Muddy 'Stone & Blue Sky

Thunder storm from two days ago caused a HUGE SPIKE at Soda Butte Creek!! The muddy water entered Lamar River. All of those entered Yellowstone River. Yellowstone River is VERY MUDDY right now & temporarily unfishable. The sight is amazing. One can see the "body of muddy water" moving down stream so water color turns green to brown, then brown to green. (No pictures)

But folks, I have Yellowstone National Park as my backyard = too many options & backup plans. I had a guided trip scheduled in the afternoon. So in the morning, I was doing my own homework somewhere in Yellowstone National Park. Suddenly I heard something behind me!! This tall girl was sneaking up on me!!

___________________________________________________________________________

I guided 3 gents. Water was just comfortable to wet our feet and trout were eagerly rising on our dry-flies. Along with blue sky, large clouds, and peaks in the background, it was a pleasant afternoon.

Thank 3 gents for joining me for a wonderful afternoon!

O! Brothers

Today I guided future fly-fishing brothers (& father). They started with Brookies.

Then growing up to a large Native Cutty!!

Bye-Bye see you later.......

Thanks for joining a very long walk day!

PM Float in a Row

Today, I was scheduled for another afternoon float trip. So in the morning, I did some sampling for one of our favorite waters. Aren't they gorgeous?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike's first float trip kicked off with a nice rainbow!

Of course Yellowstone Cutty came to say HI to him!

Thank Mike for visiting Parks' Fly Shop (www.parksflyshop.com) and joining on my boat!!

OH!! Double!!

It's getting my routine to visit Parks' Fly Shop in Gardiner, MT (www.parksflyshop.com). I would ask/share with guides about some information then discuss plans and ideas for each guide-trip. Then I wait for my client(s).
Today I was scheduled for an afternoon float trip. So in the morning.............

__________________________________________________________________________

Today I had a beginning-but-fast-learning couple on my boat. They got started with Whitefish.

Eventually rainbows!!

Then the day ended with Dennis' THE DOUBLE!! I myself have "hooked" two at a time with two-fly rigs but usually either one will be gone before netting. This is the very first time I saw two fish were successfully landed!!

Besides fishing, what a wonderful day floating the Canyon!!

(Almost) Yellowstone Grand Slam

Today, we caught lots of Whitie, of course, in various sizes (apparently no pictures).
Then we caught some nice trout!
Rainbow!!

Yellowstone Cutty!!

We did go after a picture-worth Browny to complete Nick's "Yellowstone Grand Slam" but..... Technically he did with a little browny but we needed ONE close to other beauties.
We fished with dry-flies 95% of the float. As for hatches, there are bunch of small stoneflies (yellows, olive, brown), caddis in different sizes & colors, & PMD. Get right flies & advises from Parks' Fly Shop (www.parksflyshop.com).
All of long story short, fishing is great pretty much all along Yellowstone River!!

Home of Native 2012

Yesterday was really a day-off from everything in almost 3 weeks. Today, it was a typical "busman's holiday". I wasn't guiding = so fishing myself. I wanted to visit and see how my favorite section of Yellowstone River (within Yellowstone National Park) looks like and fishes like this year.
Up somewhere along the canyon walls, I was expecting there would still be Salmonflies and Goldenstones. My GO-TO fly was of course Parks Salmonfly from Parks' Fly Shop. (note: this is my own tie. I substituted orange yarn to Variegated Chenille as simply I didn't have the yarn).

I saw a beautiful rise form which was almost vertical to river bottom or to water surface. As always, slow & deliberate. Nice & big Cutty came to my hands. But what amazed me was this trout must have been attacked by a predatory bird like osprey or eagle. Look at this three wounds of talons!!

To justify my observation is right, the other side has only one big scar!!

Along the way, I found lots of outer-shells of stoneflies in different sizes.......

I switched around flies and today's hot patterns were these two. And these two WILL remain among some of the best for the rest of the season.
Black Chubby Chernobyl.

Head Guide Walter's Pink GFA (look for it under CUSTOM FLIES at Park's Fly Shop).

I don't know what PINK means & looks like for trout (especially Cutty), but they kept rising and munching on it!!

My under-water photography seems improved every time??

I love this reflection on the surface!!

When fishing BIG River, BIG sandwiches is needed!!

Here we go. Hoppers have just appeared along banks and weeds!!

I moved to nearby creek.

I wasn't looking for size but just some fun.

Brookie too!!

At the end of the day, I treated myself with a cup of ice-cream. Unlike my fly-fishing & -tying diversity, my choice of ice-cream is limited = vanilla & chocolate. Never forget to relax when fishing our area!!

Later back to Shop, I noticed my Pinkie was well-chewed off!! Gotta tie some more!!

All of these Yellowstone Cutty are pure strain and truly native. Their rise-forms to my flies are enough for me. Catching & touching them is just bonus. I'll head back soon on my next "busman's holiday"!!

Yellowstone into Summer Mode

I had a great floating day today. Temp staying around 80s, sunny days, and no winds. Gangs of boats have started to occupy every boat access along Paradise Valley!! Well, last year this scene didn't happen till middle of August.........(short & sad summer). That's the transitional sign of from early summer to real summer around here. But also we started to see more "summer bugs" along the river. They are small stoneflies (like Yellow Sally) and a couple of different kinds of caddis, and trout have started to look up mayfly imitations too.
"Point of Rocks" is always good point!!

Found a shade for a break.......

Today I also found out most likely I'm not needing my wader for the next couple of months!! That's the surest sign of summer!

Afternoon Along Gardner

Today I had a half-day trip with father & son. We fished Gardner River. We saw a few rising trout for Salmonflies. However, considering weather and water temp, nymphing was way to go. I introduced them Western Nymphing. Paxton got some idea!

Toward the end of the day, we encountered a pod of rising trout! I saw one big Drake on my wader but actually they were rising on gray-ish PMDs. Now Paxton experienced some dry-fly fishing and made it work!! A nice rainbow came up to the surface and smashed on his presentation!

Introducing the beauty of Yellowstone National Park & diversity of fly-fishing to visiting anglers is my mission as a guide. I'm quite honored that I could do so with a future fly-fisherman!  

Brookie Day

In spite of hard work yesterday, I woke up and was ready to go fishing. I chose a quite different way from yesterday.
You know every trout has its own character and everyone has his/her own favorite. I like them all. Today I played with lots of brook trout (or they played with me!!). Who cares about sizes? They are simply beautifully colored and fan to catch with. Vermiculation plus orange body.......

This can be called technical. Have you caught 4-inch brookie with dry-fly set on its mouth?

Bit relaxing day......Thank brookies........

Yellowstone Dry-fly Float

What a gorgeous day in Paradise Valley! (I admit wind was somewhat nasty, even dangerous, in the afternoon.........). I had a guide trip with a team of guides of Parks Fly Shop (www.parksflyshop.com) and a group of easy-going clients. We floated Upper section of Yellowstone River. Salmonflies were still in their bloom!!

Then we saw bunch of Goldenstone, Yellow Sally, and Caddis (take a note, folks!!) Dry-fly fishing was fun all day long. Nothing can be more spectacular than experiencing our native Yellowstone Cutty coming up to our dry-flies!! All the flies we used are CUSTOM FLIES from Parks'. 

Season for Yellowstone River has just started and will be long and better this year!! Come and fish with us!!