Ken Morris joined me for a couple of days on Hebgen to chase gulpers, and luckily for us, the  gulpering was in full swing. We found a decent number of c-baetis duns on the water as early as 8:00 am and tons of spinners by 10:30am. Lots of fish were one or two time risers, but  there were enough tracking fish to keep us occupied until the wind came up. Yesterday's wind didn't puff up until nearly 1:30pm.

Thanks Ken! See you next year.

I spent this last week with the crew from Sunrise Pack Station in the Cascade Corner of Yellowstone. We had an interesting and adventurous group of hot-potters and fishermen who all found the waters to their liking.  The weather was gorgeous, the moon was full, the hot-pots were warm, the mosquitoes were tollerable..............Oh, yeah and we caught some fish too.

Jerry drifted his ant along a juicy under-cut bank, and all hell broke loose. Ten minutes later he had this beautiful cutt-bow. Thanks for a great trip everyone!

I'll be back here in West Yellowstone chasing gulpers and floating the Madison for the next two weeks. So, stay tuned.

Wild weather, finicky fishing, and gracious guests are the highlights from the Madison River. I spent the last week guiding with the guys from The West Yellowstone Fly Shop and Big Sky Anglers.

Wicked, afternoon thunderstorms passed through the valley  dropping monsson-like rains and measurable hail.  In the aftermath of these storms there's a noticeable change in the weather. The sun's light is flatter. The air seems a bit more crisp. I hate to say it, but it feels like the very beginnings of Fall. We'll see how the rest of August turns out. Who knows? By this time next week it may be back in the mid-90's again.

Fishing on the Madison has certainly been August-like. Gone are the early season days of suicidal trout eating dry flies with abandon. Don't get me wrong. There's been great dry fly fishing with Spruce Moths, PMD's, Caddis, Hoppers, and Ants. But, it's time to dust off the "A" Game in order to fool these veteran trout. They've already seen an awesome amout of both insects and flies in this short season, and their beginning to "think" twice before each trip to the surface.

Dry fly fishing on Hebgen Lake has heated up over the last two weeks, and I was able to spend the couple of mornings out there looking for gulpers. Yesterday was a perfect morning for the lake - warm sun and calm wind until almost 1:30pm. Callibaetis duns and spinners were on the water when we put the boat in at 9:00am and fish were rising from the start. We saw lots of inconsistent one and two time risers, and a fair number of good, tracking fish. Today we headed back for a repeat and the wind was up in earnest by 10:00am.

Tomorrow, I take off for a week-long pack trip in the Southwest corner of the Park with Sunrise Pack Station. We'll fish waters like the Bechler River, Mtn. Ash Creek, and the upper Fall River. This is usually prime time in that corner of the park, as August heat generally dries out the meadows and biting flies are gone. But, this year's high snowpack, and wet Spring left the Bechler meadows closed to traffic due to wet conditions until just ten days ago. If the mosquitoes haven't sucked me dry, I'll be back with a report next weekend. So, stay tuned.

Spruce Flies have officially infested the area. Everything from my truck to the Dairy Queen in town is covered with these little moths. They're also blanketing the Madison River in stretches that are even remotely close to an evergreen. This picture looks just like a swarm of caddis, but it's a group of moths that we saw below Lyons bridge this morning.

I floated with a fun mother and son from Colorado today, and we had some nice fish eat moth imitations right off the bat this morning. As the day grew on and the wind puffed up, we switched to nymphs and finished strong.

Thanks Anne and Connor. We'll get 'em again on friday.

I just finished a three day stint in the Northeast corner of the park with the boys from the West Yellowstone Fly Shop. We had some great people and some great fishing on the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek. After a long wait, the waters have finally cleared, warmed, and started to really fish like we're used to.

It was my first chance to spend time on these waters this season, and I was amazed at how much had changed after a huge run-off year. Several of my favorite spots from last year  are completely dry, and the river has shifted over 20 yards away. It's like a new fishery after each big water year.

We saw good fishing with terrestrials and the occassional pmd or caddis.

Back down to the Madison today. I floated with a couple of guys staying at the Old Kirby Place. Gary, Don, and I headed from Mac to Varney again trying to duplicate yesterday's dry fly bite, and we did pretty well. Today was a bit calmer and warmer, and the bigger fish were a bit fewer and farther between, but we managed to rise a good number to hoppers and ants.

Flows continue to be below 800 cfs out of Hebgen. It's getting pretty skinny on Cameron Flats. Cooler weather is in the forecast. So, hopefully the water temps will stay cool in these lower stretches, and the dry fly bite will remain strong.

I've seen lots of Spruce Flies around lately. It might be time to head up around the West Fork. Stay Tuned.

Big heat, huge wind, and lots of rising fish is the story from the Madison Valley today. I hooked up with Tommy again for a float from Mac to Varney. When you could get a drift through the howling wind, fish ate hoppers, ants, and caddis for most of the day. Lots of little guys were on the hunt, but we managed to get a good number of quality fish too. At Varney we ran into Madison River veteran Yvonne Llewellyn who told us about a 21" brown she caught right below McAttee Bridge. Around 3:00pm the heat of the day seemed to reach its peak, and the dry fly bite disappeared from Cameron Flats down.

