December 31, 2003

Craig Mathews

A New Year's promise is that I will be more regular in tying reports on our "Journal". We have way over 100% of snow pack for this time of year. The first time in many years that the front fences at Blue Ribbon are under snow. Let's hope it keeps coming.

The 2004 catalogue is "in the mail" so you'll have your's shortly.

I fished the 24th at Raynold's Pass Bridge and took one 18" brown and a rainbow that measured just uner 18". There was a good rise to midges, it was above freezing, and I caught the trout on Zelon Midges. After only an hour of fishing, and the 2 lovely trout, I walked back to the truck and drove home. A great way to end the 2003 fishing year even though I fished 124 days....20 less than last year.

It has been very cold and snowy with terrific winds on the river the past few days. Tomorrow Jackie and I will hit the river no matter what the weather, after all it is the first day of 2004 and we must fish! Thanks to all of you who've made this year our best ever. Steve, Sara, Jackie, Cam and I and the rest of the crew here at Blue Ribbon wish all a healthy and happy 2004 with plenty of wild trout for you. We hope to visit with you soon and look forward to seeing you all here in Yellowstone Country. All our Best.

December 1, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Sorry, for the gap in entries lately. We've been running all over the state chasing elk, deer, birds, and trout. It's been a fun late fall, but we're starting to pay for all those warm days in September and October. We had a whopping minus 10 degrees for the high temperature while we were out pheasant hunting last week.

We're busy in the shop now, getting the 2004 catalog ready.  It should mail out to everybody at the end of the month. So, be on the lookout after the first of the year.

Things typically get pretty cold and snowy around here for the next couple of months. I'll try to keep you updated on the winter fishing, and our trips to belize. So, stay tuned.

November 11, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Craig and I elk hunted today. Craig must be getting old. We climbed over 3,000 vertical feet chasing bulls, and he finally started to break a sweat on the walk back to the truck.  Usually, he needs to go another thousand feet or so before even getting winded.

As we headed back to the Mathews estate, we saw some fish rising at the Sun West bridge.  So, on my way back to West I stopped at babbling brook, and, sure enough, you could see two nice fish rising from the road.  I had no choice.  In true culhane fashion, I grabbed a rod out of the back of the truck, walked down to the bank in my camo, and made a few casts with a small midge.  After a few drifts, a nice rainbow stuck its whole head out of the water for my fly, and I was able to hook and land him.  By that time, I was sufficiently frozen.  You see, I had sweat through my four layers of fleece during our little trek in the woods that day, and the cold wind was enough to just about give me hypothermia.

November 2, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Well, today's the day - the final day of the 2003 Yellowstone Park fishing season.  I had to run up to the Firehole for one last shot at those fish.  I got to Muleshoe at 3:00, and someone was just walking out of the water.  I could see a couple of splashy rises on the far bank.  So, I suited up, and headed down to see if I couldn't get one last fish or two on a dry fly. There were a couple of baetis around (size 24), and a few midges.  I had a #22 baetis sparkle dun already tied on from my last outing. So, I doped it up with hydrophobe and frog fanny, and started working my way down and across to the risers on the opposite bank.  Fish rose very sporadically, and none seemed interested in my sparkle dun.  I swithced to a #22 zelon midge emerger, and that got the attention of a 13" brown trout.  He splashed at the surface when I set the hook, and then imediately took me into the weeds.  As usual, the line went limp before too long, and I was left with nothing but a #22 midge with a 10" slimy weed tail.  A few other fish came to the midge.  I missed one rainbow that seemed like a better fish (14 or 15 inches), and landed a handful of typical Firehole rainbows (12 inches).  Overall it was an awesome end to the season.  I'm already looking forward to next May.

