The Swarm Continues

305 AND COUNTING

Even Fishers  Felt It

gray days blossom

THE CAMPANULA CREEK SWARM

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.. For those of us living on the flanks of an active volcano the temblors are commonplace. Most go unfelt. Those that are felt seem routine.
..Yesterday there was a "FEELER" [what the neighbor kids call an earthquake that they feel.] It registered about 4.5 on the Richter Scale and had it's epicenter along Campanula Creek in Yellowstone National Park.
.. The quake was the latest in an earthquake swarm that started on May 31, 2017 and has produced 305 measurable temblors. Most are below the 'feeler' threshold of 2,5 on the Richter Scale.

DUCK CREEK MEADOWS

.. A few pictures in West Yellowstone fell from the walls.
.. Some dogs went into apoplectic barking fits.
.. The visitors in local shops had jangled nerves and a new topic of conversation to share with their neighbors back home.
.. Some fishers around Taylor Fork noted the temblor but, (sadly,) reported that the catching did not improve. The Duck Creek meadows, (at the edge of the swarm,) are currently closed for bear management.
.. We occasionally fish Campanula Creek, [LINK-CC.] It's a trek we make less often now. This friendly little creek drains the uplands at the southern toe of the Gallatin Mountain Range north of West Yellowstone.
.. It joins Richard's Creek in the lush Duck Creek Meadows to form Duck Creek. You can bet that we'll chug up there this coming fall when the bottom lands open to the mosquito squadrons and fishers.

.. Yesterday presented us with a perfect afternoon for catching.
.. With a minor miracle in the making the clouds rolled in about 2 o'clock and by 4 PM the air was hardly moving.
.. By 5 o'clock it was fully overcast, near dead-still, earthquake weather, (for those of you in California.)
.. Temperatures dropped slightly and an eruption of bugs flooded the atmosphere near the ground along the Firehole River and the Madison River.

GREEN ONES WORK

.. For a good three hours just about anything in the box worked - it happens.
.. The fly floaters were happily matching what they thought was the hatch. The fly sinkers were using all the discards from the winter's experimentation's.
.. A grand time was had by all. Fish were even dragged out of the Gibbon River near the Grand Loop Bridge = slow seemingly sterile deep runs. My oh my!
.. Sadly we arrived about 8 o'clock and only caught a few dozen fish - so be it. Today may be just as good if the snow stays away.

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.. Forecast for mid 50's and drizzle. Perfect weather for the fisher folks. Perfect weather for the retail establishment in town. We'll have a second pot of coffee and pack three lunches. It promises to be a grand extravaganza.

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WALLPAPER:  HOMEMADE ARTISAN PIZZA

Righteous Indignation ?

YOURS OR MINING ?

Smith River Mine Meeting

see before it's pulled

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Resources:

>> KTVQ, Billings,

>> Missoulian,

>> Great Falls Tribune,

>> Montana Cowgirl, READ THE COMMENTS !

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WALLPAPER:   ROAST BEEF

Cool // Not Cool

WEATHER = COOL

Budget = Not Cool

nps = torpedoed

WALLPAPER:  THE GALLATIN ROAD NORTH

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..As our rivers maintain a late bit of high water the fishers in Yellowstone National Park are grumbling.
.. Catching can be good to very good - with a bit of "water savvy" and persistence. We've seen it both ways; great and skunkie.
.. To begin with; the Gallatin River has bloomed into a muddy mess. It's being fed by a very dirty Taylor Fork and evening showers. Such a color.
.. Happily the river has slowed from 5,000cfs to a near normal 3,000cfs almost overnight. The cool weather has slowed the melt; phew!

EARLY EVENING MOON HELPS

.. Even the park water is slightly colored and tough unless you know the river.
.. Big nymphs and deep slow water in undercut banks will find fish: they aint dumb.
.. The Firehole River has just a hint of color; it's temperature is holding in the high 50's and low 60's.
.. Flows have settled down from the recent near record flows to just above average for the date.

PRACTICE WATCHING & WAITING

.. Yesterday's rain and brisk winds brought out a decent Baetid hatch and even some recalcitrant BWO's.
.. Most of the neighbors that braved the wetness ignored the hatch matching and fished ugly flies on the top and a Prince nymph or soft hackle on a dropper.

