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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 or already secured in the 2010 scrapbook. 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.
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What's New
What's Happening in Yellowstone Country
Happy Holiday Weekend! Hope your 4th of July is a great one. Following on its heels, the 15th of July is creeping up quickly. In fact, in less than two weeks, we will all be at the Driftwaters Resort, formerly known as Howlin' Mad Moon Resort, near mile marker 11 on Highway 287, just north of $3 Bridge. We'll be listening to live music, eating appetizers and ANNIVERSARY CAKE WITH CANDLES!, and celebrating 30 years with you. We'll be drawing the winner of the free float trip for those of you who have donated to the Madison River Foundation or the Yellowstone Park Foundation this year, and awarding the prize for the oldest Blue Ribbon Flies t-shirt and souvenir. We REALLY hope to see you there! Please stop by if you're in the area - we'll raise a glass to all our years and all our friends. Thanks for 30 incredible, unforgettable years.
The Madison River Foundation's 8th Annual Fly Fishing Festival is sneaking up on us too - it will be held, as in years past, over Labor Day weekend, September 3rd & 4th, 2010. Stay tuned for more details about this fun, informative, community-based event, or come in the shop and ask us about it. Signing up to support the Madison River Foundation is a great way to get your name added to the drawing for a free Blue Ribbon Flies float trip.
The Big Sky Fly Fishing Festival is happening a little sooner than Labor Day. Lone Mountain Ranch and Gallatin River Guides are proud to present the Big Sky Fly Fishing Festival, Monday, July 5, starting at 2:00pm, hosted at the Big Sky Town Center in Big Sky, Montana. This will be a free event to the community, capped off by a BBQ, music and outdoor movies in the park related to the sport. Craig will be speaking about 1% For The Planet and all things fly fishing at 4 p.m.
In other news, we now have caribou hair, and lots of it. Well, quite a bit of it anyway. One of Larry and Cecil's buddies in Alaska sent a fine looking hide our way a couple weeks ago, and we've cut it into nice 3x4-inch pieces. Call for your caribou fix.
George Nikitin took this shot of the Madison during his recent visit to our neck of the woods. He's a photojournalist for the AP, so we're honored to have a sample of his work, and honored to be one of his stops along the way. See you soon George!
We still have a few of our 2010 Fly Plates left, and we want to find good homes for them. Give us a call if you've been thinking of buying one. We'll walk you through our remaining plates and get one sent out to you right away.
Steve Brown from Prescott was in yesterday waxing poetic about current fishing conditions:
The wind came up,
The hail came down.
The fishermen came in,
(He paused here, so we had to fill in a less than inspiring ending.. ..)
The newsletter went out.
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...
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Fishing Report
Weekly Conditions and Tips
As the seasons change, 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.
Frank Balog fished with us last week, and sent in some fabulous pictures. We're always glad to see what you're up to, and we look forward to seeing and sharing your memorable moments! Thanks for showing them to us.
July 1, 2010 Fishing Report
Craig Mathews
Green, Gray and Brown Drakes along with salmon flies, golden and little yellow stones, several caddis species and more are bringing up the trout on several rivers and streams here in Yellowstone country. Pale morning duns and a host of other insects are now set to begin emerging on many area waters. Callibaetis mayflies along with damsels and dragons are active on area lakes so we will look at a full slate of fly fishing activity here this coming week.
The weather pattern remains on the unsettled side with lots of clouds and afternoon thunderstorms. If you are into wildflowers this is the year to be here. Many locals are saying they're seeing species of flowers showing up for the first time in years. I noted Bitter Root in full bloom along the Madison near Standard Creek and Raynolds Pass Bridge this week. Too, what a great wildlife season this has been with grizzlies, wolves and even a wolverine was spotted this past week near Earthquake Lake again so pack up and head to Yellowstone and explore our waters, flora and fauna!
John, Jackie and I are headed to Odell Creek to fish and photograph today. On this fine stream immortalized by Nick Lyons' book "Spring Creek", we are seeing some very strong emergences of green drake and pale morning dun mayflies as well as caddis. Our guided trips have had incredible fishing the past week. The Brent Chandler family was on the creek yesterday and had fine action. Our good friend Yuki Bando from Japan, fished the creek twice this past week and had several 17-22" browns during green drake and pmd times. Check out our upcoming blog entries along with this report for photos and more! I should mention, we still have a few open dates to fish Odell with us so give us a call and we can set you up for an unforgettable experience on what many call the "best spring creek in the world".