The forecast calls for more wind, but temps should be dropping over the next few days. I'll be on the river every day.  So, stay tuned.

Sara and I had an all to rare occassion to fish with Tom "The Nighthawk" Cornell tonight at $3 Bridge. We spent more time catching up than fishing. Tommy had some great stories from a recent trip to the South Fork of the Snake (Home of the sucker in the foreground of the photo. The sucker in the background lives in West Yellowstone.).

Fishing was a little funky for us tonight. We didn't see the numbers of mayflies or feeding fish from 5:00pm to 9:00pm that had been around earlier in the week. But, the caddis activity at dark more than made up for it. An Iris Caddis seemed to do the trick as soon as the sun went down.

As July quickly draws to a close, I finally find myself with a couple of consequetive days off. I'm psyched for some time to get caught up on things like laundry, bills, my wife, and some personal fishing before a jam-packed August arrives. (Not necessarily in that order, honey!) The next month will be busy with a combination of daily trips on the Madison and in YNP, as well as some backcountry horse pack trips. I look forward to these pack trips all year. They are definitely a highlight of my season.

This grizz picture was sent to me recently by David Wampler from Kerrville, TX. We spent a few days together on upper Slough Creek last year, and ran into this ornery bruin on our last morning of the trip. The orange mark below his ear, and on his shoulder is from pepper spray. I'll let your imaginations take it from there.

More wind. More warm temps. And, another evening of great fishing on the Madison. I floated last night with Gerry Schwab. It was Gerry's first float down the Madison, and despite the wind's best efforts, we had a great time. Nymphing was the name of the game to start. Gerry did well subsurface with a serendipity, and a soft-hackle emerger. By 5:00pm we had seen several fish rise to the handful of flavs that tumbled downstream in the wind, and decided to switch to dries. From that point until dark thirty pm we had consistent fishing with a #16 pmx and a #16 sparkle dun. Thanks for a great float ,Gerry. Enjoy the rest of your road trip.

The furnace and the fan have both been set at high in the Madison Valley recently. Daytime highs have been in the mid-80's, and a stiff southeast wind has puffed up each afternoon. With warmer temps, I've opted for late afternoon and evening trips this week, and we've seen solid fishing. Water temps have peaked out around 65 by 3:00pm forcing bug and fish activity alike to slow somewhat in the afternoons. But, as soon as that sun starts to drop in the late afternoon, water temps plumet quickly, and the river comes alive with four different caddis, flavs, epeorus, pmd spinners, drakes, and still stoneflies.  When we rigged up at the truck this afternoon the temp read 88 degrees, and I couldn't bring myself to wear waders. At 9:00pm the water temp was 58 degrees, and I was reaching for that extra layer of fleece in my pack.

Hillman Ray from North Carolina joined me this evening at $3 Bridge, and we found an interesting variety of bugs on the water. Billions of caddis hover over every streamside willow right now, and salmonflies are still sneaking their way onto your neck. This is no place for anyone whose even slightly uncomfortable with bugs. (It's a dam good thing they don't have mouths.) Nymphing was the ticket for us early, and we hooked some nice fish on epeorus and flav emergers fished deep. By 5:30pm a few duns began to float by, and fish in the outside seems rose to them sporadically. We switched to dries when a big, chunky flav caught a ride on Hillman's leader and was inhaled by a rainbow ten feet from us. Working slowly upstream Hillman rose quite a few nice fish on sparkle duns. By 9:30 the temps had dropped, and we had caught plenty of fish. So, we skipped out before the final half hour of caddis madness at dark. Thanks for a great trip Hillman.

I'm back down there for another float tomorrow evening. So, Stay Tuned!

I took an absolutely gorgeous float on the Madison this evening with Todd Steadman and Paul Bowen. We started in the afternoon with a breezy, blue bird day, and ended with a calm, golden evening. As the sun dove towards the Gravelys it light up millions of caddis, epeorus, flavs, little yellow stones, golden stoneflies, and yes, salmonflies. We caught several fish on salmonflies again today - July 23 and still counting. Paul fed a big brown with a flav sparkle dun, and both guys had lots of other fish on caddis imitations.

Thanks for an awesome day fellas. I'll look forward to a saltwater trip next Spring.

I took a break from the Madison today and fished the Gallatin with a father and son from Florence, Italy. We found good fishing in the stretch between Daly Creek and Specimen Creek. There's still a couple of salmonflies and golden stones around, and we rose a few fish on big dry stoneflies. But, the majority of our fish came to a #16 PMX and a #16 PMD Cripple. Paolo had the fish of the day with a 17" Cutt-bow right out of the gate.

The Madison fished well again for us yesterday. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, there's still salmonflies around. We had a few good fish rise out in the middle to big dries at several different points between Lyons and Pallisades. I've also heard good reports from the wade stretch. Two or three plastered the windshield above $3 Bridge driving back from the river last night.

It's been quite a month down there. Stay tuned for more.

