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March 17, 2011 
 News from Blue Ribbon Flies
 Fish With The Best
In This Issue
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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 the new year, doing some fishing, tying up some flies, and starting to think about your 2011 trip to Yellowstone country. 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

After a few days of unsettled weather things seem to be shaping up on the early season fly fishing front. Craig just got back from Kansas City and a big THANKS goes out to Heart of America Fly Fishers for their kind hospitality they showed Craig during his time in their fair city. They had a fun time, tied lots of flies and put on a couple fly fishing shows on Yellowstone and area waters, conservation and more now it is time for Craig to get back to work here at the shop!

Cam is off fishing the salt. He began his salt water trip in Mexico and is now in Belize and due back this weekend. We can't wait for his reports. We sent him off with some new patterns using our barred marabou and Pseudo Hair; patterns for tarpon, Snook and jacks.

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 peek 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 winter to keep you tuned in to all things fly fishing and fly tying 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.

 


 Fishing Report
 Weekly Conditions and Tips

brown bank By Craig Mathews

So how is the fishing you ask? It is getting stronger each day. I wish you could be here for some of our early season action. Bucky and I are off to fish Livingston area spring creeks where we will have some midges and maybe a very early Beatis. The Madison has been good. We like the water below Bear Trap now for good midge fishing. If you are in the West Yellowstone area you will want to trudge through the snow and try the river below Hebgen Dam. The rainbow numbers increase daily as the run intensifies with run up fish from Earthquake Lake and downstream. The fish are in their spawning colors, some looking "neon" as Cam says, and come to GM Nymphs, $3 and Guide Dips and egg patterns. The river below McAtee Bridge has been slow but look for it to improve as afternoons warm up. The same with the Henry's Fork but with Baetis activity just around the corner we expect this river to break loose any day. The Beaverhead is our best bet this week, with midges and we have had some luck using small yellow stone patterns on the surface. Most likely the fish are coming to these flies as a few Skwala stones are showing around Grasshopper and Barretts. The Gallatin has been good downstream of Snowflake Springs and near the 320. The Big Sky area has fished as well as the lower river, below the mouth of the canyon but with changing air and water temps as weather systems vary this can change from day to day. Spring is definitely fighting tooth and nail with winter now and we are sure pulling for spring to come in strong!

 


 Fly of the Week
 Hot off the Vise!!

The Original Serendipity Back to the Basics

We thought we had better include a video of the original serendipity in this weeks newsletter. This Pattern was first brought about by Ross A Maragold the inventor of the RAM caddis. I think that his version was even a little different than this one using thread for the body just as we do on the $3 dip. However, We love the segmentation that this original pattern has and many of the guides will not fish anything other than the segmented version. So click on the photo and watch the easy and simplicity in which this fly is tied.

Tim has been tying Micro Madison Beadhead Midges the past 2 weeks using our new Mirage Opal Tinsel, an item we have not written about in the newsletter before but one that many of you have tied with and reported tremendous results with the final field tester the trout, which seem to really go for flies tied with this new tinsel. Tim too has brought in a fresh supply of his Madison River Foundation bamboo bodkins. You may remember these classic bodkins Tim creates for us featured last year in the newsletter. We ran out and Tim made more, the proceeds from the sale of these go directly to the work the Madison River Foundation is doing on the Madison River and its tributaries so make sure you get a couple of these for yourself and a friend, or 2!

Nick has been tying spring run-off and fall run streamers using the barred rabbit strips we recently got in. Last fall a couple of the guides favorite streamer creations used barred rabbit strips and this winter we had some great streamer fishing on the Madison with a couple sculpin creations Patrick came up with using the barred rabbit strips.

Check Out All Of Our Flies! 


 Fly Tying Material of the Week
 Unique Materials for Effective Patterns

Golden Pheasant Tails

Bucky and I will head to the materials shed after I get this typed out. We'd dyed up a batch of zelon and fur to mix into our Zelon Dubbing Blends. Our face masks go on when we begin to blend or we'll inhale enough fur and zelon to cause a sneezing fit, but it is worth getting a couple months worth of dubbing blended up for sure. While we are in the shed we have to bag up a few Xtra Select Golden Pheasant Tails since we just washed and dried them. Bucky has started tying several dozen 6x Emergers for both the shop and himself. He and I fish the 6x all spring, and fall when Baetis and midges are active. You may remember Clayton who worked here in the 90's, this was his fly and it remains a favorite with all us "old timers"! It is easy to tie and works sometimes better than any other pattern when spring creek-smooth water trout get finicky.