October 23, 2003

Steve Hoovler

OK, forget all that stuff about indian summer being over.  It's been bright, sunny and in the 70's since the day after I posted that last entry.  This is now, officially, the longest August in history. Despite the conditions, we've still been out there slugging it out, and there's some good fishing to be had.  The fish haven't gone anywhere, it's just not as easy catching them.  Geoff Unger (one of our notorious guides) and I headed into the Madison late in the day today for a little spawner fishing.  We stopped first at one of the subtle, little spots around riverside drive to swing some soft hackles.  Not much was happening.  We each had a couple of bumps, and I stuck a whitefish that was around 18".  He hit a #8 soft hackle like a freight train, and bent my spey rod deep into the butt section.  Although, that was about all of the fight that he had in him.  After the initial run, he rolled right over and came sliding in.  As it started getting dark, we jumped in the truck and headed up stream to hit one of the deeper runs or pools.  We passed by "nine-mile hole" expecting to see the usual full parking lot, and crowded stream bank, BUT, to our amazement, no one was in the hole.  We had to turn around and look again just to make sure that we weren't seeing things, and low and behold, it was empty. We parked, grabbed the long, rods which were hanging out of the back window of the truck, and jumped in.  I joked with Geoff that it had been since 1999 that I'd fished nine-mile, that being the last time I'd seen it empty. The sun had gone completely behind the hillside by now, daylight was fading fast, and it was getting cold.  We switched to larger streamer patterns, and sinking leaders for the first pass. Two strong bumps came out of the first round, but nothing more.  As it got darker, a few nice fish started to roll in the deepest part of the hole.  We both looked at eachother, surprised to actually see so many fish on the surface, and laughed as we switched out the sinking leaders for dry leaders and skating flies.  We noticed a few October caddis floating over the road on the drive in.  So, we loaded up with some dry steelhead patterns (left overs from previous trips to the Clearwater and the Grand Rhonde), and started skating away. I worked through the pool without any luck, and climbed up on the bank to watch Geoff. He was swinging his fly through a spot where a fish had rolled several times, and we were debating the characteristics of his swing.  Should it be faster, slower, shorter, longer, should it hang more at the end, and then WHAM. A nice brown rolled on the fly as it was skating through the deepest part of the pool.  Geoff hooked, played, and landed what turned out ot be a good 18" lake fish.  We called it quits after that fish, but you can be sure that we'll be back in there with some dry flies as often as we can until the park closes on Nov. 2nd.  Stay tuned, I'll get you a report.

October 13, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Well, it finally happenned.  Indian summer is over.  The clouds moved in, temperatures dropped, and the snow started to fly.  Perfect conditions for fall fishing have finally arrived.  Unfortunately, they happened to arrive on the same weekend that I had to travel back to Pennsylvania for a wedding.  I'm not complaining, though. I had an awesome time.  My oldest friend got married this weekend, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.  I had a chance to see some great friends that I see far too little of. And, I even snuck away for a couple of hours to catch a few brook trout with my dad in a small stream in the woods behind my parents house. Although, I didn't miss out on all of the Yellowstone Country action this weekend. On the drive back from the airport, I stopped on the Gallatin around Deer Cr. for a for a little baetis action.  Bugs were on the water at 3:00pm when I arrived, and I managed to hook into a few 12-14 inch rainbows.  The fishing was short lived, however, as the water slowly turned a glacial green color by about 4:30.  It seems that the heat of the afternoon had melted some of the snow that fell in the upper Taylor's Fork drainage turning the Taylor's Fork into a mess, and in turn, slowly turning the lower river into a mess.

So, overall it was a terriffic weekend. I got to see some great people, and as usual, I slid a little bit of fishing in for good measure.  Congratulations Alyssa and Kevin.

October 5, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I've been spawner fishing a little bit over the last few days.  The fishing continues to be pretty tough for the run-up fish.  A few fish are eating every morning and evening, but this bright weather is making the window of opportunity very narrow.  From the reports that we're hearing in the shop, the most productive fishing has been with dead drifted nymphs right on the bottom. However, I've been fishing with the spey rod, and holding out for a few fish to come up and eat some swinging flies. They're not exactly lighting the world on fire.  In the last three days out, I've managed to catch five fish, and have just as many bumps. This weather has been unbelievably warm and dry.  Duck season opened on Saturday, and we wore T-Shirts, and ball caps instead of eight layers of fleece and Elmer Fudd hats.  The forecast is for clouds and scuzzy weather later this week.  We've all got our fingers crossed.  Stay Tuned.

September 29, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I hit the Madison in the Park for spawners last night.  No one was in the #2 Barn's Pool right before dark.  So, I jumped right in.  I had my spey rod, and a handful of #8 soft hackled hare's ears, and purple strip leaches.  On the second swing of my first pass I had a strong bump.  After about thirty more swings and the second pass I had another good bump, then hooked a nice rainbow on the following cast.  It was about 17" and definitely a lake fish.  I spent about 45 more minutes working my way through the hole without any more action, and left right at dark.  I still haven't had a great day with spawners on the Madison in the Park this Fall.  I have heard some pretty good reports from our guides, and folks coming into the shop.  So, I'll keep hitting it, and let you know.  Stay tuned.

September 28,2003

Sara Randle

I stole a few hours this afternoon and went below Raynold's Pass Bridge.  There was only two other cars in the parking lot and a 10 minute walk got me away from everyone.  It was a beautiful day, great for morale but bad for fishing.  A few Baetis came off around 2 and I landed a few fish.  It was great, sitting on the bank, not making superstar casts, and seeing their noses just barely poking out of the water.  The big one did get away today though.  I cast a Beatis emerger into a seam coming off a close rock and saw a huge brown turn on it.  My only reaction was to drop my jaw and watch my fly float by...I will be going back for him before the season is over!

