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Greetings!
We're back with a new edition of the Blue Ribbon Flies newsletter, complete with a new header for your reading pleasure. No more stale openers for us, no sirree. Well, except for this first paragraph copied straight from last week.
This morning we were graced with a visit from a group of at-risk teens and their adult people. The name of the organization is In a New Light, and they are a group of young people who are on a photographic journey of discovery, hope and healing from Northwest Passage in Spooner, Wisconsin.
When this project began, most of these young men had rarely held cameras. With photographic equipment, instruction, and countless hours immersed in the wild beauty of the outdoors, they are creating stunning photography they will display on their website, on tour, and hopefully in our email newsletter. "In a New Light" is a partnership between Northwest Passage and the National Park Service. We were proud to be a stop along their way. To see their website, click here.
Willie and the gang, we wish you all the best. For the rest of you, there's gracious plenty to read in the rest of the email newsletter, but mostly we want to wish you well, hope you have a great weekend ahead of you, and if we can, bring you into Blue Ribbon Flies for a few minutes of fish talk. Thanks for reading, and we'll try to make it worth your while.
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What's New
What's Happening in Yellowstone Country
Hope you had a celebratory and safe 4th of July! We enjoyed some fishing, the West Yellowstone 4th of July Parade, some live music, a tremendous thunderstorm, and quite a fireworks show, with both the man-made and lightning-made varieties. Summer if finally here, and we hope yours is off to a grand start.
The Yellowstone Park Foundation has announced new dates for their Elk Meadow Ranch trip. You are still invited to attend August 5 - 8, 2011. For more information about this incredible opportunity to fish with Craig, enjoy luxury accommodations and dining, and benefit the Yellowstone Park Foundation, give us a call or send an email to the shop. We'd love to see you on the new dates!
Todd Stiles of the Hebgen Lake Ranger District has invited us and you to help control noxious weeds in the Ghost village area along the Madison River and head of Earthquake Lake. As you all know, noxious weeds are a serious problem that threatens wildlife, fisheries, ecological integrity, productivity of the land, and recreation opportunities. The Forest Service budget only allows us to treat a relatively small amount of acreage compared to the acreage of infestation we have, so they have proposed the Ghost Village Noxious Weed Project for Thursday July 14. Volunteers will meet out at Ghost Village T-head at 9:00 am for a weed pull. Please bring work gloves. Todd will supply garbage bags and the game plan. Basically we'll go from the Ghost Village Trail head to the Beaver Creek/Quake Lake confluence in a grid. There is houndstongue, knapweed, and mullen to pull, and if the plant is developed enough, pack out. We hope to see you there.
The Madison River Foundation Day is coming up quickly at Blue Ribbon Flies. Next Monday, July 11th, we will have coffee, cookies, lemonade, raffle tickets for a Clackacraft drift boat, and several representatives from the Madison River Foundation here in the shop to talk about the valuable work they do and how you can help. If you are anywhere close by, please drop by the shop and speak with these folks. Enjoy the treats and try your luck at winning a drift boat too! Stop in next Monday and say hi!
Also on our minds this week is the new "Vanquish" Reel by the fishing fools at Waterworks-Lamson. They have done it again. As the name implies, they created the reel with just one thing in mind they say: total victory!!! This awesome reel starts with the world's smoothest, and most powerful drag system. It delivers twice the torque of their previous designs. It is fully sealed requiring no maintenance too! If you want to talk reels give Bucky a call as no one knows reels like he does.
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 spring and summer 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.
Read more from Blue Ribbon Flies...
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Fishing Report
Weekly Conditions and Tips
By Craig Mathews
7 July 2011
In case you had any doubts about the Golden Stone fishing, now is the time! Thanks to Tim Lawson for this evidence.
It's that time of year when Yellowstone's brilliant yellow Arnica flowers begin to wither and wane. The same holds for the Firehole River's pale morning dun emergences. Where only a few days ago the morning hatches of these beautiful size #16 light yellowish-orange mayflies were vibrant, lasting long in duration, now they are sporadic and last only a few minutes each day. But there are new flowers to paint the Yellowstone landscape, flowers like Indian Paintbrush, Columbine, Lupines and Beards Tongue. Too there are new insects to bring trout to the surface; Flavs, Green and Gray Drakes, Salmon Flies and Golden Stones head the list of dozens of new aquatic insects ripe and emerging now in Yellowstone country.
