Park Season Ending

As of typing now, Yellowstone Park fishing is open till tomorrow Sunday 6th. Go take a chance, folks, if you can beat the snowy driving and cold air like I barely did.

I left my house in Livingston at 6am. The moment I got out of my house, it started snow. It wasn't bad at all till in the middle of Bozeman. From there to Belgrade, south to Big Sky, I started to regret......I should have stayed inside, sat in front of wood stove, and drunk coffee.........Well, no way to go back.

I really didn't plan strictly as for sections, tactics, etc. OPEN, so to speak. As I was driving south to the town of West Yellowstone, I saw a few cars at Baker's Hole CG and another at Cardiac Hill......So I u-turned to 191 Bridge where I didn't see any cars. I knew I would eventually go into the Park so I planned to fish a few hours with streamers. Maybe 45 minutes since I parked, dressed-up, and walked in, with the third rotation of the fly, tan/original Sculpzilla,

I felt WHAM!! It went deep!! Heavy!! I knew it would be larger than average!! I bet it was HER. See her belly. Filled with eggs??

I recall I was thinking "hey no more skunk for today and it's big enough, let's get the hell out of this weather and go home!!" 

After this, I walked down to one more promising spot but I just spooked two fish along the way.

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Now I penetrated into the Park section. As having lunch at Seven-Mile Bridge, I saw a few rising trout. This is the typical indication that small trout rise before larger ones at the beginning of the hatch. What hatch? Of course baetis. I moved to Upper Haynes and held the spot. Exactly 1pm, baetis hatch started!! My choice was this Pheasant Tail Mayfly Cripple as I do at DePuy's.

Rainbow liked it,

and brown too!! Now I got approval from Madison trout!!

Nothing huge (I got line-broke by a huge tag though) but I had fun and even overcame past failures thanks to recent experience at DePuy. Next time, I want to raise a run-up trout on size 22 with 6X!!

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Hatch ended 3pm. I concerned my driving on the way back so I decided to quit early. I head to Barn's Hole #1 around 4pm, hoping other people couldn't take the weather any more. Wrong.......

Today's joke: Barn's Hole = Visitors Hall. Really. This is "way less attended than normal".

I really didn't care. I knew they would not catch fish (no technical comments or criticism here) and I just wanted to swing large soft-hackles above and below the pool (pic above was taken from below the pool). I walked up-stream to Cable Car Run and swung one of my most favorite pattern, Jack Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer in black.

                          

I love the moment that trout hooks itself on this fly then starts leaping!!!!

Not the biggest of the river or the year, but it was a fine 17-inch fall-colored brown!! Then again on swinging large soft-hackles!! Happy!!

I did try my COYOTE with my best. But it seems trout must have read the magazine and been very careful not to get close to it!! Jokes and excuses aside, I really concerned driving back to Livingston. I wanted to cover even a few miles while still light..... Wish I was a visitor who's staying in a motel in West Yellowstone. Well, I made home and am typing this with my wood-stove on fire!! I love that too.

Fall fishing at Madison in the Park can be hard to predict or define but I call today as good day!! As I enjoyed all streamers, baetis hatch, and swinging large soft-hackle!! And caught nice fish!!

Again, I wish I was a visitor from other state who stays over a week, like I used to be. But thanks to the accumulated experience, I can do fairly well by just visiting one day!!

See you all, trout & wildlife in the Park, next year!!

COYOTE in Magazine

Here's a little article but a big achievement for me. My COYOTE made it in a magazine!!
Go to magazine corners and pick up NORTHWEST Fly Fishing November/December 2011 or you can go online (www.matchthehatch.com). I also made a permanent PAGE on the right hand side of this blog and posted scanned pictures. Anyway, the fly is MY OWN TIE that I sent in!!

NWFF is region specific so I enjoy it more than other magazines. I hope lots of shops will order many many COYOTEs from Montana Fly Company next year. So readers out there, when you happen to see COYOTE at your near-by flyshop, please try one!! Or have them order if they don't have!!

And you can always buy directly from me (sales page)!!

Big Fish Blues

Long story short, I didn't have a good day yesterday at DePuy. It was always fun to be there and made lots of personal notes. But I hooked a huge brown for the first 10th cast in the morning and lost him in 30 seconds.......

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Today I went back to the same spot. Not revenge or anything, it's just a good place to get started. BOOM!! Got him (back??)!!

I don't have to explain the fly again, do I?

Happy & Big & Good looking (me or trout?) but.........