September 26, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I slipped out of the shop this afternoon around 2:30, and headed back down to the Madison below Raynold's Pass.  I was looking for a little retribution from those fish that stiffed us yesterday.  The conditions were exactly the same.  Strong wind, warm temps, and bright blue skies.  I started at a few favorite pockets with a #22 baetis sparkle dun covered in frog's fanny.  No fish were rising when I arrived, but I was feeling stuborn. So, I crept along the bank, and fished each likely spot with the small dry.  The action wasn't exactly fast and furious, but I was able to entice a fish or two out of each pocket.  There were far more refusals than takes, and I missed my fair share, but I did land a handful of small fish, and a couple of nice rainbows.   The hardest part was crawling around on the bank, and casting in the wind. 

September 25, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I had a guide trip today with three great guys from Louisiana.  We fished the Madison in the park in the Am for some spawners, and headed down to Raynold's Pass in the afternoon. Overall. it was a pretty slow day.  The spawner fishing didn't amount to anything but a few bumps, and the afternoon fishing produced a few fish.  The wind blew like mad and the skies were bright and sunny, not exactly perfect conditions.  We managed to have a good time regardless.  Indian summer has set in, and the fishing has gotten tough.

September 18, 2003

Steve Hoovler

It's felt more like November than mid-September around here for the last week.  We've seen clouds with snow, rain, and cold wind just about every day. Sara and I had plans to meet some friends in Twin Bridges for dinner yesterday.  So, we left a little early and checked out the Madison on the way.  We got to $3 bridge at about 2:45, and the clouds and snow that had been hanging around all morning were slowly being replaced by a bright blue sucker hole and strong gusts of wind.  Not exactly what we were hoping for, but we decided to fish for a little bit regardless, and we were pleasantly surprised by the number of baetis and risers we found.  The wind definitely made it tough to get your flies where you wanted, but if you could get a good drift, fish were eating a #22 baetis cripple without hesitation.  After a few good fish, we continued on to Twin where we met our friends at the Old Hotel for an awesome dinner.  The weather looks like it will be getting slightly warmer and nicer over the next week, but Fall is defintely in the air.  Spawners are starting to move nicely into the Madison in the Park, and we're seeing good baetis activity everywhere from the Madison to the Lamar and Slough.  When we're not out with the new bird dog, we'll be chasing fish.  So, stay tuned for a report.

September 11, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Well, I got back from the Lamar Pack Trip last weekend, and I've been here all week catching up on some much needed "shop-time".  The trip went very well.  Everybody had a great time, and we had some awesome fishing.  Look for a full rundown in the travelogues section of this website as soon as I get caught up tying shop-vacs and crystal serendipities.  Since I've returned, I did get a chance to sneak out of the shop yesterday afternoon to do a little fishing.  The weather has definitely changed this week here in Yellowstone Country.  We've seen highs in the 40's with rain and even snow in the high country for the past few days.  Yesterday was a perfect fall afternoon; cold, rainy, and no wind.  I pulled myself away from the shop about 3:30, and flew down to Raynold's Pass Bridge. When I got there, the baetis were still coming off, and I could see a few fish rising from the road.  You could tell that the hatch was wrapping up, but I managed to squeak out a good hour of fishing before the heads stopped showing.  We heard nothing but good reports from all over the area yesterday.  Hopefully this Fall weather is here to stay.

September 2, 2003

Rowan Nyman

Okay, I had visions of that Brown all night, and I went back on my lunch break today to try number 2, 55 minutes unti I have to head back to work. After a quick streamside lunch, 45 minutes left, I tried another hopper through number 2. 30 minutes before I have to be back at work. As luck would have three small fish tried to eat the hopper but couldn't quite fit it into their mouths. A few more casts and a whitefish attacked it twice before giving up the ghost. Only 15 minutes left, and I my appetite is still not satiated. Just past  the large rock, a nice rainbow sipped in the Grand Hopper, jumped twice and came to the net. A beautiful 15" rainbow with a cherry red stripe. Fat and healthy, definitely a  lake fish. 5 minutes left, and I raced back to the shop, still dripping water from my shorts.

September 1, 2003

Rowan Nyman

I had  some extra time at lunch to fish the Barns Holes on the Madison, so I headed to Number 1 to try the hopper fishing. There was one gentleman just moving downstream out of number one. After asking him if it was alright to try the hole (he was moving down to number 2 and had only caught a few small ones on a soft hackle) i jumped in to try my luck. I knotted on a #10 Grand Hopper and moved into position to try the upper lip of number 1 where the first good drop off lies. On my fifth cast, I nervously watched a large brown seductively rise to engulf the hopper. Amazingly I set the hook and didn't "farm" him. After a strong fight I landed him and stared at the big beautiful spots painted along his golden sides. Although I still had 15 minutes before I needed to return to the shop for work, theis beautiful Brown was enough to make my week.