If you've been watching the Montana Stream Flows on your USGS searches you'll soon see how our area waters are coming down nicely. Rivers like the Madison and Gallatin are dropping daily. The Madison went from over 2000 cfs to 1500 and change over the past few days and the clarity is much better. Fishing has been great - nymph fishing that is. I have been on the river most evenings and have seen more and more trout rise to the surface. They are tiring of nymphing and really want to feed on top. As caddis emerge this week with clearing water and less flows we will see some fine caddis dry fly fishing.
Salmon flies are ready to roll off in great numbers above Ennis, Montana too. PMDs and green drakes will provide wonderful action mid-month. We continue to sample the river and you can't believe the number of huge green drake nymphs we dredge up in our sampling nets! Stay with us here. In the meantime tie plenty of Macro-Madison Nymphs which we find imitate the green drake nymphs better than any other nymph known to man. Have plenty of PMD and Baetis Split Case and PT Flashback Nymphs too.
The action will be strongest around Raynolds and $3 for wading anglers. Our floats have really picked up this week with big rubber legs trailing small BWO Nymphs. Iris and X2 as well as regular X and Rowan's famous Soft Hackle Caddis Emergers are to be counted on for success. With changing water conditions we advise checking in with us before coming so we can point you to the best spots as well as suggest the best flies to have along!
The Madison in the Park has been great this week. Lots of PMD spinners and some gray drakes too. Evening caddis can be counted on. I like the Splitsville Spinner and our standard #16 Firehole or creamy olive PMD Sparkle Dun. There are a surprising number of big browns still in the river from last fall's spawning run and I've had several big rainbows too. The larger fish move a lot in search of the right place to be for insects to be funneled in to their feeding lane. Some fish may key on emerging PMDs too, while some stick strictly with PMD Spinners so be prepared.
The Firehole has held up well. Lots of feeding on emerging caddis above Midway Geyser Basin now. The river may fish all summer with the great water year we've had to date. Still PMDs in selected spots with White Miller and Hydropsyche Caddis in good number during evening hours. Never-ever go to the river without a #20 black caddis imitation for evening action. Stop or call me and thank me for this advice!
Our area lakes are all fishing very well although Elk Lake has shut down this week. Wade and Cliff have fished very well. Callibaetis at the north end of Wade and Cliff have been on fire with small seal leeches and Callibaetis Nymphs. Hebgen has had some very strong Callibaetis emergences for 2-3 hours of awesome dry fly action daily. You must have sparkle duns, deer hair spinners and our C.Baetis Nymphs both with and without beads to score consistently.
With many streams coming down in flow and clearing daily you will want to check in with us for current information.
Stay up to date with our Fishing Report and other news...
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Fly of the Week
Hot off the Vise!!
Drakes, Drakes, Drakes
This is truly Drake Time in Yellowstone country. The Henry's Fork has come alive the past few days with not only green but also brown and gray drakes on selected spots on the Fork, with gray drakes coming off in good number on the Madison in the Park. The perfect reason to feature the big drakes in this report as our "Flies of the Week"!
Green drakes are among the largest mayflies in our region. They usually hatch during the middle of the day and are usually very easy to see. Windless, cloud-cover days are best. A dense hatch of Green Drakes can bring the largest trout to the surface, but it's hard to pinpoint where and when they will happen. Some days have heavy hatches others very light. Some regions of a stream will have more insects than others. Green Drake hatches are something that the fully armed angler prepares for, even though it may not be the main target. Seeing fish taking Green Drakes without a pattern in your box can be the most heart-breaking day of fishing ever.
Grey drakes are usually a #12 - #14, and generally hatch in stiller, softer water. The nymphs are swimmers and they move in an up&down flipping motion, darting in plant life area, submerged logs, undercut banks, stream bottoms and amongst the rocks. This activity puts them on the menu for lots of fish. Dead drifting nymphs on current seams or big slow inside bends is a productive way to fish Grey Drake nymph patterns, and having a spinner on during a spinner fall can be unforgettable.
Brown drakes aren't common on many rivers because their habitat requirements are very specific. According to Mike Lawson, the nymphs are burrowers and need slow moving water with a silty bottom. Stretches of the Harriman State Park on the Henry's Fork support tremendous populations of Brown Drakes. The best hatches of brown drakes occur on warm, humid, muggy evenings. The spinners come back to the water to lay their eggs about the same time the duns start to emerge. This means the surface can be covered with emerging duns and spent spinners. The trout can become very selective when this occurs. One trout may be taking emerging nymphs, another crippled duns, another fully emerged duns, and another showing its preference to the spent spinners.
Whether cripples, sparkle duns, floating nymphs or spinners, our Drake patterns will have you on fish and having a blast. Try a few today.
For these great Drake patterns...
