FISH NOW

ENJOY RECORD CROWDS

Be Kind In Line

watch your elbows

ENJOY - CELEBRATE

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.. Don't rush. Early or late is best. Grab the first parking place you see. Cover lots of water. Fish with a buddy. Fishing is much more important than catching. Eat good grits in moderation. Imbibe sensibly.

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WALLPAPER: POACHED SHRIMP

Three For Right Now

MAKFLIES IS AT IT AGAIN

Use These Today

find the slow water

.. When the fisher folks just downstream from you are catching six to your one - try these. Nothing fancy. Not too small. Not hard to tie. Just good trout foolery!

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skittering midge

.. We finished grocery shopping early: before the visitors rolled out. Got it all in fridge and stashed for the week. Now, on to Notellum River for the early rising dance partners. We're taking the Skittering Midge for a short walk. Looks to be a warm and lazy day.
.. The neighbors snelled up a couple of dozen flies for us. The eyes went first, then the legs; now there are spots and shakes = glad to be alive! Have a happy Fourth of July🇺🇸.
.. The Yellowstone Park  'elbow brigade' was out in force yesterday. Lots of fancy gear and kit on the water. We wish them well.

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WALLPAPER:  Salsiccia Calabrese, Munster, Rye

Can It Be ?

FOUR FIVE CONQUERORS?

Woke For July 3 ?

exclusive or inclusive ?

A NATIVE AMERICAN SACRILEGE ?

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.. Some interesting facts:
1) Washington and Jefferson both held slaves,
2)  Lincoln, though he led the abolition of slavery, also approved the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Minnesota after a violent conflict with invading white settlers there,
3)  Roosevelt, a good Republican, is reported to have said, "I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are." He also said, "the most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian.” {LINK}
..  For many Native American people, including the Lakota, Cheyenne, Omaha, Arapaho, Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache, the monument is a desecration of the Black Hills, which they consider sacred. Lakota people know the area as Paha Sapa — "the heart of everything that is."
.. So, of course, our president a good Republican,  has scheduled a major event at the monument. We have had our head shaken by this juxtaposition of perceptions in this time of conflict, pandemic and, national unrest.
..  Unlikely as it is, many fly fishers, feather merchants, fishing web sites, and YouTube channels avoid comment on the reality of this moment in history; we are fully cognizant of the sociopolitical atmosphere surrounding us. It is troubling! We cannot avoid comment. Silence is not enough.
.. For this celebration of Independence Day, we're trapped in a little tourist town with 1/4 of the shops closed. Montana is not fully "open" yet. Entitled visitors from around the world are trouping through our village. There are very few face masks present. The grocery store aisles are full of normal appearing folks searching the empty shelves.
.. The surreal aspects of our daily existence are entirely missed by those entitled visitors = fly fishers included. We've lost our part time gig due to closures. We're free to observe from our car, porch, patio, and occasional forays into the grocery store, post office, hardware store and gas station = such an awakening. May this never happen again!

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CADDIS TO GO

.. Yesterday's mid-day thunder boomers brought some hail and cool rains to the neighborhood. The result was a brief respite from the warm weather and a moderate period of excellent evening catching.

.. The Firehole River will be fishable for the coming weekend. Catchable is another question. Temperature spikes to 70°F are already here. Early morning is best - very late evening is a fair bet as well. Stick with soft hackles in the shadows. Don't spend any effort with surface flies unless the critters are crawling in your ears. If so, they are probably caddis of one sort or another.

.. The Madison River has fared better this year. Catching has succumbed to the "Madison Holy Trinity" = caddis. PMD and, soft hackles. A dozen of each should endear you to the local counter help. Remember that surface flies may be drowned and still catch those pesky trout.

COACHMAN HACKLE

.. Early morning should find you parked in a wide dirt spot on the Gibbon River. Get there early and pound the riffles and dark slicks with large nymphs.
.. By noon time refugees from the other rivers will inundate the road and the parking spots. When it becomes elbow-crazy a small movement can continue your catching,
.. The meadows around the museum of the ranger and, upstream are full of brook trout and the occasional grayling. This is a good place to practice your stealth stalking skills. Just about any fly on  the surface will bring strikes. Good, long drifts, are best. Don't be too quick of wrist. The little fish often miss and come back for seconds.

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.. With a few neighbors and, no dogs, we're headed to a secluded bend on the Notellum River at the edge of the park boundary. A small fire just beyond the park line and a few steaks, (nearly a week's rent,) along with a cool one and great fellowship with young skeptics and old grouches should celebrate our independence.😎😎😎😎

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WALLPAPER:  CANNELLINI SOUP WITH BACON GARNISH

On This Day

NO MORE KINGS

No More Dictators

a constitutional republic

MAUREEN WISHES YOU A HAPPY FOURTH

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.. Grab this day by the throat and wring every little bit of joy from it.
.. We are still an exceptional nation. We trend variously at various times. We face crises and trial with a distinct style. God bless most of us.
.. The popular saying "CARPE DIEM" only gives us a bit of the original phrase:

". . . carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero."  from HORACE . . . Odes.