August 31, 2003

Tom Cornell and Sara Randle

Tom (BRF Rookie of the Year 2003) and I hiked into Hellroaring Creek, a tributary of the Yellowstone River in the northern part of the park.  We saw a handful of cars and two horse trailers at the trailhead, but most were visitors wanting to see the suspension bridge.  We scrambled down the switchbacks, crossed the suspension bridge, and made our way to Hellroaring Creek.  It is a great pocket water stream and fish are everywhere you would expect.  We caught a bunch of small fish and landed a few in the 10-12 inch range.  They took any hopper, beetle, and ant we could throw at them.  Tom and I made our way to the confluence with the Yellowstone River.  I caught a nice 16 inch cutthroat on a BLT Hopper, but there is not a lot of access in this canyon stretch.  We had to share the water with another group of fishermen.  Anyway, the walk out is fine until the last half mile which is straight up and all switchbacks.  Take lots of water or a filter.  We had a great day, caught some fish, and saw an amazing area of the park.

August 31, 2003

Steve Hoovler

We just returned from this year's Slough Creek Pack Trip.  I spent four days in the third meadow with ten fantastic people, and we found some awesome fishing.  The water level in Slough is a bit lower than we've seen it in the past few years.  This tended to concentrate the fish into the many deep dark runs, pools, and undercut banks.  We ran into a few baetis mayflies each day, and the fish rose very selectively to small #20 and #22 baetis duns and spinners.  The fall drakes that are famous in that part of the park have just barely started to emerge, and several nice cutts were taken on #10 drake mackeral sparkle duns.  The standard foam and rubber leg hatch was also in full swing.  Smaller hoppers (#10), beetles (#14), and ants (#16) all produced well when the wind picked up around noontime and put a little bit of chop on the water.  Look for a full report on this great trip in the travelogue section of this website in the near future.

Tomorrow morning we're off to the upper Lamar for this year's Lamar River Pack Trip.  We'll be gone for seven days.  So be sure to tune in next week for a report.

August 25, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I floated the Madison with a group from the shop yesterday.  Most of us have been fishing the river from Lyons down to Ruby or from Pallisades down to Macatee.  So, we decided to go from Macatee down to Varney for a little change of pace.  We had some good fish move to a Chaos hopper and cinnamon foam ant combination in the morning, but the afternoon was pretty slow.  Towards the end of the float we started to see some more fish, and both Cam and Sara caught some beautiful rainbows.

I'm leaving this morning for this year's Slough Creek Pack Trip.  We'll be in the third meadow for the next four days.  Look for a report when we return.

August 21, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I left work last night feeling like I needed to do something besides the Madison.  I think I've spent just about every free evening down there since the end of June.  So I headed up to check out Grayling Creek in the Park.  My favorite section of Grayling is the stretch of water before it hits the road at mile marker 17.  I started hiking upstream at about 5:30 with hopes of getting to one of the upper meadow stretches with enough time to fish, and still get out before dark.  The tight hillsides, tall willows, and bear scat can make the walk back to the road a little nerve racking after dark. I fished my way upstream through two small meadow sections with a beetle and a royal wulff.  Every deep hole or undercut was loaded with little cutthroat.  Most were in the six to eight inch range, but I did catch a number of "Firehole" size fish, and even two fish around 14".  Overall it was an awesome change in  routine.  I saw some great water, caught some cool fish, and didn't get chewed on by a bear.

Craig Mathews

August 19, 2003

Last night Bruce Richards from Sci Anglers and I hit the Madison after a great diner at the Grizzly Bar. We arrived on the water at 7:30pm, about a mile below $3.00 Bridge. I lucked out a picked a run that had a few trout rising to fully emerged Epeorus duns and took 4 good rainbows to 16" and a brown of 14". The nest pocket proved too tough for me, I could not fool a trout even though there were 3 risers. Drag was the problem. I moved up and took a few more then the duns faded and a short spinner fall ensued for 20 minutes. I took a couple fun fish on an olive spinner. I closed out the night in front of Miller's with a couple trout, nice 16" rainbows that took our new upright winged Iris Caddis. Sorry for not entering timely reports but I've been busy with so many conservation projects during the day I've not had the time. More on these in our catalogue this winter. I will be bringing more reports in the near future, I promise!

August 18, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Just a quick note.  I went back out to Hebgen this morning to redeem myself.  The conditions were good again.   Smokey haze, and no wind. I fished much lower in the arm, and found good numbers of tracking fish.  I was able to land three nice fish before it was time to race back to the shop at noontime.  It killed me to leave.  The wind stayed down for most of the day.  Bill Lescher stayed out until 4:30 !!!

August 17, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Let me start by giving everybody an update. For those of you who might have noticed the lack of journal entries by Craig, and wonder what he's been up to, he just recently sent word from $3 Bridge, where he's been for most of the summer searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction, that more jouranl entries are on the way.

