Better By The Day

CATCHING IS GOOD

Fishing Is Good

gawking is best

-------

.. This will be the week for glorious fishing stories. The near-term weather is predicted to be perfect for visiting Yellowstone National Park. There will finally be a day or two with 70° F temperature.

.. The west side rivers are still setting daily discharge records but are clearing rapidly. The meadows are getting dry, the bison are laying in the sun, the mobile condominiums are belching fumes, and tour buses are thick as the spinners falling onto the water.
.. Catching is now possible from sunup to sundown. And the next few days will give us the longest catching opportunities of the year. Sunrise is now about 5:10 AM. Sunset is about 9:15 PM. The watchword now is to use your summer solstice well. Starting next week the days will begin their noticeable shortening - all too rapidly.

.. The Gallatin River is high, cold and clear above Taylor Fork. It's a big nymph and streamer proposition. The local naysayers would have you believe that it's too cold to fish. Best believe them, it leaves more room for the neighbors.
.. The last mile of Duck Creek is at grade and surprisingly clear, It too is a subsurface paradise. Be careful and stay in the legal zone by the water. The bears are congregating in this area. Evening caddis have been spotted around 4:00 PM in this stretch.
.. The Madison River is back within it's banks but the previously flooded meadows are spongy. Discharge is high but not near daily records and there are bugs apparent in the early afternoon. Streamers, big ugly unconventional flies, and drowned flies & nymphs are producing well in the gentle stretches.

.. The snow on Mary Mountain is rapidly melting and Nez Perce Creek is at it's banks. Catching is only fair in the bear infested waters and meadow about 1/2 mile above the bridge. The wildflowers are spectacular though.
.. The Firehole River above the cascades is very clear, cold, swift, and beginning to produce beautiful, hungry, eager, Brook Trout.
.. Below Old Faithful, in it's elbow-ridden stretches it's beginning to show it's summer pattern:
===> Spinners early,
===> Nymphs and emergers at mid day, (all day if you like,)
===> Caddis in the evening,
===> BWO & PMD when you see them,
===> Stonefly & Yellow Sally nymphs, all day,  starting now,
===> Salmon Flies soon, listen to rumors in the pubs.
.. We're headed to the big esses around Baker's Hole. This Madison River water requires a Montana Fishing License and a Yellowstone Park Permit. The water is high, the trails and tracks are muddy, the willows eat your body and gear, and the fish are near the bank and unmolested. It's just too much work for visitors. The fish are way too big for their small rods and dinky nets.

-------

.