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June 17, 2010 
 News from Blue Ribbon Flies
 Fish With The Best
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Greetings!

Welcome to another Blue Ribbon Flies weekly newsletter. Thanks for tuning in. Settle in and we'll tell you what's happening around West Yellowstone and our other favorite spots, show you the fly and the material of the week, and tempt you to plan your next trip with us.

Hope you're enjoying summer, doing some fishing or at least planning some, tying up some flies, and getting this year's trip to Yellowstone country all planned out. Take a break from work or play, grab a cup of coffee, and pretend you're leaning on the counter here at Blue Ribbon Flies. We wish you were here, but until you are we'll keep you in the loop. Thanks for stopping by.

 What's New
 What's Happening in Yellowstone Country

Caleb and Grandpa U It's snowing today. That may look like a simple sentence to your eyes, but if you could see us staring out the windows of Blue Ribbon like dogs who have been left at home, dazed and forlorn, you'd feel the weight of those words. Some of us are sad to be working when we should be enjoying the last few days of Baetis weather on the Firehole, and some of us are sad that the Grinch stole summer in West Yellowstone this year. We're busy, but pitiful. For those of you "suffering" through hot, humid summer days somewhere else, feel free to send photos of children playing in sprinklers to cheer us up.

Blue Ribbon is taking a stand on stopping the spread of invasive species. We have a brand new bucket of clean water and scrub brush outside our front door, and we're doing our part to pass along the idea of "Clean, inspect, dry." There's a great website up and running now, regarding protecting the Greater Yellowstone Area from invasives, at http://www.cleaninspectdry.com/. Please take a few minutes to not only read the literature, but to remove mud, debris, and plant matter from your waders, boots, reels, boats, trailers, paddles, and even your dog.

Our 2010 Fly Plates are here! You'll read more about them later in the newsletter.

Remember to send in proof of your donation to the Madison River Foundation or the Yellowstone Park Foundation to get your name entered in our Anniversary raffle for a free guided trip with Blue Ribbon Flies. Don't forget our 30th Anniversary Party is going to take place on July 15th from 5:30 on, at the Driftwaters Resort (formerly known as the Howlin' Mad Moon) near Mile Marker 11 on Hwy 287. Please join us in celebrating 30 incredible years in business.

Finally, don't forget to keep an eye on our blog. We've been adding to it, and plan to keep on writing updates. We have pictures and news not found in the email newsletter, so while you sit by the fire with your computer sipping hot cocoa, oh wait, you're not necessarily in West Yellowstone are you, catch up with Blue Ribbon Flies. The link is right below.

As usual in the rest of this newsletter, you'll find fishing news from Yellowstone Country in the weekly Fishing Report. You can see what's hot off the vise in the Fly of the Week, get a sneak peak at some of the best materials on our tying bench in the Fly Tying Material of the Week, and stay up to date with the guide staff and their trips in the Guide Trip of the Week.

You'll be seeing a new email newsletter most every week throughout the spring to keep you tuned in to all things fly fishing in the greater Yellowstone area and beyond. Throughout the seasons, we'll keep sending you news of hatches and fishing holes around West Yellowstone. So without further delay, go ahead and jump right into the newsletter. And as always, don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email if you have any questions, or if you just want a little fish talk.

Follow the Blue Ribbon Flies blog... 


 Fishing Report
 Weekly Conditions and Tips

Bucky Geoff Float As the seasons change, or don't, we will continue to do our best to provide a journal entry from some of our latest tying and fishing. We invite you to call and ask us what we've been up to if you get to wondering. We always have plenty of stories to tell.

June 17, 2010 Fishing Report Craig Mathews

Pale Morning Dun weather continues. If you are keeping score Yellowstone country has seen cool-wet conditions for the past 3 weeks (or months) and the PMD mayflies continue to bring up trout on rivers like the Henry's Fork in Idaho as well as on the Firehole and Madison in the Park. Caddis and stones are bringing trout to the surface too on these same rivers. Still waters like Hebgen, Cliff and Wade and Henry's Lake are fishing very well and will continue to do so all season.

