  Usually associated with the far north and Europe, they are an exotic fish for a fellow that hails from New Jersey.  On our recent trip to Yellowstone Country we had an opportunity to fish for grayling in the park.

Grebe Lake has a healthy population of both grayling and rainbow trout.  The lake is an easy 3 mile walk from the road, the trail is as about as flat as they come for that part of the world.  Roughly three quarters of the shoreline is fishable, the rest of it is a tangle of deadfall from the big fire.  The lake once served as a hatchery for the park in the early days but any traces of that operation are long gone.  If you make the trek you will be rewarded with fine fishing in a wilderness setting. There are a couple of primitive campsites on the lake as well, if a overnight stay interests you, The walk is easy enough to consider packing in a float tube. Just be sure to check with the park on regulations concerning camping and watercraft.

My trips to this water usually occur in mid July and on every trip I have been blessed with blizzard like damsel fly hatches.  This year was no exception.  As a bonus, the fish showed no preference between the nymph or the adult fly.  Top water or down low, it was all up to the fisherman to decide!  Last trip out the adult damsels were a subtle olive color and this year they were a brilliant blue.

For nymphs a basic olive damsel pattern would work as good as anything else.

The highlight of the day however, is when we switched over to tenkara gear to take these fish.  Fishing with a tenkara rod proved much more effective and a hell of a lot more fun on these chunky, little fish.

Even a ten inch grayling would give you a run for your money, as the bend in my buddy Rick's rod clearly demonstrates.  Grebe Lake is a place I find myself coming back to year after year.  Its not a place your going to catch a wall hanger, but you will certainly experience quality fishing!

Brookies and Bears

During my recent trip to the Yellowstone area we spent an afternoon on a small, off the beaten track, piece of water. A short hike, of a few miles, rewarded us with a day of great dry fly fishing. This particular stream was loaded with brook trout. Every piece of holding water held one or more fish. In reality, it did matter where you cast as the fish seemed to be everywhere! The numbers added up quickly, as we worked our way up stream casting flies to fishy looking water.

I started fished with conventional fly gear but quickly switched over to Tenkara as the water was perfectly suited for it. Once I changed over to Tenkara the fish came even quicker. Tenkara is THE PERFECT technique for fishing dry flies on small waters.

Fly selection was simple, a deer hair bee pattern was the only fly needed on that day. These little brook trout were not selective, which was a nice change of pace from the maddening, match the hatch scenario on the Henry's Fork the night before.

The fish were small but they were numerous. Most were little hand sized brook trout with a few 11 or 12 inch fish in the better water. I had a refusal from a 14" fish late in the day. That fish would have been a trophy for this water.

As we were packing up for the hike out we encountered a young grizzly. Things became tense for a few moments when instead of fleeing he rapidly closed the distance between us to about 25-30 yards. He then paced back an forth a few times before finally circling off to our right and slipping out of sight over a hill. I managed to get a few crappy photos. Manipulating a small point and shoot camera and bear spray simultaneously with two shaking hands is no easy task!

Unfortunately, when the bear finally left us, he left in the direction of the trail home. When I zoomed in to take this last picture of the bear disappearing over the hill, I hoped it would be the last we saw if him...it wasn't. We crossed paths with him two more times on the way home, luckily he had no interest in us during those encounters.

Brookies and bears in the backcountry! A wild experience in the place these magnificent creatures, both large and small, call home!

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Location:Yellowstone National Park

Back to the grind...

I'm back in New Jersey after two weeks in paradise.  The Montana trip was fantastic and I look forward to sharing the details over the next few weeks through these posts.  Now its time to unpack the bags, wash some very dirty laundry and start planning the next trip out west.

Rumors...

Once we finally arrived in the West Yellowstone area and got settled in, we checked around to see what's been happening on the local rivers. Rumor has it that the big bugs are still around. All the high-water this year has postponed/prolonged the Salmon Fly hatch. Folks are saying that the bugs are still around and fish have been getting stupid over them. I have hit this hatch a few times but usually miss it because of the time if year I come out. Keeping my fingers crossed...




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:West Yellowstone,United States

Packing for Montana

It won't be long now.  I am starting to get the gear together for two weeks in the West Yellowstone area.  The annual pilgrimage is less than a week away.  I am tying flies during every spare moment I have trying to get the fly boxes in shape, but I think I am going to come up short as usual.  Rod and reel selections need to be finalized, waders and boots need to be washed, and clothing has to be pared down to the absolute minimum to make room for more fishing gear.