FLY DU JOUR

.. The loose translation is something like: ". . . Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow . . ." (i.e. tempus fugit.")
.. Waste not - want not, a stitch in time, if not now - then when, gather ye rosebuds while ye may: got it!
.. We wrote this yesterday and are presently down the road to the best picnic and fish catching meadow on the Notellum Creek. Hope you are too.

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WALLPAPER:  START HERE

WALLPAPER:  FINISH HERE

Your Aerobic 4th

VERY EAGER FISH

Thin Cold Water

patience is rewarded

WHERE THE NEIGHBORS FISH

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.. So, with a mid week FOURTH OF JULY the bookend weekends are very busy.
.. Yellowstone National Park is on pace for another record year and the fisher folk are thick as remoras on a nurse shark.

JOIN THIS LINE

.. Lines for the one lane park entrance through our village extend for a mile or more.
.. Waiting time can exceed an hour or more. It's like a buffalo jam but worse.
.. There is no need to expound upon the catching conditions for the popular crowded jam packed bits of our west side rivers.

ENTRANCE STATION OUT OF SIGHT

.. Recently the Firehole River has been blessed with cool weather and cool rains.
.. Little bugs are regular and predictable. Caddis and white millers are plentiful.
.. The counter help at the feather merchants are up to speed and can provide you with decent, (if slightly dated,) information. Use them and enjoy the camaraderie of the dusty aisles.
.. The same is true of the Madison River. If you can find a safe parking place  - - - go for it and, join the throngs. We welcome you to our village and the rivers on this side of the park.
.. Even the poisoned Gibbon River has some fish in it below Virginia Cascades. There is even a pod of Grayling in the campground meadows.

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.. For those of you willing to forego the elbow display and parade of mobile condominiums, there is a lovely little, (and sadly unloved,) stream that is far from the maddening crowds. It's name is Fan Creek.

FAN CREEK:  VIEW TO THE ROAD

.. This little creek has profited from the cooler weather and the sporadic rains. It is running clear and cold. There were even some spent spawners still in the deep holes yesterday.
.. It's not easy fishing and fails to attract the visitor because it requires stealth, patience, observation, and a modicum of water savvy.
.. Most of the best places are guarded by thick willows with no pounded down trails. Occasionally there are moose in the willows. Even the bears are a bit shy of entering where moose may be.

FAN CREEK:  VIEW OF THE CREEK

.. Should you choose to follow the trail from the parking lot to the creek you will bypass a few hundred yards of deep holes, good holding water, thin riffles and, many eager fish.
.. There are fish under every bank. Many are very small. All are eager eaters. This is a creek that allows you to use your winter rejected flies with impunity. With a bit of stealth you may even be able to cast to a 12" monster on the surface.

WIDE SPOT - -  WAY UP HIGH

.. By the time you get to the thick willow meadows by the current and previous beaver ponds you will find the creek hidden from view.
.. The meander bends are deeper than expected in this stretch.
.. Depending on where the sun is; those fish could be or, not be where they are expected.
.. Should you choose to sample only the bottom reaches it is possible to access the Gallatin River at the bridge and fish up to the confluence with Fan Creek.

CONFLUENCE: FAN & GALLATIN

.. The bridge pool, (both sides of the road,) can hold fish in the shade and the dark pockets between the boulder riffles. The riffle and run stretch along the steep headland is very productive nymph water for big bugs and, yellow ones as well.
.. The green growth this year is nearly blinding. This has been a Springtime for growing. Willows, grasses and sedges, are crowding each other and look like one big plant throughout the meadows.

FOR A WET YEAR

.. Wet years produce a fine crop of mosquitoes. If you tie 'em, use em.  This is the perfect time and place.
.. We anticipate a good hopper hatch in about six weeks. The beetles are already showing themselves along the elk trails and crumbled bank.
.. The best part of this little creek is that you can spend the first half of the day fishing up the stream and then fish back down in the afternoon or evening.
.. You can fish the same spots and even catch the same fish - if your stealth skills are good and you have some small binoculars and a bit of patience.

GET IT !

.. There are other small waters throughout Yellowstone National Park. They are less fished. They are not for the headhunter or glory water fans.
.. They all have fish and, right now, the catching is as good as it has been in the last five years - - maybe more.
.. Explore some and catch many.  Have a great Fourth Of July and don't forget the bear spray!