I've been pleased by the response to the newly released book "Afield: American Writers on Bird Dogs" which Skyhorse Press recently published. Not only am I proud to be a part of the team of co-authors to this work, I'm also happy to have worked with my good friend Bob DeMott, who edited the book with Dave Smith. Bob is a fine angler and has been a friend for many years. Thank you to all who have read and written such kind comments on this book about the dogs in our lives!

While we are on the subject of books I just finished another friend's book on fly tying. Mike Mercer's latest work "Creative Fly Tying" is a must have for any serious fly tyer's library. It is packed with valuable information on Mike's fly designs, materials, patterns and much much more. Just today his "Missing Link Caddis" laid waste to dozens of great trout on the Madison and Firehole Rivers. Serious fly tyers will find this book a tremendous asset to their collection. Another wonderful read is the little "Norris on Trout Fishing" which is edited by Yellowstone Park's historian, Paul Schullery. Norris has been called "America's Walton". I guess our cool-wet weather makes me want to curl up with a good book after an evening of tying flies.. I have had pleasure reading them so thought I would mention them to you. Now let's look at the fishing!

The Firehole River continues to provide consistent dry fly fishing. Swinging soft hackles and presenting small bead head patterns are also working well on this great early season stream. Baetis and PMDs continue to pour off in good number along with 4 or 5 species of caddis flies. The river is fishing well along its entire length now, from the Broads upstream to Biscuit Basin. Warm mornings are bringing on some very fine PMD spinner falls now and evening caddis egg laying has been awesome. Patterns to have are PMD Sparkle Duns and foam spinners in olive (female PMD spinners are olive and fish prefer the egg laden females), Baetis Sparkle Duns and Knocked Down Duns as well as White Miller Soft Hackle Emergers and cripples as well as the Missing Link Caddis.

The Madison River in the Park has been great this week and should continue fishing well for the next few weeks. Salmon flies are emerging and as Steve LaFlam will explain, in his words, "the Sunken Stone is the BEST adult stone I have ever fished". Steve tried several dry patterns with mixed results before knotting on a Sunken Stone and taking over 20 fine browns to 18" on Tuesday. Wednesday he left to spend a few days in Colorado - the trout are thankful he is off the river for a day or two as he has hooked most of them around Madison Junction these past few days!

I fished the river yesterday afternoon and had good fishing during PMD times. I don't want to get up too many anglers' hopes, my own included, but I did see 3 grey drakes. We all know the drakes will bring on a huge rise of fish during their time on the water. We also know that the past few years we have not seen good drake emergences. I hope we see some good grey drake activity over the next 2 weeks. Stay tuned here and we will keep you up to date. I did take 2 nice browns on grey drake spinners around 2pm. Evening caddis activity has been very strong. Lots of white millers and trout rising to emergers and egg laying adults, so take advantage of this activity while it is around for the next 3 weeks.

The Madison River below Hebgen Lake is fishing well. Cabin Creek has come down but is still turbid so you will want to stay upstream of its confluence with the river. The post-spawning rainbows are mostly back downstream to Quake Lake and all the way to the West Fork. Yes some of these rainbows travel from the Madison River upstream from as far away as the West Fork of the Madison and beyond to spawn. This fact is known now and documented. I think it is sad some become part of an antiquated Montana "creel limit" regulation when anglers kill them here. Hard to believe these wonderful rainbows which are developing some resistance to the ravages of whirling disease run upstream to spawn and pass on these traits only to be knocked on the head and taken home to collect freezer burn. Sorry to preach here but if you feel as we do here at BRF you should make your concerns known to Montana FWP Commissioners in Helena.