In other news, Sara and I fished Hebgen today with Mr. Gin and Tonic himself, Phil Takatsuno.  We got to the lake around 9:00 am, and found the conditions to be absolutely perfect for an epic emergence of Callibaetis.  The smoke from area fires had created a low haze, and the high overcast helped keep light levels and air temps low.  We fished in the mid section of the arm, and found decent numbers of fish feeding on spinners in the channels beween the weed beds.  Unfortunately, we saw a lot of one time risers instead of consistently tracking fish.  At about 11:00, when we were primed for the C-Baetis to begin emerging, the wind came up, the temps dropped like a rock, and the rain began.  Needless to say, the fishing didn't amount to much after that.  It was amazing how cold it got out on that lake.  Ninety degrees one day, and fifty degrees the next.  That's Montana weather for you.  To make things just a bit worse, when we got back to the shop this evening, we heard nothing but great reports of the blanket c-baetis emergence at the mud hole lower in the arm.  Oh well, we'll get 'em next time. Stay tuned.

August 14, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I cruised down to the Madison last night to check out some more of the evening action.  After driving around and checking out a few spots, I ended up at Raynold's Pass.  I headed down the river-left side towards that awesome hole above the second fence line.  When I hit the honey hole I found Bill Garety leaning like a heron out over the water, and casting to several nice risers.  We sat and chatted, and after a while he offered me a shot at those big heads. For the next thirty minutes I put on a worldclass clinic on missing fish.  I missed them on an Iris Caddis. I missed them on an X-Caddis. I missed them on an Improved X-Caddis. I missed them on three different Epeorous patterns.  Needless to say Bill was impressed.  At about 8:30 the sun started to slide off the water, and the smoke from a fire over in the Centennial Valley turned everything an eerie copper color.  The downstream glare that was left on the water made it easy to see your fly's silhouette, and fairly good numbers of epeorous and caddis started to emerge.  After the sun set, my bad karma started to wear off, and we actually hooked some nice fish on #16 olive sparkle duns, and iris caddis.  It seems like we've reached that point in the summer when the caddis are really starting to wind down, and the fish are becoming a bit more selective. Although, there's still a ton of rising fish and good numbers of bugs like epeorous and flavs.  We'll keep milking that evening fishing as long as we can. So, stay tuned.

August 11, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Sara, Tom "Tom Cat" Cornell, and I fished one of the small tributaries of the Gallatin yesterday.  We were looking for a little relief from the heat and crowds, and we found it.  We walked about 5 miles upstream into some nice meadows.  The water was real small, but every deep hole or undercut bank had a few small fish that were willing to come out and hammer a little hopper or cricket.  We caught a bunch of little fish, and a couple of respectable ones too.  Overall it was a great day to take a nice hike and do a little "huck fin fishing".

For those of you that might be interested, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is proposing some changes to the fishing regulations and "Would like to hear the anglers opinions and suggestions".  To see a list of proposed changes visit the FWP website at www.fwp.mt.us/.  Please send comments to kzackheim@state.mt.us or fishregs@state.mt.us before September 15.

August 7, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I had a guide trip on the Madison yesterday with some great folks from Texas.  We walk-waded the water around $3 in the morning, and the Eagle's Nest in the afternoon.  Overall, It was a pretty slow day.  We ran into a few fish in the morning with nymphs, but by the afternoon, a gale force wind had made it pretty difficult to stand up straight, let alone cast a fly rod.  The rest of the boys floated downstream and seemed to have similiar reports. It was just "one of those days" down there.  I did here some good reports from the evening fishing around Raynold's bridge.  It sounds like some Flavs and Epeorous came off for a little bit and the fish got on them. We'll be back down there tonight to get you a report. Stay Tuned.

August 4, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Well, I've washed off all of the trail dust, and my legs have finally straightened out, but I can still here the chorus from "Raw Hide" ringing in my ears.  I just returned from this year's Thorofare Pack Trip.  We covered more than 50 miles of trail, caught a few fish, and saw some of the most breathtaking country in the lower 48 states.  Look for a full run-down of the trip in the travelogues section of this site in the days to come.

Otherwise, it's time to get back to some front-country fishing.  Stay tuned, I'll let you know how it goes.

July 22, 2003

Steve Hoovler

The nuclear summer continues! It was about 89 degrees down on the Madison this afternoon, and there was a hot wind blowing about twenty mph straight out of the north, as if an A-Bomb (and I don't mean Aaron Hansen) went off in Ennis.  We went deep into the batting order today, and once again, I was sent down to the river to guide.  We floated low from MacAtee to Varney.  The flows on the Madison are at an unusually high 1790 cfs (average for this date is 920cfs). It was fun floating through Cameron Flats without having to navigate through the normal 6 inches of water. We're still seeing lots of hoppers and caddis around, and the fish seem to be looking for them all day long. The fish in the upper river around Raynold's Pass and $3 Bridge have also started to get well adjusted to the higher flows.  I've had some good Nymphing in the afternoons with little nymphs like the crystal and $3 bridge serendipities, and as Craig mentioned below, the caddis fishing has been great in the evenings.  Stay Tuned, Sports Fans.