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BILLIE'S SPIDER

.. Morning is still coming after daylight. We'll manage. And, fools that we are; we're headed back out into the fray. The wind is up and we have a 10' four weight with a spider that ought to fool a few fish into a mid day dance.
.. Yep! Bright sun and spiders dancing near an undercut bank. It's an old fishers' trick.

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WALLPAPER:   BISTEC a la MEXICANA

In Celebration

INDEPENDENCE DAY

We Forget Thomas Paine

but, fireworks are grand

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.. History gets revised constantly. A few folks actually did sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Most signed a few weeks later.

THOMAS PAINE

.. We're told that "Americans" all wanted to be free of the stifling control of the English Monarchy.
.. In fact, Thomas Paine wrote a convincing pamphlet that was widely distributed to convince the majority of colonial residents that the scattered battles of 1775 were  truly skirmishes for independence.
..When the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered radical.
.. By the middle of the following year, (1776,) however, many more colonists had come to favor independence, thanks to growing hostility against Britain and the spread of revolutionary sentiments such as those expressed by Thomas Paine’s bestselling pamphlet “Common Sense."

Lee Resolution

.. The legal separation from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776 when the  second continental congress voted to approve the "Lee Resolution" of independence.
..  This resolution was a truly revolutionary bit of legislation. It was introduced by Richard Henry Lee, (lost to the popular mind,) who was instructed to introduce the resolution for a vote by the president of the Virginia Convention Edmond Pendelton, (who?)
.. This is the revolutionary legislative birth of the eventual declaration. The Lee Resolution was passed on July 2, 1776. It was voted on and passed by 12 colonies. New York abstained from the vote. The tally is shown below the original hand written resolution.

John Adams

.. The congress debated about the wording of the declaration for two days.
.. John Adams was convinced that July 2 would be the day that history would remember. He wrote to his wife:

"..The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.."

..  The holiday was not a federal holiday until 1870 when congress made the fourth of July an unpaid holiday for government workers. In 1938 congress changed Independence Day to a paid Federal Holiday.

West Yellowstone Celebration

.. The American citizenry, however has from the beginning celebrated with fireworks, parades, bands, and leisure on the Fourth of July because that is the date on the declared independence document. My my.
.. The Lee Resolution that declared independence was adopted, (12 to 1,) and it's testament has become known as "The Declaration Of Independence."
.. It is in fact the statement of independence born out of the Lee Resolution. Nit picking indeed, but revisionist history.
.. We celebrate both days. It gives much pleasure to our soul and we remember good ol' Tom Paine who provided the rationale that both the citizens and the congress used in adopting the Lee Resolution and subsequent declaration.
.. Now then, on with the fireworks and revelry and some great food. We are now free to gorge ourselves. Fishing be damned - for today only.

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WALLPAPER:  BISTEC ALA MEXICANA

Not Much Sleep

NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS

Revelry Until Dawn

firehole river tops 80° F

WALLPAPER: THE CELEBRATION IN WEST YELLOWSTONE

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.. With a suspension of the local ordinance against fireworks our village enjoys a raucous 4th of July every year. This year has been no different. Fishing and catching have been suspended for 48 hours.

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.. We would suggest that the poor lip-stuck fish of the Firehole River be left in peace. They will be par boiled if you should bother to stick one. If you must fish this river, fish above the cascades for willing Brook Trout in cold water along a gentle and scenic path .

.. The Madison River is going great guns in the catching department. It is, however beginning to warm a bit and good water skills are necessary to find the fish - they are still very hungry and seeking dance partners all day. Justr present them with the appropriate invitation and you should be able to fill your dance card.
.. We're going to investigate the rumors that Nez Perce Creek is fishing like the old days. Whatever that means.

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RAINIER CHERRIES, SPONGE CAKE, WHIPPED CREAM, CHOCOLATE-ALMOND FUDGE

Brave Souls

STRIDING INTO THE MAW

Hot: With Elbows And Ring Tones

few folks will catch a fish or two

WALLPAPER:  THE FIREHOLE FOURTH

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.. Come Friday the intrepid fishers of the fly will descend with clanking gear to the edge of the Firehole River - no matter what. There they will find many others of the same mindset.

.. They will also find some bathing beauties of all sizes, shapes, colors, and languages. They will whine and cry and bemoan the fact that normal people are in "their water."
.. It will be the Fourth of July: the very day that most Americans consider a grand time of fun and frivolity, a celebration of independence.
.. There will be very little frivolity in the countenance of the fishers. They will be serious about gathering stories about the fabled fishing on the the fabled river.

