Rebound

SLEEPING WEATHER

Hopper Torpor

large pods sighted

WALLPAPER:   MADISON SMOKE AND SUNRISE

--------  

.. So then, we received a blessed couple of days of sleeping weather. It slowed the terrestrials, surprised the dudes and newcomers, wilted the pansies, and - best of all - soothed the souls of our overextended front line workers.

.. As previously mentioned, both fishing and catching have been very good. All of our local streams and rivers and lakes and ponds have settled into their seasonal excellence.

BY THE NUMBERS

LITTLE FRIENDS

1]  Firehole River. The canyon above Old Faithful showing some early spawners. The gentle water on the Lone Star Geyser Trail has the most beautiful brook trout in the park. They are just lighting up now and taking anything that you throw. Biscuit Basin is becoming cool and look for Baetids after this weekend - otherwise hoppers late afternoon and soft hackles all of the time.

2] Madison River. Small streamers everywhere, hoppers and other terrestrials in the afternoon warm meadows, exploration of the last 3 miles for the adventurous seeking early runners.

BIG EYES

3] Gallatin River. Spawners above Bighorn Pass trailhead. It's a trek but, with good legs, worth it. Hoppers and ants when warm in grassy areas. Spawners nosing around Bacon Rind confluence. Small spawners near other tributaries. Soft hackles and small streamers working. Small fish all through Grayling Creek.

4] Hebgen Reservoir. If its warm and, with no wind the calibaetis are still there. Cool morning in all tributaries will find clouds of tricos. Below the dam is full of hungry resident fish and, Quake Lake near the outlet has pods of streamer-hungry fish, (near the trees.)

SELDOM FISHED

-----

.. Coming  attractions: Saturday rain, Sunday heavy overcast, Monday broken clouds and warming. This is coming on a perfect weekend!

------- 

WALLPAPER:  QUICK TOSTADA

Anomolies

WRONG TIME AND PLACE

Wrong Bugs, Wrong Fish

what's a fisher to do ??

SIZE 20, 22, 24 - THAT'S SMALL !!!

-------

.. It happens. Experts may have a fancy explanation. The fish figure it out very quickly. Fishers often remain befuddled. We got lucky.
.. Early morning is not our favorite time. The Firehole River and the Madison River have their compensations at this time of day. They are quiet, there are elk and otters, bears and moose, - AND - no tour buses.
.. We weren't expecting the damn fish to ignore the early caddis hatch. We weren't expecting to have to strain the peepers to get flies on the tippet. We weren't expecting an explosion of Tricos to clog our ears. But it happened.

.. Why would any self respecting trout ignore the perfect glut of caddis and BWO's? Why, given the smorgasbord of yummy morsels so dense that even we could see them, would they be sipping daintily on flies so small that they looked like dust in a maelstrom?
.. When we finally figured it out there were tourists of the "Granny Set" chugging around the pull-outs. We had to hike back to the vehicle and grab the miniscule box of microscopic flies.
.. Happily there were several flies that still had tippet tied to them by the kind and indulgent neighbor kids. We left the car. Galumphed back to the water. And wonder of wonders caught a 12" brook trout in a place that is currently being fished for 22" Brown Trout. That may just be better than a monster Brown! We'll take it.
.. Took a nap at noon and dreamt about spots of a different color.

-------

P.S. A skosh more rain. Rivers up. Color in some. Big fish racing upstream with new flows. Sky becoming leaden. No snow below 7,000' asl. Get on the rivers now.

-------