July 21st, 2003

Craig Mathews

I've been so busy working, and fishing late every night that I deserve many lashes with a fly rod for not getting you some of my journal. The fishing has been superb, mostly on the Madison. I've spent nearly every evening from 6-10PM slugging it out on the river. This has been a tremendous caddis year to date. Lots of emerging caddis, but the trout are sometimes keyed into Epeorous mayflies, midges, etc. This year more than any other, I've had to pay close attention to riseforms, insects on the water, etc to be successful. It has been sometimes time consuming and most always rewarding! Last night for instance, I had to change from Epeorous emergers to caddis emergers to rusty spinners to midge cripples and back to caddis and all the time in failing light! I hope to bring you more reports soon, until then I will be fishing nightly!

July 17, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I've been out guiding for the last couple of days. We floated the Madison on Tues. and fished in the NE corner of the Park yesterday.  The Madison continues to fish well in the float stretch.  Nymphing was consistent throughout the day with small crystal serendipities and guide serendipities.  After lunch we switched to a Grand Hopper and a PMX, and found a good number of willing participants.  The Soda Butte fished well yesterday.  The entire area is a little bit smokey from a fire north of the Yellowstone Canyon, but the fish didn't seem to mind.  The river is in great shape.  There's quite a bit more water than we've seen at this time in several years, and lots of new side channels after this year's big run-off.  Cutts were more than willing to come up and munch on a #8 Turk's Tarantula, or a #14 Tiger Beetle.  Fishing in this are will only get better over the next two months.  Go check it out.

July 14, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I've seen some great fishing over the last few days, despite the warm temps and nuclear winds we've been seeing.  Evening caddis has been good.  I found myself at $3 Bridge most nights last week.  I keep saying that I'm going to check out some other water, but I just can't seem to pull away from that stretch of river.  The fishing has been good.  However, the consistent risers haven't been starting until 9:30 at the earliest.  Once the sun leaves the water, and it starts getting close to hard dark, good numbers of fish have been moving out of the heavy water, and into the soft slicks and flats next to the bank.  We've left rising fish at 11:00 or later each night.

Sara and I went to Yellowstone Lake yesterday with Phil to check out the Callibaetis and PMD action.  We got to the West Thumb area around 8:30 am and fish were already rising to PMD and C-Baetis duns and emergers.  Unfortunately, a ripping wind errupted out of the West around 10:00 am and sent us seeking shelter in some of the wind-protected bays.  The fishing was good when we could find some calm water.  The fish were sporadically looking for the duns, emergers, and spinners.  But a C-Baetis nymph site fished behind a dry fly was the way to go.  We caught quite a few fish, and most were good, chunky lake fish over 15". This fishing should only get better over the next week. So, go check it out.

July 9, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I headed down to check out the evening caddis action at Three Dollar Bridge last night with an old college proffessor of mine, Jim Strauss. (for those of you fellow PSU alums out there, don't let the horrific memories of Bio 472 distract you, keep reading).  We got to the river around 6:45 and started heading upstream around 7:15.  Conditions were perfect.  The hurricane force winds of the afternoon had quieted down, it was warm, and the thirty car loads of people seemed to be concentrated within a short distance of the bridge.  We started fishing about half way up to the top of the Three Dollar property.  Jim started with nymphs, a Beadhead Prince and a Pheasant Tail.  I started with dries, a PMX and an Iris Caddis.  Jim did very well fishing some of the slicks, and seams out towards the center of the river.  I only managed to find a couple of willing fish to come up and eat the PMX in the soft pockets next to the bank.  We saw very few risers for about the first two hours. Then at about 9:30 the sun slid off of the water, and fish began to work a little bit better.  By 10:00 we had moved all the way up to the top of the Three Dollar Property, where we found a nice slick with a lot of big heads poking up.  We had to position ourselves upstream to take advantage of the strong glare on the water, and see a better silhouette of our flies.  We took turns catching fish on a #16 Mr. T. and a #10 black PMX for a little over an hour. At 11:15 we called it quits, and headed back to the truck for a cold one.

July 7, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Sara and I fished between the lakes yesterday on our day off.   We got started after a late breakfast at the Campfire Lodge around 10:00 am .   Fish were rising to PMDs and Green Drakes when we got to the water, and they rose sporadically for most of the afternoon.   We never saw a ton of bugs, but it seemed to be just barely enough to get the fish looking up.   A few golden stones were buzzing through the canyon, and the salmonfly nymphs are getting real close to shore.   We should see some good stonefly fishing this week.   Stay Tuned.

