• PARTNER: PROTECT YOUR WATERS
  • Go To: THE FLIES OF YELLOWSTONE
  • Go To: YELLOWSTONE FISHING WEATHER
  • Go To: YELLOWSTONE FLY FISHING MAPS
  • Visit: Moldy Chum
  • Visit: The Horse's Mouth
  • Visit: Chi Wulff
  • Visit: Parks' Fly Shop
  • Monday, August 13, 2012

    GULPER HO !!!

    THE WEEDS ARE RIGHT
    It'll Only Get Better,
    cruel winds starting later

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    .. The heat hath it's blessings. One notable blessing is that the zephyrs of the high country have been starting well into the afternoon. Who knows how long this will last - BUT - for now it's a small compensation for the poor showing of afternoon rains.
    .. Hebgen Reservoir produces Callibaetis at a prodigious rate. The fish have figured out this simple meal. The fishers are, of course not too far behind.
    .. The lore and lure of gulper fishing is varied, contradictory, and profuse - seldom is it profound, often it is profane. It's a simple thing, really. Get an attractive fly in front of a slurping submarine and chances are they will take it.
    .. The lake has been like glass. Get on it early. On many mornings Tricos will also hatch early. Midges are still around. The Callibaetis can pop early this year so take your second cup of coffee with you - better yet, take your your breakfast and coffee, and lunch with you as you leave the door.
    .. Conventional wisdom dictates a Callibaetis cripple for the floating fly. Almost all patterns work some of the time: go for it. Long precise casts are part of the tradition. Stealth should be too.
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    .. Although there is a small "purist" tradition building over the last six or eight years, it hasn't reached the obnoxious level of some in the fly fishing world, yet:
    **Cast to only one fish.
    **Time it's nose appearances.
    **Lead it by five feet.
    **Cuss when it takes the natural right next to your perfectly presented, exquisitely tied, grotesquely expensive, designer fly.
    .. This ritual has a certain snob appeal befitting gurus, guides, feather merchants, and shop dogs. Enjoy the elite feeling and your new found ribald vocabulary.
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    .. The truth is quite a bit different. There are many fish in the same area. Fish change directions without telling anglers. There are millions of targets for the fish. There are hundreds, (nay, thousands,) for the fisher. It's really just a statistical game.
    .. Maybe, just maybe, your fly's number is up! So then, put an appropriate fly in the appropriate area and wait for the appropriate signal to lift.
    .. Fishers in tubes take "gulpers" while trolling submerged flies. Maybe they are slurpers and not really gulpers.
    .. The double fly rig is popular with our most successful neighbors. Hackle Stacker, Shop Vac, Challenged Callibaetis, Feather Duster, and even PMD's in the right size take fish with surprising regularity.
    .. Try a small hopper as a bobber and dangle a very light colored $3 dip about 18" behind it. Hell, even Bill's Pisser accounted for over two dozen fish yesterday morning before a giant sea monster ran off with his last one.
    .. What ever your predilection - now is the time. It will get better by the day for the next two - three weeks. Enjoy some of the easiest, (or most challenging: snob-wise,) fishing that the neighborhood has to offer.
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