Mid-Summer Spring Creek Report (& YNP)

I had a day of guiding at Armstrong Spring Creek (www.armstrongspringcreek.com). As I keep mentioning, and I don't think that's redundant, Livingston's spring creeks run and remain cool all through summer WITHOUT mud-plug!! Not to mention, fishing is superb and always challenging that we learn from.

As a guide, I face a lots of conditions and situations: trout habitat & attitude, changes on creeks, seasonal changes, and so on. Over all, trout are not where they used to be during PMD time almost two months ago.

Right now the most prevalent hatch is midges. Long story short, "summer midge" can be as challenging as brain surgeries!!
PMD is still around. Fair to sparse on sunny/windy day. But there have been reports of good numbers on insects in conjunction with according rising trout on wet/overcast conditions.
Baetis = small mayflies in general = have been observed.
Caddis is fluttering.
Another reliable hatch is Sulphur mayfly in the evening! In my lengths of career, I have been seeing them for a past couple of seasons. But this is the first season that I see trout are keying on the hatch for a short period in the evening but very intensely.

These gents fished hard for very challenging midge feeding trout!!

Then, this time of year is the Terrestrial Time!! Ants, Beetles, Cricket, Hoppers, etc (in alphabetical order) are abundant along the creek banks!! Especially at a certain stretch of Armstrong's, hoppers are more abundant than other stretches or creeks among tall grasses of ranch land!!
That being said, never underestimate smaller ones = ants, beetles, leaf-hoppers, etc. Always trail behind large hopper patterns........ Also look for trout at along what would be special for this time of year............. = moss patch for one............

Pump contents were as interesting as chuckling. This big one seemed to prefer "small meals" all day.

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After the storm and muddy water of last weekend, Yellowstone River system is back in shape. Somehow I developed an itch to visit a certain stretch of Lamar River. Small Cutthroat kept attacking my dry-flies for the first thing in the morning and it went on. Fun just as I hoped.
Then just around mid-day, it was a Hopper Time!! I tied on Gartside Pheasant Hopper that I had stocked up this spring.

I knew this one would work but results were beyond description!
After the first cast and within a very short drift, something huge emerged quietly yet surely.

Pump result was another interesting one!! This is a little cicada, isn't it? It must have been very crunchy!!

That wasn't all.........
Within a short period, I had two more big ones in the same manner!!!!

"Yeah! Pheasant Hopper works!!"..........
That's a good review but I'd like to go more details.
I noticed Pheasant Hopper sits very low and quietly on the surface (I greased very well with oil type floatant) - that I think, no offence, modern foam patterns have forgotten!! Yet it remains very visible and buoyant.
Yellowstone Cutthroat are known to rise slowly and deliberately to our flies and examine very carefully, especially big flies such as hoppers. Every now and then, they literally "kiss" but turn away without biting it. These three big Cutt did rise slowly and quietly. But they all "sipped", as if sipping mayfly emergers, size 6 Pheasant Hopper without any hesitations!!!

Just one more sample from the later Cutt. Again, lots of interesting contents to note!

See you along the stream!