July 5, 2003

Craig Mathews

Fished salmon flies below $3.00 Bridge yesterday. Lots of adults of the big bugs along with golden and little yelow stones, 2 species of caddis and pmd's. The river was alive with rising trout. Then in the evening we hit the river below Squaw Creek and had caddis galore until 10:30pm when Jackie announced "the trout had had enough of us," so we headed home. We took dozens of rising trout, both browns and rainbows, 10 to 19". Fish came to sunken stones, pmx's. Iris and X Caddis, Epeorous Emergers and Sparle Duns. Hope this type of fishing holds up for several more weeks! Hope you can come to Yellowstone soon, and take advantage of the wonderful dry fly action too!

July 1, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I'm here in the shop this afternoon, but I've been out for the last two days.  Sara and I fished with Phil "I forgot to leave the keys for the shuttle driver" Takatsuno on Sunday.  We hit the Madison at Three Dollar Bridge from noon to 3:00, and did a short float from Pallisades to Ruby Creek after that.  Three dollar was good blind fishing a #14 PMX, and some emerging epeorous mayflies also brought fish to the surface.  Craig's EP Emerger fished in the film was the ticket.  Floating was also good.  Salmonflies were thick, and a good number of nice fish came up to eat a Sunken Stone.

I guided on the Gallatin in the Park yesterday with a couple of great guys from CA.  We had good fishing with stimulators, brown foam Rogue Stones, and nymphs like black rubberleg Copper John's and Prince Nymphs.  There were a handful of Green Drakes, and a bunch of #8 brownish-yellow colored Golden Stonflies.  As it heats up this week, both the drakes and the stones should really get rolling.  Stay Tuned.

June 27, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Evening Caddis Has Begun! 

Craig, Jackie, Sara, and I all fished the Madison down below Lyons last night, and we scored the first good evening of the season.  It's still a little bit cooler than optimal.  So, the bugs didn't come off as well as they could, and the fish didn't rise as long as they could, but there were still good numbers of fish rising from 6:00pm until about 9:00pm.  The fish were cooperative as well.  They ate the Mr T, Iris, and even a #10 Stimulator.

The caddis have also started on the Gallatin in the Park.  I had the pleasure of guiding three very lovely ladies form Alabama today, and we saw great numbers of Hydropsyche caddis late in the afternoon. Thanks for the great day Judy, Jane, and Nancy.

June 25, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I slipped out of the shop yesterday afternoon, and headed down to do a short float on the Madison.  Our guides had been returning with reports of good PMDs. So, when I saw another cloudy day, I grabbed our academy award winning fishing film producer, Phil Takatsuno, and we set out to get some DVD footage of PMDs.  We put in at Windy Point and floated down to Ruby.  Despite the hurricane force winds, there were good numbers of PMDs and Baetis.  We found fish rising consistently in several spots, and managed to get some nice browns and rainbows.  It took forever to get down to Ruby.  The wind was blowing upstream so hard that the boat would just about sit still in the middle of the current.  We finally took off around 7:30pm and there were still some bugs on the water.  The weather seems to clearing and warming. So, evening caddis and Salmonflies should get back on their horse.  Stay Tuned.

June 22, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I finally lucked into having a day off on the Firehole that was nice and scuzzy.  And when I say scuzzy, I really mean scuzzy.  The temperature didn't feel like it got out of the 30's.  The wind blew a gale.  And the skies spit everything from rain to sleet to snow at us.  We hung out all afternoon between Midway and the Iron Bridge, (sometimes huddling over a steam vent to stay warm) and it payed off big time.  PMDs and Baetis started pouring off of the river at about 1:44 and we left rising fish just after 4:00.  We caught a ton of fish, and even ran into a couple of larger rainbows around 15 inches. 

June 18, 2003

Steve Hoovler

I fished the Madison in the Park this morning.  There was a decent PMD spinner fall, a handful of emerging PMDs, and the stray egg-laying caddis.  I was able to find some feeding fish just above the talus slope, and downstream by the eagle's nest.  I had to leave rising fish around noontime to get into the shop. ( Jackie and Sara were threatening bodily harm if I wasn't back by 1:00)  So, here I am back in the shop this afternoon, and the reports from the morning fishing on the Firehole have been good as well.  It sounds like there was a good Hydropsyche caddis emergence, and a few PMD spinners bringing fish up to the surface.  I also heard a few good reports of some spotty early Callibaetis on the Madison arm of Hebgen!

June 18, 2003

Craig Mathews

Just wanted to drop a line and let you know that Tim Bywater of the Yellowstone Park Fisheries Program will be conducting a grayling study and tagging on Grebe Lake next Tuesday, June 24, 2003.  This important study will be used later in the season to see if the grayling from Grebe Lake migrate to the Gibbon River.  He needs volunteer fly fisherman to help catch some fish.  It will be a great day to see and fish Grebe Lake with minimal chance of a bear encounter.  If you will be in the area next week, give Tim a call by Monday to sign up at 307-242-2449.

