Fly Patterns

A day in the Bear Trap Canyon

Last Saturday Bucky talked me into spending our shared day off, Sunday, in the Bear Trap Canyon stretch of the Madison River. The forecast promised sunshine and 40 degree temps with calm winds. We met here and left around 10 a.m.; Bucky, his dog Sadie and I. We arrived at the parking area and pulled in next to another rig. As we began gearing up the driver of the vehicle walked his dog, ( a dead ringer for "Bengie" if you recall the old motion picture named after the star of the movie a fluffy dust mop looking doggie) over to us and we began talking about fishing, the light winter Montana is experiencing, and more. BRF's Bucky introduced himself to this guy who commented, "My wife's name is Bucky" as she smiled and waved while slipping into her hiking boots. I introduced myself to the guy who laughed and replied, "that's my name too!" So we began our hike up river in the Bear Trap traipsing along with Bucky, Bucky, Craig and Craig and three dogs all the while knowing we were in for a great day with all the great Karma floating along with us!

Along our planned 2 mile hike to favorite midge water we kept our eyes off the river knowing if we stopped and watched water we'd see fish rising and would never make our destination. Slogging along in full wader regalia we worked up a sweat but arrived at our spot with fish already rising. We took several trout on Bucky's Purple Midge and Scotty's Skittering Midge before the sun sank behind the towering canyon walls at 3 p.m. and we headed back to our rig. Just short of the parking lot we came on several more rising fish and felt we had to honor the risers by presenting a Zelon Midge to them. It worked on 4-5 more rainbows before all rising stopped, the temperature began dropping and we headed in for the day. 

This week we might get a chance to fish but before we get do we have a  few important meetings to attend. The first is tomorrow in Bozeman with the Yellowstone Park Foundation to decided how to develop a program to raise money to keep the Yellowstone Fisheries Initiative program going in the Park. Next we head to Ennis Wednesday evening to attend the first Madison River Rec Planning session. Stay tuned here. And, last week I went to Salt Lake to help the Greater Yellowstone Coalition with a fly fishing program and fund raising event to raise money for their ongoing work in the Yellowstone Cutthroat vs. Lake Trout program in the park. We had a tremendous show and raised some great bucks. Stay with us in this blog for ongoing information and more on our aggressive programs and how you can help us protect, preserve and enhance Yellowstone's native and wild trout for all of us and future generations to enjoy. 

Another Chinook on the way

I intended to fish today. I got up early this morning and walked dogs. The winds were coming strong from the south, but I was hoping they'd calm from the 20mph gusts at 5 a.m.and allow me to fish midges around noon.

After a long walk with Leksie and Finn I returned home. I went over a power point presentation I am scheduled to present in Phoenix and Salt Lake City during the next 10 days. I got caught up on some correspondence, tied a few Scotty's MIdges and when Jackie got up I helped her with breakfast, all the while keeping an eye on the trees above the house for signs the winds might drop. Their branches still waving wildly in the gale force wind I knew fishing would not be in the cards for me today when I looked last at 10 a.m. 

I sorted some hunting photos of elk season 2011. I remembered I'd forgotten to write a paragraph in our 2012 catalogue in my "Year in Review" portion on my 33rd elk season. Many readers have bugged me about not including an elk report in this year's catalogue. A few readers thought I'd finally struck out after 32 consecutive years taking that many bulls in a row. I admit, up until the last day of the season I'd been resigned that I was not going to score a bull; I was not going to take my 33rd bull in as many years. The 5 week long Montana elk season had been warm with little snow to move animals down from the high country. During the season I'd hunted as hard as I had ever hunted during those 33 years and I think I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for myself. I'd had a couple chances on bulls; one time my gun misfired when I had snuck up on 3 bedded bulls and surprised them in their day beds. Another time I bumbled into a couple bulls feeding in an open meadow just before legal shooting hours and watched them run off at less than 50 yards. And sadly, we lost our 13 year old male shorthair Taz early in the season and even though I continued to hunt hard I sort of muddled around in the elk woods all season missing the old boy and thinking of all the great birds hunts and times we'd shared over the years. When the last day of the elk season rolled around on November 27th I started up the mountain at 6a.m.determined to have a good day no matter what.

