Archive for year: 2018
December
Well here we are in December, getting ready to close out 2018. Fly fishing-wise things are a bit slow at the moment here at Teton Fly Fishing world headquarters. Jamie and I took a nice road trip vacation a few weeks back, visiting friends in California. We had a great time and I managed to sneak in a day of surf fishing around Pismo Beach. Unfortunately the ocean was angry that day and I didn’t have much luck. I definitely should have had a fast sinking salt line on my reel instead of a floating line. I wasn’t able to get the fly down on the bottom due to the pounding surf. Oh well, live and learn. Overall though it was fun trying some new fishing and even more fun spending Thanksgiving week with great friends at the beach!
Since getting back home, I’ve been building cigar box guitars for christmas. My woodshop resembles Santa’s workshop (minus the elves, although I could sure use them!) with wood, guitars and tools everywhere. Last weekend I took newlyweds, Nick and Aaricka out fishing for a few hours. Conditions were tough for these novices, but they picked up casting like champs and didn’t complain at all about the temperatures. In the end, we had great day!
Aaricka learns to cast while Nick watches…. Fun day in the sun fishing the Salt river for these two newlyweds.
Me and some of my cigar box guitars at the Jackson Hole Christmas Bizarre
Lu and a Grand Teton Park Bison engage in a staredown….
End of Fall
Well another fine fishing season is winding down around here at Teton Fly Fishing. Many thanks to all the fine folks who fished with me this season. There were a lot good days on the water!
I just did my last float trip of the season, floating Dave for a few days around Western Wyoming. We had some pretty good dry fly fishing, landing some nice cutthroat trout on October caddis and BWOs. The best part was that the temperatures have held and haven’t been too cold.
I’ve got plans to fish on my own the next fews days along with my buddy Seth. Hoping to find some nice brown trout, but will settle for anyone looking to eat my fly.
Dave hooked up on the Salt. We caught a beautiful late fall day filled with rising trout!
Always a great time when the Weavers come and visit. While the weather wasn’t the greatest, we had a blast! Kurt and I got to do some fishing.
Streamer fishing for Browns, kurt landed a nice one! Gotta love fall
Marti and Rico came over the hill and joined me for a day on the Snake. Marti walked away with the fish of the day; a nice snake river cutthroat trout!
August is for dry flies
Seems i’ve fallen behind on this blog. My apologies. This summer has been BUSY! Fishing folks nearly every day leaves little time for updating. Good news is the fishing out here in Jackson Hole has been really fun for guests. I’ve been mixing it up with folks, floating the Snake, Green and Salt, as well as hosting some folks at the fishing cabin. We’ve had some good days out there (and some days like yesterday where we had to “work”). Below are a few pics from the past few weeks. enjoy.
Mark shows off a nice backcountry cutthroat trout
This beautiful little rainbow fell for an attractor dry somewhere in Yellowstone Park
Hooked up on the Salt
Portrait
Did i treat myself to a new ukuele? You bet I did! This is how I wind down after a day on the water…..
Firehole and the likes
I continue to spend time up in Jellystone as of late. The Firehole is clear and fishing pretty well, making it well worth the drive. Guest have enjoyed the park and the feisty brown and rainbow trout that inhabit it’s waters. Yesterday hatches of PMDs, BWOs and Miller caddis were all coming off in the morning. When surface activity slowed, soft hackles and nymphs brought a few fish to the net.
Snow continues to melt around here and I’m pretty certain area waters have peaked and it shouldn’t be long before great dry fly fishing sets in. I expect to start floating the Green this week in addition to Yellowstone waters.
Mike braved the cold and wind and experienced the magic of the Firehole River. Here he is hooked up with a nice rainbow…
He seems excited!
Gary shows off his first ever fish on a fly rod. Not bad for a guy use to ocean fishing!
Yellowstone
Lately I’ve been fishing some great folks up in Yellowstone National Park. The weather has been spectacular and the fish have been treating us right. The Firehole is always a favorite place this time of year; feisty browns and rainbows, geyser activity and wandering bison make for a great day. The water’s running a little high, but is clear and in great shape.