TOSS AN UGLY ONE IN THE RAIN

.. The moon is up before official sundown and catching at the end of the day is enhanced. Smashed white miller flies floated in back water eddies will entice the nocturnal giants. Be patient and watch and wait; the fish are topside at dusk.
.. The Madison River inside the park is not too bad for the adventurist. Both color and flows have diminished slightly and the water temperature is perfect. Flows are just 100cfs above normal for the date and temperatures are holding in the low to mid 50's.

GOOD SORT OF STUFF

.. PMD's (?) are around but the real play is for the stoneflies in the upper parts of National Park Meadows.
.. The Firehole River Canyon is pumping out some of the big bugs and the neighbors are silent about it.

THESE ARE GOLDEN

.. Double up your favorite stone patterns.
.. Big and little - or, black and yellow - or, top and bottom will all grab a fish where it eats.
.. The Gibbon River has slowed enough for the brave to muck through the big meadows and dodge the wayward bison. There are even cell phone photos to prove that fish are eating stuff in the deep holes. We're not that brave.
.. If you must: the slow water north of Norris Geyser Basin has some eager giants. The stinky hot springs, the ankle deep mud, the occasional moose and the submerged logs are only minor distractions for the committed fisher: to say nothing of the long walk and downfall everywhere. Some neighbors are there now.

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.. Should you be interested in the way our National Parks are administered; then you should probably learn about the impending budget from the White House.

Proposed budget cuts will:

> cut over 1,000 full time staff,
> close facilities and campgrounds,
> reduce service,
> allow 23% less funds for resource management and invasive control,
> near elimination of cultural resource funding.
.. Click on over to WESTWISE to see what the NPS has to say about it all.

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.. Looks to stay cool for a day or two. Then a moderate warm up. Catching will only get better through the sunny days. We've got the urge: maybe go fishing!

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WALLPAPER:  HISTORIC BUD LILLY'S SIGN GONE

Blindsided

NEW DEVIL WORM ?

Oh So Simple

so late to the party

COURTESY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

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.. While strolling along the path to LONE STAR GEYSER on  opening day we stopped to watch a youngster jerking in Brook Trout by the bushel.
.. We squinted our peepers to see the magic fly that was being used with such deadly success. Failed.

RED WIRE WORM

.. It's not in our nature to leave simple problems unsolved. We watched and waited for an appropriate moment.
.. Eventually the fisher could no longer lift his arms. The reel was smoking and the line was frayed. He reeled in and began to make his way back to the trail.
.. With our best, (unpracticed,) humility we approached this mighty fly fisher and smiled our most friendly toothless grin. He paused, smiled back and said 'Howdy.'
.. We posed the query foremost between our ears. He smiled more broadly and showed us the RED WIRE WORM. We blinked twice.
.. We asked for no recipe. We asked for no tying instructions. We asked nothing and thanked him.

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.. Saturday evening marked the first of the season pub-postmortems. We hesitated to mention our discovery.
.. When we did we were told that the worm was not all that new. In fact it was pretty standard fare in the Spring fly boxes of hipsters, (whatever that is.) Who knew? Not us!
..Apparently the worm is now making it's way into our insular village. It's not a big seller in the local feather merchant bins, (no feathers.)

Courtesy BIGHORN FLIES

.. So then, a couple of year's ago Field and Stream ran a brief article about Spring flies: there it was, [LINK-FS.]
.. It is a worm that falls into the San Juan category of worms.
.. It is featured by the Avant-garde fly fishers in Billings at Bighorn Flies, [LINK-BF.]
.. Use your imagination. Enjoy the colors. Tie up a couple of gross and thumb your nose at the purists. This thing catches fish.

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.. It's not too early and not too late. There is time for another pot of coffee. There is a rock hard doughnut from the weekend. It'll soften up in the coffee. Sustenance!

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WALLPAPER:  STRAWBERRIES ON WAFFLE

Sacrifice And Service

.. How can the recent generations of our nation greet each other with "HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY?"
.. Why do we have retail sales and such on a solemn day or remembrance?
.. Why is the conflict in Afghanistan so far from our conscious thought and verbiage?
.. Is the aftermath and present situation in Korea a forgotten bit of history?
.. And the debacle of the stupidity in Vietnam?
.. Pardon the preachment but, we're a little sad, a little pleased, and very thankful - not happy.
.. We remember.

Our Own Nostalgia

IN OUR HEAD

In Our History

very strange anomaly

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.. Through the years we've noticed an interesting bit of trivia.
.. It seems, for the most part, that fly fisher folk are not motorheads in the classic sense.