The Firehole River in the park is slowing down after a month of strong pmd and caddis fishing. We experienced 25 plus perfect weather condition days on this great river for pmd emergences during June and the fish didn't disappoint anglers! Caddis times were many too with both White Miller and Hydropsyche sp. bringing on huge rises of trout to their times on the water. The water temps are rising, now into the mid-70s and the insects are sporadic. It is best to leave this river now until it cools in late August to avoid stressing the trout. What wonderful Spring fishing memories it gave us in 2010! Let's not forget the upper Firehole now, above Old Faithful and the Little Firehole River and the main rivers tribs like Nez Perce Creek. These will fish well all season, especially during hopper times. Stay tuned here and we will get you the latest skinny on them when they begin to fish.
Slough Creek is beginning to fish. The fish are mostly taking streamers and big nymphs along the banks but will come up for a big attractor dry or even a salmon fly on the lower stretches below the campground. The Lamar and Soda Butte Creeks are still too high and turbid but we look for them to come into shape this coming week barring any more deluges during this time.
The Gibbon River continues to fish well. In the upper meadow stretches you may see some morning gray drake and pmd spinner falls and evening caddis are strong now too. In the canyon stretches little yellow stones can be expected and the fish rise freely to them daily
The Gardner River is fishing. There's still much water coming down this river but it is clearing and the fish are hungry to feed on top. Golden stones and attractors along with rubber legs and red copper John's will bring trout to net.
The Gallatin River remains turbid and high below Taylors Fork. Afternoon storms are wreaking havoc with our early summer fishing here but if you fish above the Taylors you can expect some good fishing using large Stimies and Wulffs and caddis.
The Henry's Fork has fished very well. Minori Smith gave us the following report: Fishing on the Henry's Fork has ranged from very good to excellent from the Box Canyon to Saint Anthony due to prolific hatches of PMDs, caddis, Green Drakes, Flav's, Gray Drakes, Yellow Sallies and Golden Stones. Brown Drakes have started to hatch on the "Ranch" from Millionaire's Pool to Wood Road 16. All this hatching activity has the fish looking up and on the feed.
Small streams like Grayling and Duck Creek are worthy of your time. Most post-spawning rainbows have headed back to Hebgen Lake for the summer but resident fish are ready to rise to your Royal Trude Cripples and H&L Variants.
Lake action continues to hold up. Henry's Lake fish are still mostly on strike due to cold water and lack of insects but this week we will see good damsel hatches here as well as Cliff and Wade Lakes and the fish should cooperate. Hebgen Lake's Callibaetis spinners have brought up some fish during the 9-noon time frame and midges along the north shore are still working as long as you have a Hebgen Chironomid fly!
Hidden and Elk Lakes are both fishing very well during Callibaetis times. If you have a float tube you are in better shape to fish these fine lakes rather than from the shore. Leeches work during non-hatch times.
Grebe Lake is the place to be for grayling and the most beautiful rainbow trout around. You can't miss here - bring your bear spray along with damsel dry and nymph patterns and toss in a sparrow fly too. The hike is but an hour and the fish are gorgeous.
Earthquake Lake almost escaped this report. The upper lake has been hot and cold depending on how much cold water Beaver and Cabin Creeks are bringing in. You can expect some PMDs and strong caddis emergences on this one. Be watchful for the bear and lion on the opposite shoreline!
Take a look at stream flows, weather, and past fishing reports...
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Fly Tying Material of the Week
Unique Materials for Effective Patterns
Prime Pheasant Skins, With and Without Tails
"There's probably no bird that flies that has more uses for the fly tyer than the Ringneck Pheasant. One cock pheasant of just average size will provide the fly tyer with enough material to tie literally thousands of flies. From the top of its head to the tips of its tail, there's hardly a feather on a pheasant that can't be used to some good purpose. Whether it's hackle you need or tailing fibers, winging material or body material, shoulders or cheeks. Whatever, it's all there on a pheasant."
These words are from Jack Gartside. Find more of his thoughts in the next article. Jack, we miss you.
As we say on our website, we spend countless hours chasing these hearty birds around eastern Montana every fall. It is tough work, but someone has to do it. Really, we don't mind.
Right now we have prime skins with tails, and some beautiful skins without tails. Skins less tails are currently $5 each or 2 for $7.50. Call or add this special deal to the comments section of your internet order. They won't last long once this newsletter goes.