The river downstream of Quake Lake is beginning to fish as the water levels come down. Nymph and streamer fishers are doing very well as the fish are mostly collected along the banks. Some are having good success presenting a big March Brown Sparkle Dun, Royal Wulff Cripple or Stimie along the banks-the trout want to come up for dries! Our huge carpenter ant flights occurred this past Tuesday and fish rose to them when they mistook the river for dry land and crashed and flopped on the surface near $3.00 and Lyon Bridge. Salmon flies might begin this week around Ennis if the water temps rise a few degrees. Keep informed by checking our blog daily too.

Hebgen Lake's midges stalled out this past week with the rain and cooler temps but will crank up again by this weekend. The same is true for Wade and Cliff and you might come upon a strong early season Callibaetis mayfly hatch on Wade Lake. These #14-16 early speckled spinners have a slight olive tinge to their belly coloration along with a strongly mottled wing. The big browns and rainbows of Wade relish them.. ..hint-hint. Henry's Lake is fishing well at times. Smaller flashback PTs and Callibaetis nymphs are working well as are larger Chironomid patterns like Chan's White Heads and Frost Bites.

Harriman State Park (Ranch) on the Henry's Fork opened for fishing on June 15th. The Henry's Fork is running a little higher than average but the water is clear and fishable from its headwaters down to the confluence with the Falls River. Due to the higher than normal flows and unseasonable weather the most productive fishing has been with stone fly nymphs, beadheads and streamers. PMDs and caddis have begun to hatch over the past several days giving us hope that some consistent dry fly fishing is just around the corner.

Take a look at stream flows, weather, and past fishing reports... 


 Fly of the Week
 Hot off the Vise

Pop Top Baetis Pop Top Mayflies

Just in time for the PMD season, we're all stocked up on one of our hottest new patterns for 2010. We're still enjoying fishing with our new for 2010 Pop Top Baetis, pictured here, and we've had some great luck already with the Pop Top PMD.

Our guides demanded that we carry these very realistic patterns, and we've all really taken to them. The CDC indicator wing makes them very visible in mixed currents, and the lifelike bodies make them irresistible to fish.

See for yourself! Order a few Pop Top Baetis and PMDs... 


 Fly Tying Material of the Week
 Unique Materials for Effective Patterns

Pop Top Bodies Pop Top Mayfly Bodies

This may be the easiest, best way to tie flies ever. They practically tie themselves.

For $12.99, you can get a pack of a dozen bodies for Pop Top Baetis or Pop Top PMDs.

The abdomen and tail, as you can see here, are finely made and ready to go.

Order a pack of each, tie two dozen highly visible and beautifully crafted mayflies, and hit the water in a short, productive fly-tying flash! You'll love the process and the product.

See what you can do with some Pop Top bodies... 


 Guide Trip(s) of the Week
 Nobody Does It Better

Switzler Summer Guide Trips

Tom Switzler had a great trip to Yellowstone country this week. He fished a few days with Dan, and found a couple pretty fish, to (uncharacteristically for the newsletter) UNDERstate things. Thanks Tom for sending your photos, and for getting our summer season off to such a nice start.

If you're heading out for a day, a week, or a month or two, give Blue Ribbon Flies a call. We'll be happy to set you up with a guide for a float trip, a walk-wade trip, or a little bit of both. Fish with a guide early in your stay and learn to read the water. Pick the guide's brain about what flies to use or where to go, and figure out the finer points of casting to and landing fish.

Whether you're fishing alone or with 1 or 2 other anglers, we can make your experience unforgettable. You will not find another place in the world with a larger concentration of blue ribbon trout streams and still waters than the greater Yellowstone area. Over two thousand miles of water are within a short drive of our headquarters in West Yellowstone, Montana.

For a quarter of a century, Blue Ribbon Flies has offered the most extensive selection of fly-fishing trips in Yellowstone Country. From our daily guide service and overnight pack-trips to our April Mayfly tours, there is a unique fly-fishing experience for everyone.

Fish with the best! Book your trip today... 