At first light I had a small bull at 200 yards. He disappeared behind a ridge before I could get set-up. At 9 a.m. I looked far down into an open meadow across the deep-dark canyon I was straddling and saw a 5 point bull elk with several cows and calves. I knew it was a steep-long trek down and across the canyon but it was looking like the only chance I might have on this last day of elk season. So, down I went. Half hour later I had snuck within 50 yards of the bull and 3 hours later I walked out of the woods with his antlers over my pack. 33 bulls in 33 years and we are enjoying elk steaks through the winter.

Back to today. Due to the huge winds ending my plan of an afternoon of fishing I decided to tie flies, all day. I selfishly tied for myself today, for my own fly boxes and not for the shop. I tied Nick's new PMD Soft Hackle Emergers, Soft Hackle Midge Emergers, Scotty's and Zelon Midges and Baetis Improved Sparkle Duns. I broke out a new piece of sparkle dun deer and a fresh Hungarian Partridge skin, some new zelon and a couple of our latest hen necks for more soft hackles. I had a fine day. Jackie and I ended it with a long-difficult cross country ski late this afternoon. 

Stay tuned here for midge fishing reports late this coming week. A Chinook wind is arriving by week's end and with it temps are forecasted to rise into the 40's and we will again be on the river, I guarantee!

A Ripping Blue Norther Arrives in Yellowstone country

A north wind and cold temperatures has put an end to our string of midge fishing days here in the Madison Valley. The frigid temperatures and brisk winds arrived around noon yesterday. Today temps could not break the single digits and the north wind continues.
For 5 days last week experienced fine midge fishing conditions. Calm winds, highs in the 30’s and partly cloudy skies brought on incredible midge emergences along with mating clumps of midges. This coupled with perfect weather furnished some of the finest January midge fishing we had in years.
Phil fished 4 days from noon to 4pm and I was able to get out 2 days. 

I was able to fish our new Soft Hackle Midge Emerger on 2 different occasions when the sun shined brightly and the fish were skittish and keying on emerging midges just under the surface. Pleased with my results I will tie more on this pattern tonight. Dave McKee a talented fly tier and author from Bozeman ties ours’ at the shop and his are flawless and the fish loved them. I hope I can tie mine as well as Dave ties the shop’s!
Yesterday on a stretch of the Madison downstream of Lyon Bridge I arrived before noon, just as the norther was arriving with winds switching from south to north. I came on a couple nice browns cruising the shallows with tails and backs breaking the surface as they took emerging midge pupae in the slow-shallow drift. I’d knotted on one of McKee’s Soft Hackle Midge Emegers before I left home. I remembered a time last February on this same stretch of river when I could not raise a fish to my dry offering but did OK with a greased $3 Dip. A flock of golden eye ducks lifted off the side channel as I approached and I cussed them thinking the fish-egg eating ducks most likely spooked any and all trout nearby. When I got to the spot I saw heads and tails and the 2 big browns cruising. I presented my fly off to the side of the nearest brown and he came quickly to the tiny soft hackle emerger. As he turned my way to take my offering his mouth opened and with that wink of white I raised my rod and hooked the fish. The second brown came to the fly pretty much the same way but jumped 3 times and pulled loose before I could net him. As the air temperatures dropped and the wind picked up I headed home happy with the 2 good browns, both coming to our new fly pattern.
The weather forecast calls for a warm-up later this week, back into the 40’s from the low teens the next 2 days. I’ll be back on the river with some fresh Soft Hackle Midge Emergers. Stay tuned here for reports. In the meantime make sure you watch our videos of midge action near Raynolds Bridge which we will post on our free weekly email newsletter….if you don’t get our news go to our web site and sign in, you will enjoy our stories and videos and weekly fly tying series. Until then....
 

Midge Water

Sorry, I forgot to include an entry on results of my fishing last Sunday.

I hit the water around 1pm. You can see the water in the photo included in this report. Notice the heavy flow adjacent to the soft midge water on the right side of the image. The soft water is about 2 feet deep with slow currents, perfect for trout to move into from the near heavy flows in order to take advantage of midges emerging. It is in this spot I came upon a dozen rainbows head and tail rising to emerging midges. I tied on a Hi Viz Zelon Midge to my 6.5X TroutHunter tippet and took 4 good rainbows in half an hour before my hands got cold and I headed home. We will be tying our Hi Viz Zelon Midge soon so check out our weekly email newsletters for this great fly coming up.

