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March 8, 2012 
 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.

We've got a lot to show you and tell you about this week, so settle down in a comfy chair and dig in. 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 hope to see you soon, right here in West Yellowstone, but until then we wish you happy and healthy fishing and fly tying. All our best to each of you. 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

Shaun Durkee photo Shaun Durkee sent us this photo of $3 bridge back in February and we liked this photo so much we thought we had better share it with you. Thanks for the Photo Shaun.

As the weather starts to get a little nicer around this area, we still have an abundance of snow. The latest snow fall has brought us up a little in the over all average and the Gallatin and Madison ranges are both right at 90%.

Craig and Jackie are now in Xcalak Mexico fishing for Bones, Permit and Tarpon. Last we had heard the weather was a little rainy there but they are still catching fish even though they had to come in a little early one day due to rain.

Cam is now back and had a great trip down to Placencia Belize. More on his trip a little later in this report.

We have a lot of events coming up here in West Yellowstone including the annual Rendevous ski race and World Snowmobile expo and snow shoot. The park closes next week to over the snow travel and will reopen for the summer season sometime around mid April and of course the Yellowstone park fishing opener will be on the 26th of May this year.

As usual in the rest of this issue, 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 fall and 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.

Read more from Blue Ribbon Flies... 


 Fishing Report
 Weekly Conditions and Tips

With the weather changes that we are experiencing this week we think it may be wise for angler to keep a close watch on the area rivers. Last week the Gallatin had started to show a little color and latest reports say that it is now clearing but with temps expected into the upper 50's this week you can expect that the Gallatin and East Gallatin will show signs of low snow melt.

The Madison between the lakes has been fishing well with small nymphs such as $3 dips in a #16, Zebra Midges both Red and Black in Size #20, PT's in size #18 and Twinkle midges in size #20. Don't expect to see a lot of rising fish in this section but just in case you may want to have a couple of Skittering Midges with you. The Madison below Macatee Bridge is open however we have not heard any reports on this section or fished it ourselves.

The Madison below Ennis damn has been fishing good. The dry fly fishing has been hit or miss with midges but the nymph fishing has been very consistent with $3 Dips and Zebra's. With the weather warming but sure to keep your eyes out for Baetis on all rivers it may be just a little early but keep these little Mayflies in mind.

 


 Fly of the Week.
 New For 2012!

Skittering Midge

How many times have we watched big trout selectively taking emerging or egg-laying midges, skittering along in the surface film? This fly was designed by Bucky who fishes midges more than anyone, and does so by approaching on his hands and knees. This allows him to get close to rising fish and keep track of his fly. It is also given Bucky the opportunity to observe what big trout look for in both naturals and fly patterns when they take midges. Most often big trout take skittering midges in the surface film. This fly looks and acts like a natural and big trout eat it up.

For This and other great patterns check here! 


 Fly Tying Material of the Week
 Ant Bodies.

We've been looking at the "White Stuff" for quite some time now and maybe it's starting to effect our brains just a little bit but we've been thinking about terrestrials a lot lately and have started to tie a few ants so we would be ready for them in July, August and September. Ants, when around are hard for large trout to resist and many times fish will go out of their way to eat them. Foam Ants have proven to be a necessity when fishing rivers like the Madison, Gallatin, Henry's Fork, and Soda Butte.

Rainy's Foam ant bodies make perfect ants instantly. So easy to tie and so effective on the water. Also good for other hi-viz flies such as caddis and spinners.

For Ant Bodies and more check this out! 


 2012 Catalog Entries.
 Notes From The Farside.

Richard Pilatzke Photo Of Dragons and Damsels By Richard Pilatzke Photo by Richard Pilatzke

Adult damsels and dragons have fascinated me for almost twenty years. I first observed trout chasing adult damsels at Hohnholz Lake #1 in June of1986.

