May 11, 2006

No, it's not a flat line EG read heart attack, the river is just fine.  Definitely getting better with each and every day.  What's going on is midges, baetis, and some caddis just starting to pique the trout's interest.  Daytime hours have been whiled away mostly nymphing and there's been a bit better dry fly activity starting to show on the radar screens.  Cloudy day threatening rain?  Baetis, baby.  Evening hours, little to no wind, CADDIS.  Will it get better?  You bet!  Lots of fish returning from places like the Dearborn from the spawn. 

What to utilize:  San Juan's with droppers like the Love Bug, CJ's in red and black, Tailwater Tiny's, Red Ass', pink lightning bugs, and Rainbow Warriors in both pearl, red, and black have taken their fare share.  Midge patterns like biot midges, Miracle Nymphs, Wilcox's Lint bug and others are doing just fine as well.  Want the drys?  How can you beat the Goddard or Bloom's para caddis?  Para Adams, Griffith's Gnats, and very small royal Wulffs are also working well.

Armstrong's, Depuy's, and Nelson's: It's been a good week on the creeks.  The baetis hatch is for the most part over until next September, some fish are still willing to eat the odd baetis nymph or emerger pattern which is making for some decent fishing.  But  the main game is the good midging to be found and the remnant caddis still on the creeks. Getting on the creeks earlier in the morning has been productive when the wind isn't blowing.  Fishing black or gray pupas have been good choices.  Personally one of my favorite patterns has been Kinsey's Miracle Midge.  If I'm seeing fish rising on the surface but not really taking something directly on top, you can bet it's midge emergers coming to the surface.  This isn't the easiest fishing and getting fish that seem really tuned in to this rather than eating the adult midges on the actual surface calls for a little fine tuning.  Instead of fishing with an indy and going deep, or trying just a single dry fly,  I'll try to fish this situation with a good dry fly pattern that I can see for certain and drop a midge emerger pattern that will break through the surface of the water but not sink too rapidly.  I like patterns like the Wilcox's lint bug, Marabou midge larvae, biot midge pupa, and spectre's midge winker tied on a relatively short dropper length (a foot or less).  It may seem that on some drifts the fish are eating the dryfly when in actuallity it's the dropper that's bagging them.

We've had a couple really good days lately on the pond section at Depuy's stripping small black and dark olive leech type streamer patterns.  It's not the easiest of places to cast to the trout unless you put a boat in the water and can row out into the clear.  Several guides have been putting their drifters in to do just this and it's been a lot of fun!

The fish haven't forgotten about eating caddis.  When there's been a warm enough afternoon with some good sunshine, caddis are popping in the riffle sections.  Not in droves like on on the River, but enough so that between what hatches on the creeks and what get's blown over from the River, the fish notice well enough.  You can get by with fishing a dry caddis pattern and getting some good fish to oblige. 

The Madison River: Slide Inn to Ennis Lake Remember that the main river is closed from below Quake to MacAtee Bridge and again from the Ennis bridge to Ennis Lake until  Saturday, May 20!  Not much water?  Think again, Mon Frere.  There's more fish in those few miles of river than you think!  And they're hungry.

Fishing below MacAttee?  You should be fishing with brown and/or pumpkin colored rubber leg stonefly varieties as well as big ugly black on black and throw a little trout candy on the back .  Or try stripping streamers.  The West Fork is adding some color.  It's been fluctuationg some due to the colder nights, but with the warm temps on call for the weekend, look to see the clarity drop again.  Our best dropper flies have been copper johns in red and black, FB PTs, black  or olive soft hackles, lighting bugs, and bubbleback baetis pattern.  All in smaller sizes like 18s and 20s.   The Red Juan is also accounting for a lot of bent rods! Try fishing bunny fur Zonkers trailed with the same small beadheads on a near tight line dead drift while in the boat going from wading spot to wading spot. 

For the "Lower" Madison below Bear Trap, the Mother's Day caddis are all but done with their annual follies.  Yeah, I know, it ain't even Mother's Day, yet what's up with that?  Get used to it.  Maybe it's global warming?  Anyway, the river seemed to be in a funk while the caddis were buzzing.  During the daytime the fish were wanting baetis bugs, and small patterns at that.  Seemed like the Juan in super basic red or wine tandemed with small olive soft hackles or real thin dressed baetis patterns like Skinny Nelson's were catching the fish. Even when the caddis pupa were in the drift and the emergence close by.  Go Figure.  But, during the last hours of light, tru to form, the fish got on the caddis and were actually seen rising to dries..... And there was much rejoicing.... Until the next day.  BUT- that seems to have turned around a bit.  Seems like the big guys are on the prowl again.  Candy apple green Bow River Buggers, Clouser Crays, as well as the Juan are piling up the body count.  Bright neon green caddis pupa, Yuba Pupa's, Hogan's Heroes, and the like are all claiming fame as well.  Will it hold?  Tune in.........

Yellowstone River: Gardiner to Big Timber

It's Baaacccckkk!  Who would have thought?  After the roller coaster ride so far this spring, last weekend was about all many people thought we'd get from the Stone.  Amazing what super chilly nights and a few days of below normal daytime temps can do for a freestone!  Not only did the river drop 2000+ CFS in flow from Monday, the Mocha Madness is all but gone today.  An honest  2 feet of visibility is readily apparent.  Caddis?  Did someone say Caddis?  With the warm weather on tap for the next couple days, the bugs have re-emrged once again.  Last Friday 's blizzard emergence is not likely to be seen again, but there's plenty of bugs in the air even here at the flyshop a 1/4 mile from the river.  Mr. Trout is going to go on the feed bag again today, mark my words.  River flows are going to be stable today as well.  Tomorrow?  We'll see. With the re-emrging bugs is re-emrging sunshine and upper 60's to low 70's for weather.  It won't be too long before the Lamar pumps in the gooky stuff.....

As far as techniques and patterns, there's been a bit of everything.  Streamers fished relatively slowly, right on the banks first thing int he morning, a little light nymphing about midday with caddis pupa, and dries throughout the afternoon have all been producers.  It's likely that anglers may have to incorporate all three techniques throughout a full day's fishing in order to remain consistenly hooked up.   For the streamers, black, olive, and brown buggers along with the Bow River buggers, Butt Monkey's and River Chickens have been hard to beat.  Nymphing with Lafontaine's Deep Sparkle Pupas in olive and tan, Yuba Pupa's, Prince Nymphs both beaded and unbeaded as well as Morrish's Super Pupa in bright green and sizes 12-16 have been solid.  Tandem any of these with a #6 brown or "pumpkin" colored Pat's Rubber Leg Stone, Yuk bugs in brown or black, as well as Cone Stones and you should be in the running.  For dry flies, consider Bloom's Para Caddis with it's bright, easy to see hi-vis post, Stevie's Wonder, good old Elk hair caddis, as well as Mathew's X-Caddis all in sizes 12-16.You could also try small Royal Wulffs, H&L Variants and the like as well and do just fine. 

One thing to consider is that with the water levels likely coming back up in the next day or so, you'd better get it while the gettin's good.  Also, look for the most rising fish to be in the back eddies and swirly foam holes.  Seems that the caddis are extra frothy in those places and easy pickings.  Don't be afraid to go big on bugs, either.  You can flog away with perfect imitations and come away with a lot less hook-ups than if you maybe went outlandish with something like a size 6 Peacock Parachute Madam X (PMX).  In some locations you may have to be exacting in order to get the bend in the rod, but a lot of places the fish are looking for the Full Meal Deal and the PMX satisfies!  Bon Appetit!