More midge fishing coming later in the week, after it warms from minus 18 degree lows of today!  Stay tuned here.

A Gray Morning in Madison Valley

It is shaping up to be a perfect day for midge fishing here in the valley. Overcast and calm with forecasted temps to reach 34 degrees at the West Fork. I've been up since 6am tying a few of our new Soft Hackle Midge Emergers and Skittering Zelon Midges. Both have been deadly while fishing the river this week. Looking ahead at this week's weather forecast it looks like we are in for a great week of midge action. I hope to fish the Gallatin and Yellowstone later in the week so stay tuned here. 

Yesterday afternoon even though the high temp only reached 30 degrees fish rose for a solid hour. The key is calm conditions, if the wind howls it becomes strictly a nymphing proposition. When calm I've witnessed heads coming to midges in all likely spots along the river from as early 9am and still coming up as late as 3pm. The fish might rise to midges emerging in waves with the first wave coming early, as long as the wind doesn't blow. It is not unusual to have the first wave come at 9, the second a short time later then a lull until noon. Just when you think it is safe to sit on the bank and have a sandwich another wave of midges come off and trout rise.....

I especially like to fish my Tenkara rod in the winter months. With no guides to ice up and casting a fix length line I can get into position quickly and present a pin-point accurate cast from my kneeling approach. Once hooked most fish come in easily, without the long runs we are accustom to in summer months. Cool water temps take much of the fight out of winter fish, and it slows their rises to slow head and tails which bring us midge enthusiasts back time and again! There is nothing like fishing the slow motion-like head and tail riseforms of winter with no one on the river but you, the trout and an occasional bald eagle flying by! I'll get you a few midge reports this week.

An early season evening on the Madison River

During dinner last evening Jackie and I noticed midges hovering over the trees off our dining room window. I wolfed my elk steak down, grabbed my fishing gear and headed to the river near Story access arriving around 6pm. Clear, calm conditions with 52 degrees and lots of midges in the air. I never saw a rise while I knotted on fresh tippet and a Skittering Zelon Midge but figured the fish had seen emerging pupae and impaired adult midges during the mid-day when midges typically emerge this time of the year.

I eased into position on a favorite midge pool, walking on my knees and sitting on a rock along the shoreline all the while keeping low and out of sight of the resident brown and rainbow trout. On my 3rd cast a fine 14" rainbow sipped my offering. A few more casts and a 12" brown came up, then a 8" rainbow followed by a 16" brown. All the while I had to smile to myself knowing I was the only one on the river enjoying some fun dry fly fishing. A few minutes later I busted a heavy rainbow that took the fly and bolted upstream. We parted ways when my 6x tippet snapped. It all happened so quickly I could only shake may head at the "rookie" mistake I'd just made, one i make from time-to-time by hanging on to the fly line on the trouts' initial run after it takes the fly. Afterwards I was treated to a couple fine jumps the fish made as it tried to free itself of the barbless hook it now sported in its jaw.

As I knotted on a new fly 4 mule deer came to water and spoiled my fun by sloshing through my spot. I moved upstream to another pocket and took another nice 14" brown before the sun sank behind the Gravelly Mountains, the temp dropped and I headed home. A nice hour of dry fly fishing on a warm May evening!

Jackie and I head to Michigan today to see family and do a Yellowstone fly fishing/Yellowstone Park Foundation show. We are back Sunday and I look forward to bringing more spring fishing stories here so stay tuned!

April on Montana Rivers.

I just returned from some fishing and fly tying-conservation presentations in and around Montana. I fished the Yellowstone, Boulder and Stillwater Rivers during March Brown and Baetis mayfly times as well as midge times on the Boulder. The fishing was good. I tested some of the new midge and Baetis fly designs we have been working on. Then I met my old fishing friend, Al Ward, and together we fished the Madison and Ruby River for 3 days.