.. They will have traveled leagues and leagues from their comfortable abodes. They will have braved the turmoil of long waits for bison, elk, ground squirrels, and parking spots. They will have searched for a small bit of open water. Water where neither their backcast nor their forecast will tangle the line of another fisher.
.. They will be either happy, frustrated, determined, or exasperated at the crowded conditions of the supposed wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. Of course there is some semblance of wilderness in Yellowstone National Park. It's just not along the circus parade routes that parallel the west side rivers.
.. As the holiday falls on a Friday, this will be an extraordinarily long weekend. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday are all off days. The careful will have planned for a travel day or two and, presto; it's here now.
.. Starting tomorrow, on many other rivers, there will be lonely fish with no dance partners. They will have been neglected for the fish in the glory waters. We're going to help them feel less neglected. We're going to sneak to a few places that will have parking spaces.

.. Those places may have an old pickup truck with local plates. They will be on dusty gravel roads that discourage shiny sedans and new SUV's. They will require a gentle walk along a poorly trodden trail. We may even fish where we cannot see our car.
.. A quick telephone call to a local feather merchant could put visitors in touch with angry and eagar fish away from the crowds. Ask a few cogent questions and you will have a wonderful holiday fishing experience away from the maddening crowds. Ask where the crowds won't be. Ask where the fish are willing and eagar. Ask the person you are talking to when they last fished where they are recommending that you fish.

.. A couple of years ago we posted some hints about what could be attractive places to tickle a fish and not get tangled up in another fishers tailing loop. Those posts are still pretty accurate and can be scanned RIGHT HERE or EVEN HERE.
.. We're headed down a long road to a little canyon in the northeast of the park. The road is terrible. The fish are small. The bears are still prowling and the water is crystal clear, cool, swift, and full of hungry fish. A few of the neighbors know the water where we're headed. The counter help at our feather merchant emporia probably haven't heard of it.

.. What ever your choice for fishing be sure to pause several times and rejoice in the freedom to make the wrong choice. Rejoice in the freedom to elect wing nuts to public office. Rejoice in the freedom to burden your offspring with enormous debt. And certainly, rejoice in the situation that allows you to fish with companions, elbow to elbow, in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park.
.. We will be rejoicing in the ability to burn some flesh, sip a beverage of our choice, tell lies to the neighbors, and giggle about the fish caught out of sight of the road with no ring tones or elbows to avoid.

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WALLPAPER: CHARRED, PINK, AND FORK TENDER RIB EYE

Brief Respite

EXTENDED BLESSING

It's About To End

here comes the fourth - already

WALLPAPER:  DESTINATION OJO CALIENTE

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 .. The rivers on the west side of Yellowstone National Park are still running above seasonal discharge rates.
.. The fish are frisky, willing, and plentiful. Gentle winters seem to have been good for recruitment.
.. After last week's water temperature spikes to 76° F on the Firehole River we've seen some welcome clouds, cool air temperatures, cold rains and a flurry or two over the last few days. Temperatures on the Firehole River have plunged to a cool 60°F at night and the diurnal marks have held near 68°. It's been good.

SWEEPER ON THE OTHER FIREHOLE

.. There have been occasional good hatches clouds of PMD's bringing reminiscences of days of yore.
.. The caddis have even bothered to emerge during bright overcast drizzles and it's possible to fish the river all day.
.. The bugs have been regular and mostly predictable and, for a change, the seasonal hatch charts can be relied upon to guide the visiting fisher.
.. The Madison River is providing extended catching opportunities for the streamer fisher. Both BWO's and PMD's have hit there stride and the soft hackle is still holding on strong. There have been a few nice caddis hatches around 9-mile Hole and at the park line.

.. The Gibbon River has settled down and is providing great fun in the lower canyon sections and, not too surprisingly, in the riffles below the falls. The little meadows above Norris Campground still have some nice fish and even Da Chutes along the upper canyon have some nice fish. This is all picturesque water with friendly and not too particular fish.
 .. We've heard rumors that the big meadows, (Gibbon and Elk,) of the Gibbon River are showing some enormous noses in the twilight. Should you venture into the meadows where the banks are undercut and the monsters sip daintily please fish with a buddy and carry some bear spray.

.. Just a pertinent side note: bear populations are up and the grass is still green and tender.
 .. There are also reports of some monsters in the quicksand and bramble section of the river to the north side of Norris Geyser Basin. Few fishers enter this area and the access can be precarious. Most fishers stop where the meadow ends just a little way below Norris Campground - however, the catching is very good in the mucky and stinky stretch at the moment.

.. The near term weather forecast holds for a return to seasonal temperatures. This means that any day now the Firehole River will become an evening and morning fishery as both air and water temperatures begin their Summer climb..
.. The Madison River should hold on for a couple of weeks more for the spinner fall and caddis hatches.
.. Big surface poppers about nightfall are already producing grabs in the snags and sweepers of the broad slicks below 7-Mile Bridge.
.. Look for all of the parking spots to fill up with visiting park and catch fishers as we approach the long  4th of July weekend.
.. We won't worry much about that.

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WALLPAPER: PATRIOTIC VISITOR AT MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS