News from Blue Ribbon Flies

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.

Craig and John spent time with the FFF last week and had a blast doing it. Sounds like whatever Craig was tying must have worked on the water last night.. ..Thanks to Richard Lessner for sending us this shot.

August 30, 2010 Fishing Report Craig Mathews

My good friend, Michael Coles, and I just got off the Madison River halfway between the West Fork and $3.00 Bridge. We arrived around 2pm. Weather conditions saw tempos in the high 40s to 52 degrees with light north winds and overcast to light rain. We sat on water for an hour and saw but two fish rise around 3pm. We were contemplating moving to a downstream location in hopes of finding a strong Baetis emergence with trout rising to them, but I decided to try a run in mid-river before we headed out. At 3:15 I scored a nice 16 inch brown I saw rise, then another brown broke me off. While tying on new tippet and a fresh fly I noted Baetis in the slick behind the two large boulders I was fishing. I yelled to Michael for him to check out Square Pool and see if any fish were rising there. I began working upstream to another run in mid-river and ended up an hour later having a banner afternoon. Michael watched from his pool just upstream and reported a fair Baetis emergence with no rising trout. On the other hand, 50 yards downstream and in mid-river I had a poor Baetis hatch with lots of rising trout. Michael could only watch and thought I'd taken 20 trout. I know I had 8 very nice fish, 6 browns and 2 rainbows, to 18". I bring this up here as I have seen many times a good emergence on one section of river with a poor rise of fish to it while several yards away insects are sporadic but every good trout rises to them. Especially during Baetis times on rivers in Yellowstone country, you must be ready to walk and observe to locate fish rising.. ..never assume that just because you may see lots of insects the trout will rise to them and vice-versa! We have had a few days of ideal Baetis and Fall Green Drake weather conditions and the mayflies are cooperating, and so are the trout if you walk and find them rising. Let's get to our late summer report.

The Madison River below Earthquake Lake is fishing very well. On warm, bright, windy afternoons look for strong beetle, ant and hopper fishing. On cool, wet days the Baetis can be expected anytime after noon and might emerger until 5pm. There too are some Heptagenia sp. mayflies coming off during the same conditions and times so be ready for them also. On warm eves you will have some very good midge fishing from 6pm to dark which now comes at 8:30pm. Look for some good afternoon Rhyacophila Caddis now too and have #16 olive x and x2 caddis as well as #17 Iris for these caddis times. Best midges are the Griffith's Gnat Emerger and Zelon Midges #20. Tiger Beetles, Chaos Hoppers and BRF Foam Beetles can be counted on to produce along with 2 Tone Ants. The Spruce Moth action is waning and with all the cool, wet weather conditions we are seeing the end of moth times this week.

The Madison in the Park has been good - caddis in the evenings, fall soft hackles and streamers in the morning hours. The river between the lakes has fished well with nymphs like the $3.00 Dips, Copper Johns and Lucent Beaded flies. Baetis Cripples and Sparkle Dun and Olive #14 cripples and sparkle duns are also needed. As always, it is best to check with us for current, up-to-the-minute information on this river.. ..and most others too!

As I am typing this at 7pm on the 30th, Jackie is yelling at me to "check out the fresh snow on the Hilgard Peaks in the Madison Mountain Range behind Sun Ranch!" I look out our windows and see a pretty good dusting of snow at 9000 feet. It is nearing fall in Yellowstone. And, if you want to come enjoy our fall colors, bugling elk and fishing, this will go down as the "fall to remember", the one that set the bar for all the best Yellowstone country can offer. With all our summer moisture and cool temps this one is set up to be the best we have seen in many, many years. The colors will be spectacular, the fish fat, healthy and colored up fine, and the bull elk will sport huge racks this fall with all the summer fodder. Get here as quick as you can and stay as long as you can! This one is THE FALL of the century, we guarantee it!

The Firehole River must be on your short list this late season. Caddis emergences are coming off and so are the Fall Baetis mayflies. White Miller X and tan X2 as well as Iris are required for success on the caddis side. Baetis Knocked Downs, Sparkle Duns and cripples should be included in your mayfly arsenal.

The Gibbon River below the falls is fishing well. I like Tuft Cliffs downstream to the junction with hoppers and white woolhead sculpin streamers. The Gallatin in the Park has been clear but the river outside the park, below the Taylor Fork, has been turbid due to recent thunderstorms. The river should clear this week with clear-warm weather moving back in Thursday, so be ready with hoppers and big beetle and bee patterns. Same with the Gardner River which has seen some very good hopper and ant fishing lately. Our friends at Parks Fly Shop in Gardiner, Montana (yes there is an "i" in the town's name and not the river's) can set you straight on best places and flies.

The Yellowstone River above the falls in the park has fished for those willing to spend time and energy walking and stalking. Green Drake patterns like our sparkle dun and cripples as well as #12 olive spinners will score some very large cutts to 23". The river outside the park is fishing well now too when the Lamar is not dumping muddy water into it downstream of their junction. On the lower stretches have hoppers like the Chaos and Grand as well as a Stalcup Cricket and Baetis Sparkle Duns #18-20 and you will take some very fine wild trout! It is best to float the river but wading can be good to around Point of Rocks, Emigrant Bridge and Mallard's Rest.

The Lamar River is seeing the first Fall Green Drake emergences of the late season. Look for these now too on Slough and Soda Butte Creeks. Terry Middleton, who spends 4-5 weeks a year here, brought in some very fine photos of the big drakes and you can see one following this report. Be ready with #22 cream Baetis. Hoppers, crickets and beetles are also working. The Mormon Cricket migration is nearing its time now also so have huge cricket patterns like our Guocho pattern for some awesome fishing!

Our late summer Odell Creek trips have been taking some very large browns now on hoppers. These insects are finally making the trip to streamside to take advantage of green grasses as the grass browns and cures out on the benches above the stream. We still have an opening or 2 to fish this fine spring creek, the very one Nick Lyons wrote of in his classic book, Spring Creek. Call us for details on booking a day on this stream before is closes to fishing for the year on September 30th.

The Henry's Fork near Last Chance has been very good on windy afternoons, especially on bright sunny warm afternoons! The hopper fishing has been superb, the same with beetle and ants too.

Hebgen and Quake Lakes are fishing very well during Callibaetis times and Henry's Lake is waking up after being comatose most of the summer. We can expect 2-3 more solid weeks of dry fly fishing on Hebgen and Quake according to our lake specialist, Phil Takatsuno. All of us feel 2010 has been one of the most interesting years of dry fly fishing on the lakes so come and experience the lakes before the dry fly action shuts down for the year.