Flies instead of Fising

I was going to get a late start and it is a 2 hour drive to fish for trout so I decided to finish a rod repair and tie some flies for my next Arrivaca trip (but only if it rains and brings up the water level). The brown Crystal Bugger on the left is what worked and has worked all year on the lake. The red foam fly is for the red dragonflies the bass were lunging for last week and in years past. The blue foam is for the damsel flies that have drawn up bluegills in the past. You gotta love the foam you can buy at Michael's for 89 cents, you get a ton of flies for less than the specialized foam bodies you buy at fly supply houses (sorry Eric). I hope the wings work and are easy to cast. If it doesn't rain this week, I will go to Grant's Creek next week.

ARRIVACA 10-19-2011

Still pretty warm for October, so the topwater action is probably happening later. The lake was pretty far down, I had a hell of a time finding enough water to float me in the ramp area. The water is a rich pea green. I had visions of topwater action and started with a chartreause foam hopper that did nothing even with I found a couple working on top. It seems the fish were chasing the reddish/brown dragonflys so I went with a color match - a root-beer crystal bugger. My second cast to disappating rings resulted in a healthy 15 inch bass. I caught a couple while swimming the bugger (I was using a floating line) but all others came when I targeted a fish that slashed on top. All in the shade, all in shallow water near the shore. I may have been able to dredge some up with sink tip, but the hydrilla is just too thick to work through. I would normally have stayed until dark, but I didn't relish the idea of fighting through the mud in the dark. The majority of my fish here this year have been on crystal buggers, bluegills have been in short supply. I may come back, but only if we get some rain.

Yellowstone 2011, The West Side

My last 3 nights were spent in West Yellowstone. I would have preferred to stay at the Old Faithful Inn (pictured on the left) but waited too long to make reservations. BUT, I am set for next year. I spent an afternoon on the Gallatin which has always been good for nymphing at this time of year and now and then some dries. I have brought some nice ones up on dries, but the hypnotic repetition of driting a Serendipity was too tempting. A Peeking Caddis did okay, but there seems to be something about that little tuft of white Zelon. Got my first Whitefish and 3 nice Rainbows. I left just as some rain clouds were rolling in. I didn't return because of construction on the highway - I'd rather fish for smaller fish than sit in my car reading the fishing regs. I've been coming to Park long enough to forget about how amazing this area really is. I made time to take a couple of shots of the thermals in the Black Sand Basin and made my traditional hands & knee approach to a feeder of the Firehole. I won't divulge the spot, but the locals all know - I was told about it by a Park employee back in the early 90's and if I am careful, I will take some bigger fish from here. This year I took a 13" Brown followed by 14 & 15" Rainbows. There is something about a good rainbow jumping in a small stream like this that reminds me to never pass up the feeder streams. Even though there was a very nice BWO hatch coming off, the fish all slammed a White Miller Soft Caddis. I had been reading about this Caddis activity and tied up about 5 before he trip. I lost all these fishing on the Firehole thanks to the weed clumps. I tied up a reasonable facsimile in the room even though I didn't have the proper dubbing or any Partridge feathers - anything close worked well. A couple of the guides at Blue Ribbon suggested trying the Sentinel Creek area - that small stream was good, but when the fish started slashing around the Ojo

Caliente area, I was ready and armed with the right fly. The fish weren't as large in this stretch, but they made up for it in numbers and enthusiasm. I would see some of the smaller fish jumping out of the water after the caddis, but a conventional or X2 caddis would be ignored most of the time. On the last day in the Fountain Flats area, I caught a few with a traditional green bodied soft hackle (green wire body), but they definitely preferred the White Miller. I did get some fish from the Gibbon (headwaters & junction area), saw a very nice brown landed in the confluence area. I also made an obligatory run to the Barns Hole, but it was too warm for many runners yet. My final afternoon on the Firehole was cold, wet & windy and I loved it even though my knots were crappy because of my numb fingers and shrinking hooks (yes, metal hooks shink as they/you age!). My last 2 attempts to travel had been thwarted and this trip was very theraputic. Apologies to all my fishing partners, but it was wonderful to spend some time alone to purge and reflect.

Yellowstone Park, September 2011

The trip finally came off as planned and the only "bad" news was that the weather was too pretty and warm the first 3 days I was there. I enjoyed the drive, a long stretch the first day and arrived early enough on Saturday to fish that afternoon. As usual, I spent the first 4 nights in Mammoth in the cabins. The word was that the hatches weren't really on yet, most people were fishing terrestrials. Soda Butte was packed as usual so I waited until 4 or so before hitting the river proper. Most of the rising fish I found were in the glides . . . and luckily I had read that small brown spinners were working. My first evening I landed 3 typical fall Cuts/Cutbows and missed several in the low light. The confluence pool of the Lamar & SB was not as deep as in years past, but I my second morning I took a couple by running a Green Drake emerger through some faster pools on the Lamar.
I made a point of hitting the smaller streams in the area where parking was plentiful and the pools were open. I always make a trip to Blacktail Deer Creek to play with the Brookies. A parachute Adams/Cinnamon Ant was

Good for all the Brookies, as long as I could see it. I also fished Slough Creek for the first time in years and once again found them in the slower glides. When I timed the rise, a brown spinner (Mahogany Brown dubbing, moose mane tail and white/grey zelon wings) worked again. There was one nice (16-17") rainbow that refused the spinner and after positioning, fighting the wind and timing, took with a #16 cinnamon foam ant. Very satisfying and I had to tie up some more spinners in my cabin at night to replace some lost flies. I had fun on Lava Creek & Tower Creek was great. On my last evening on SB, I saw some BWO hatching along with a couple of Drakes. Sure enough, the reports after I returned showed the hatches were coming off. Funny, everyone was talking hoppers, but I only had a couple of flashed on them. I'm sure the Drake hatch will change things a bit, but those SB Cutts are much warier than the fish I chased in the 90's. Next time: White Millers SH & the Firehole.