In The Mind's Eye

.. They do appreciate the "Fish Truck,"  {We've had a few.}
.. They do extol the virtues of the "Fish Car." They even admire modern technology in contemporary vehicles.
.. But they don't seem able to sunder their minds from a preoccupation with fluff and fur on safety pins, (are there still safety pins?)

A FORD FLATHEAD AT INDY

.. Stream-side topics of conversation are contemporary sports, finance, real estate, politics, fishing, etc.
.. Never have we heard a discussion about the pros and cons of on-plug-coils vs. crank-triggered magnetos. So be it.
.. We are schizoid - or worse. Way long ago and far, far away, we listened to the Indianapolis 500 on the radio. We relived it when the paper came out the next day. We were in the garage or the living room or the beach or the track or wherever. We didn't miss it.

First At 150 mph

.. Those were the days of the "Indy Roadster." The vehicle was primitive compared to today's cars. We remember the transition from the flathead ford V-8 to the Meyer Drake Offenhauser.
.. We remember the transition to rear-engined racers.
.. We remember some milestones like 150 miles per hour. Like 200 miles per hour. Like women racing. And all the other bits that stick in our head.
.. Today the engines are smaller, the cars are lighter, the speeds are double where they were when we were first captivated by the spectacle.

Jim Clark Team Lotus

.. We grew up in that part of town where jalopies, hot rods, cruising, and  dragging the main were integral to our world.
.. Indy roadsters were just grown up midgets. Some were built in garages near where we lived.
.. So were cars for the drag strip, Bonneville, El Mirage, Muroc, Riverside, and Daytona: just a couple of blocks away.

Team, Pippa Mann

.. Each year we peeked in the draped windows of new car dealerships to see new models.
.. They appeared as if by magic on the appointed day. The commercial jingles on the radio echoed through the garage.
.. To this day we fiddle with cars. We admire them. We watch and marvel at the technology.
.. There is a quirk in our soul. We've had many more cars than girlfriends. We have caught more fish than cars though.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

.. Each year at this moment we split our loyalty. We fish the park and then "LISTEN" to the Indy 500.
.. We're going to watch the Monte Carlo F-1 Grand Prix at the same - or similar time.
.. We marvel at the technology of the Formula One cars.
.. Races held on road courses that are decided by tenths and hundredths of a second. Like airplanes

Fernando Alonso, Skipping Monte Carlo

.. Some neighbors will be doing similar things, (this is rural Montana after all.) Most will not be fisher folks.
.. After today we will settle into the gentility of trout fishing in the neighborhood.
.. We've taken our sailfish on a fly. We've lost our tuna on a fly. We've fished the surf and the depths. {Even had a 'beach fishing car.'}
.. We've fished in Europe, Africa, India, Japan, and across the United States. We've used rattlesnakes for bait in Texas and in Hell's Canyon of the Snake River. We think we hooked a sturgeon on a fly - it might have been a submarine.
.. Why do these things spring to mind at this time of year? It must be MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

Bigger Than A BWO

.. Sunfish, Bass, Sharks, Perch, Salmon, Catfish, Carp, Chevy, Jaguar, Dodge, Cadillac, Ford, Oakland, Mazda, Jeep, Croaker, Albacore, Wipers, Stripers, Oldsmobile - and so on. What a mix confusing the neurons between our ears.
.. If we would have kept the cars that we destroyed racing we could add more millions to our net worth. That stuff and much more is long gone.
.. Now we splash the water and call it good. Sometimes we catch a fish.

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WALLPAPER:  CRUISING FOR FISH IN YELLOWSTONE

Gone Fishing

OPEN TODAY

Partly Cloudy All Day

bring the whole box

WALLPAPER:  BEAUTIFUL EASY WATER - OPENS TODAY

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.. Brief pre-post: you want it - you get it.
.. Save for a bit of color in the water and, some not too high discharge; you can find your favorite sort of fishing in Yellowstone National Park.

OPENER SECRET

.. Right now it's late on Friday. We're hitting the hay early and intend to get up earlier and beat the rush.
.. We're taking two lunches and intend to find some gentle bits of lonely water. We may even catch some fish.
.. May you too!

{{WEST ENTRANCE WEBCAM}}

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THE BEARS ARE STILL DOWN LOW !!