Upper reaches of the Yellowstone River above Yellowstone Lake have suffered from the same collapse in Cutthroat Trout populations that plague the river in popular spots like Buffalo Ford and LeHardy Rapids. Whether the culprit is Lake Trout, Whirling Disease, Drought, or a combination of variables is unknown. What is known is the fish are simply gone.

In the "good-old-days" hundreds of thousands of cutthroat trout would make their way up the Yellowstone River from the lake to spawn. Those fish would hang out for most of the summer. Then, slowly slide back to the lake by fall. When I first fished the Thorofare in the mid-90's you could still literally walk across tributary streams like Mountain Creek on the backs of cutthroat trout. By the time I took my last trip, a group of eight accomplished anglers could only find five trout in a week-long trip.

It's been seven years since my last trip into this wilderness. I've stayed away because it's pretty tough to sell a fly fishing pack trip when there's no fish to fish for - especially when you have to ride a horse for more than 70 miles to get there and back.

Over the years I've been dying to get back into that country - fish or no fish. Even when the fishing was epic, it was the impact that country made on you that you remembered.  Last summer some great clients asked about the Thorofare. I gave them my usual speech about how spectacular the country is, how long you have to spend on a horse, and how the fishery has all but collapsed. To my surprise, they responded that they didn't care about the fishing and just wanted to see the country....I got right to work.

I planned our trip with Shane Mclaflin of Sunrise Pack Station. We put together an eight day trip that took us from the Snake River to the Thorofare and down the Yellowstone to the Lake. We planned to spend as much time as we could in some of the best fishing spots, and see what we could find.

In the end we had an awesome trip. Early September in the backcountry is lights out gorgeous. We had great weather - even with a little snow one night. We listened to wolves howl and elk bugle. We even had some good fishing.

We fished miles of water without seeing a single fish, but when we did see fish they were big studly cutts. As is the case in the entire Yellowstone Lake fishery, there are no small fish. What we did see plenty of were baetis and mahogany dun mayflies. Scuzzy conditions and some luck added up to a strong emergence when we happened to find some fish. Jim and Pat spent one afternoon trading off on large fish coming up for small dry flies in one of the sweetest spots I've ever trout fished.

On another afternoon we fished some still water with bright blue skies, and stripped leaches for a few gorgeous cutts.

In the end we spent much more time exploring marvelous country than we did fishing. But we found some spectacular fish and some classy fishing nonetheless.

It was great to get back to the Thorofare. I hope it's not another seven years before my next trip. Regardless of how long it takes, that place will haunt me again until I return.

Thanks to Jim, Pat, Shane, Sara, and George. It was "with all meta-physical certainty" an outstanding trip.

The wild ride that has been the summer of 2010 continues. The wind that blew in all of this scuzzy weather was impressive. We actually had a tornado, complete with torn off roofs and dozens of knocked down trees, rip right through the center of West Yellowstone on Saturday.

I'm taking a much needed couple of days off to hang with Sara and Buster before a long stint in the back country, and our timing with the weather couldn't have been any better. This is make some soup and watch the Big Lebowski weather.

I've had some terrific days recently with awesome folks. Here's a few shots from the past week.

Thanks again, guys! Look forward to next time.

I've been back on the Madison and Hebgen this week. Hoppers, ants, and spruce moths continue to drive the dry fly bite down on the Madison. While, Hebgen is at it's peak for gulpers.

Stay Tuned!

Two weeks ago I complained about the hot "sultry" weather we were having. Like a dumb-ass I whined about how late July felt more like late August. Well, it's basically been rainy and cold every day since. We've seen ridiculous winds, heavy hail, and cool temps. This hasn't been the standard "afternoon thunderstorm" weather either. These storms aren't buzzing our tower and moving right on by. They loom and hang over us for hours. I've seen more days with persistent, soaking rain in the last two weeks than I can ever remember in August.

There has been some nice weather in between thunderstorms...mostly in the mornings. And, there's been some good fishing as well. I've still been on the Madison quite a bit. Dry fly fishing has gotten pretty tight down there. It's definitely time to bring your "A Game". As tough as it can be, I actually love it when the Madison fishes like this in August. You have to do everything right, just about every time. If you drag your fly across a spot, forget it. And, many times those perfect drifts still aren't enough. We've watched a lot of good drifts in good spots go without an eat. But, I've also seen (and heard) some of the biggest fish of the year in the last ten days. (Way to go Todd!) The bar is raised for dry fly fishing, and with higher stakes come higher rewards.

In addition to the Madison I've also ventured into the backcountry for a few days. Wet weather has some of our favorite spots running a bit off color, but it's still the perfect time to put some miles under your belt. The biting fly season is pretty much behind us, and terrestrials are crawling all over the backcountry.

Gulpers are still gulpering on Hebgen. Wet, windy weather put the kibosh on our action for a few days. But the forecast finally looks good - calm, sunny mornings.

The boys from TX are on their way for an Oarsmen Road Trip this week, and the good doctor from Duke will be here soon after. Then it'll be time to see if I can remember how to sit a horse. The summer season is only half way through, and we're just hitting our stride.

Stay Tuned!

Where did the first half of summer go? Sultry afternoon temps have it feeling like late-August. Hot weather, and warming water temps on the Madison sent me out to spots like the Gallatin,  and Yellowstone lately.We've seen some fun fishing with hoppers, pmd's, and caddis. Yesterday's severe thunderstorms dumped heavy rain and hail across the area. As a result, the streams in YNP's NE corner have put some mud into the Yellowstone up high. Hopefully it won't be too bad or last too long.

Gulpers are getting their gulp on. Hebgen is still at 97%, and more water means more places for gulpers to gulp.

