Current Fishing Report:
Thursday February 02, 2012

{To enlarge photos double click on the picture.}

Current Fishing Conditions:

Warm weather makes it hard not to go!

The Lower Shoshone.  The river has the best visibility so far this winter.  Snow melt can adds a bit of color on the warmer days.   Zebra midges and small (#22) midge emergers will match the hatch if there is one. Streamers are still working good on a slow swing or with 2 inch strips with an occasional pause. This time of year you will get about 3 hours of good fishing during the warmest part of the day. I fished on the 25th and did pretty well with a dry dropper with a small emerger from noon till 2. As the sun dropped so did the rises so I went to a bugger in the slow deep water and got a brown on almost every cast for about an hour. Fun!

The Shoshone Canyon Pretty darn cold in there now. Fish can be caught but the water temps really have them slowed down. Midges.

The Corbett section  Goes off color some days due to snow melt. Lots of little cutts. Fished Corbett on the 21st and had a ball. Parking lot crowded but I walked a bit and didn't see another angler all day. Warm cloudy day with little wind. Went up to the secret dry fly run and you could just barely see the fish sipping midge emergers right below the surface. Very fun and challenging dry fly. The best thing was the bigger fish were sitting in about 4 inches of water right on the edges. You would set the hook on a super subtle rise and the water would explode with a nice 17" cuttbow or cutthroat right on the edge. Best dry fly of the year for me so far!

Willwood Water is clear now and fishing pretty darn good during the warmest part of the day.

Wind River, Bighorn River, and Canyon  Flows are down to 950cfs. Tossing streamers and nymphing should be good.  Haven't been over since last month but with the warmer temps fishing should remain steady during the warmest part of the day. Campgrounds are giving up some nice wild rainbows I hear. Bright day will usually put the browns off so look for them after the sun goes over the canyon. Midges are usually pretty steady through town. Look for rising fish on the edges and eddies. Small flies under a dry you can see work well. Swinging streamers through the deep holes can bring up some good ones.

Bighorn River Fort Smith.  Winter nymphing and streamer tactics are now your best bets. Report from a buddy is that the Horn is fishing pretty good and there are very few people fishing it right now. They were the only boat on the water. Streamer fishing is the ticket and a fish about 20" and fat was brought to hand. Sounds like fun to me.

Merry Christmas to all! I've been holed up in the bamboo cave attempting to hone the art of bamboo rod making for the last month or so. It's a never ending learning process and a long journey of patience and focus. An exercise for the mind!

On the days when the weather is nice I've been hitting the Lower Shoshone through town. The river has gone through some pretty drastic changes the last couple years. Super high flows have the gravel clean and the natural reproduction has been very successful. The browns have done especially well the last couple years. The river is loaded with smaller fish in the 8" to 10" size. Midges are the dominant hatch now and on some days the dry fly fishing is really pretty good.

I've been experimenting with some shorter quad tapers lately and have managed to come up with a little 7' 3wt that is absolutely a blast to fish under these conditions. This is a super light rod that can cast out to 40' with no problem and even handle a little wind if necessary but on the calm days when the fish are rising this rod is simply the shiznah!

One thing that has been said about quads is that they seem to track better than other geometry's. I don't know if this is true but this rod puts the fly right where you are looking. When fishing the little midges this is exactly what you need to do. If you can put the fly 6 inches above a riser quickly it will take the fly almost every time.

The other thing I've noticed lately about the fish through town is they aren't stupid. If they see you, your chances of getting them to take a fly go down hill quickly. I've watched many fisherman lately flailing away at fish rising at 10' or 15' away to no avail. The fish know you are there and continue rising but will not take the fly. It's kind of funny in a way. All the rods we see today tout the cast a whole fly line marketing but guys won't throw more than 20 feet of line. If you get back say 30' and cast to a riser, I have found that they will take the fly almost every time if the presentation is accurate and delicate.

These little bamboo rods are prefect for this type of work and I find myself with a big grin on my face every time a fish eagerly sucks down the fly. You can present the fly so delicately that it lights on the water soft as a feather. The fish are totally surprised! Another huge benefit to these little sticks is when you get a fish on they are super sensitive and a 10" fish really feels like something on the end of your line. With the population of fish now mainly of the smaller persuasion it just makes for much more enjoyment using a rod like this. I have not found them fragile at all and have landed some hot 18" fish with no trouble and have even thrown some small buggers and dry dropper when necessary. Just another way to enhance your fishing experience!

For now back to the cave. My next project is to work out an 8' 6" rod that can handle bigger fish, bigger flies and bigger water that is still light in hand with a crisp clean casting feel. Already got a couple blanks hanging!

