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.