 Road Trips
 Speaking of Fishing with the Best....

Cadman Spring Trip The Chuck Cadman crew spent a memorable Spring Mayfly Tour with us, and we felt like we were the lucky ones. Our Road Trips, from Spring Mayfly Tours, through summer Salmonfly and Hopper Tours, and Fall Streamer and Cast and Blast Tours, are an outstanding way to see Montana, fish (and hunt) with no other concerns, and create memories and photos that you'll share for years to come.

There is no better way for visiting anglers to experience all that the area has to offer than on a Blue Ribbon Road Trip. Each day brings a new river, different strategies, a variety of water, and a unique landscape. The fishing options in Yellowstone Country and Southwest Montana are staggering, and conditions change from year to year or day to day. Let our guides sort through the dozens of fishing options to find the best of the best for your road trip. Travel with us in search of prolific hatches, fearless trout, and epic waters.

These first class trips are all inclusive. Four days of guided fishing, all meals, lodging, and transportation are included. All you need to do is arrive at the Bozeman airport with your gear, and we will take it from there.

Sign up for a first class Road Trip with Blue Ribbon Flies.... 


 Gadgets and Gear
 Renzetti Bobbins

Renzetti Bobbin In Four Sizes WITH Ruby Tips and Threaders!

Renzetti has long been a leading name in fly tying, and the Renzettis themselves couldn't be nicer. They also happen to be good listeners, and as a result have redesigned their bobbin balls to insure maximum thread spool retention with a unique tapered protrustion.

These bobbins, in large diameter/standard length, midge/standard length, small width midge, and small width standard, have ruby tips that make for ultra smooth thread delivery and excellent wear resistance. And the threaders? Well, we don't know why every bobbin everywhere doesn't come with one. We think you'll love them as much as we do.

These bobbins are not on the website yet, but we'll be happy to add one or more to your telephone order, or add one or more yourself to the comments section of your email order.

Just a reminder about mail orders, as we move into our busy season. We don't have an automated tracking system through the website, but we're happy to email or tell you your tracking number on the phone. We know you want to get your order as soon as possible, so we do our best to send it within a day of receiving it. As you know, we have all manner of tying goodies, fishing gear, and flies ready to go, and if we're out of stock, we'll write a note on the back of your receipt or call you before shipping if it's the bulk of your order. We aim to please, although we sometimes make mistakes, so if you'll let us know what you need or what we need to do better, we'll do our best to make it right.

Richard Connors sent us this note just today: "Just wanted to drop a line and say.. ..Thank you!! I placed two orders in the past week or so and I am very impressed at how fast you ship. The deer hair you sell is the nicest & cleanest I've ever seen!! The fact that I will never have to sort through a wall of hair to get the right stuff for my needs.. ..well let me just say that I will never buy it anywhere else. Regards, Rich"

Thank you Rich, and thanks to everyone for your orders, your patience, and your business.

Give us a call today.... 


 2010 Fly Plates
 Only Ten Available

Fly Plate 2010 Once a year we celebrate the arrival of our new original fly plates. They come wrapped in bubbles and promising oooohs and aaaaaaahs, each one a different combination of John Juracek's spectacular photography, Craig Mathews' unparalleled fly tying, and signatures from both.

Well, the box showed up Tuesday, and we just finished unwrapping all ten plates today. They are stunning, unique, and available.

As in years past, the photographs and flies represent special areas of Yellowstone country. We hope to post all of them on our blog, so you can pick the one that speaks most to you.

Just in time for Father's Day, or just for any special person or occasion, these 2010 Fly Plates won't last long. They're $299.99, and up for grabs.

They're here! Call today for your 2010 Fly Plate! 


Hope you enjoy the latest issue. We'll keep 'em coming, keeping you up to date on the best fishing water, tips, and gear we can get our hands on. Let us know how you're fishing, and what you're up to. Keep those pictures and fish stories coming!

Thanks for spending time with us. We'll see you soon!

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