Mark Sweat likes to fish the shoulder seasons in Cody for a couple reasons. The fish are big and there are no other fisherman on the water. Most outdoorsmen are out chasing elk and deer this time of year. We had a very unusual season this year with tons of moisture and now some unseasonably warm weather which seems to have everything about a month behind. Our arrangement has been that when the fishing gets good I give Mark a call and he comes. He works for himself and is very flexible that way. He had been calling chomping at the bit to go fishing and the answer had been not yet up until just the last couple days. Finally, I started seeing some fish just last week and he was here for it.

We got up early and were on the water by around 8:30. There was really not even much sign of the browns spawning yet but they have just started to school up and think about it. It's kind of like catching a salmon fly hatch before you start seeing the bugs flying. The best possible time! To me this is the prime time to catch them. They are still feeding heavily, they aren't beat up from spawning, and are in just about the best shape of the year.

Mark hasn't really been fishing that long but he has the passion and has gotten good quickly. He fishes hard and he is thorough and patient. Both very good qualities. He has learned how to fish this place by covering the water effectively by breaking it down into sections and making sure if there is a fish there, the fish at least sees his fly several times. It wasn't ten minutes and he was hooked up! A nice 20" brown!

We methodically worked our way up about a 100yd stretch of water. This took about half the day. Mark landed at least 10 nice fish and probably ldr'd that many more. Big fish and big current makes loosing some fish just part of the game. When you hook a fish and it blasts 150 feet down stream on you just like that, things get hectic pretty quickly. Your running down refrigerator size rocks trying to keep your balance, keep slack out of the line and not kill yourself. It's great fun for they guy that doesn't have the fish on to watch! It was a pretty successful morning.

A small weather change seemed to slow the bite so we ate a quick lunch before making our way to the other side of the run. Things picked up right where they left off. Mark put about 20 casts over a likely looking spot before he started hooking fish. Big browns and rainbows, some landed and some off after some pretty interesting battles. Fish around rocks, fish flying out of the water on blazing runs. It was killer! He coaxed about 10 fish out of one spot. The bite was on big time!

Things finally began to slow down a bit about 4:30 p.m. as the sun went down. The last fish of the day was a beautiful rainbow and it was just a perfect fish to call it quits on. It was one of the best days I've ever seen on that water and couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy! Nice Job Mark! Enjoy the pictures!

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't posted in a while but fishing has been phenomenal! Dave and Rick Comer came for a couple days and we had a ball! This was their first trip to the Cody area and absolutely everything was cooperating for them. Weather was 75 degrees with no wind, the water was clear and low, most of the crowds are now gone, and the fish were biting! We had our way with them for 2 days straight.

On day one we rode out to the Greybull. We were on the water at 8 a.m. and fish were up on hoppers on the first cast. The leaves are just starting to change and the scenery alone was enough to put a smile on your face. We fished the first hole together just to get everyone on the same page. Both guy are good fisherman so it didn't take long for them to figure out the drill. Dave got what was probably the nicest fish of the day out of the first hole and Rick got several more nice fish as well. It only got better from here.

As the sun warmed things up you would have expected the hopper fishing to get better but the fish became wary and only a few would take the dry if you made a nice first cast. We put on droppers and were into multiple hook ups out of every hole pretty much all day long. The fish are really nice size this year. Most are 15" to 17" with a bunch of nice fat smaller guys. The guys caught a bunch of fish. We never saw another soul all day!

We just took our time hitting little pockets and catching fish here and there and enjoying the day. This is my favorite time of year in Wyoming as far as weather and scenery and this day was as good as it gets. The bite continued till about 5 p.m. which is unusual. Normally the fishing slows at about 2:30 or so. We hiked out around 5:30 and were back in Cody just as the sun was setting. There was a little smoke in the air from fires and the sunsets are bright red and orange and just breathtaking. It was a fabulous day!

The next day we decided to try a plethora of lakes. The fish are cruising at Newton in the mornings taking scuds and midges sub surface. It is great fun to sight fish these guys. You have to make a nice cast without spooking the fish, show the fish the fly with a subtle twitch, see the fish eat and set the hook before he can spit it back out. The whole thing takes place within 10 feet of you. We got quite a few between 8 a.m. and about 11 and then they shut down. We headed to the next spot.