It measured ONLY 21-inch.........from now on when I can break my record or even get close??

RPM = Rise Per Minute

It was like an impulse, nothing different from "I wanna eat Mac!! ", I wanted to go to DePuy's in the afternoon. When I got there at 1:30pm, trout were rising & rising. They were feeding on Baetis. Then the new fly-fishing jargon (today's title) was born in my head. I'd say it was 15 to 20RPM at my spot.
Did I catch every single rise? Duh~~~~~~~??
Well, at least I made one achievement. The pattern I've been working on since this spring has been proving itself and now approved even by these selective trout at DePuy's recently. Let me proudly introduce you "Pheasant Tail Mayfly Cripple" in baetis color (I have a PMD version too).

It will be on my sales catalogue soon this winter and I will explain more but one background story to be mentioned is that I have too many pheasant tails left, as I tie too many COYOTE myself, I had to do something with them. I came up with this fly and fortunately it turned right!!

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Hatch ended exactly at 3pm. Some people went home and others were still stripping streamers for their "fish of the year". Has anybody caught up with mine??
My objective of Winter Pass is again "learning & observation". And with my recent catch, I don't have to chase huge trout badly. So I did some experiment with nymphs at less popular sections. Sparkle Scud is one of the best underwater pattern at spring creeks.

Folks, I hooked two in a row!! One should try more methods and spots!! They were average sizes.

 

But I somehow focused on its adipose fin!!! Super cool to me.

Other fins got some makeup too.

I have booked next two days also. Maybe see you there!!

At Armstrong's

I forgot to cereblate the last post as the 250th post and also with next post, my Japanese Edition will make the 100th!!

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I was glad that my guests decided to try Armstrong's for the first time. I wanted them to see the spring where DePuy's starts and somewhat different character from DePuy's. I personally believe brown trout in Armstrong's have more vivid red spots compared to those in DePuy's and Nelson's. Then again, I always enjoy to visit the real working ranch in Montana, filled with cows and horses.

Armstrong's is the insect factory as well. We saw huge October Caddis flying in the air.

Then midges. They were mating on my fly!!!!

As we expected, we did see baetis, tons of them.

What a surprise!! We encountered hatch of Western Drakes and trout were feeding on them!!

Gents really didn't need my help as they solved the situation with PMD patterns and kept catching trout!!

Hatch wasn't the strongest but I was glad that my guests enjoyed Armstrong's. Other than catching trout, I want everyone to see and enjoy cows, horses, and any other wildlife along the creek!!

Yellowstone with Japanese Anglers

I understand that Japanese anglers would like to visit Montana for its wilderness and some elbow-room along with fine dry-fly fishing with match-the-hatch. These two VIPs are no exceptions. But I also wanted to introduce them the diversity of Montana fly-fishing. The biggest example is our Mighty Yellowstone. So I took them out with my boat. At this time of the year, we look for huge BROWN in fall color. They say Sculpzilla is not in Japan!!??

Wind was a bit too strong on that day. I planned to float from Carbella to 26 and I knew I could handle my boat with safe operations. But gents looked somewhat uncomfortable so I re-arranged the shuttle with my cell-phone and we took out at Point of Rocks. I said to them "just bear with me maybe an hour and we will get out the river". Then right after I said that, PRESIDENT hooked something huge........

"President" gave a try though he was not used to heavy rigs but, well, it can happen like that at 'Stone. It was a fine buck brown, 21-inch long, in fall color!!!! I explained them that even local anglers/guides don't see this size of fish so often!!!!!

I wish we could have floated longer. And I wanted them to see pods of risers for baetis and midges as we see at spring creeks.
Yes, sir & mam, Yellowstone River shows us every challenge and aspect of fly-fishing!!

DePuy's 1, 2, & 3

What a great week it was!! Fall gently settles in and may be leaving soon with mixed weather. I was fortunate to fish with two elder angles from Japan. I came to meet them through my outfitter Dean. Right after their arrival, we head to DePuy's for three days and those days turned out to be the first, second, and third day with my winter pass (hence the title). These gents do know how to fish spring creeks. We caught lots of nice trout but that embarrassed other anglers and forced them to leave in the middle of hatch.......

For the first time, I was asked not to post their names or pictures as they are involved in Japanese fly-fishing industry and they were here for vacation. But I still have to do a fishing report. Well, Mr. T was catching fish like a "Fishing General".

Mr. X is indeed a "President" of fishing product company!!

We saw baetis spinner in the morning,

and duns in the afternoon as we expected.

