Fly Tying and Materials

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!

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.

Rough sledding, no fishing, fun presenations and looking forward to spring

It has been too long since my last blog entry. I have not fished in some time due to weather condtions. But, I will end that, if the forecast is correct, next week! We are promised to receive some 40-50 degree afternoons...and we need it!

It has been a rough-tough go for wildlife in the Madison Valley and fly fishers who want to get on the stream. On the way into work this morning Jackie and I saw 5 moose along the Madison near the West Fork. At Eagle's Nest access site there were 4 elk walking down the river searching for forage along the shoreline. 

Our good friend and talented fly tier, Tim Bozorth from Dillon came through the other day and dropped off some flies he'd tied for us. we talked about the wintering big horn sheep near the Earthquake Visitor Center and our shared concern for their safety as they often venture to the highway and walk the road, lick salt from the roadway, and are subject to being hit by vehicles. I was complaining to Tim about our on-going 4 year efforts to get signs warning motorists about the sheep on the road. I explained I'd written letters, made phone calls, etc to state officials but to date, to no avail. Tim said he'd write a letter and send some photos of the sheep on the road....what do you know......we FINALLY have 2 big "BIG HORN SHEEP CROSSING" signs! Just last week, before the sign went up, 4 sheep were struck and killed in one accident. I hope the signs will prevent future events like that. It pays to take the time and make the calls, write the letters, be persistent and follow-up until someone listens, someone who will help protect and preserve what we all love about this area.

Enough patting ourself on the back. We have work to do. This afternoon I will be in Bozeman to meet with Trust for Public Lands on some conservation easement issues in the Madison Valley. After that I put on a fly fishing presentation for the Madison-Gallatin Chapt of Trout Unlimited. On Friday I head to Kansas City, Mo for a weekend fly fishing-tying, conservation presentation to The Heart of America Fly Fishers. We'll talk about the Yellowstone's "overlooked" waters and give them an update on The Yellowstone Park Foundation's fisheries initative, 1% for the Planet, and more.

Last weekend I did a 1% for the Planet presentation for over 200 members of The Henry's Fork Foundation. We raised a record amount of money afterwards in the fundraiser-auction. The 1% program has raised over $70 million for conservation to date and its better than 1700 business members lead the way for other businesses to follow with the 1% brand. Why not spend your money and support 1% members who give back to what you and I love?...clean water, wild trout and access and so much more...we lead by example, and YES, we are blowing our horn for conservation and I hope you will join the 1% brand-and model through your shopping with 1% businesses like ours.

our Vol 2 of "Tying Yellowstone Hatches" is out and receiving great reviews for its 33 fly instructions and narration. Bucky and I tie the flies and Phil T. produces this great DVD.

While cleaning the basement last week Minori finds a batch of the Madison-Gallatin Wild Trout Foundations "Madison River Memories" by Richard Tumbleston. This great print of the $3 Bridge area was used by us to raise the monies neceessary to conserve, and keep open to the public, the wonderful 2 miles of Madison River at $3 Bridge so long ago. We are selling this print, (very limited quantity available), and the proceeds will go to The Madison River Foundation for their on-going conservation efforts in the Madison Valley. Jackie and I have one in our home and you should too! Call us for information on this great print which many thought  (us too) were totally sold out! You can see more if you sign up for our weekly email newsletter by going to our web site..

Our guides are getting ready for upcoming spring mayfly trips and all of us here at the shop are anxiously tying flies and readying our equipment with new lines, leaders, tippet, floatant and more.

I have to hit the road to Bozeman. Stay tuned for some upcoming early spring fishing reports....I promise!

Dead Calm

I tried this once before today...and it evaporated into thin air...so here we go again.

Last night at 11pm Jackie and I both woke up suddenly, and without knowing why. Then it hit us...it was dead calm, the gale force winds we'd experienced for over two weeks had died down. It is hard to explain since we do not hear the wind along the river from our house about a quarter mile away. But when it howls and blows for days on end, and finally quits you can actually "feel" it calm down. There's a lessening of pressure so to speak that comes from the winds laying down.

This morning the outside temps hovered around 4 degrees with an inch of new snow.  I got up at 6am and read a few chapters of Douglas Brinkley's, "The Wilderness Warrior---Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America". As the sun came up over Hilgard Peaks in the Madison Range I looked across the river and could make out a couple of bull elk along with 3 cows and a calf grazing, their exhaled breaths disappearing in the morning light. They were on the same windblown ridge we had watched a big 6 point bull elk making a go of it for 3 weeks late last month. Then the lone bull struggled along on a badly injured shoulder and could barely stand and feed.