I observed trout picking off newly hatched damsels that were blown into the lake while drying their wings. I tied my first adult damsel imitation after that experience. It was a long shank dry fly hook with grizzly hackle at both ends and damsel blue floss wrapped on the shank. I took this fly to the same lake a week later and caught several rainbows with this crude imitation. I didn't fish anywhere that had abundant damsels for a number of years. But I still experimented with an adult damsel pattern. My next pattern I tied with blue craft foam. It had a long abdomen of blue craft foam, blue foam from dry cleaners hanger covers for a body, burnt mono eyes, and macram� yarn wings. I got to test this fly on a couple of different lakes, including a small lake near Granby and several lakes near Divide, Colorado. It caught trout, but I still wasn't satisfied with the fly pattern - it just didn't look good enough for my own taste. Sometime before I started working on the foam patterns, I would search craft stores, flea markets, fabric shops, and thrift shops for materials for fly tying. I found some interesting things, but one of my favorites was the big bag of baby blue macram� yarn that I found at a thrift shop for $1.50. As you should know, blue yarn is not used much in fly tying. In fact, blue anything is not used much in fly tying. I don't know why, but I purchased that bag of yarn and put it away in my fly tying materials. I didn't have a use for it at the time, but I think I just had a hunch I could use it.

I guess I had an epiphany when I first spotted foam damsel and dragonfly cutters for sale on the Internet. Tony Tomsu marketed them through his company River Road Creations in Stevensville, Montana. I looked at the product and immediately ordered a set of three cutters. I promptly stamped out some damsel bodies, marked them with black lines with a permanent black marker, and tried tying some adult damsels with the bodies. I first tied the bodies with an under body of blue tinsel chenille, but the chenille didn't look anything like the body of a real damsel. Then I remembered the baby blue macram� yarn that I had purchased many years before. I looked carefully at pictures of damsels on the Internet, looked at the real bugs when I was fly fishing, and decided that that macram� yarn was the perfect material for damsel bodies. I added plastic bead chain eyes (which I had found in fabric stores), white macram� wings, a size 12 2X long hook (Dai Riki 730), and I was in business. I also had just joined Arrowhead Ranch, a private membership fly fishing ranch in South Park. The ranch had four nice lakes that just happened to have bountiful hatches of damsels starting in early July. It was a match made in heaven. For the first five years that I was a member of Arrowhead, I didn't use the adult damsel pattern much. I caught several trout on that fly, but I preferred to use my old favorites for the ranch - callibaetis Quigley Cripples and my Colorado Crystal Beetle. In the fifth year that I was a member, I actively targeted trout that were taking adult damsels on East Lake, the largest of the ranch lakes. I observed trout in the shallows on one side of the lake and studied the rises. The rise form of trout taking damsels is very distinctive. The rise is similar to a carp rolling in the shallows of a lake. The fish rolls over in taking the damsel. I had observed this rise form in the lakes I had fished near Divide, Colorado and could now identify that trout were taking damsels. I was able to take my pontoon boat along the shore and identify individual fish and cast to them. I was somewhat successful and landed several dozen trout, including rainbows, browns, brook trout, and cutthroats. I still had to refine my stalking and casting techniques, but I had started to pick up the basic strategy to pursue trout with adult damsels. This past year, I decided to make adult damsels and dragonflies my main emphasis at Arrowhead Ranch. Each year, I try to take some aspect of lake fishing for trout and make it a focal point of my fly fishing strategy for the ranch. I began fishing adult damsels on the Upper and Lower Trophy Lakes, where I had observed a number of trout that were actively feeding on adult damsels. I had landed a few trout in these lakes the previous year, and they had been fairly big rainbows. I began by fishing from the shore in late June, just when the weed beds were beginning to emerge in the Lower Trophy Lake. I soon took to my pontoon boat and fished the entire outer perimeter of the big weed bed in the lake, sight fishing for rising trout and catching quite a few. I learned a lesson in strategy when I fished the lake with Dan Wright, a good friend and world-class fly caster. He observed me and was taking pictures as I fished. He noticed that the rising trout would disappear if you "lined" them on a false cast. If you put a fly line over them when they were chasing damsels in the shallows, they immediately quit rising and took to deeper water. Dan and I had observed similar behavior at North Delaney Butte Lake in North Park earlier that year. We were casting to mostly brown trout feeding in the shallows during the callibaetis hatch, but they also would disappear if you lined them. This behavior called for a change in strategy, and from then on I would false cast at right angles to the direction that the rising trout was from me. I would then just lay out the line in one cast, trying to place it right in front of the feeding trout. This strategy proved to the best for trout that were feeding on adult damsels. I also learned that I must fish adult damsels and dragonflies on fairly stout tippets. I generally use 2X tippet on both damsels and dragonflies. This is because I lost too many fish fishing a 4X tippet. The flies attract some fairly large individuals and the fish always try to take off for the nearest weed bed, so you must have a strong tippet for this kind of fly fishing.