Hogan reservoir has been fishing really well lately and the fish are in much better shape than the Newton fish this year. We saw some big ones cruising when we got there but they were fairly spooky. We tried a few and Rick managed to fool a huge cutt out of a little cove. That's what I'm talking about! We tried a couple set ups and it wasn't long before we were dialed in and both guys were catching fish at random. Nice ones! Rick even had a fish take him way into his backing before finally breaking him off on a screaming run. Dave caught a rainbow in Hogan which is very unusual but we have a picture to show it. The fishing finally slowed about 5 p.m. and we hit a little private pond to try for the really big ones for the last hours of the day.

We got there and things looked good. There was a breeze and the wind had cleaned the pond of floating vegetation. There was a riffle on the water giving our flies action. Everything looked good but after fishing for about an hour we only got a couple of bites. We were just about to quit when, simultaneously both guys had crashing strikes! We had fish flying out of the water, lines crossing, snags on the bottom, and reel malfunctions all in a matter of minutes but both guys managed to land the fish. They weren't the really huge ones we were hoping for but still the biggest fish of the day! We took pictures and started packing up. That's when I realized that the camera was gone! It had fallen out of my pocket while I was reviving the last fish and settled into a couple feet of mud. We looked but the sun was gone and we just had to leave it. A huge disappointment as I had 2 great days of fishing memories on the bottom of the pond.

The next morning I returned to the pond with nets and snorkeling equipment, prepared to do what ever it took to find the camera. I waded in and began cutting back some reeds with a knife so I could systematically search the edge before going diving. I reached down and there it was! It was if fate had put my hand right on it. So, now you can enjoy the pictures from Rick and Dave's trip! Here they are!

Randy Richardson and I got to fish for a couple days this week. We wanted to fish bamboo and dry flies the whole time and that's what I did. The afternoon thunderstorms had just begun so we didn't know exactly how it would effect the fishing but if a fish could be caught, Randy is the guy to do it. I fished my trusty Phillipson Dry Fly Special and Randy fished an 8' 5wt Winston rod as these were very big fish.

We also wanted to catch only un stocked Yellowstone cutthroats. We hit Big Snake creek first. The water is still high and wading is out of the question for the average guys but we figured no guts, no glory. The first spot we hit there were about 15 fish rising to an emerger of some sort. We tried this and we tried that. We both missed a couple before I finally landed 2 fish. We thought it might be the fly but I think the fish just weren't going that strongly and we just happened to catch a few by sheer luck.

The next spot we hit Randy started catching fish on a Turks. The takes were excruciatingly slow. I ended up missing 4 or 5 by striking to soon. As long as the sun was out the fish were biting. The minute it went behind a cloud they turned off. We would have said it was a slow day but we had about 20 takes with maybe ten fish landed with the smallest being about 3 lbs and the largest about 5lbs. These fish are some of the most beautiful cutts we had ever seen. Really not to bad a day.

The next day we went to east Pickett creek. Randy fished his 8' hollow bamboo rod that I had made for him last winter and I dropped down to my Granger 7633 Special. I really love the medium action of that little stick for this type of fishing. The fish were on dries right from the start. They wanted nothing to do with anything sub surface. We used a Turks again and it worked well, especially in the faster pocket water. Around noon the Pmd's started emerging and we changed to a sparkle dun for a while. The fish were on them big time. We got a bunch. Later in the evening a good caddis hatch came off and again the fish were on them. Skittering a tan x caddis was the ticket. We were in dry fly nirvana all day.

It's not often that you can catch fish on dries for 2 days straight that have never been stocked. To do it on bamboo just made it that much more fun. We had two days of fabulous fishing without ever seeing another fisherman. Just two friends doing what we love to do most. The fishing God smiled down upon us once again. Enjoy the pictures.

I dropped into the Clarks Fork Canyon for the first time this year. It's almost Labor day and the water is still a little high. There were only a couple sets of tracks from other people. The mosquitoes weren't bad at all. I love fishing this water with vintage bamboo. I took an old Phillipson 8' Peerless with me to rear back and toss some big dries at the little guys. It may sound funny but I really enjoy catching the little fish. They hit your flies with enthusiasm almost every cast.

Today they were hugging the banks or any down trees in the water. It was a huge run off and it removed most of the old down trees. Many of the holes are still to high to fish well. The water is still a bit cool and the hatches haven't really gotten going yet. There were a few caddis and mayflies about but no sign of the golden stones yet. It didn't matter to the fish. Put your fly right on the edge of something and give it a twitch and if a fish was there he would take it. Lots of fun.

I didn't fish to long. Just long enough to make sure the fish made it through the floods and see if they would bite. We did run into a good sized black bear but the dogs put a chase on him and he took off like a bat out of hell. It's amazing to see how powerful these animals are. He ran straight up a huge rock slide like it was a Sunday stroll. Good Dogs! There is also quite a bit of wolf scat on the trail so watch your dogs down there.

