Fishing For Spooks

CATCHING SURVIVES SUNSHINE

Madison & Firehole Working Well

visit the gibbon for fun
Wyoming To Ignore Rock Snot

..The sunshine has prompted thoughts of an extended Fall season in Yellowstone - so? There's only one week left and the glorious days have not hampered the catching at all. The crowds have diminished a bit, and the hatches are just excellent, instead of spectacular - so?
.. The Madison River is now in 'Full Fall Bloom,' and all of the usual places have fish, fishers, and watchers. From the park line to National Park Meadows there are fish from Hebgen Lake. The density of fish is less than in some years-past, but the declining numbers have not led to too many disappointed fishers.
.. The thin water has revealed some of the "local holes" along Riverside Drive, and the catching in this stretch has been excellent for those willing to observe the water and plan their approach. Small White Zonkers and Yellowstone Spruce Flies along with Woolly Buggers and large Soft Hackles have produced in this stretch. It's the time of year for the Halloween Leech: we tried it last year too.
.. The Firehole River is producing fish to 16" and it's almost easy if you read the river right. The water seems deep, but it's only about 80% of seasonal average flows, and running around 55 degrees - not perfect but damn near. The deeper runs and holes are holding the fish and they are holding tight. The hatches of Baetids around Biscuit Basin,the Iron Bridge, and Goose Lake have proved stronger than sunlight and we've fished the same double fly rig that we've used since the neighbors introduced us to it last week: a Baetis Cripple and a Baetis Emerger from Buzz's fly Shop.
.. The fish have become spooky during the last few days but it's still not "First Of July" spooky. Good numbers of fish are holding in the canyon section, and the riffles and runs on either side of Dipper Cliff have little parking that is safe along the roadside.
.. These quick sections are excellent places for a Soft Hackle in tandem with a Prince Nymph. Float the Soft Hackle, it'll take as many as the drowned fly even if there is no hatch. The foam lines are the key here. Don't leave the water too early because the Caddis, (bless their smoky little hearts,) are still a distinct possibility during this gentle weather.
.. Entertainment of the less crowded sort is still available on the Gibbon River. The thin water above Norris Campground is still full of eager little fish, (to 10".) The big meadows are rumored to have larger fish but the walk, and approach, and effort keeps us from verifying it. The meadows above Virginia Cascade have become popular on these gentle days and the riffles and deep, (relatively,) bends below Wolf Lake have an interesting assortment of bright fish.

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.. Over at Wired there is a page full of "Geeky Jack-O'-Lanterns." Not too bad an effort for a bunch of nerds - bless their triponometry.
.. The folks at Get Outdoors are hawking sewer water from Utah. Capitalism will out - we suppose.
.. And you thought that the grizzly bears on the Gibbon River were a problem - eh? well click on over to Flyfishmagizine to see what happens when the king of the jungle surrounds your hunting camp.
.. Fishing Jones caught a Snakehead - he also reminds us just what sort of louts we fly fishers are.

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.. The recent posts at Protect Your Waters have been very informative and insightful. It seems that Wyoming has decided on a course of inaction for the Rock Snot found in the Snake River just south of Yellowstone National Park - These are the same folks that want to slaughter all the wolves and the same folks that harbor Dick Cheney, who shoots his hunting partners. (By the way, the veep is on his way to the Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club for some Halloween shooting - Look Out Poughkeepsie!)
.. There is also a bit of the slime in Colorado. Two articles are shown for those that care.
.. Are native trout a nuisance or are they worth having?
.. Pythons in toilets in Brooklyn.
.. Why our next terrorist attack could come on six legs.

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.. From Slate: Breasts Like Martinis.