55 on the fly

My good friend Bruce and I hiked into the second meadow of Slough Creek yesterday. We had good early action on Caddis flies and Spruce Moths. Bruce caught his first Cutthroat Trout and missed a few other fish. I had a good day, picking up several big Cutthroats. I fished an old Orvis Graphite Spring Creek 9' 5wt. a favorite dry fly rod. Of course the scenery was fantastic and the company was great.

I had an early start today. My buddy here in Montana, Ben, picked me up and we headed to a little honey hole we know. We only had a few hours to fish, as Ben had to work, but we picked up several nice browns doing some nymphing. I used my refurbished Wonderod 8'6", she likes a 6wt. line spooled on a vintage Orvis Madison click reel.....We had a great time fishing and catching up since I last saw Ben in 2013..... Ben with a 17-18 inch Brown... Here I am with a 15-16 inch Brown...

My wife, Michelle and I got out this morning and hit one of our favorite Brook trout streams in YNP..... First fish of the day..... used my Barclay 7'5" 3wt. and loving it for these Brookies... Michelle with a good fish for this stream..... Yep - those are bear tracks....  A little bit of hiking can get you into some awesome back country..... Last fish of the day......  All in all a fun morning, lunch and early afternoon fishing together and enjoying this beautiful river valley.

If you care about the future of fishing in Yellowstone National Park you don't want to miss this fine article by Neil M. Travis on the Fly Anglers On Line website and forum. see it here:  http://www.flyanglersonline.com/articles/journal/2013/journal20130826.php I believe the NPS efforts to "remove" all non-native fish in the park is just the first step. Once well underway they will move to eventually "eliminate" the "harassing" of fish (wildlife) in the park by anglers. The top of the arch is inscribed with a quote from the  Organic Act of 1872 , the legislation which created Yellowstone, which reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People."  The management of the park by the NPS will continue to be an ongoing struggle for anglers for the foreseeable future, IMHO....  Doug Korn

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...

I didn't get out and about until 11:30 today.  Michelle was off to do some shopping in town so I went fishing... just a quick couple of hours.  The weather has been very warm with temp's in the 90's. When the water is warm and low it makes for difficult fishing and you just have to work harder.   I got a chance to use my 1949 Orvis Battenkill bamboo fly rod and reel catching 5 rainbows and 2 brown trout.  All in the 7-10 inch range. A "double" to boot,  catching two nice rainbows at once...

Here's a couple of photos from last night... Most nights here we are treated to the "Elk Show" the evening movement of the elk from their bedding area up high on the mountain behind camp and down into the Yellowstone River valley passing by our front door.  Tonight there were about 20+ elk consisting of cows, yearlings and one lucky bull. This old cow elk came down later and bedded right behind our RV,  not more than 15 yards.  Sunset over Gardiner and YNP.