So, the canyon is looking good. Tons of little fish and I did get a couple nice ones. When the water comes down we will see what the rest of the population looks like. As you can see the fish aren't fat but look to be in good health. It is a beautiful place that I personally can't get enough of. Enjoy the pictures.

Two of my favorite guys to fish with Marc and David Kalish came to fish for 3 days and hit it just right. We've been fishing together for years now and we have become good friends as well as fishing buddies. The North fork had just turned on to hoppers and dry fly fishing was unbelievable. We floated the lower stretch the first day and started out on top and stayed there all day. It just got better and better and better as the sun warmed the hoppers and the wind blew them in. I would say it was some of the best hopper fishing I've ever seen on the North Fork.

All you had to do was put the fly on the bank next to some fast current and one, two, or three takes later fish on! There's nothing more you can say. We literally had over a hundred takes in a day. We probably landed about half or more of the fish but it was more weight in fish than on any other trip all time! Unbelievable!

On the second day a thunderstorm came in so we decided to play it safe and do some wade fishing. When we got to the stream Marc nailed a nice fish and we could see some other nice fish but they were acting funny probably due to the weather change. David got a bunch of little guys and finally landed a nice 17" cutt . Marc then landed a solid 18" to take big fish honors before we decided to take it easy and call it a day. We caught fish mind you but nothing like the day before.

We swung by my house for a tour of the rod shop on the way home and then by the Humble Fly to look at some rods to end the day. Both these guys seemed interested in the bamboo process and I wouldn't be surprised if both of them build their own rod one day. I sent them home with one to play around with to see if bamboo did anything for them. Just doing my part to fuel the fire. Ha!

The last day we had intended to do a short float on the North Fork and then fish a while in Yellowstone on their way to fish the Bighole and the Beaverhead. The fishing got so good by the end of the float that we decided to just float again. I mean we caught some fish! Fish after fish after fish! Our combined total for the three days probably exceeded 150 landed fish, maybe more. They were so tired that on the last part of the float they finally said uncle. Greatest catching days of my career as a guide so far. It couldn't have happened to two nicer guys. These guys always work hard and have paid their dues in the past. The fishing God smiled down upon us and gave them what they both deserved. Enjoy the pictures!

Dianne and Lonn Fisher called looking to go fishing in Cody. They were in Thermopolis working on an authentic Wyoming trail ride and thought a relaxing day on the water would be a nice end to their visit. Relaxing day on the water, Ha! The water is still high and fast. You are rowing like crazy trying to stay off the rocks with at least one, sometimes two fish on at a time. We call this Kaos fishing but it is fun if your up for the task.

Lonn is a seasoned fisherman and had no trouble figuring out how things work fishing under these conditions. When I first saw Dianne I was a bit concerned. She was a small, fragile, proper looking woman.  The water is fast and you are bouncing off rocks all day. It's very easy for anyone to take a spill over the side. Dianne had only been fly fishing a couple times. Fast accurate casts are required and you only get one chance at a spot most of the time. As it turned out my concerns were totally unnecessary. Dianne was agile as a cat. She had no trouble negotiating any of the obstacles she was presented with. She had no major tangles all day and that is more than I can say for myself when I fish this stretch of river. On top over everything else she caught fish! All day long!

We hit the water at 6 A. M. to get a jump on all the other guide boats. By the time we saw the first guide boat we had already boated plenty of fish for the day. The fish are in the river in good numbers now. Almost every spot produced at least 4 or 5 hook ups. Even the most marginal lies were producing fish. We caught a bunch of fish!

We had a nice lunch and headed down stream as thunderstorms loomed over head. It looked like we were going to get rained on but they blew on past just to the north and more blue sky was right behind. We continued to catch fish. Lonn was in the front all day just doing his thing. It's nice fishing with a seasoned veteran. I'd point out a potential spot, Lonn would put the fly there and fish on. Simple. In the areas we could eddy out he would cover the area and pull out fish until there were no more fish to get. It was a lot of fun!

By around 3:30 we had all had a great day, witnessed some extreme beauty, and caught plenty of fish so we rowed on out. They had dinner arrangements in Thermopolis with some friends that they were going to be late for but if it is because you were having fun fishing, it is worth it, at least in my opinion. It's always a pleasure to meet nice people while fishing for the first time. I know I really enjoyed the day and hope they will return next year to try it again. Enjoy the pictures!