Also, the evening fishing on the Madison below Quake Lake is starting to get fired up.  Stay tuned as the season progresses.

June 16, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Sara and I fished in the park yesterday with friends of ours fromTruckee,Ca.  At breakfast we got our hopes up for some good PMD fishing as the cloud cover looked like it was going to stay socked in for the day.  But, as luck would have it, the sun and blue skies broke out at about the exact time that we arrived at Muleshoe.  It wasn't a total bust, though.  A handful of PMDs came off, and by that I mean 5 or 6.  Several fish rose, and it seemed that if a fish rose, and you were able to get a drift over it, it would take.  Just as we started getting psyched up to fish the evening caddis an armagedeon style thunder storm rolled in and sent us running for the truck. We've go to do something about this bad weather Karma.

June 12, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Craig and I fished the Madison today with Michael Crook, the head honcho at Patagonia.  Michael was in town with the rest of the Patagonia crew attending one of the 2003 dealer camps.  We started by the Yellow House around mid-day and had some great nymphing with big rubber legs and copper johns.  The water is still off color, but we were all amazed at how much it had cleared since just last night.  We finished out the day up by Slide Inn with some fantastic streamer fishing. There's the perfect amount of visibility for pulling those big uglies right along the bank, and the srtrong flows seem to have pushed a lot of the larger fish out of the middle in close to shore. The river will be clearing soon.  Stay tuned.

June 6, 2003

Steve Hoovler

No fishing for me today.  I had to sit in the shop, and listen to one report after another of the epic PMDs that came off of the Firehole.  It was one of the first real cloudy days that we've had in a while, and it sound like both the bugs and the fish took advantage of it.

In an unrelated matter, Tim Bywater from the fisheries program in Yellowstone is looking for volunteers to help fish Grebe Lake for Grayling on Thursday June 12.  Tim is involved in a park-wide fisheries assessment project in which he enlists volunteer anglers to help him fish a particular piece of water.  All of the fish that are caught are recorded, marked, and released.  So, if you're interested in fishing Grebe Lake for some gorgeous Grayling, and learning a thing or two about the fisheries programs in the park give Tim a call at

307-242-2449.

June 5, 2003

Steve Hoovler

Sara and I snuck out of the shop this afternoon, and headed up to the Madison in the Park.  The weather was sunny, and relatively calm, with temperatures in the upper 60's.  We thought we would take advantage of the warm weather and the recently cleared water by looking for some salmonflies.  We started above Mt. Haynes, and worked upstream along the roadside bank.  There were only a couple of adult salmonflies flying, and not many more empty shucks on the bank.  However, every rock within two to three feet of the bank was absolutely covered with mature nymphs.  It looks like they're ready to go at any time now, as many of the nymphs had a creamy colored thorax and some were bright orange. We prospected along the bank with big #4 foam sunken stones, and managed to find a few fish that were interested in coming to the surface.  It should improve every day for the next week or so.  Stay tuned.

June 4, 2003

Sara Randle

After work at 7pm, Steve, Austin, and I thought we'd head to the Firehole to try to catch some late caddis.  We took a slight detour on the way when we realized the FIREHOLE CANYON IS OPEN.  It had been closed due to road construction and bear activity since the park opened in mid-April.  We literally raced to the river with salmonfly in hand.  It was getting late and cold but they took dries.  We caught a few, beautiful rainbows and got greedy by still trying to have caddis action on Fountain Flat Drive.  Unfortunately, we were a little late for caddis...tomorrow we will get there earlier.

June 1st, 2003

Craig Mathews

I fished the Firehole yesterday in the Fountain Flats area. Arrived at the river around 2pm and the trout were already rising to pmds. Took several fish before the surface feeding quit around 3:15pm. All my trout came to a #16 PMD Sparkle Dun. The river was quit until after 6pm when caddis came on. From then until 8pm it was fast and furious with Iris and X Caddis. Most trout took skittering the fly across and downstream. Around 8pm a thunderstorm came in and put an end to the evening fishing. The river is dropping nicley and the pmds just starting to emerge. The Madison in the Park looks like it'll be fishing late this coming week. We are all looking forward to a gray drake June, in addition to pmds and caddis and stones on the Madison. Stay tuned. The H Fork fished well yesteday also, below Ashton. Stones just now showing in the Box Canyon area.

May26, 2003

Steve Hoovler

The muddy water in the park forced me to head back down to the Madison yesterday.  I fished through the section upstream of the West Fork across from the Yellow House.  The upper water above the West Fork is slowly starting to get colored as mud from Cabin Creek and Beaver Creek dump in to the river above Quake Lake. Although, it's still very fishable.  In fact, I managed to get a few fish to rise to a #14 Royal PMX.