55 on the fly

I hit the West Branch of the Delaware River again today, same spot as Thursday, but different game plan and different results. Water was still very cold at 46 degrees this morning so nymphing was the order of the day. Fished till noon. Hooked three and of course lost the "big one" a good brown of 20 inch range. He made three runs and I had him on for 10 minutes or so. I could't do anything with him in the current. I had him to the leader once and then he just bolted and ran way down river with me trying to follow in cold deep water up to my boys….. Needless to say I couldn't stay with him and he broke off with the point fly…. Bummer, but what fun…. that fish got me going for sure…. a couple of photos below….. Doug.

The "new guy" at Parks Fly Shop is Jordan Laughlin.  He and I hiked into the Lamar River and fished the stretch up to near Cache Creek.  The fishing was slow to say the least and we had to work for every fish we took.  The Lamar River's water level is way down and a bit warmer than in past years having less river water to mix with the hot springs feeding into it's mountain snow melt. The bottom of the river was slick as ever and rock hopping was difficult to say the least.  I only caught four fish today but one was a good one and Jordan caught two until he hit a honey hole and caught six out of it.  Most of the fish ran in the 10-12 inch range.  We hiked and fished about 7-8 miles today, my knee is swollen and a bit sore.  To aid in the recovery Michelle and I had dinner at the Raven with our friends Bernard and Katherine, best steaks anywhere! Cutthroat Trout ~ 16 inches Jordan fishing the Lamar River

Yesterday 7/27 Saturday , was a rest day with Michelle and I driving out to West Yellowstone.  We split up after having coffee with Michelle hitting the gift shops and me going to all 6 fly shops in town where I picked up a few fly tying items.  The shop has special requested that I tie a bunch of flies for them while I'm here especially my Korn's Spent Wing Caddis which has been a killer in the Northeast corner of the park.  The guides are gobbling them up as fast as I can tie them with none of them making it to the fly rack for sale! We had a nice time in West Yellowstone but as we got back to Gardiner it looked very dark over the mountains. We stopped in the shop and no sooner said hi to my guiding buddies; Ben, Richard and Wilson when the skies opened up with heavy rain for a good 45 minutes which is a lot in this high plains desert.  It's been great catching up with my old friends.  Wally had my two copies of his book "Yellowstone Country Flies" saved for...

It was a cold morning with far too many fisherman on the stream today... Doesn't anybody work anymore? the smallest the biggest

Fire Fly variations... Just playing around while watching the football games getting my winter fly boxes filled.

Hit the creek again this morning..... this pool provided some lively action! Nice brown here caught on a translucent orange Fire Fly. This run doesn't look like much but is one of my favorites... Why? Because it produces fish! Go on get out there and getch-ya some!

I got out for a couple of hours this morning.  It was about 40 degrees and very windy, but hey, I was out fishing! The water was a bit high and fast but I managed to find some fish in the slower water along the edges... Nymphing with my St Croix 5wt. and the fly of the day?  No, doubt the Fire Fly... "on the fly"