Big Snake Creek

I went into Lamar valley to see how things were shaping up. Soda Butte is high and off color. I'd say around 1000cfs with 500 being when it starts to fish well. The Lamar is 3000cfs with 1200 being a good number. Also high and off color. I hiked up Slough Creek to the first meadow and the water is high off color and cold. Wet wading wasn't painful but you want to try to keep certain areas above the water line. There was about a foot of visibility. No obvious hatches in the morning. Did see what I thought were a couple drakes but no takers. I fished hard for about 3 hours trying a little of everything and landed 4 very small fish. I did see a couple more small guys up on the edges as I was walking out sunning themselves in the shallows. Valley was beautiful and I was the first set of tracks on the far side of the river. Very few people. Fishing was great, catching not so good. I'd give it at least a week more before I'd make the hike again.

I decided to go home by way of Big Snake Creek. I knew the flows were out of the banks but I thought what the heck. When I arrived at one of my secret holes the water was pretty darn clear and I saw fish just below the surface taking caddis emergers. There were several kinds of caddis in the air as well as some brown stones, golden stones and a few mayflies that I couldn't identify.

It was on! The first couple casts produced fish of 18" and 20". They quit taking the dries and I went to dry droppers and then to streamers. I landed about 10 fish all 18" to 22" in about an hour. I headed up stream to another good spot and started picking up fish immediately. The fish were right on the edges and were taking flies swinging to the surface on almost every cast. I used a plethora of techniques, catching fish on all of them. In about 2 hours at least another 10 fish between 18" and 22"! A killer day, especially under these conditions.

The difference's were two fold. First the water temp was at least 10 degrees higher than Slough Creek and the water was reasonably clear. I'd say about 2 1/2 ' of visibility. The second thing was that there were a ton of bugs hatching and the fish were gobbling them! I never would have expected a day like this at these flows. A new record for this year. It just goes to show that you just have to go and check things out for yourself. I did see a couple others fishing and they said they weren't getting anything.

I love days like this. I was very excited to try Slough. When I found it not fishing well I was disappointed and had pretty much given up on catching anything else. When I was presented with some unexpected killer fishing it just made it that much more fun! A roller coaster of emotions! I'm going back soon!  Enjoy the pictures.

First Slough Creek Fish of the Year!

Terry Klavinski was referred to me by my good friend Jim Haeck. Jim is an avid fly fisherman and makes it a point to come to Cody every year mainly because of the great fishing but also because it is one of the last places that you can still fish without seeing another fisherman all day. Terry and I had a couple days like that.

Terry had wanted to target big fish and with all the run off any fish were looking like it could be a challenge. He called about a week prior to his trip concerned that run off would be a problem. I told him that at the moment fishing was very tough. Big fish were probably out of the question but things can change rapidly and we might find some other opportunities by the time he got here. That's just what happened.

We went up high and the water was up but clear. The wild flowers were out in force. Not even full bloom yet but close. Moose were everywhere. The fish had just come off the spawn and were hungry. The hatches haven't really got started yet with the exception of midges. When the water gets this high the banks are flooded. This causes the earth worms to come to the surface trying to breath. The fish are on them like no tomorrow!

It was to EASY! Every cast in the right spot produced a fish. We have no idea how many fish we caught but it was plenty. The day was perfect, surroundings beautiful, and no people. After we had caught plenty of fish we experimented with many conventional flies. We had absolutely no luck with anything else but the secret fly until about 4 p.m. when we found a big slow pool with a few fish eating emergers right under the surface. Not the fantastic dry fly fishing we were hoping for but we did manage a few on dries. The day far exceeded my expectations!

The next day we were off at 630 a.m. It is very hot in the afternoon so if you don't get going early you will get only a few hours of good fishing in and then they just quit around noon. Terry had never sight fished lakes before so we hit Luce to give it a try. The fish had been on damsels lately. We sight fished a few cruisers and got a few but they had been fished hard lately and just weren't coming to the fly with any enthusiasm. We saw a couple risers and changed to dries about 730a.m. It was on. We absolutely hammered them on a callibaetis spinner and a beetle for about 4 hours straight. Every rise we saw produced a fat 15" to 17" rainbow. It was some killer dry fly and a great way to start your lake fishing career. Two things really helped us. One, Terry is a good fisherman and had no problem dealing with the tough wading conditions and persistent deer flies. The second was we hit it on a perfect day!

Things turned out much better than I expected. If the flows hadn't come around I would have recommended to cancel the trip due to less than desirable conditions. I had just cancel a trip a couple days before as the people were beginners and they just wouldn't have had any success on the first attempt at fly fishing. Not a good way to experience fly fishing. Bottom line we just got lucky. I'll take it!  Enjoy the pictures!

