July 25, Yellowstone

Today I took Ellis and his father in law, Bruce, down to the lower river. The script played out just like the other day: the fishing was best in the afternoon even with soaring temperatures. Out of the gate Ellis landed a few smaller fish and by lunch he had four or five in the boat and one bigger fish. The nymph and streamer rig never really worked out.

The most disturbing part of the day was after lunch a boat with a couple of spin casters floated by and the one guy, yipping held up a stringer of six very large brown trout.

This should be a note for any angler or guide, catch and release or not, to always know the regulations on the section of river you float. The Regulations on the stretch I was on said that an angler can only have one trout over 21 inches and three under 12. These anglers were in serious breech of fishing laws. I did not know what the regulations were until after the trip since I'm all catch and release. Had I of know, I would have called the fish and game warden and told him to be at the take out to ticket the poachers. But instead, I was hesitant and they got away with taking out beautiful spawning sized trout. I'm still angry.

After lunch our fishing improved. After trying the nymphs a bit more I decided to switch us back up to dries. As I was changing Ellis's bugs I noticed a large bright green hopper floating by. I'd never actually seen a lime green hopper in the water. I had a few lime green Raney's Hoppers in my box. I never had any confidence in this color, but I wanted to match what I was seeing. I also trailed a size 10 black beetle. On a nice pocketed bank, Ellis laid a cast inches from the grass and after 10 feet of drift a rainbow exploded on the beetle. One of the best takes of the year so far. I hooted:"That's what were looking for and Ellis brought the fish in after a short fight. He went on to catch quite a few nice fish on both the beetle and the lime hopper. In fact at one point we had a double on big fish, but Bruce lost his in an athletic jump. This was perhaps the biggest fish of the day. Sure looked like a hog.

July 22, Yellowstone

Today I worked a three boat trip of women hosted by Felicia of Bella Treks. It was a very fun trip under sunny warm skies. Right out of the gate Felicia landed a few fish on droppers. Rena had a tough time setting the hook early, but by the afternoon had caught a few fish. The fish came alive late, which is weird since it was so hot. We had some magnificent hits on large stone fly and hopper patterns.

July 21, Yellowstone

What a tale of two days. Sometimes you just have to be a pro. And what a pro does is go right back in. We were a little bruised after a big fish day with little action, but we made the call to get back on the wagon and go look for some rising fish. It paid off in spades.

Wes caught six fish on the first bank and by the time we were an hour in we had cut off our droppers and finally went to single large dries. The cutties were rising well, and although we had to slow down on our hook set, we got it and started catching nice fish. I bet both Wes and Stanch were in double digits on trout before lunch. We did not catch any monsters, but had many respectable cutties and bows between 14 and 17 inches. Wes did seal the deal on the Yellowstone slam with a Brown late in the day. At the end of the day Wes said he never would have thought we would have such a great day, on dry flies none-the-less, after our chuck and duck experience the day before. But that's the Yellowstone for you.

July 20, Yellowstone

I don't know exactly what to say about to day except... it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. As you can see we caught some great fish, especially Stanch's brown and Wes's Bow, but we had long dry spells. The fish were not in the juicy looking seams that always produce fish. The river is still raging where we fished, but I could not figure out why it was fishing so poorly.

Just when we were about to give up, and most of the words coming out of my mouth were curses, the fishing turned on for about three hours. We almost had a double on big bows, something no one could predict that morning.

Wes had a few experiences that other anglers can learn from. It's funny, but I had just talked to Jim Saey about dominant hand wind versus western wind.

This is an age old debate as to which hand an angler should reel with. The classic style, brought from England and Scotland is to wind with your dominant hand. This is how I was taught by my grandfather and is commonly used by east coast anglers. Western Wind is to cast right handed and reel left handed.

My two Cents: Even though I learned English style when I moved to the west I switched to Western. I did this not just to fit in, it is more practical for trout. Why , oh why, would you want to change the rod from your right hand to your left hand in the middle of fighting a trout? It only leads to trouble as Wes found out.

We were in the sweet time of the day and strikes were coming more often when Wes hooked up on something big, probably a brown. The fish streaked off the bank and up stream closing in on his backing. In the midst of the battle Wes swapped the rod from the right hand to the left. Just as he did so, the fish turned and raced at him. He tried to get to his stripping finger to take the line in faster than is possible with a reel, but to no avail. The line went slack for a moment and that was all she wrote. The fish was gone. We had just talked about the inherent problems with dominant hand wind, and we saw them first hand.

I can see and have still used Dominant hand wind for large saltwater fish such as Tarpon because your hand can cramp from reeling for 20-30 minutes. It makes sense for long fights, but not for trout. In fact, I teach all new anglers to fight fish on the strip and to disregard their reel. Stripping in a trout is a fundamental as important as casting, mending and setting the hook.

Wes did get a consolation prize.