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Fly Tying Material of the Week
Unique Materials for Effective Patterns
Drake Sparkle Dun Hair
These nymphal shucks were photographed by John Juracek. We know drakes and nymphs are two very different verses to the Green Drake song, but let this image serve as proof positive that tying up Green, Brown, and Grey Drakes is a productive way to spend your time at the desk right now.
If you do tie your own drakes, whether green, gray or brown, AND you want to catch big fish on them, you must have the proper hair to do so. We tie thousands of our world famous "Sparkle Dun" drakes to imitate the big bugs. You will want to get a piece of our prized Drake Sparkle Dun Deer Hair to do the job right.
Let us search for and pick the right piece of deer to do the job for you! Bucky, Tylor, Aaron, John and Jen all tie drakes and can get you the right deer hair for you. Check with them and get the best deer hair on the fly tying market today.
For superior fly tying materials...
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1% For The Planet
A Note from Craig Mathews
Craig had a few words in his Fishing Report this week about 1% For The Planet, but we thought they were important enough to pull them out and give them their own space. Maybe you've heard it before, but it doesn't hurt to hear it again: Support 1% For The Planet in any way you can. If we all give back a little, what a lot we can do.
"I just received an email from our close friends Yvon and Malinda Chouinard who are back in Yellowstone. Yvon just returned from Paris France where he attended a celebration there honoring our 1% for the Planet program and the 100th member from France. He and I have been talking lately about how great it is to have nearly 1700 business members with $70million in conservation capital raised so far, but yet how disappointing to both of us that so few of 1% business members come from the "outdoor business community," and fewer yet are fly shop businesses.
Nearly 10 years ago when Yvon and I co-founded 1% we felt that every fly shop and outdoor business would run to sign up to send 1% of their GROSS sales to conservation causes like the Yellowstone Park, Madison, and Henry's Fork River Foundations; the Trust for Public Land; Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the other wonderful non-profits that do so much for the Yellowstone ecosystem and resources. This has not been the case. We have struggled to sign "outdoor businesses" like fly and guide shops and other businesses that make a good living because of a healthy resource, mostly resources owned by all U.S. citizens. We still feel strongly that all businesses making such a good living using public resources must give more back to conservation programs protecting, preserving and enhancing these precious resources we all know and love here in Yellowstone.
So, you may ask, "What can I do as a consumer to help this cause?" You've heard this here before. You can support those businesses that do so much to give back to those programs and organizations that protect and preserve what we love here: wild trout, wildlife, open space, public access to more blue ribbon trout streams than anywhere else on earth, and so much more. Support 1% for the Planet business members that show a solid commitment to all things wild. 1% is not a smoke and mirrors program like some that boast "we give a percent of our net profit." Anyone knows that "net profit" can be adjusted many ways to show that no net profit was made and no gift or solid commitment to conservation in Yellowstone or any other area would be forthcoming from that business.
I am sorry for the rant but if you have kids or grand-kids, or if you yourself simply love Yellowstone and its wild trout, wildlife and magic places, you can help by supporting those businesses that show the solid commitment to 1% for the Planet. Yvon and I thank you for your support!"
For more information about 1% Members and Membership...
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The Blue Ribbon Flies Book Club
We're Thinking of Getting Our Own Sticker!
You've seen the O sticker on books Oprah chooses (or chose??) for her book club. Well, Larry and Cecil were threatening to invade your local book store and stick BRF stickers on the covers of our favorite books. We told them some may consider this vandalism, and that we could probably get the word out about our favorite books in a slightly more subtle fashion.
You know we're big readers around here. How we fit in a few chapters when we're fishing until dark is probably the biggest mystery, but a good trout story is hard to resist in person and in print.
A few books come to mind for this week's report. We just received copies of Dave Hughes' wonderful Handbook of Hatches. You will recall we featured this fine book 2 or 3 weeks back and quickly ran out. Charlie Brooks said of Hughes book, "a wealth of material which will expand your knowledge of aquatic insects."
Paul Schullery comments the book "balances instruction and anecdote so they support each other, and gives readers a fresh easy look at important trout stream insects." We like its content, awesome photos, size and easy to understand, no-nonsense approach. A must have for any and all serious anglers and fly tyers and only $21.95.
Speaking of restocking books, we just received a fresh shipment of Gary LaFontaine and Craig's Fly Fishing the Madison along with Western Fly Fishing Strategies and The Yellowstone Fly-Fishing Guide. These valuable resource books are a "must have" when fishing Yellowstone, or searching for a few off-the-beaten-path waters in our area! The all give keen insight as well as proper technique to score big-wild trout in Yellowstone!
See all our great books...
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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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