My good friend Robin Jahnke and his family came for a 4th of July vacation to Cody. Robin's family and I have fished together now for many years and have had some excellent adventures. Fishing around Cody is really starting to get tough. All the rivers are to high to fish. The lakes have been fishing pretty well but now the weather is hot and everyone and their brother have been fishing the same spots. Still, if your a fairly competent caster and willing to put forth the effort, you can have a pretty good day.

Robin now has a new son in law Tyler and we were trying to get Tyler into the fly fishing game. Basically, if you are a member of this family you are obligated to learn to fish. Conditions were very tough for Tyler. The weather was hot and calm. The lake is very clear and the fish spooky. Long delicate casts are required which makes it very tough for everyone but especially beginners. We hit Luce early in the morning and found a few fish rising to callibaetis spinners. We quietly waded out and tried to place our flies where the cruising fish could find them with as little disturbance as possible. It was not long before Tyler landed his biggest trout to date on a dry fly. Robin is kind of an old hand at this and he landed a couple on dries as well.

The fish were cruising but not very interested for a while. When the wind came up a bit and laid a nice riffle on the water the gloves came off and they got active. Robin had a great time sight casting to cruisers. If you could get your fly in front of the fish they would attack in with great enthusiasm. For Tyler things were a bit more difficult. We were in the sticks making longer accurate casts and needed to get the flies moving as soon as they hit the water. A very difficult situation for your first day. Many obstacles were encountered and Tyler stuck it out and managed to land several nice fish and LDR several more. A very commendable effort considering the conditions. Not a bad day of sight fishing. When we got home I asked Tyler if he had enough left for a little casting class. We went over the basics in a calm environment where we weren't concerned with catching fish and he made huge progress with his cast. He was out to 35' with decent accuracy in no time. Learning to cast before you go to catch a fish is a tremendous help to minimize your initial frustrations with learning fly fishing.

The next day Robin's daughter Adrian came with us. We knew the water was going to get hot so we decided to try float tubes in the deeper water. It turned out to be a nice peaceful day of fishing in a beautiful spot. We were almost the only people on the water on the 4th of July. Very cool. Fishing was fair. We picked up fish about every 20 minutes or so most of the day. Plenty to keep our interest and just had a real nice time.

 On the way home we decided to try one more spot just for grins. When I saw the water I had given up before we ever wet a line. It was hot, weedy, and we saw no action at all. It didn't look good. Robin made about 30 casts or so before Adrian hit the water. She is still learning to cast so was dealing with weedy flies and tangles. I could tell she was just about done. All of a sudden a huge fish hammered her fly and came flying out of the water a couple of times. We knew it was a pig immediately.  The fish sounded into the weeds and became tangled as Adrian tried to move it out into clearer water to land it. We let the line sit for about 30 seconds. It was limp. Just when we thought it was over the fish jumped again and it was free! Adrian fought it like a pro and landed it in short order! We were all ecstatic!  The fish of a lifetime. We headed home feeling just stunned at what had just happened. A great feeling and no better way to end a great trip. Congratulations on a great job of landing a fish of a lifetime! Enjoy the pictures!

Robin and Adrian

My friend Tim Love and I hit the Firehole on the 31st. It was a bamboo kind of day. Tim was fishing an 8' hollow 5wt rod that I had made for him and I had an 8 1/2' Granger Victory, a 8' Winston, and a 7' 4wt prototype rod to try out. The sun was high and bright so our expectations weren't to high. We fished up in the trees thinking that a little shade might help.

We went deep with a set of nymphs. We both caught fish right from the start. Not a bunch but one or two out of every likely looking spot. The scenery was spectacular and it felt good to have some moving water around our legs. The Firehole is made to fish bamboo. Beautiful long dry fly runs, nice cutt banks, with a few deeper hole to investigate. I fished the big Granger with the nymphs.

Around 2 p.m. we did finally see some PMD's hatching but never saw anything come up for them. We headed down to look for some dry action. At 4p.m. we started catching fish sub surface and saw a few fish rising to what we thought were caddis. I skittered a dry caddis and got some hits but only landed a few. Tim stuck with the sub surface and continued to get one here and there. As the sun went down lots of egg laying caddis swarmed the banks and a few more fish began to rise. We tried everything and could only manage a stupid fish every now and then. We never could find exactly what they wanted. This has happened to me all most every year on the Firehole about this time and is what keeps me coming back. Little fish that can be very hard to catch. Very challenging!