Here's the stomach sample!! Look at all of these duns, cripples, emergers, and nymphs!!

We also saw some Tricos in the air. It was like baetis but looked more armored.

I caught Yellowstone Cutty for the first time at spring creeks. Actually this was not really a catch. While I was wading, this trout was hanging around my legs and sucking on debris caused by my steps and never got away like a pet. So I scooped with my net!! Really!!

Then typical brown,

and rainbow.

This is the smallest at the creek I've ever seen!!

Then I never let you forget my catch of the year!! (a different angle and pose!!)

More to post!!

Is This THE "FISH of the Year"?

I was going to post how my first 3 days outing to DePuy's with the winter pass after tomorrow but something happened today. So I'll post quick about only today and go to bed for tomorrow.

It was a rainy and cold day here in Livingston. We didn't see any rising trout or midges and baetis spinners on surface either. This is the typical situation I walk and look around the creek. I just can't sit still waiting for rises in this cold weather. I found a couple of deep runs. Just to kill my time, I pitched my always favorite go-to fly, Doug's Home Invader in spring creek sculpin color.

I cut my 5X tippet down to 3X and tied it on. I thought I snagged the bottom. Well, it was a trout and I noticed it would at least be 20-inch!! It didn't come to my net and I couldn't beach him either. It ran down the riffle and I followed it almost falling into the creek. Then I finally netted him!!

It was MY RECORD of Montana Trout EVER!!

It did measure 24-INCH and estimated FULL 6-lb (or more I felt)

I wasn't sure if he came up from the River to spawn or just hanging around there.  I was out my breath for next several minutes and I didn't care my wet sleeves (till it got really cold at the end of the day).
Is this the "FISH of the YEAR?"
No objection but we can still get out another month and this was only 2nd day out to DePuy's of 6-month pass!!

Winter Pass

Winter Pass for what? Skiing? Ski-lift? Or hot-spring? No sir, no mam, It's a fishing pass!!

I bought one to fish for world famous DePuy's Spring Creek right here in Livingston. It's less than 10-minute driving from my house!! I can visit there during the winter rate = from tomorrow to April 14th = as much as I want!!

Have I become insane to fish in the middle of Montana winter? Folks, Paradise Valley spring creeks never get frozen and they are still fun during the winter months. Yet am I a fishing-junk who needs to catch trout every day of his life? No.........Remember what Master Angler told me? "Learning & Observation". Catching fish is important but that's not all the reason that I decided to get the pass. I want to learn and observe every inch of the creek and winter phase of the creek. Except for a few brave hearts in the area, the creek will be wide-&-open.

If I catch trout, I will examine stomach samples. And I have just created an original seine to collect any floating insects or something under-water (hopefully not!!) All I needed was: a screen from a 10-lb potato bag, wire coated with plastic, and duct-tape!!

I wish I could just sleep in, read good books, tie flies, and stay warm in my house during winter. But I want to be the expert guide for spring creeks. This is the investment. You might wonder there are also Armstrong's and Nelson's. I love to fish them too but DePuy's is the longest among three with many different faces and structures so spending at DePuy's will be a great exercise to fish any spring creeks in the world!!

Find and join me if you are eager to beat Montana winter!!
Only if you don't mind your rods, lines, and even our noses will be covered by icicles!!

Downtown Surprise

Today was really a mixed bag of weather.  It was cold and windy in the morning, winds died down as storm came in, and when I got ready to go fishing, it was sunny!! I wanted it to be cloudy, shower, and not windy. I got out anyway. The other side from Mayors Landing is my favorite spot for both streamers and dry-fly fishing. Streamer got NO actions at all under the bright condition or there wouldn't be any trout. As I was about to give up, it started to rain and blow some winds. And I started to see some rising trout. They must have been on Baetis, but I still saw Epeorus.



I went back to my truck and rigged up a 5-wt with Baetis Sparkle Dun.

I played with some little ones with "set-to-the-rise" technique. But this time I was more like "set-to-the feel"!! I had actually missed one big tug before this so this time I set the hook tight as I felt the tug. I noticed it would be bigger than I expected. All I wanted was 10 to 12-incher for stomach samples. It was a nice 17-inch rainbow!!

I guess I played a bit too hard........

This is why we Livingston guides and anglers love 'Stone. Nothing going on with streamers but small dry-flies bring large trout on surface and sometimes vise versa; no actions at all but one "CHUCK" of streamers brings trout of the year!! We hope we have one more month before frozen!!