Stanch had a great fight on this brown. We were on a fast bank with a lot of dead fall. As we rounded an uprooted tree, Stanch threw just behind it and shortly there after hooked up on the brown. The fish jumped immediately and showed its size. It started to run to the bank looking for a snag to break us off in. Stanch pulled from one snag and it went toward another, We were barrelling down toward a tree stretching 25 feet out into the river. It looked like the fish might loose us under it, but Stanch made a great move and swept his rod under the tree and up the other side. After that we could move the fish out to the middle of the river and net it. It was a great move on a great fish. Notice how dark the fish was. In reality it looked black. It was also missing an eye from a tussle with another angler or with an osprey or Great Blue Heron. We must have fished him on his right side.

July 18, Yellowstone

Today I took Mike and Cathy from Helena. They had bought a trip I donated to Special Olympics Montana. We had a wonderful time on the river. Cathy is a new fly fisher, but was able to catch this nice rainbow and numerous others. We warmed up on whitefish and graduated to trout. Mike caught a bunch of trout. Not the hogs he has caught on the Missouri, but he had fun fishing a bushy dry close to the willow-lined bank. I've donated a trip to Montana S.O. every year since I began outfitting. I've always met nice people and am proud to donate to such a worthy cause. If the games come to your area, get involved.

July 17, Yellowstone

So Raluca wanted to go for a float today and I convinced her to do a little fishing. Might be her last day on the river for a while. She is 8 and 1/2 months pregnant. I now guide close to home within cell range. It is a bit confining, but I'll manage.


Photo's below are whay we are happy having a girl.

July 16, The B + the Yellowstone

I laughed a lot today. Mark and Mike, aka Buckwheat and Frank, fished with me for the day. I met Buckwheat a few years back from one of my all time favorites John K... and just like John they are both a handful. I met them for some pheasant hunting and had a great time getting to know Buck and his young Brittany Lucus.

We floated a small stream and pounded what John would call non dominant fish. This was quickly changed to the acronym NDFA with the a standing for asshole. Frank talked from the moment we shook hands to the moment I shut my car door to drive home. He had caught just one fish on his Montana swing while Buckwheat had caught em pretty good.

So when he had already landed two bows and a brown 100 yards from the put in, I could tell he was happy. Buck fished double dries with a large golden and a number of smaller flies trailing. Charlie at Sweetwater Fly Shop had suggested a rat faced mcdoogal parachute. I had not fished this pattern in a long time, but it quickly became one of my favorite and I'll tell you why: It's body is made of clipped dear hair (or antelope) and it floats like a cork. It is hard to find smaller flies that float well in quick water, and the boulder is quick. I'm adding this fly to my guide box.

As Frank pounded fish on his Golden dropper set up, we began to notice a pattern: the rainbows were all taking the nymphs while the browns were taking dries. Strange. The better fish were all caught on the surface in the B. Buck did take a pic of Franks nice brown on the dry. I hope he sends me a copy and I'll post it. It was a great fish which came out from under a log and took the size 4 golden as easy as can be. I bet between the two of them we must have landed at least 60 fish on the day. Not all of them were dominant fish, but most ate the dry.

When we reached the Yellowstone, I decided to put Buck on a rubber legs and some split to see how the rive was fishing. We were only on it for 300 yards and he caught these two browns. The first was about 16 inches and the second was a bruiser of just over 21 inches.

John will be jealous!

July 13, Yellowstone

Today Nate and I took a half day with four brand new fisherman. Although the river was up we were able to catch a bunch of fish underneath. Even though most were whitefish they got good practice and were able to tie into some trout.

In fact, Scott caught a beautiful cutthroat, a good sign. Many of Cutthroat are in tributaries spawning, but today showed me that at least a few cuts are back and ready to eat. With an early morning rain silting the river a bit, I still noticed a shape tucked under a tree close to the surface. After watching for a few moments it ate a fly. I decided what the heck, even though we were only 10 minutes into the first day of Scott's life with a fly rod we should give it a shot. I dropped anchor and tied on a size 10 parachute Adams.

I rowed back up to the tree and tried to get us in good position. On his first good cast, just as he was closing in on the fish, his son Chris made a defensive play and threw over top of his dad's line snagging it and causing it to drag. The fish turned away in the last moment. I thought We were through, but the fish just went on rising. It had tucked tight to the bank under the tree. Scott, a fireman from Ohio, showed determination and finally got the cast and mend. The fly floated drag free, and pretty as a picture, the fish rose and took the fly. Bam, good hook set and good fight.

Scott, who is a man of few words, said deadpan,"that was exciting."

Chris caught this Bow out of a foamy swirl. Again we had to let the bugs hunt and had five or six eats without any luck hooking up. But finally he hooked and landed the fish. Nate's boat caught some fish as well. When they were not catching fish Randy and Hank were catching everything else. Nate earned his pay today.

July 12, J Lake

We took a little drive and fished a lake north of Livingston. Jim said he was getting to the point where he didn't want to deal with the fast pace of rivers. As we approached the lake on the far side of a ranch, we could see a few fish rising. calebedis were coming off heavy. We rigged up and I shoved off with the boat. Jim was casting from shore and stuck this beauty that Mark is holding up on a hopper. A few moments later a fish exploded on the hopper Jean was fishing. We missed it, who knows how. It was the most explosive take I've seen.

