August 2015 - Teton Fly Fishing

Fishing with the guy that taught me to fly fish and tie flies

August 30, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

With a lull in client activity this past week, I was able to focus on spending time with lulu, catching up on chores (i won’t bore you with details) and family fishing. My Mom, Dad, brother and Grandfather came out to visit. It’s been good seeing everyone and naturally fishing came up. My Grandfather, Don, taught me to fly fish and tie flies when I was young and first introduced me to Wyoming’s trout streams when I was 12. Over the years we’ve fished a lot together but being 88 now, he doesn’t get out like he use to. Fortunately Jamie and I were able to talk him into a float on the Salt river. It was a great day having him in the front of the boat; casting hoppers to eager cutthroat trout and telling stories about fishing Wyoming waters in the “old days”. Jamie and Lulu held down the back of the drift boat and we had a fun time on the water together. When it was all said and done, Grandad caught a bunch of cutthroat trout (as did Jamie) and we had a streamside visit from a beautiful horse…

Lulu keeps an eye out for rising trout while Grandad works a hopper along the bank

Grandad, Jamie and Lulu; I could think of a better way to spend an afternoon

Jamie, Lulu and I also managed to get out for a few hours the past couple days. The idea was to explore some new waters, and we did. However the fishing left a little to be desired. One stream was just too low to hold much of anything of size and another turned out to be mostly fenced off and private. The bit we fished on Forest Service land did yield some cutthroat (a few nice ones) but we both walked away wishing it was a bit better. I promised Jamie no more exploratory runs when we fish together (at least for a little while….)

Jamie works a run waaaay up the Hoback river. Despite beautiful looking water, fish of any size were lacking. Could’ve been due to low late season water levels….

Strong week of fishing

August 25, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

Whether because of the colder nighttime temperatures or the haziness in the air or some other cosmic thing that we can’t identify, fishing the past couple days has been SOLID. The Snake has really shinned, showing clients just how good it can be. Fish have been crushing mayfly patterns in riffles (my simple orange grizz fly has been a go-to) and consistently bigger cutts are taking hoppers along the banks. All of this make for FUN dry fly fishing. What a great time to be fishing in Jackson Hole!

A nice “yellowbelly” on a hopper. Derek worked the bank and was reward with a few of these guys…

Laurel shows off a nice Cutt. Despite a slow start, a hatch came off mid-morning and made for a great day of dry fly fishing (the best she’s ever had). Always fun taking her and Derek fishing!

Mid August report from the rower’s seat…

August 17, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

Needless to say things have been fairly crazy around here.
Guiding has been keeping from updating this humble blog. And
truthfully, if it’s between being out fishing folks and writing about
fishing, I’m going to take the real thing every time!

Susan put on a clinic on the Green River. Nice Brown
trout!

Overall the fishing here in Jackson Hole this summer has been
good. Swings in the weather though have kept me and my anglers
on our toes. One day big foam patterns are bringing fish to the
surface and the next day the fish want nothing to do with them but
are happy to sip small emergers. We’ve been using LOTS of
different flies depending on conditions and I believe my knot tying
speed has risen to another level… I’ve had anglers on all different
waters the past few weeks. Most trips have been on the Snake,
but I’ve also spent some days on the Salt river, up in Jellystone
and on Flat creek on the Elk Refuge.

Great time fishing with Blake and his dad for a few days.
Always fun to see those guys and even more fun to watch Blake
work a streamer under the brush piles!

After a 20 plus day stint guiding folks, I had the weekend off. I
gotta say, it was pretty nice to catch up on things that have been
neglected- cleaning the house, finances, fly tying, yard work, etc. I
also got to spend some quality time with Lulu. We hit up lower flat
creek Saturday evening for a sunset caddis hatch and then headed
to a small cutthroat stream yesterday with my friend Matt. Lulu
continues to grow and crack us up. Spent today with Dave and
Jean from Maine. Gotta love getting out on the water with great
folks. Unfortunately the fishing on the Snake was a bit tough. We
caught fish, but it was a battle and bigger fish weren’t very active.
Hoping tomorrow will be better.

Dave and Jean; couldn’t imagine spending the day with
sweeter people.

A day on the water with Lulu! At 14 weeks old, Lulu’s
growing like a weed and learning the ins and outs of life as a
fishing dog.

Archive for month: August, 2015