Lots Of Mud - Lots Of Fish

HIGH WATER: BIG CATCH

Find The Soft Water: Work The Edges

trout eat what and when they can

The Lake At 7-Mile Bridge Is Receding.

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.. The lake at 7-Mile Bridge is finally receding. The lake at Biscuit Basin is gone. Gibbon Lake in National Park Meadows is but a memory. That's story for now. It could change instantly.

Soft Water & Undercut Banks. Image At Yellow Arrow Below.

..The west side rivers are still high. Daily records are periodically being broken. There is a lot of water. Happily there are a lot of fish too.
.. We spent a full day in the park on Friday. We spent a full day in the park on Saturday. We cruised around and fished. We talked to anglers. We took some photos. We were lazy about it all. We even tolerated the gawker blocks & heavy traffic. Visitors are whining about the cool weather. We're happy. They don't realize that this is summer. Live with it; enjoy it!

A Bit Of Fish Is Visible To The Right Of The "R"

.. A week or so ago there was a brief post in TROUTBUGS about fishing the runoff. He calls it "Fun-Off." So true, and so unknown.
.. Most of the fishers we visited with over the past two days had on waders wet to the waist. They complained about the lack of catching and the high water.
.. Three of us, (neighbors with slow motion gaits,) never got wet and caught piles of fish. We fished in one spot, (where the visitor speeds past on the way to where the books tell them to go,) where there was an empty parking lot, for over two hours.

Nasty Biting Monster Ants - Displaced & Mad

.. Not another fisher used the lot. We certainly took over three dozen fish, (maybe way over but we forgot to count,) and spent quite some time lolling about in the sun watching the mobile condominiums and nibbling doughnuts, cold quiche and sipping Coca Cola.
.. The water is a wonderfully vibrant puce color, but the visibility on the Madison River and the Firehole River is easily four feet or more. The fish are crowded together in the soft water of the undercut banks. Some are in the pillows and pockets formed by near-shore boulders and snags.

The Current Makes All Fish Strong

.. This situation makes for fairly easy catching for the cagey and observant angler. It's a damn nuisance for the religious angler expecting to have his goo-soaked, (or powdered,) dry fly slurped by a hungry trout.
.. The shore-side environment is stressed and critters of all sizes are displaced and swept away by the high water. Last week we visited with a gentleman that was fishing ants. We smiled politely and accepted his gift of a pair of flies. We thought no more about it until we saw the enormous ants that had been displaced along both the Firehole River and Madison River. They are easily 1/4" long and bite ferociously! We fished with ants for half of the day on Friday and did very well.

Savvy Anglers Prowling High & Productive Water

.. The successful anglers on the Firehole River were walking the banks, covering lots of water, and fishing on the surface only when a rise was spotted and their ears were full of flying bugs. They seldom got into the water and the back sides of their waders showed marks and splotches from contemplative postures.
.. Happily the bugs appeared and the genuflecting masses had a field day in the picturesque water around the bridge and in Midway Geyser Basin.

Gibbon River Esses

.. The snow is about gone from the river valleys. There were flakes & flurries all weekend. Sunday saw some pretty decent rains and the rivers are not going to slow down for more than a few days. The Gibbon River has been running at twice, (or more,) daily records for a week. The Firehole River has been setting daily records on a daily basis.
.. The small lake on the Gibbon River in National Park Meadows is only a couple of inches deep and the meadows are very spongy. There are fish in the grass and in the seams of the sinuous meanders. Crawling on the knees in cold, wet, goo is not recommended at this time.
.. The Gibbon River Canyon is filled with a raging torrent. Catching is possible but very labor intensive. The seams of the upper meadows still hold eager fish as do the wonderfully undercut banks. The little meadows around Norris Campground are drying out and hold some fish.
.. The successful flies are the usual assortment of suspects: San Juan Worms, Woolly Buggers, Dark Spruce, Prince Nymphs, Drowned Dry Flies, and emergers when there's bugs around.
.. This is not fishing for the faint of heart, staid of mentality, nor weak of haunches. Covering water is the key. This is summer fishing in terms of the bugs. It's still spring in terms of the runoff FUN-OFF!

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Ranunculus pygmaes: better hurry these are about done

16 Frames, 434°, merged, squared, projected, reversed, re-projected, cleaned up.

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