After cruising the edges and Jim and Mark launching their boat it became clear that the fish were not going to eat dries consistently. After we ate a little lunch I started to work the puzzle. The fish I was seeing on the surface were breaching not eating, so I figures they were eating emerging nymphs, but which ones. I put on a damsel nymph and a large skinny pheasant tail. With one split shot I told Jean to cast and let her line sink. Then strip back very slow and steady. On the 5th cast we hooked up and landed a beauty.

Soon Mark was next to me. Although he was skeptical, he took a few of the skinny PT's and within two casts Jim was hooked up. For about two hours we hooked and landed many nice rainbows, breaking off a bunch in the weeds as well.

As thunderstorms began to appear on the horizon the proverbial calm before the storm produced some cruisers rising well enough to catch on dries. Jim went back to the shore and caught one a damsel dry and missed another. we missed one before Jean decided to pull the plug. Mark and Jim thrashed the water for another hour before secoming just before the rain started.

The icing on the cake of this day was Jim and Jean added 7 new birds to their trip list bringing the total for Montana this year up to 101. They were curlew, godwick, sharptailed grouse, eared grebe, prairie falcon... and I cant remember the rest.

July 11, The Yellowstone

Well Gene and Jim are back through on their return leg of the annual month of fishing.

The Yellowstone was tough today, unless you were looking for whitefish. We had to work hard for the trout that we got. we only had one significant trout: a Brown of 16 inches. We caught a few small rainbows, but it was tough. The angler had to be right on the strike and we missed many fish because of this.

July 9, The Yellowstone

July 6, The B

Floated the B today with good success, although not much dry fly activity. We didn't take any photos since the river was raging and I barely had time to net the fish before needing to get back to the sticks. We caught somewhere in the range of 30-40 trout most of then12-15 inches.

July 5, Missouri

Well, what do you say about this fish. Daniel caught him on a CDC spinner. There was a pod of nice fish that I did not think we could get close to. On the first cast he put it through the herd hopping for a hook up. I told him that it was like shooting at a flock instead of picking out one bird. He asked which one I would pick. I had been eyeing a dimpling fish tight on the grass. The harder the shot the better the fish I told him. He roped a 50 foot cast inches from the grass. As his leading dry straitened, threatening to drag his spinner out of place, the big boy ate two naturals , turned slightly and grabbed his spinner. The fish rolled once and powered out past the boat to sit in the middle of the river.

Even thought there was a language barrier, he knew what I was saying.

Don't rush him, I whispered in Daniel's ears. We slowly worked the fish to us. I had not had a good look at the Brut. As he lifted him to the surface, I caught a glimpse of the tail powering back to the bottom. I knew we had a great fish.

Daniel slowly worked the fish up to the surface and drug it to me. On the first attempt, the fish was in the net, but being so large, all he had to do was push his head out and he was out. My first thought was, Shit I just lost this toad. After a few tense moments and another run, the fish was coming back to a netting position. This time I presented a short net. This way the angler would bring the fish 6 inches closer and I could slide the net to the end of my hand and have plenty of room to net. It worked perfect and we were able to land this fish. Thus far it is the best fish in the net.

We caught a bunch of fish, all on dries.

July 4, 2004 DePuy's Spring Creek

Well I should have more Photos coming, but here are a few. I took a group of French Fisherman on the Creek and we had a blast. We worked for them, but it was fun. My favorite place to fish PMD's is near Eva's hut on the flat. It has perfect speed and a high bank to spot fish. Some days I really do feel like a Gillie.

Daniel fishing a nice run. He caught four out of here on a CDC caddis. As he was regaling the french named feather with natural oils, I gently quipped that only a Frenchman would look on the ass of a bird for a fly tying feather. He laughed.

Jean-Pierre is an old salt at this fly fishing game.What a guy.

Release him nicely.

July 3, Missouri

Another day of catching hogs with Jean. Check out this slab. This was the first fish of the day. The river was very busy, so I decided to row upstream of the put in at Wolf Creek. There were a few risers on the near back nestled in the rocks. Jean had a cast pile up, but after we straitened it out, it drifted toward a nice riser. The brown grabbed it and then swerved on the surface like a bone fish or a shark. Again, Jean a.k.a. Mrs. Big fish played it perfect and we followed the fish for 300 yards before getting it into the net and snapping these photos. We went on to catch a bunch more fish, but after this hog, none of them seemed picture worthy.

July 2, Missouri

Well Jean never ceases to amaze me. She may not be the best caster in the world, but she knows how to play big fish. This rainbow was no match for her. She caught plenty of fish on the mo, most on nymphs, but a few on dries.

July 1, Lower Madison

We had a fun trip on the Lower Madison with Francis, Pete and the gang. It was busy, and the fishing wasn't easy, but we were able to get a few and have a great time. Hello Ladies.
Always keep one eye pealed when eating an elk burger.

Chef Adams with my sweet new grill.

The Boyz.