The little 4wt prototype rod was a very pleasant surprise. There was a pretty steady 10 to 15mph wind and the rod had no trouble punching out a 40' cast if needed. Nice tight loops and very accurate. It was also a roll casting demon. This will be a taper I will make a few more of. A great small stream rod and a true 4wt. As a matter of fact I could name this rod the Firehole but Bill Phillipson has already beat me to it.

All in all it was a great time. Catching wasn't all that great but the fishing and scenery was fantastic. Surprisingly we had the river to ourselves most of the day which made it even better. If you have to find some moving water right now this is probably one of the only things going besides the Bighorn. Well worth the drive over. Enjoy the pictures!

Caddis Porn!

Evolving as a caster

Back in 2007 my wife gave me an original Winston Bamboo rod made by Lew Stoner, founder of the Winston Rod Co. I had just started messing around with bamboo and wasn't building rods yet. The rod was a single tipper as most were back in the 30's so I commissioned Glenn Brackett, former Winston bamboo builder, to make another tip. I had fished the rod for a couple months and decided it was a light dry fly rod for an 8'er. It was a nice smooth caster but wasn't a big fan of wind or multiple fly rigs. I loved the rod!

Now the process of getting a rod worked on by one of the masters can be an exercise in patience but I wanted Glenn to do it as there is no one that has more experience with Winston's. He is the man. The process ended up taking around 3 years. It was worth the wait. It had been so long since I had seen the rods that it was like getting two new rods.  I had him make me a tip for a Phillipson as well as his prices are very reasonable. The wait somehow had made the experience better.

In the course of the three year wait I had assembled a shop and started building my own bamboo rods. I had tried many different tapers and was starting to make progress getting the feel of designing the kind of rod I like to cast and fish. I've spent almost that entire time casting and fishing bamboo.

I took the rod from the tube and assembled it, strung it up and went out back to the pond to get to know it again. The rod was crisper and the loops were tighter than I had remembered. Was it the new tip? No, I was using the original. This thing could really crank out some line! No trouble casting right into a 15mph wind. Roll casting was effortless. It seemed oddly different from the rod I remembered. Better.

The conclusion I finally reached is that through casting many rods and concentrating on getting to know each ones idiosyncrasies, my casting knowledge had grown. I am now able to quickly adjust to any rods stroke in short order. Understanding application of timing and power. The sweet spot if you will. I understand the rod much better than I did when I first tried it.

Some fly fisherman concentrate on only catching fish. They may spend their entire fishing careers learning to cast just one or two rods. There is so much more to enjoy. The great thing about bamboo are there are many interesting tapers out there. Most of them are great fun to fish once you find that sweet spot. This can up your enjoyment of fishing a great deal. The rods put a smile on my face just casting them. Making and trying to design rods has helped me to understand different taper styles much better and made the experience that much more fun. Think about this next time you try out a new rod. Not all rods will put that smile on your face. Some seem dead or just don't feel right but when you feel a good one you will know it. Take a little more time to learn about different rods and your enjoyment will be that much greater!

My buddy Joe from Sierra Trading Post brought his family up to try fly fishing for the first time. Fishing has been tough around Cody lately. Run off is upon us. The lakes are about the best bet and everyone is fishing them. This can make things tough for first timers so we headed to Sunshine where we figured everyone would have a chance at success. It was also about the only place really fishing well right now.

Joe's kids are great. Japheth, Alex, and Josh were all eager participants. We practiced some casting and fish handling techniques for a while and hit the water. The enthusiasm level was at 10! Josh struck first with a big nice cutt! Fishing was good but the catching slow in our first spot so we headed off to look for some new water. The fish were biting and it wasn't long before both Japheth and Alex both had there first fish on a fly as well. It was really cool! They immediately realized that this was much more interesting than any other fishing they had done before. Smart kids!

Joe and I tried to keep it simple just untangling flies and giving advice as needed. There was a definite technique to getting the fish to bite. The flies had to be on the bottom and retrieved with short 1" strips. The bites were very subtle and hard for even the most skilled fisherman to detect. The hook set had to be spot on to get a hook up. It was amazing to see how fast the kids picked things up! I know it took me a heck of a lot longer just to get a bite when I first started.