An outgrowth of my damsel endeavors was my idea to fish dragonfly adults in late summer. There had always been lots of adult dragonflies in the lakes on the ranch and I had even caught a couple of trout on my adult dragonfly pattern the previous few years. I had seen trout occasionally chase dragonflies as they laid eggs in the lake, flying in mated pairs and skipping across the water surface. I decided to target the Upper Trophy Lake, which had many dragonflies that flew around the periphery of the lake. I soon brought out my adult dragonfly pattern and began fishing it. I first concentrated on the inlet end of the lake, near some weed beds that also harbored good numbers of damsels. I soon started fishing the pattern around the edges of the lake and in the middle, letting my dragonfly just sit on the water when there was a light chop on the surface. I found that I caught trout with the dragonfly and these trout were pretty good sized. I had some ferocious hits and even had trout hit the fly several times in a row. I tried dragonflies in red, olive green, royal blue, and brown and caught trout on all the colors. The trout seemed to recognize the outline of a dragonfly and would readily take it on the water. I also experimented with my damsel and dragonfly patterns for warm water fish. I tried the flies at Don Brown's 1 acre pond near his home south of Berthoud and caught lots of bass and bluegills. I also tried the pattern in Las Moras Creek, a little spring creek in Texas that is a tributary of the Rio Grande River. It again caught bluegills and bass and worked as well as any fly that I tried. I am anxious to try more bass/bluegill fishing next year- it's a lot of fun. I will also try the flies on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and some other warm water lakes. I finally began photographing some of the fish I caught on damsels and dragons this summer. I got an entry-level digital camera and gradually began photographing fish with the flies I caught them on. I now have a nice archive of how effective my fly patternscan be. I am already looking forward to the July to September season for adult damsels and dragonflies. This year I want to get photographs of stalking and playing the fish and possibly some photos of the rising fish. I will just have to be patient for the six months between now and damsel/dragonfly time.

 


 Guide Trip of the Week.
 Fish with the Best!

Cam Coffin

Just got back from Placencia Belize on Monday and I must say I had a wonderful time. Not only was the weather great but the fishing didn't disappoint either. Within the first two days we had hooked up four and landed two Permit. But as my fishing partner said we went from "Park Avenue to Park Bench" and this was to no fault of anybody but our own. The next few days we couldn't cast to save our lives. We fished for Permit for a total of nine days and had many many opportunities our guide worked as hard as I've seen a guide work and had us into fish constantly. We thought that he was going to give up on us at any time and leave us on a deserted caye with no water or food to teach us a lesson, but he stuck with us and and we ended up with a few more very nice Permit.

It's hard to recall exactly what happened each day but one things for sure each day brought forth a new situation and new adventure. We didn't stray away from fishing for Permit to much but did have some fun with a few Bonefish, Jacks and Cuda. My gut still hurts from all of the laughter that took place in the boat. Too many thoughts and details to mention here.

This trip has been one of the highlights for winter for quite a few years now and it's not just because of the fishing. The food, hospitality and company were second to none. Thanks Jim for a great trip!!

Craig and Jackie will be in Xcalak for the next couple weeks and I'm sure we will be hearing from them when they get back. We plan on doing these trips for many years to come and will be setting the dates for 2013 in the up and coming months so if you are interested or just want to talk a little salt feel free to get a hold of us.

Blue Ribbon Guides, fish with the best! 


 Fly Sale!!
 Caddis poohpa

In trying to keep up with our promise we made at the beginning of the winter, we have yet another fly sale for you.

Caddis Poopah

Excellent choice during caddis emergence, or use as a searching pattern. Lots of action, trout will often hit these with urgency in fast riffles.

These Caddis Poopah are on sale for $1.00 and again will run for one week or until we run out.

Check out our blog... 


 Tippett Rings.
 Anglers Image 10 PK

Allows for faster tippet changes and longer leader life. Tippet rings are only 2.25 mm in diameter. The use of tippet rings originated in Europe. During a fishing match, competitive anglers valued a fast and easy system to change the size of their tippet. Anglers Image� Tippet Rings allow the angler to simply knot the tippet end of their leader to the ring (using their favorite knot).

More gadgets to look at. 


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.

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