September 4, 2008 - Steve Hoovler

It's been an interesting few days around Yellowstone Country.

On Sunday, I started the day gulper fishing with Jamie Greene. The winds picked up early and forced us to look for some risers in a wind sheltered bay. We found a few feeding fish and, after chasing them around the weed beds for about an hour, landed one big rainbow.

Over the course of the afternoon, our first Fall storm rolled in with vengeance. Temperatures dropped quickly and strong winds blew in mean clouds with rain and snow up high.

Meanwhile, sixty feet below the waves on the surface of Hebgen Lake one of the four head gates on the dam failed. The flow out of the dam is controlled by two adjustable gates. Two more gates are permanently sealed and not adjustable. One of the non-adjustable gates broke blowing it's full capacity of water through the dam and into the Madison River. The flow imediatly spiked from 850cfs up to 3600cfs.

Officials evacuated campgrounds, fishing accesses, and some houses in the Raynolds Pass area. By Sunday evening the rumor mill had generated some world-class bullshit about the failing of Hebgen Dam. Every imaginable scenario from the collapse of the dam itself to the likely breech of the earthen dam at Quake Lake and the devastation of the Madison Valley and all things downstream spread around the area.

The two adjustable gates on Hebgen Dam have been closed, and the total flow is now coming through the broken headgate at 3250cfs. The latest word from PPL is that efforts are underway to somehow repair the headgate. The rumor mill has now shifted from Hebgen Dam - Armageddon theories to Hebgen Dam repair theories, and there's some good ones out there.

In the meantime, we've continued to fish. On Tuesday I spent the day with Mike and Michael, a great father and son team from St. Louis. We decided to avoid the run-off flows on the Madison and head up to the Northeast corner of the park.  The storm's aftermath left us with cold temps, snow-capped peaks and beautiful, clear skies. Unfortunately, 40 to 50 degree air temps don't do too much for the cutthroat fishing in the Lamar and Soda Butte. But, we stuck it out, regardless, and had a good baetis hatch in the afternoon that brought fish to the surface. Afterwards, we built our egos back up with some fast and furious brook trout fishing. Thanks, guys!

Yesterday, Joe Moore, of Big Sky Anglers fame, and I spent the day with a great group from Colorado and California. We got a heads up in the morning that the sprigtime flows on the Madison had cleared some, and fish were holding in their classic high water spots right on the bank. So, we stocked up on Rubberlegs and San Juan Worms, and headed down to Raynold's Pass. Two of the guys had never fly fished before, and they caught on to the nymphing routine in no time. In fact young Trevor was the first to land a fish, a nice brown on his third ever cast with a fly rod. Fishing turned out to be just what we were hoping for. Fish are stacked as close to the bank as possible, and they seem to be settled into feeding again. Nice job guys. Thanks for a great trip!

Cool, unsettled weather is forecasted for the rest of the week. Barring any more unforeseen cataclysmic events, Fall fishing should heat up soon. We'll have to wait and see.

Stay Tuned.