Blessings Be On Us

THE WEATHER GODS
COME THROUGH

It's A Grungy Week

fish now

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.. This is the week of stories untold. The weather is being described by non fishers as "ROTTEN." Poor folks.
.. Real Fall Weather has set in for the next 10 days or so. Call the boss and be sick for a week. Get to the park. Fish your feet off. It won't be this good for another year.
.. Follow the weather on our weather page. Real time radar and up to the minute conditions and forecasts: CLICK HERE.
P.S. Bring wet gear!
P.P.S. Image is wallpaper sized.

Roads To Solitude

SOME FISH TOO

Or, Maybe Not
(brief report)

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.. There are some less traveled roads in Yellowstone National Park that lead to fish. Good roads, (or trails that were roads,) that remain substantially abandoned by fishers. There are many and spurious reasons for this. Perhaps the number one reason is that most fishers are gregarious folks.
.. Despite the whining about crowds, they like to fish alone - together. Too, the aging fly fishing population seldom takes it's $30,000 SUV into the dust and dirt. And then, walking is hard on old legs.
.. The bigger roads in the park have many pull-outs. If you're lucky you can visit with celebrity fishers as they hold court in their folding canvass chairs. They will provide you with entertaining conversation, clever anecdotes and stories that you can take to the folks back home.
.. Little clusters of fishers dot these bigger roads. Waiting for the hatch - yup! Talking for hours - yup! Moaning about the current state of things and bemoaning the passing of time - yup!
.. This is entertaining and enjoyable - yup! As if fish didn't eat until the hatch - yup! The god Skues is diminished in these conversations - yup! The god Halford is revered - yup! Their names are never spoken; perhaps not known - sad!
.. There is good fishing in the long and riffled waters of the Madison River along Riverside Drive. The neighbors fish here. Nymphs, attractors, dry's, etc. Even in the bright October sun. Find the fish and you'll catch the fish.
.. The Brook Trout are in an aggressive mood on the Firehole River along the Lone Star Geyser Trail. There were no cars in the parking area yesterday.
.. We have precious little time to fish. When it's available we do it. We wave at the celebrity feather merchants.
.. We toot the horn at the neighbors. But with the days getting shorter and the park about to close we forgo the pleasantries of genteel conversation. We forgo the exploration of truth, (there's plenty of that in the fly fishing world.)
.. The weather looks to be making a slow crawl toward winter. That's a good thing. Last year it happened all at once. There's just time for a quick run to the park before work. We'll go.

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.. The Firehole River was a cranky tart over the weekend. A few persistent fishers waited for Baetis that showed in sparse numbers. They blamed the sun for poor fishing. The waiting might have had something to do with it too.
.. Double nymph rigs took fish in the sun and broken clouds. A Bead Head Prince, (size 12,) followed by a Speckled Soft Hackle, (size 16,) was the ticket for those that fished.
.. Several fish were taken in the big pool above Dipper Cliff on small Golden Stone Fly imitations. Some also fell to Gold Ribbed Hare's Ears, (size 16.)

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.. Catching on the Gibbon River has slowed down and there are only a few dedicated fishers willing to walk the distance to the good pools. There's plenty of parking and very little traffic with the road closure.
.. The fishing and catching centers on soft hackles and very small nymphs, (to size 20.) That's a bit small for our eyes. We rig a double loop connection in the gentility of the home place and manage to make it work on the water. When it's warm it's fine. We'll see what happen in the next 10 days.

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.. Nez Perce Creek is seeing a surprising number of younger fisher folk. These are young legs that can make it to the pools around the first old bridge. Again, soft hackles and assorted nymphs are the flies that are in play.
.. Midges and midge clusters are doing their part along the shadow lines and in the evening.
.. One trusted source reports that large, (size 8-10,) Royal Wulff and Yellow Humpy flies are working in the fast sections of the wide pools. We believe it.