We are still tying lots of flies here at the shop. Bucky is working on some Soft Hackles Streamers, an old Jack Gartside pattern, using mallard flank for the front hackle. This fly is an amazing pattern to have for fishing fall run fish in the park section of the Madison as well as on the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. it is an easy one to tie and looks great with the mallard flank hackles. We have bagged up some BIG bags of these beautiful feathers and use them in Wood Duck tan and gold as well as natural.

 


 Firehole & Gibbon River Atlas
 Start planning your fishing excursion today!

atlas During Craig's travels he brought along a copy of the "Firehole and Gibbon River Atlas" , so he could dream of the upcoming season in Yellowstone and look for off-the-beaten path fishing spots checking out the aerial photos and USGS Topographic maps that detail over 50 miles of these favorite rivers. He was amazed in looking at a couple maps just how detailed they were as even a few Native American camp spots still show on the maps as do some wagon wheel ruts and other trails along the rivers. It doesn't hurt to dream about the upcoming season and circle some areas to check out too, on these map pages!

Speaking of the Firehole River in the park; here's a deal for you free weekly email newsletter subscribers this week our 45 minute DVD of "Fly Fishing in Yellowstone" we filmed with the DYI Channel a few years back. This film is full of information on how to fish the early season on the Firehole and Madison and we can get it to you for only $8.99, cheaper than going to the movies! it contains valuable fishing info along with how we approach the river, flies and some very good footage of the park and more.

Check out the DIY DVD. 


 Guide Trip of the Week
 Nobody does it better!!

Brian Worley This Weeks featured Guide!

Brian Worley came over to Blue Ribbon several years ago now. Brian had worked in the area for over 7 years before joining the gang. Brian is a very accomplished fisherman and guide, he has been there done that! Many of you that are reading this newsletter have already had a guide trip with Brian and know first hand of his "quiet, get it done attitude."

Brian is well known by all the other guides in the area and is well respected by all of them. Brian is a master of the Madison both wading and floating. He loves throwing dries from the boat above all.

Many of you may have also gone with Brian on Hebgen Lake. No matter what time of year Brian knows where the fish are and what they are eating!

Fish WIth The Best! 


 It's time to get ready to fish!
 Some essential products to get you ready for the 2011 season.

Rio Tippett & Wonder Cloth

It is time to re-tippet for the upcoming season. A fresh supply of tippet just arrived at the shop and we all will replace our 4-5-6 and 7x in preparation for the upcoming season, as well as fresh leaders. Cam, Drew and Dan are loading up their Tippet Post and Cap with fresh tippet and fly floatant for the new season. This gadget is used by most guides and all of us at the shop as the tippet spools are stacked on the post and floatant is held with the cap and all so handy while fishing, keeping you from fishing through vest pockets for floatant and new tippets. While the guides were are at it, I forced them to clean their fly line with Rio's Wonder Cloth too, you now how guides can be!

For this and many fine other products click here! 


 A little something to help you tidy up.
 Get those hooks organized.

By Craig Mathews Tired of hooks scattered all over your tying desk? Well C&F Design has come up with a solution. The Magnetic hook pallet keeps all of your hooks in order where you want them. Three sizes Midge, Standard and Streamer.

Last night while tying flies as Jackie watched the Weather Channel I filled my 3 magnetic hook pallets with hooks. I'd been storing them in a plastic hook box until a few nights back one of her cats, Bea, climbed up and knocked my hook box to the floor and we spent the next hour searching, scooping hooks off the floor. Bea is a rescue cat having climbed under the coat of a utility worker while he worked on a down power line near the Valley Garden Ranch last year. She is the same cat that showed up missing from our house last fall until she was located under Brian's, our guide, hood after the cat road over 45 miles under his hood. Anyway, my hooks are now safe and so is Bea.

You may have noticed already the photo at the end of this newsletter. This is a photo of the $3 bridge area and this print was used to raise money to purchase the land so everyone could enjoy this access site for years and years to come. In another one of our attempts to organize and clean the shop we came across ten of these fine prints and thought that they could again help out the Madison river. We are selling these prints for $103.00 and 100% of the proceeds go directly to the Madison River Foundation.

If you would like to know more about the Madison River Foundation and the $3 Bridge project you can click the link at the bottom of the page or listen to Craig talk about it in a short video. Click here to watch the video. If you would like to purchase this print, Click Here.

$3 Dollar bridge Prints! $103 to the Madison River Foundation! 


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!


Until next week!
The Gang at Blue Ribbon Flies

phone: 406.646.7642
fax: 406.646.9045