This turned out to be one of the most satisfying trips I have taken in a while. Fishing with kids is what it's all about. Teaching kids about conservation and having them participate in outdoor activities is the future of the world. These guys were full of big smiles and asking questions like there was no tomorrow. They hung in there when things got slow and were ready to go the next day and do it some more. Yes, it is difficult at first to get kids going. You will loose a few flies, your knot tying and untangling skills will improve and at times your patience will be tried. Just remember, someone did it for you! The main key to success is to keep it fun. Josh, for instance, wasn't sure about the fly casting. Instead of forcing him to keep at it we let him use a spinning rig that he was more comfortable with. By the end of the two days after seeing how many fish his brother and sister caught on fly rods, he was ready to give the fly rod another go. Try to get the kids tying their own knots, and setting up their rods as soon as possible. The sooner they become self sufficient the less frustrating it will be for them (and you) and the more fun for everyone. They are quite capable of learning all you can teach and will just suck it up like little sponges.

At the end of 2 days of fishing everyone was fired up about fly fishing! Even Joe's wife Ester gave it a try. She was a little skeptical at first. Casting is something no one learns in a day. It takes time and practice. Being a good caster can definitely improve your chances of catching fish but you can still get the job done and have some fun the very first day. Ester was really excited and surprised to catch her first fish on a fly rod and it turned out to be one of the biggest caught in 2 days of fishing. Congratulations on her first fish on a fly and having some great kids! I guarantee that when Joe goes to buy equipment Ester will be getting her own rod waders and boots.

After 2 days of fun we stopped off in Meeteetsee for the traditional Klondike Bar ceremony and headed home. The kids even got a lesson in Blues history on the way back. All blues musicians have cool names! Even during the run off blues you can find some very worth while things to enjoy! Take your kids fishing! You won't regret it! Enjoy the pictures!

The Richardsons got together for memorial day weekend and a birthday this year (Happy Birthday Bobbi). The crew was Keith and his brothers Kirk and Randy and his friend and dog trainer Dennis. Keith's brother Kirk got to come out with his wife Yolanda from California. Kirk has been dabbling in fly fishing for a couple years now. Recently, he had some success on a California stream and so he wanted to come back for a little refresher. Dennis handles German Shorthairs with Keith and had given fly fishing a try last year. Dennis caught so many fish with us last year his arm got sore so he wanted to give it another go. Randy fishes with me regularly these days.

Unfortunately, We are in a transition period with the fishing. We have an exceptional amount of snow this year and the rivers are just starting to go off color with run off. This concentrates all the fishing pressure on the local lakes. On top of that it has been raining for the last couple weeks which has the roads very muddy and the wind has been howling. Other than that conditions were perfect.

On the first day the flows of the Greybull seemed marginally reasonable and we really wanted to get on some moving water. The drive out was spectacular. Animals were out in force with just tons of elk and deer everywhere. That was worth the trip by itself. We dropped in for a couple hours but the river was just to high and muddy to make fishing worth while. Sunshine reservoirs were our saving grace. These two lakes are full of Yellowstone cutthroats. In the spring the fish begin schooling up and swimming around the banks looking for a creek to spawn in. This means there will be schools of fish cruising the banks pretty much anywhere on the 1000 acre lakes. Dennis, Randy, and I hit it in the float tubes. The fish were there and we did fairly well from the tubes but the wind came up and made tubing no fun. We finished the day from the bank. The fish turned on about 2 p.m. and the guys both landed quite a few nice cutts.

Kirk's plane had technical difficulties and he didn't make it to Cody until Saturday. We loaded up the tubes and returned to the lake. The wind was down and there was snow on the hills. It's real pretty out there. It turn out to be just a relaxing day of fishing. The water is still a bit cool and the fish were on the bottom. The bites were very subtle and there is definitely a certain technique to getting them to bite. Most of the fish were within 25' of the banks. You paddle out, casting toward the shore and down the banks. If you got the retrieve just right, fish on! Everyone got there share.

On the final day the rains came and the temps dropped. Miraculously, The North Fork cleared and we were able to get on some moving water. I really wanted to go over some river techniques with Kirk so he would have some more material in his arsenal when he got back to California. We went over everything to do with nymphing. Knots, leader making, depth and weight adjustments and casting and mending techniques. The fishing was fair if you could find a spot to fish as the water was very high and fast. Find a spot where the fish could get out of the current and fish on. Everyone got a couple fish and had some fun but there just wasn't enough fishable water under those conditions. We headed back into town and hit Newton. It was raining and the fishing was just off. We stalked the bank.  We weren't seeing very many fish and the ones we did see were very spooky. Kirk did manage to hook one nice rainbow but that was about it. We used the down time to work on some more advanced casting. Finally we hit East Newton where the guys both hooked a couple fish and headed in. That's why they call it fishing. Sometimes it's just tough. I think everyone had a good time and even may have learned a few things in the process. Fish were caught, friendships rekindled, and good times had. Enjoy the pictures.

Tight Lines!