August is also time to look at the back country. Give those poor fish at $3 Bridge a break for a day or two and check out some of the blue squiggly lines on the YNP topo maps. A thirty minute hike will almost always relieve you of 90% of the angling pressure. Not to mention the awesome stuff you see in the back country.

Thanks a ton to Dave and Kim, Jimmy and Sara, Clarence and Kate, Ed and Leona, and everyone else that I was lucky enough to spend a day or two on the water with over the last couple of weeks.

Stay Tuned.

After a slow start, the river has fished well for the last few weeks. Rick and George joined me for a fun day of adventure wading. We found a number of nice fish with dry flies, and only took one swim.

Thanks for another great trip guys. Thanks also to Dwight and Carter for a fun day, and to Steve and Scott for a great visit.

I joined the crew at Big Sky Anglers for a few days to fish with the boys from Omaha. They arrived in style and fished the Madison for a few days out of the Old Kirby Place. Thanks guys, I hope you had as much fun as we did.

It took a little while for our evening caddis fishing to get fired up this year. But, once we got some hot weather it was on. I've had some terrific evening floats over the last two weeks. Howard and Stephen from IF joined me this past week. We had a fun float, fishing dry flies from ramp to ramp. Stephen fooled this big brown on a small midge. Thanks, guys. Sorry you had to see P-Man with his shirt off....

Dillon and Greg, John and Greg, and the rest of the folks I've fished with in the last few weeks, Thanks for some great times. We'll try to get some photos next time.

As the summer chugs right along I look forward to a few more weeks of good dry fly fishing on the Madison. Gulpers have begun gulperig on Hebgen. And, soon it will be time to head into the back country.

Stay Tuned...

The Madison and H-Fork rivers have been my focus lately. The Madison is truely in perfect shape for salmonflies. The water is slightly green, and flowing at 1110cfs out of Hebgen / 1650cfs at Kirby. The big bugs have been slow to get started so far. There are sporadic bugs below Ennis, and one or two here and there just above town. I'm hoping warmer weather and lower flows get those big bugs in the mood this week.

The H-Fork has also seen a drop in flows. The lower river is at 1800cfs below Ashton. That's a perfect dry fly fishing flow. At least it's supposed to be. Fish haven't gotten into the real dry fly swing of things yet. Most of the bugs we hope to see in June are present. Pmd's, flavs, and golden stones have been the headliners lately. We're still waiting to see that first good gray drake spinner fall around Chester. It feels like things are just about to pop on the lower river.

Stay Tuned.

Flows coming in and out of Hebgen Lake have quieted down this week, and the braintrust in charge of the outflows have brought the river down to 1400cfs. The reservoir sits at 98.7%. Inflows remain around 1850cfs. We'll see what the forecasted rains do to inflows. Hopefully, we won't see another bump. The river has been at the same flow for two days now, and some consistentcy would sure help the fishing.

The clarity of the water below Quake Lake is a very fishable "glacial-green". The West Fork is still putting some brown water into the flow, but it's effects are minimal.

P-Man and I floated from Lyons to the access formerly known as Windy (now visible from space). We fished the standard muddy water rigs....rubberlegs, worms, yellow streamers. Fish seemed to be in the usual high-water spots, and we managed to fool a few of them. If flows stay consistent for a few days, the fishing could get pretty good.

In other news, dry fly fishing on the Firehole and the Madison in the park has been good. Pmd and baetis hatches have been reliable and productive on the Firehole. I spent some fun days up there with Seth and Brad...Thanks, Guys.  Salmonflies and AM spinner falls on the Madison are slowly becoming a factor. I've spent several mornings looking for Grey Drake spinners here as well, but one or two is all we've seen so far.

Nationally acclaimed and regoinally adored H-Fork icon, John Hudgens reports that Dry Fly fishing is "really coming around" on the Henry's Fork. The lower river is slowly dropping (2400cfs below Ashton), fish are finally looking for PMD's and Green Drakes are imminent. This weekend is the annual Railroad Ranch opener.  Winter flows out of Island Park Reservoir were strong again this year. That should bode well for the ranch. It still hasn't been publicized well, but the fishing in the Ranch is slowly getting better. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the glory days. But, there's a good chance at seeing multiple targets and strong hatches with little or no other anglers around. Not bad.

Leaving West Yellowstone we headed north along 191 towards Hebgen. The Madison above Hebgen was bank-full and brown as were Cougar and Duck Creeks. Grayling Creek was cranking out into the maze of willows between the highway and the lake.

Hebgen is close to full-pond (96%), and covered up in big midges. The inflow is currently over 3500cfs, and they bumped up the outflow on the Madison yesterday to nearly 950cfs. Those Madison flows are going to have to get much higher in the coming days to accommodate all of the water that's still to come.

I'm sure glad they filled the reservoir and ran the river at a trickle during the core of the spawning season, just to dump it all now. Who's in charge here anyway, Rain Man?

The Madison below Hebgen (between the lakes) was packed with people. Every inch of fishable water had a thingamabobber on top of it. Moving down, Cabin Creek was puking mud. The flow was strong enough to completely overtake the Madison flow as soon as they came together - no half-and-half downstream. Beaver Creek looked like you could shovel it. Quake Lake was, surprisingly, not brown. It still had that green color to it. So, the river downstream was very fishable. But, I have to think that that's going to slowly deteriorate as Quake fills with pure mud from Cabin and Beaver Creeks.

Moving downstream into the float stretch, mud from the West Fork had turned the river-left half of the Madison pure, dark brown.  With mud on its way through Quake Lake, and the inevitable cranking of the flows from Hebgen, I think we're going to be looking squarely at a goat-show down here for a while.

Of cousre, there's always the H-Fork.......Stay Tuned.