See what you can do with a pheasant skin....
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Speaking of Pheasant Skins
Here's What To Do With Them
A Little History for Our 30th Anniversary
Maybe we've missed the boat all year. There's a strong possibility that we've let a good half of our 30th year pass by without delving into the history of Blue Ribbon Flies. It's probably an even match between those of you who loved and hated history in school, but with all the articles, catalogs, photographs, and stories floating around this dusty place, you'd think we could have found a little something every week to keep you entertained.
We'll see what we can do in the next couple of months to share a little bit of the last 30 years with you. This week, since we have pheasant skins on sale, we thought an old article from our dearly departed friend Jack Gartside would hit the spot. It's a little hard to read in the photograph, but here are some of the highlights of "What To Do With A Pheasant Skin", published originally, well, a long time ago.
"If you don't already own a pheasant skin, drop everything right now, before reading any further, and run out into a field and shoot one; or buy one, borrow or steal one from a fly-tying buddy or a fly shop, or if none of these options are feasible then order one complete skin through the mail."
"If however, you are fortunate to have one in your tying kit and caboodle, take it out and place it beside your vise or hold it in your hand as you read this (onlookers will think you a little strange, but don't let that ruffle your feathers). Take a good look at the feathers on the skin, from top to tail, and purposes whether sublime or ridiculous, you could put each feather. A quick perusal will, I am sure, reveal dozens of uses. Remember them (maybe even write them down) and add them to the (incomplete) list of suggestions I've come up with in the course of many years of tying with pheasant."
Gartside then works his way from the head of the pheasant to the almond hearts below the ring feathers on the back and the breast, listing uses for each shape, size and color. You've never known so many practical and imaginative uses for feathers, or enjoyed so much information so charmingly parceled out.
We'll do our best to post the article in its entirety on our blog today or tomorrow. You may even have a copy yourself, in an old Blue Ribbon Flies catalog. Keep an eye out, and get that pheasant skin put to good use.
Thanks for being part of our history. Stay tuned.. ..
Check out the Blue Ribbon Flies Blog soon for the rest of this article
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Guide Trip of the Week
Nobody Does It Better
Float or Walk-and-Wade Your Day Away
A guided trip with Blue Ribbon is a full day, no matter how you slice it. From the first cup of coffee in the shop while you meet your guide and discuss your options for the day until the celebratory beer, or iced tea, on the drive back to town, you'll be engaged, entertained, educated, and elevated.
By the time your day is over, you'll be a little beaten up by the weather, whether it's sunny, windy, rainy, hot, or cold, you'll be a little sore from balancing, casting, and using muscles that don't usually get worked all day, and you'll be hungry - for dinner certainly, and for more fishing.
You'll have stories to tell, pictures to show, and hands that need washing. You'll have had that "Wish You Were Here" feeling at least a few times for someone who couldn't go along, and you'll have thought to yourself "I'm never going to forget this moment" more times than you can remember.
You'll use more flies than you thought you would, you'll catch more fish than you thought you would, and you'll be glad and sad in equal parts that your day is over. Let us take you on a big, full day of fishing that you'll never forget. Book a guided trip today.
Fish with the best! Book your day with Blue Ribbon guides today...
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Volunteer Fly Fishing Program
Good News About A Good Time
Doug and Nan Little signed up to volunteer with Tim Bywater and the Volunteer Flyfishing Program in Yellowstone National Park last week. As you can see, there was more than altruism at work here. With great attitudes and great fishing skills, volunteers really make a difference to National Park Service Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Program staff.
Maybe you read about this program on our blog a couple weeks ago. From the Yellowstone website: "There are an estimated 2,650 miles of streams and 150 lakes with surface waters covering 5% of Yellowstone's 2.2 million total acres. Because NPS staff cannot address all of the park's aquatic issues, a program was established wherein flyfishing volunteers use catch-and-release angling as a capture technique for gathering biological information on fish populations throughout the park. Conducted each year since 2002, the Volunteer Flyfishing Program has resulted in an immense amount of information that would otherwise have not been available to park managers."
In layman's terms, Tim organizes volunteer anglers in Yellowstone to collect important data on the habitat and fish populations in the Park. We think the world of him, and think a whole lot of the volunteers who help him out. If you want to sign up, just follow the link below. It's good for the Park, for the fish, and for you!
Read more about volunteering in Yellowstone....
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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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