We had a fine time fishing Tenkara rods, talking fly patterns, design and materials and did well on the Madison. The Ruby was not nearly so kind to us but because it was slow that day we had lots of time to "sit water", waiting for insects and trout rising, and discuss all of the above. Midges and Baetis came off the Madison this past Monday and Tuesday and we had a ball fishing Tenkara and learning new technique as we went along. Our new midge patterns are tyed with more and more flash and sparkle as you can see one in the following photos of a large brown trout I fooled with one of the new patterns using opal  Mirage tinsel. I fished over this fish, and more like it, and fooled 6-7 good browns with our new patterns. More on these flies in a later blog entry.

The above shot is one of Al taking his first Madison River trout using his new Tenkara rod. While many feel the fish are too large and the current too strong on rivers like the Madison you can see we did land some trout, many trout, without breaking one off.

Another picture is one of a March Brown mayfly I took on the Boulder River last week near Big Timber. The fish, mostly rainbows, got on these #14-16 duns and the fishing became "easy" for a couple hours as they rose to the first BIG mayflies of the new season. Note too the shot of a classic midge run, if you look closely you can see a couple rises and I took a few of these, mostly browns, on our latest midge flies. The one rainbow picture is a shot of a nice pre-spawning, run up trout at the mouth of the Yellowstone River, one I took on an Improved Baetis Sparkle Dun #20.

Our early spring fishing is now in full swing. The snow is still falling most afternoons and this brigns on great Baetis and March Brown emergences. More later on the fishing, new flies, etc! I am loaded up and heading spring turkey hunting in South Dakota and Montana so stay tuned, I'll fish both along the way and returning home!

 

Trout rising to midges on a nasty winter’s day

Yesterday's weather forecast called for high temps in the low 40's with light winds and sun. PERFECT, so I thought, for finding a midge emergence and trout rising to them. I headed to the river at noon. It was 27 degrees and overcast with winds from the south around 15-20mph...hardly "light" as forecasted. A high overcast ski persisted the entire day, a condition I'd rather have than bright sun for fishing midges. The temps never warmed about 30 degrees, the winds kept coming strong and the midges never emerged. I saw one rise all day...but I did take several fine brown trout on our Muskrat Midge and Rick's Bood Midge before heading home 3pm.

Today's forecast called for high temps of 35 with partly sunny skies and light winds. Arriving on the Madison near West Fork my thermometer never reached 30, clouds persisted and the winds howled. But, the midges came off strong and the trout rose to them.Go figure! I had very good dry fly fishing using  Scotty's and Skittering Zelon Midges. Approaching a favorite run, a shallow pool which was sheltered from the gale force winds by a huge boulder, the midges skittered along the suface just below the boulder and the trout rose steadily. I knotted on a #20 Scotty's and had a nice plump rainbow on the first cast...usually bad luck for me as is often the case when taking a fish on the first presentation for this might be tmy one and only fish of the day. Today was an exception as I took several more trout, all rising to midges. I changed spots a couple times when the trout went down. I searched out places that were out of the wind, like the second pocket I checked and found risers. This pocket was protected from the winds by a large snowdrift. As the midges emerged they scuttled along the shoreline just off the snowdrift overhanging from the shoreline and were picked off by the trout. Here I tried a Skittering Midge after observing trout moving to take skittering adults still trapped in their pupal shucks. I stuck with this pattern for an hour or two having taken several nice trout before afternoon temps dropped and the wind picked up even more. I came home. My hands and feet are still chilled, but I had a great time catching rising trout on small dry flies. My audience included water ouzles and their lovely song, a badger that stuck its nose out of a streamside den and then walked down to the river for a quick drink before heading back to its den...(not without glaring at me a short 30 feet away.) Too, I saw ducks and a kite, a Rough-legged Hawk and a cow and calf moose. But most of all, I saw midges and trouts noses as they rose to them; I saw my fly get taken by the trout....I will see this many times in my dream tonight, and dream of spring. It has been a very long winter, even the old-time locals are complaining. I hear them at the Ennis Pharmacy and the West Yellowstone Post Office and other places too. But, this winter I will continue to search for trout rising to winter midges and enjoy the wildlife and work on new fly patterns and complain with the old-timers about our long-windy-cold winter. This is our 33rd winter since moving to Montana....and, no doubt, our hardest-longest-windest......thank goodness for midges and wild tdrout! 

once you get in….you can’t get out

What about the title you ask? Well when you check out the photos we will edit in this blog entry later you will see what I mean. I hit the river this afternoon and once I got in, I could not get out. The snowdrifts off the shoreline were so high in places that once I got in I could only get out by wading long distances to a spot where the drifts cleared. In the hardened snowdrifts measure over 12 feet high and since I didn't bring climbing gear I was forced to fish upstream for as much as 200 yards before finding a low spot in the drifts which allowed me to climb out of the water. The fishing was great and I ended up with several nice rainbows that came to nymphs and dry midge patterns.

