Archive for year: 2016

Having returned from a two week trip to the Bahamas, I thought I’d post a few pics. Jamie and I enjoyed our low key vacation, spending the days fishing, drinking and relaxing. Our friends, Winter and Amy joined us for part of the trip, adding to the fun. Needless to say I fished everyday, opting to wander the flats and beaches,8 wt in hand. The bonefish were there and reminded me why i love fishing for them so much. Hope you like the pictures…

Reunited and it felt so good… not the biggest of the trip, but a nice little bone; a good way to kick off the trip!

This is a shot of Jamie kayaking out in front of our place. Despite the drizzle, the water was as flat as can be, making sight fishing possible despite the lack of sunshine. Overall the weather was great and the island fared the recent hurricane ok.

After fishing all day, some BBQ ribs seemed like a fine idea and if you have to man a grill, I can’t think of many better places.

One of the many bonefish i hooked into. Spawning shirmp and Avalons worked well. Sometimes I had to fish lighter flies when the fish were super spooky in the shallow water. Note the white sand bottom. This meant barefoot wading all the time!

High tide brough in the Stingrays; such cool animals. Often times a few big bonefish would be feeding around the Stringrays on the beach where we stayed, picking off critters that the rays kicked up.

Back in Jackson, the snow is falling and winter is here after a mostly warm November. We’re catching up on things and Lulu is glad to have her pack back. 

It’s late fall in Jackson Hole and things are slowing down. We had a pretty good dose of winter weather earlier this week, bringing snow to the valley. Fortunately things have cleared up and it looks like we’re in for some pretty nice fall weather for the next few days. I did a few fishing trips the past week on the elk refuge and the Snake. Both have some good surface action in the afternoon, mainly due to BWOs and the large October caddis. In the week to come, I hope to go do some fishing on my own for some colored up Brown and Brook trout. Additionally, I gotta start tying some flies for our upcoming Bahamas trip.

One of the beautiful rainbow trout Chris caught while fishing in Yellowstone with me last week. The fish weren’t huge, but they sure were fiesty! I’m gonna miss fishing the park when it closes for the season in early November.

I took advantage of a sunny day to fish for Lake trout in Grand Teton National Park. This time of year Lakers come into the shallows to spawn and can be taken on flies. While they’re not the most energetic fighters, it’s nice to change it up now and then and fish for them.

As expected this time of year, things have been busy. Family’s visited, friends stayed with us, all of this in addition to guiding clients on area waters. September is my favorite time of year for fly fishing and so far it hasn’t disappointed. Float fishing on the Snake has been a blast. Cutthroat trout are rising to well presented dry flies and anglers are catching some nice fish. Much of this is due to the mahogany duns and Hecuba drakes that are hatching regularly. Throw in some Blue wing olives, PMDs, hoppers and caddis and you can see why the fishing’s been hot.

Ron shows off a nice Yellowstone cutthroat trout from Coyote creek. A multiday cabin stay allowed me to fish Ron on some rugged western Wyoming streams. The rewards were nice rainbow, brown, brook and cutthroat trout.

It doesn’t get much prettier than a brook trout in the fall.

Craig is all smiles as he brings in a wild Yellowstone rainbow trout. I had a great week fishing him and his compadres, Bob and Mark. These guys fish with me every year and are a highlight of my fishing season! 

I love brown trout. Especially when they eat hoppers!

One of the reasons the Snake is fishing so well, the big Hecuba Drake. These are the double cheeseburger of the trout world and I can’t tie enough of them!

Yellowstone National Park is know for it’s legendary waters; the Firehole, Madison, Yellowstone, Lamar, etc. What often gets overlooked is the countless streams that take a bit of work to get too. These are some of my favorites and I love an opportunity to fish them with clients. I had the pleasure of taking Gary and Colin deep into the Yellowstone backcountry the other day in search of wild rainbow and cutthroat trout. The guys had a blast fishing fast pocket water while being surrounded by wild country that not many folks get to see.

Gary fishes a productive run. A stimulator with a hare’s ear dropper was all that was needed…

Not the biggest fish, but these wild rainbows had some serious fight in them!

Colin and his dad, Gary, got to fish some water in Yellowstone National Park that not many folks see. Super fun spending a day with these guys!

Saturday I sought refuge from the excessive heat by exploring
a small stream with my friend Matt and Lulu. I’d fished this water
before further down but hadn’t explored one of it’s smaller forks.
In a last minute decision I grab my “new” Tenkarka rod;
determined to give it a proper chance and see what all the
hullabaloo is about.

As I alluded to in a previous blog post, I’ve spent years
naysaying and making fun of this telescoping rod movement. On a
cold snowy day this winter though i broke down and bought one
from Tenkara Rod Company, a small company over the hill in
Idaho, and have been waiting for the right opportunity to test it
out. Well the water we were fishing Saturday seemed as good as it
gets for the glorified cane pole. So I extended it out to it’s 11 feet
of tapered glory, tied a stimulator on the 3 foot piece of tippet and
proceeded to have a blast fishing it. It’s really intuitive to use and
I quickly got use to not having the reel. The long reach of it was
ideal for getting perfect drifts around boulders, etc. and it was nice
not having to fumble with extra line. When not fishing, I collapsed
it down and put it in the back of my vest; I was dog training wit
Lulu while Matt fished, so it was nice having both hands free to
control the beast.

The small stream we fished was beautiful, meandering through
steep hills deep in Griz country. The water didn’t seem to hold as
many fish as it should have, but the one’s we caught were all really
nice for such water and I had a BLAST with the Tenkara rod. I’ll
definitely be using it again for similar types of waters and days
when I’m out and want to keep things simple.

A good fish to break-in the rod with…

Lulu strikes a pose while Matt works some pocket water
down below.

Close up of a beauty; I never get tire of the colors.
Probably will have to do a painting off this pic in the winter.

Matt fishes a nice hole deep in Griz country.