One morning watching through our spotting scopes we watched 9 wolves circling the bull. He got up and faced the wolves as they moved not 3 feet away from where he stood. The wolves seemed to be sizing up the wounded animal and finally moved off only to return a few minutes later. Again, as before, they circled the bull and fthen walked off for good, that day. The next morning we saw several ravens and a golden eagle circle and dive in the ravine adjacent to the ridge. We knew the end had come for the big bull and I promised myself I'd soon hike up the mountain to retrieve the skull and antlers of the bull. If you are interested in wolves, wild places and the guy who tells the real story of both you must read "Wolfer" by Carter Niemeyer. An incredible read, one book you will not put down and the ending might .....I won't say more but you will find it on our on-line catalogue!

Two days ago, this past Friday, Phil and I headed to the river to film a segment of fishing with a Tenkara Rod. My good friend, Yvon Chouinard, had called and asked for the filming and footage which you can view soon on both Patagonia and Blue Ribbon Flies websites.I'd just received a new Tenkara rod, the Iwana, from Daniel Galhardo of Tenkara USA and wanted to fish it on the river during the winter season. Many anglers feel that a Tenkara cannot be fished on the rivers like the Madison due to it using a short-fixed lenght line and no reel. Yvon and I have fished Tenkara the past few seasons and it can be fished on rivers like the Madison, Gallatin, Warm, Lamar and Yellowstone as well as smaller waters like our Nez Perce, Grayling, Tower and Soda Butte just to name a few. The simple way of Tenkara fly fishing is awesome and we have had great fun and enjoyment fishing this method. I have many photos of Yvon and I hooking up doubles using a pair of soft hackles or an X Caddis-Soft Hackle tandem rig on the Firehole in June.

On Friday we found the temps near 30 degrees with blowing snow and ice bergs floating along most sections of the river. Undaunted we hit the river around 1pm and took 4 great trout before freezing out. One fish was an 18" rainbow which caused me to run 20 yards downstream in order to land it...I will let you know when the footage is edited and released soon.

At the shop we have been busy working with our new materials and tying up the new 2011 fly patterns. Our 2011 catalog is in the mail and we are constantly working on updating our new website, filming fly patterns which are now on the site as well as hints on products which make our fly fishing more enjoyable and efficient. I am tying the "Fly of the Month" February fly now for our "Fly of the Month" subscribers .

I look forward to presenting 1% for the Planet and fly fishing programs from Salt Lake to Kansas City and Bozeman to Belize and more this winter. I will keep you posted here so stay tuned for fishing reports, new conservation projects and more right here. I hope to hear from you soon and thanks for reading!

A Windy, yet Fishy Afternoon on the Madison

I had tied up a few red midge larvae this morning. One afternoon last week I was releasing a rainbow that had taken a Zelon Midge when I noticed a tiny natural bright red midge larva between the teeth of the trout. Today I wanted to try my sparkling red pattern. I had taken a couple of Rick Smith's (BRF's Minori's husband) ideas from a fly he'd shown me last winter. One he and Minori had had great success with winter fishing the Gallatin River near Big Sky.

When I got to the river at 2:30pm the truck's thermometer registered 35 and the winds came strong out of the southwest. I slugged through stiff, windblown snowdrifts to the river. I remembered this time to knot on fresh tippet and a fly before I left the house. I knew the windchill would not allow me much fishing time this afternoon.

On the second cast I had a 12" rainbow on the red larva. A 15" rainbow came to my Ghost Net on the very next cast...I scored 6 great rainbows...the best a male just over 17" sporting pre-spawning colors and jumping twice before coming to net. I sloshed another 20 yards upstream and changed fles. This time I cut back my 5x tippet  to 3x and knotted on a big brown stone. After several casts and no takers I changed back to the red midge larva and caught 3 more rainbows on the water I'd just fished through with the stone nymph. I'm tying more sparkling red larvae this evening!

As is often the case fishing December and January, on the Madison in particular, brown trout seem to  lay low. I find once the days begin to lenghten in early February and the water temps warm a degree or two brown trout become more active and key on stonefly nymphs which come from under the rocks in the late afternoon hours to graze on algae. Then too, they might be taken more readily on midge imitations both on and under the surface.

The forecast is for colder temps moving in later this week, then a warm-up by week's end. I will bring you some more fishing news, and la  few photos from the river too!

Cam and I will be filming and tying a couple fly patterns this week so get your tying gear ready and follow along!

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