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.. The Madison River continues to entertain. Persistence seems to be the watchword. One thing to remember is that there is a range of dark water and holding pools that are not near the turn-outs and traditional parking spots.
.. Not that we have any special piscene insight, - BUT - if 15 felt-soled pairs of boots charged through our resting place every hour for hours on end, we'd move to a quieter, (if less gentle, spot.)
.. Woolly Buggers, Woolly Worms, and Yellow San Juan Worms are all the rage right now. They work so why not? The Crackleback Worm is making inroads this year too.
.. Most anglers over the weekend groaned and whined about the bright sun and brilliant blue sky. It was different for sure, but, warmth is always welcome to these old bones. Fish will tell you how to catch them - just listen - even in the sun.

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Clouser Inducted

DAD OF MINNOW
MAKES GOODFly Fishing Hall Of Fame

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.. PENNLIVE.com has a brief note that lets us know about the prestigious honor. It happened yesterday and the party in Middletown is still going on.

MONEY QUOTE

-- Bob Clouser, Middletown's legendary fly-fishing innovator, on Saturday was inducted into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum in Livingston Manor, N.Y.

-- Internationally known as the creator of the Clouser Minnow fly pattern, reputedly used to catch more species of fish than any other fly, Clouser also is a sought-after fishing guide, particularly on the Susquehanna River, and fly-fishing instructor.

--Clouser has created many other fly patterns that are used around the globe, including the Half and Half, Clouser Crayfish, Swimming Nymph, Crippled Minnow, Mad-tom, The Darter, Hellgrammite, E-Z popper and Floating Minnow.

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.. Visit Bob at: http://www.clouserflyfishing.com/

Just Dandy

IF YOU LEFT AT 4:00 P.M.

you left too early(Enormous images - click on 'em. )
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.. The Madison River is, (not too surprisingly,) fishing better by the day. Even with beautifully blue sky and broken clouds the Baetis will not be denied. Mornings for runners and evenings for residents, (& runners.)
.. Even the Firehole River devotees are beginning an out-migration toward the Madison River. We just love the Fall.

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From The Salmon's Mouth

SALMON: INDICATORS
OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Traverse Fresh & Saltwater

aquatic canary

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.. The good folks at ANS, (Protect Your Waters,) have clued us in to the role of salmon as, "one of the natural world’s most sensitive indicators of the biological and chemical effects of climate change."
.. The note at FISHupdate.com cites the work of Dr. Ken Whelan of the Irish Marine Institute.
.. Whelan recently delivered the results of his team's findings to the Royal Irish Academy, (RIA,) in Dublin.
.. In classical understatement the address points out that salmon are and ideal indicator species for climate change.
.. By responding to the results of changing climate in both fresh and saltwater the salmon is an ideal bio-monitor to: ". . . track and trace climate change from remote mountain streams to distant zones in the Artic (sic) seas."
.. In a world that is billions of years old, both climate change alarmists and nay-sayers generally speak from the perspective of decades. The salmon, with generations of adaptive responses in the same time period provide behavioral data that spans the world's waters.
.. In the salmon's odyssey, from their mountain streams to the ocean depths, these fish ". . . collect and store a wide range of physical, chemical and biological information."
.. The research is complex and is carried out by multinational teams of scientists under the auspices of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO).
..Dr Ken Whelan is director of the Marine Institute’s Aquaculture and Catchment Management Services Team, based at Newport, Co. Mayo.

MONEY QUOTE

“Although the science is complex the take home message is clear. Adaptation to climate change is in our hands. Combating climate change requires a clear and unambiguous focus on: monitoring change, responding to change, conserving populations of animals and plants and relieving man made stresses on the environment.”

