55 on the fly

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

A friend of mine, David is in town this week.  He was looking for a hike and a new place to wet a line with me.  So, we hatched this plan to bushwhack to the Yellowstone River via Geode Creek.  I had been on this mission once before in 2011, looking to catch some West-slope Cutthroat's and fish the Yellowstone but never made it because I sprained my ankle just before reaching the first meadow.  Even so, I caught some Cutt's but had to turn back because of the pain and never made it to the River. You can read all about that trip here:  http://55onthefly.blogspot.com/2011/08/exploring-creek-paying-price.html the meadow at Geode Creek far below... I met David at 7:30 am. and off we went to the pull-out to hike in.  We skirted the meadow at Geode Creek and headed towards a small lake.  When we got to the lake we had to find the drainage off of it as this would lead us to Geode Creek and we would then follow it down to the Yellowstone River. ...

Over the past few days we explored the less wild side of the Yellowstone area.  We spent a day in Bozeman, one of our favorite places to browse.  We had lunch at an old refurbished gas station and enjoyed watching the town activities from our table outside.  After that Doug found a coffee shop while I visited the many shops along the historic section of town. On Saturday night we went to the 14th Annual Gardiner Brewfest at Arch Park.  I think the entire town was there along with any available tourists.  We attended this two years ago and it has definitely grown into an event.  We sampled several local brews, ate some brats with sauerkraut while listening to some good music and talking with friends. The Brewfest is held at Arch Park every year just below the historical archway into Yellowstone. Here is Ben with one of our favorite friends, his daughter Rivers. Leaving the Brewfest - yes I know it is a bit fuzzy:) Over the last...

Michelle went for a run today and me well, lets see, running or fishing.... Yeah right fishing of course! So off to fish the Yellowstone River and do some rock hopping.  I had a good time too catching a couple of nice rainbow trout but whoops, forgot the camera... Then after catching 5 or 6 white fish I remembered my phone, ah-ha I have a camera on the phone!  I'm old school and keep forgetting that I have a "smart" phone now.  I caught some rainbows, browns and cutthroats and of course several white fish, a good couple of hours on the river. my first Cutthroat of the trip ~ 16 inches and the best fish-of-the-day Hey - my fishing buddies are here! Walked right up on this little band of elk in the Yellowstone River, 5 in total, there was one still laying down in the cool grass.  I let them have their pool and headed for home. Tonight we were invited to a BBQ with some of our fly fishing friends.  We had a great time visiting with everyone.  The...

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...

Michelle and I hit a small brook trout stream in YNP today.  Michelle hasn't fly fished since our trip out here in 2011 so this was a good first outing for her to "practice" on some willing brookies.  It's like riding a bike for her and she was back in form in no time. Great pocket water fishing with lots of wild brook trout. tough to beat the beauty of a brook trout... Michelle with one of many on the day. Michelle working up the middle of the creek in this photo.  "Picking-the-Pockets" with accurate casting and fly placement behind the boulders and in the runs. We only used two flies today, a Coachman Trude and a Wiese's Clacka Caddis. Today I used my Ben Turpin custom G-series fly rod. I thought it was an appropriate choice with the Turpin's hand painted brook trout on the rod.  

Korn's EMT Loop Wing Emerger is my version of a foam loop emerger tied by several other people,  l ike Blue Ribbon Flies Craig Mathews and the late Dave Lewis, to name a couple. EMT stands for "Emerging Mayfly for Trout".  I tie this fly in three drake colors as-well-as several other colors like this March Brown and smaller sizes for BWO's and PMD's.  To fish the fly properly only grease the front hackle and foam loop.  This allows the rear of the hook to penetrate the surface film. You can also see my video on YouTube (see the side bar) to tie this very effective fly pattern. tied and photographed by Doug Korn Hook: MFC #7000 in size 12 Thread: Danville 6/0 brown/olive Shuck: brown zelon  Rib: brown floss  Abdomen: hares ear tan dubbing Wing: gray razor foam  Hackle: light bronze grizzly