A clean bench

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It doesn’t happen often, if ever. My fly tying bench is a collection of materials, flies, and coffee stains. I try to keep it fairly organized, but seldom give it a full on cleaning. With the arrival of new fly tying materials the other night, I decided it was time to do some spring cleaning. It felt good organizing thread, tinsel, glues, chenilles and everything else that seems to get out of control over the course of a year. I’ll do my best to keep it tidy, but I suspect that as more flies are tied for the upcoming season, things will get back to a type of organized chaos.

Whoa! look at that clean bench. I can see the surface and find what i need!

Teton Fly Fishing Tying bench

Threads are organized. Tying enough flies for me and my clients requires a pretty good selection of thread, tinsel and wire.

Tying thread

 

Fishing around here has been good lately. I spent yesterday scouting some water with Lulu. We covered A LOT of ground and fished a bit too. Today I spent the day guiding Jason from TN. We had a great day fishing midges to rising cutthroat trout. Tomorrow we’ll pick up where we left off today, hopefully finding more rising fish and enjoying the sunshine!

Jason casts to rising cutthroat trout on the Snake river today as a moose watches from the other bank.

Moose and Fly Fisherman

Some fishing and trout paintings

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Things here at the Teton Fly Fishing world headquarters have been slow. I’ve been laying low, sliding through February in usual fashion. Overall the past couple weeks have been good. Temperatures have been a little warmer and days are getting noticeably longer.

Matt and I took advantage of 60 degree temperatures in Thermopolis two weeks ago and snuck over to float the Big Horn. Despite the high number of boats on the water we had a fun day, hooking and landing some nice browns and rainbows. We were hoping to fish dry flies, but the wind howled and we settled for nymphing. Never-the-less it was fun to be on the water with Matt and Lulu.

Matt shows off a nice rainbow from our Big Horn Float. Most fish were caught on scud patterns dead-drifted.

Matt's Bighorn 'bow

I got to fish too and caught a few memorable trout! Here, Lulu inspects a nice brown.

always best for Lulu to check out the catch

Most of my time lately has been spent working on some artwork. I have a few commissioned paintings to complete, and given my procrastinating nature, I thought it best to buckle down and get some stuff done before the winter has come and gone. I’m pretty pleased with how the watercolor trout paintings are turning out. This week I have a few guided trips on the calendar. Looks like it should be sunny and relatively warm, perfect winter midge weather…..

A Yellowstone cutthroat trout watercolor, part of a commissioned set of cutthroat paintings

Yellowstone cutthroat trout watercolor by Nate Bennett