Too, you will see a shot of blood on the ice shelf along the river....along with lots of otter tracks. Most times this spot offers up some wonderful winter fishing, but if the otter(s) has recently been there the fish move out of the run and into mid-river and become very spooky......I've watched this otter and family on many occasions and have had the large male swim between my legs fishing late in the evening during summer caddis times. He is huge, over 60" from nose to tip of the tail, and almost black in color but I wish he'd not be such an efficient predator on my beloved fish here. On a side-note, a very good friend of mine did his masters work on otters in the Madison and found their favorite food to be stonefly nymphs followed by whitefish and then trout. On another note, the whitefish population in the Madison River has crashed and this has biologists very concerned. A study is forthcoming so stay tuned here.

Back to today's fishing. Jackie and I headed  to Ennis this morning for a late morning breakfast at the Ennis Pharmacy. Returning home around 10am we stopped on our bridge and could see a couple small rainbows nymphing in the currents behind a bridge abutment. I came home and got my gear and headed down to the river near Wolf Creek. There I located a pocket with a couple rising trout and took one on a Skittering Zelon Midge. In the run below I scored another on the same fly before busting a good brown off on the same fly. I sat on water and did not see another trout come up so changed to a #16 red Copper John and trailed a #20 Slough Creek Midge Larva behind and took another half dozen rainbows, one a beautiful male before the winds drove me for shelter. I took a shot of the larger rainbow which will be edited herein. The rainbows are jsut now getting their spawning colors and this male's kype was just beginning to hook.

The forecast is for warm weather all week so stay tuned for more reports to follow. This is the time of winter when the trout really come up for midges, both clumps and emerging adults so you should be ready with adults tied with trailing shucks like G Gnat Emergers and standard and Skittering Zelon Midges. Cluster patterns like our Hi Viz Midge Cluster and sometimes the Griffiths Gnat work well too. Give us a call before making the trip to check on river and weather conditions if heading this way.

A Quiet Afternoon on the Madison

Yesterday, December 9th, at 3p.m. I decided to check the river for trout rising to midges. I'd made a run to the dump near Palisade, glassed a couple hundred wintering elk in the valley, watched a badger dig out a snowdrift from its den entrance. I had brought along my fishing gear and hoped to put in an hour on the river since the afternoon winds had laid down and the temperature broke the freezing mark.

I called Bucky at the shop and told him I'd have a fishing report for him by 4p.m. I checked a couple midge spots but even though a few midges skittered along the shoreline I saw no risers. I put on one of our new Telstrike Indicators and knotted an Original Brown #16 $3.00 Dip without a bead behind a General Manager Nymph. Bucky has been touting the new indicators and I have to say that I now believe everything he's been saying about them. I know I took many more trout than I would have had I not been using this awesome indicator. Not only does it float well, is easy to cast and see, but the stiff hi-vis center post is so sensitive that even the most subtle-gentle takes are detected through this little addition to the simple indicator!

I took 10-11 trout, 8-9 rainbows and 2 browns from 11-17" in less than an hour and I covered only 20 yards of water. All rainbows took the GM Nymph and the 2 browns came to the $3.00 Dip. I had a wonderful time....so quiet and peaceful on the river with only the song of a Water Ouzel mixed with the soft murmer of the currents to accompany the lively splashes of the trout I brought to net!

Today, December 10th, I'd hoped to fish again but 20-25 mph winds from the north made even our long Cross-Country Ski trip a saga. Jackie and I had a tough time negotiating our trail as a huge bull moose had left its hoof prints in our skinny ski trail causing our skis to chatter/skitter as we descended down a couple steep grades. By the time we got back home at noon a new cold front had arrived in the valley and wind chills dipped into the teens....maybe Sunday! 

Page 1 of 2 pages