55 on the fly

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...

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

My buddy Ben and I fished the XYZ River this morning for a try at some big Brown Trout.  Ben with a nice fish right off the bat! Stepping back in time we used some older fly fishing gear for this trip. Ben used my 1960's rebuilt fiberglass rod an 8'6" 6wt. heavy nymphing rod taylor made for handling two heavy nymphs and an indicator. I used my 1949 Orvis Battenkill 9' 6wt. 3/2 bamboo fly rod fitted with an 60's Orvis Madison reel. It's a slow rod for dry flies on the Delaware really, but I just had to try and get a big fish on it. These big fish and the fast current put both fly rods to the test... that's me with a Brown ~ 17 inches 1949 Orvis Battenkill bamboo ~ Brown Trout Ben - another good one. My fish-of-the-day - Brown Trout (Runner) 18 1/2 inches, he took me 50 yards down stream in the fast current before we could land him. What a great day. Ben and I caught more than o...

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

Hit the Creek for some early morning action.   I caught the 8:30 am. Sulphur hatch and the browns a plenty! Yeah - they were after these guys and I had some really nice dry fly fishing.

The fish took a bit of everything today.... I saw Midges, Hendricksons, Quill Gordons and maybe even a few Sulphers???... first fish in the net and in the hand --- the first of many... Fish of the Day ~15" until next time "on the fly"...

This guy took the Korn's Worm and I got several others on the Turkey Tail Black Stone. I even caught a few on top...  Cold out there today 40 degrees, but sunny... all-n-all a good day. my old Orvis scores again...

My son Scott just got a brand new Orvis Clearwater 9' 5wt. 4pc. rod.... This rod has been totally redesigned with an all new profile and rod tapers taken from the Helios line --- a real beauty. That inspired me to fish my 1986 Orvis Graphite "Spring Creek" 9' 5wt. 4pc. rod today.  Sweet rod and we had some fun on the water.... nothing big but I caught fish on both the dry and the dropper all morning long.... Fly of the day: Neversink Black Orvis "Spring Creek" rod.

Stone fly dries today... the fish were coming up to play... Reflections Brown Trout

Our fishing trip today was on the Gardner River near the High Bridge.  We walked in on a game trail to an area a little farther in than most people go.  Walking on a game trail - elk, buffalo, wolves, and yes, bear - is not always easy.  The elk may be able to walk up and down steep hills and along steep cliffs but I am not an elk!  There were some places along the trail where we had to walk right along the edge of a steep cliff and it was a long way down.  I kept my eyes on the path to make sure of my footing and tried not to think about how high we were.  We trudged through mud that almost pulled my shoes off, waded through knee deep water and climbed over wobbly river rocks.  In the end it was worth it to see some beautiful scenes and to catch some nice fish.  I caught a very nice cutbow using a Korn's Split-tail Golden Stone dry fly.  Doug spent a lot of his time guiding me and untangling my line in some pretty heavy brush.  He did c...

Michelle had Yoga class this morning and I had to tie some hoppers at the shop...  But boy the weather was perfect for fishing, no wind, sunny and in the 80's.  I was chomping at the bit to get out and wet a line... I met Chelle back at the camper for lunch.  After lunch she said she was going to take our dog, Stella for a walk thru town and then over to the high school to throw the ball for her and then find a shady spot and read her book...  She asked me if I'd like to go along or was I going to go fishing? I hesitated, that sounded like a trick question... But she assured me that she wanted to take it easy today and that I should go if I wanted... So, I went... Am I'm a lucky guy or what? I had great fishing in the Gardner River this afternoon.  I hiked in below Osprey Falls and had classic pocket water fishing, my favorite.  High fast water makes for tiny pockets and demands accurate casting, great fun...  I managed to catch the "Gardner Trou...

Today I fished the same stretch of the Gardner River as yesterday... Gardner River - towards the confluence with the Yellowstone River Gardner River - near Rescue Creek TH But today the fish were looking up for salmon flies.  After two fish tried to eat my orange indicator on my nymphing rig I quickly changed over to a dry dropper set up with a Korn's Split Tailed Salmon Fly and a Korn's TNT Black Stone Nymph trailing about 12 inches back.  Game on, with 16 fish brought to hand in 3 hours of rock hopping and difficult casting in high winds.  Most of the fish were caught on the Split Tailed Salmon Fly including; Cutthroats, Browns, Rainbows and Cutt-bows.  First Cutthroat of the trip. A dandy Brown Trout Cutt-Bow Also, I saw a beaver on the Gardner today.  It stopped on a rock about 10 feet in front of me, then swam and floated 3 feet from the rock I was standing on heading downstream towards the Yellowstone River...  It was a small...