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The Bottoms

DISTRIBUTARIES
WILLOWS, MUCK, BIG FISH

Patch Your Waders

take a boat

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.. Last night's snow is a blessing. The temperatures will be down. The frail elbows will disappear. The fish will become 'antsy.' It's time to hit the local holes.
.. If you promise to avoid the duck blinds, AND promise not to scare the ducks, AND can negotiate the shallow sand bars and weed beds; you won't eat #6's and will catch big fish.
.. The delta bottoms of Grayling Creek & Duck Creek have big fish and few fishers this time of year. They are an invitation to fish and catch and celebrate the Fall.
.. There is quicksand, and muck holes, and slippery cobbles, and line-eating snags at every turn and twist. For most fishers this kind of "adventure" does not comport well, in their minds, with the pleasant outing associated with 'fly fishing' .
.. This is neighborhood fishing at it's finest. Specialized techniques, current local knowledge, and familiarity with the creeks are not mandatory but are useful in enhancing the catch rate.
.. There are far fewer fish running up these creeks than there are in the Madison River. Happily they seem to come in 'waves' and they are 'podded-up' in their migration. If you find one, you find many!


.. There is a good hole in every distributary channel. There are several in most. We tend to practice a bit of anthropomorphizing with these critters when explaining their distribution and position in the creeks. We use phrases like: 'they're resting,' 'they're getting used to the water,' 'they're lost,' 'they're waiting for their buddies,' and so forth.


.. You already have the right gear; it's the combination that's a bit strange. A long rod, (9 - 10 foot,) over lined by at least two weights is the standard fare among the neighbors. Some use a level line, others cut the forward taper short on a weight-forward line.


.. Short fast-taper leaders in the 6 - 7 foot range are a good place to start, and stout is the watchword for these. Waders with good knee pads, or some carpet-layer knee pads are a boon when crawling around the cobbles and overhanging willows.


.. Short and very accurate casts are a necessity. Most of the holding pools are draped with willows and dead wood snags. Some of the best pools, on the other hand, are near lake level. They are deeeeeep, and slow as molasses.
.. They are not gin-clear this year - more like vodka. You will get one or two casts and drifts if you are lucky. These pools give a new meaning to the term "dead drift." The fast moving shadows are the fish that could have been caught.


.. It would be too capricious to call the fish indiscriminate when it comes to eating flies. However, they are an eclectic bunch of predators. They will take both large and small flies. Beauty is in the eye of the fish, we suppose. The last two days they ate Sillilegs, San Juan Worms, Gob O' Worms, Prince Nymphs, and Bead Head Glitter Nymphs. They shunned our perennial favorites: Feather Duster and Dark Spruce.


.. Sunken and dead-drifted size 18 Midge Clusters were hot for about two hours on Friday. Very small Drowned Caddis were consistent fish-foolers most of Saturday. It's a crap shoot - and it's fun.
.. It is possible to traverse the willow jungle from the road to the lake. It is also tough. There are trails and tracks that can be used, just be "gear-conscious" as you charge into the thickets. Be bear and moose conscious too!


.. Access by boat is easier, but just a little. There are shifting channels in the weed beds, many of the shallow sand bars in the deltas must be walked across - boat in tow. Some recent sand and mud deposits are quick and deep - waist high in an instant is not an uncommon, (and sinking,) feeling.
.. For the visitor none of this is worth it. For the neighbors it's a traditional venture. The fish are wild and unmolested. They can be 18" or more long: most are 14" - 16" and bright as a new chrome lug nut.


.. We enjoy the solitude. The views of the surrounding landscape and lake are stunning this time of year. They can't be done justice with a little point and shoot camera.
.. On a nice day with temperatures in the 20's and the sun shinning you can eat both lunches in the protected and bright hollows of the willow jungle. If it's blustery, and the low teens are the high, a small fire is a wonderful psychological placebo, even if it provides little warmth. Winds can bring a quick chop to the lake and it's best to dress for both fishing and boating.


.. We think the rewards are worth the effort on these creeks. If you're into crowds & drive by fishing, and runners on the run there's always Baker's Hole, the Barns Holes, and the rest of the Madison River and Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park.

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Fishing Weather

GO NOW !!