This basically means I need to empty the back of the truck into a rolling duffle.  N o easy task!  As usual, I will pack to much, forget something important and I'll fish with the same six flies the whole trip.  It happens every year!

Slough Creek

Yellowstone's Slough Creek is one of my favorite rivers to fish in the park.   Instead of making the trek up to the meadows above the campground we fished the area below the campground because we were short on time due to a late start and the travel delays caused by the road construction in the park. Wildlife is always abundant in the area and this year was no exception.  As soon as we got out of the vehicle we were treated to the sounds of wolves.  Not your traditional wolf sounds though, this fellow we heard was definitely out of sorts.

As I made my way down stream I started coming across some very fresh tracks in the sand and gravel on the banks of the stream.  I saw fresh wolf tracks that were probably made from the fellow we heard carrying on.

Mixed in and at times on top of the wolf tracks were even fresher grizzly tracks, but unfortunately my pics of the bear tracks did not come out (I apparently had the camera in macro mode).  The reason for all the activity soon became apparent.

This cow elk had been taken down in the river most likely by wolves.  Even though the carcass looks picked over it was very fresh.  There were still large unidentifiable pieces bobbing in the shallows nearby.

From the tracks on my side of the river it looks like the bear may have chased the wolves off the kill.  That was the probably the reason for all of the complaining we heard.  Luckily the bruin caught wind of us and beat feet before we got there.  I have to say stumbling across a sight like this certainly keeps you alert and on your toes.  Keep the bear spray in reach, and fish on!

All of the fish I caught were this size, nothing to right home about but there was enough of them to keep things interesting. Every fish eagerly took a sunken amber ant on the swing.  As the day turned to evening we discovered an interesting calling card left on our vehicle in the parking lot.

Yellowstone can be a pretty amazing place.

Death of a Fishery

Even though the cutthroat fishing on the Yellowstone River is a shell of its former self due to the lake trout infestation, there were still fish to be had on my last visit to the area.  This year a trip to Buffalo Ford was a bust.  Not a fish to be seen.  The fishery has been severely declining over the years but there was always at least one shot a good fish.  Not this year...

Buffalo Ford

On my previous trip the nearby LeHardy Rapids still held some cuts.  This video shows the fish holding in the "quiet" water near shore, resting for a few minutes before they continued their journey.



It is quite disheartening when you realize that this fishery, that existed for eons, is likely gone forever.

Montana Traffic Jam

Hailing from the east coast I am no stranger to congested roadways.  But an early morning traffic jam was the last thing I expected to experience in the wilds of Montana.  I guess commuters are the same everywhere!

Big Bugs

One of the things I love about Montana is that there are still waters where you can cast big flies to fish and not send them scurrying off to cover.  I guess one reason is the fish are used to seeing big insects.  The most famous being the salmon fly.

Although we missed the salmon fly hatch year there were still plenty of big bugs around for the taking.  Big bugs are not limited to the dry fly fisherman.  Nymphal forms of these insects are an even more popular food form for these fish.

    

                                                    Yes, there are two hands holding up these salmon fly nymphs

As I mentioned, the salmon flies were gone, except for a few wayward adults flying about.  However, there was another hatch coming off that was just as good.  Stone flies and big ones at that...

But the stone fly family does not have the market cornered when it comes to big bugs.  There were plenty of hoppers around to keep the fish fat and happy as well.  Hell, even the caddis flies are on steroids out there!

Now, if only the fish that ate these bugs were as big...

Iris Caddis

This fly is the bomb!  I was told that the fly was originally developed by Blue Ribbon Flies as a mayfly emerger but it was soon was adopted to fish during caddis hatches.  The most prominent hatching insect during our trip to Montana was caddis flies and this fly cleaned up when ever caddis were on the water.  It proved itself to be a very versatile fly. We fished it up stream and down on a dead drift.  We swung them like wet flies.  We fished them greased up, floating high and dry and fished them soggy and wet under the surface.  Dead drifting or twitching, once you figured out how the fish were feeding it was like taking candy from a baby!

Recipe:
Hook:  Size 15 TMC 102Y (great hook but good luck finding them)
Thread:  Grey or white
Body:  Hares ear zelon mix
Tail (shuck):  Amber crinkled zelon
Wing:  White straight zelon

The fish simply ate this fly, it was a very consistent producer for us on fish both large and small.

Montana 2010

I just returned from a trip from Montana.  I spent ten days fishing in the West Yellowstone area.  The trip out there was torture, the fishing was a little tougher than usual but the weather was perfect.  Over the next few days I'll share some of the details of my trip.  Overall it was a great trip.