There are still Salmonflies on the Madison!!! We took out at Ruby Cr. the last two days and saw big bugs soaring over head at the boat ramp. Fishing has been good with both dries and nymphs. Every bug that hatches on the Madison in the summer is on the water right now.

I spent yesterday with Rob Maggert, and we took some nice fish on dries. Check out this plump brown. Today I hooked up with Bruce and Julie Sampson. We saw good action on nymphs and dries. Sorry we missed a picture of that big rainbow, Bruce. We'll get one next time. Bruce is a professional walleye fisherman, and fascinated me with stories about the pro walleye tour. Check out his website at www.hightecfishing.com . Thanks for great days folks.

I'm back down there tomorrow. So, stay tuned.

 

I've fished with some great folks over the last few days. Most notably, Bill Kane and his daughter Sarah.  We spent a late afternoon and evening together floating the Madison, and had a ball. A classic Madison Valley summer thunderstorm forced us to take cover under a streamside willow for  45 minutes.  But, after the storm passed the sun came out, the wind died down, and fish rose to dry flies. We enjoyed consistent dry fly fishing with Salmonflies, Golden Stones, PMD's and Caddis as the sinking sun light up the Madison range. Believe it or not, during our rain delay we sat and watched dozens of adult Salmonflies on the bank including a handful that were crawling from their nymphal shucks. The Big Bugs refuse to quit this year.   Thanks for an awesome evening, guys!

Sara and I took today off, and tried to take advantage of this year's long-lasting salmonfly hatch on the Madison. We took a short float from Lyons to Windy, and saw Salmonflies and Golden Stones the entire way. Luckily, we also saw a bunch of caddis and pmd's, as the bite on big bugs was inconsistent at best. Mrs. Hoovie fished a large stone, either a salmon or golden imitation, all day with a variety of different droppers like x-caddis, and pmd cripples. Lots of fish rose to all of her imitations, but many were in the 12-14" class, and most ate the small dropper.  Three or four larger fish rose along the way, the best being a 17" rainbow.

The number of stoneflies was impressive for mid-July. I'll be down there the next few days. So, stay tuned!

I spent today with some awesome guys from PA. We headed up to the Gallatin in hopes of some dry fly fishing. Salmonflies, Goldens, PMD's, and caddis are all around in good numbers right now, and the water clarity is finally looking like something recognizable. The flow is still pretty swift, but we all managed to get around pretty well. Fish looked at Slamonflies and Goldens on and off, with a golden being the one to hook a handful of good fish, including one nice 17" cutt-bow. Chris did well fishing a #16 caddis imitation.

To top off a great day, the boys brought out some of my old favorite "Lager". Thanks for the imports, guys. I think we might have snagged the first ever picture of a salmonfly on a Yuengling can. 

I had today off. So, I headed down to the H-Fork. I hit Wood Rd #16 around 9:00am and found a few fish rising to spinners right away. A large group of smaller fish were rising in the middle of the river, but every so often you'd see a good head poke up. After catching one nice 17" fish and two smaller guys (I just couldn't resist), I started to head towards the bank.  Halfway there, I saw a wake that  reminded me of a bonefish cruising in shallow water. The difference, aside from being several thousand miles from the closest bonefish, was that I was in knee-deep water.

One bohemith rainbow was cruising back and forth along the bank, rising occasionally and pushing water the entire way. I crept in as close as possible, and waited for him to cruise by, frantically trying to get a fly to him before he passed and continued on his circuit. After thirty minutes I fed him a spinner and promptly yanked it away before the hook could purchase. Twenty minutes later, I fed him an ant and hooked up. Twenty seconds after that I broke him off, and watched the wake head downstream for good.

Dry fly fishing remains consistent on the "fifty mile riffle". I floated today with Bill and Joan McQueen from Pasadena. We had a great time fishing a variety of dry flies, but a size 16 Royal Wulff Cripple took the cake this afternoon. Salmonflies have been spotty, and the fish that want a salmonfly have been even more inconsistent. Bill did feed two good browns an adult salmonfly right off the bat this morning, but that was our only action on the big bug.

Thanks for another great float, guys. I'm looking forward to seeing you again in September.

Our weather has been terrific lately. Cold evenings and warm days. Highs have been in the upper 70's and low 80's. Winds have been moderate. The forecast through this week calls for more of the same. Maybe we can sneak out of July without seeing the nuclear temps that we've had the last few years. Keep your fingers crossed.

More dry fly fishing on the Madison. Michael and Pam Graham  joined me today from Texas. We started the day wading at Raynold's Pass. Fish were working as soon as we arrived to egg-laying caddis and PMD's. Michael started off the day with a chunky 18" Rainbow that had stuffed himself with Salmonfly nymphs. Two nymphs were lodged in the back of its mouth when we brought him in, and you could feel a gob of them in his belly.

After lunch we slipped the boat in for a float from Lyons to Pallisades. Fish rose to caddis and pmd's right below the bridge. We switched to a dry Salmonfly after Wolf Creek and rose nice fish for the remainder.

The wind decided to blow a gale downstream for most of the afternoon, but we hammered away regardless, and had a great day. Thanks for toughing it out with me guys!