Leland and his wife found some fish the other day. All fish were caught on nymphs and wet flies, but i suspect the PMDs and Miller Caddis will start hatching any day now.
Leland hooked up on an unnamed stream in Yellowstone Park. Bison approved!
Lake fishing…
Late May can be a tough time to find fishy water around Jackson Hole. Temperatures have been warm and snow melt has made most of our favorite trout waters high and unfishable. Time to get out the extra spools of sinking fly line and boxes of leeches and wooly buggers.
I had some fun friends join me last week for a few days of lake fly fishing. We headed south, taking the drift boat out and targeted cruising browns, rainbows and lake trout. While we didn’t catch tons of fish, we did hook up enough to stay interested and managed a handful of pretty nice size trout. Olive, black and brown beadhead leech patterns worked best (great spring lake flies!) but we also threw some streamers with a little more flash and got some aggressive takes too. Each day ended with beer, whiskey and grilled meat. Not a bad way to enjoy spring. The guys got out of town just in time for more rain and snow; the makings of which made it easier to hunker down and replumb the fishing cabin.
Seth B with a nice brown trout
Raph with one of his chunky rainbows
In the coming days, i have a few fishing trips on the books. We’ll most likely continue to target still waters with leech patterns.
Spring adventures in fly fishing
It’s May and I’m getting excited for fishing here in Wyoming! Seems like we didn’t have much in the way of pre runoff fly fishing the past few months. Weather was lousy and then when things got nice, the water came up and dirtied. I did get out a bit, floating some great folks on the Snake before things went down hill. A lot of time over the past month and half though was spent pursuing bonefish in the Bahamas; first on Abaco, then on Andros.
Unexpectedly, I got a last minute invite from a friend to join him and other friends at the Abaco Lodge for 5 days. I jumped at the opportunity and in less than 24 hours was on a flats boat looking for bonefish. I’ve never been on a trip like this- guides every day, meals, drinks, everything taken care of. It was incredible! The best part of the trip was the group of guys I was with; just top notch folk, all appreciative and enjoying the special trip we were on.
The guides and staff at the lodge were fantastic and worked hard to put us on fish. The highlight for me was fishing with Marty Sawyer, a character and expert Abaco guide. Marty was full of stories, area history and fishing passion. His enthusiasm was contagious and my boat mate, Jim, and I had a blast!
Kurt hooked up with the first bonefish of the trip.
I love the toothy critters! Barracuda are a fun fish to target with the fly rod. This guys ran like hell and jumped like a brown trout!
Nothing better than hooking one of these guys while wading white sand flats
After returning from Abaco, my attention focused on Andros, a trip in the making for a while. Jamie and I flew to Nassau, met up with our good friends Kurt and Kelly, and flew in a six-seat Piper to North Andros. Once there, we settled into island life, renting a house on a protected cove and generally having a blast. Kurt and I fished hard everyday on the vast white sand flats, catching some nice bonefish and other species. We also all went snorkeling and kayaking together, spending the evenings cooking and drinking too much Kalik and Rum.
While always hard leaving the Bahamas, it is nice coming home to Tetons and the many trout waters here in western Wyoming. I can’t wait to get out on them!
Tyler hooked up on the Snake pre runoff. Conditions were good but we had to fight or our fish.
Spring’s springing
Mid March always hints at warmer weather to come. All of a sudden days are longer and precipitation in the Jackson valley can just as easily be rain as snow. This past weekend gave us two glorious days of sunshine and relatively warm temperatures. Naturally the best thing to do was go fishing!
Jamie, Lulu and I loaded into the truck and headed south into the Snake River canyon. We donned snowshoes, allowing us to walk over snow and access a nice piece of water that has treated us well in the past. This was part fishing trip, park dog training expedition and all around family fun day. We were hoping to fish to rising cutthroat trout but they never materialized. I think that despite the air temperature, cold water prevented aggressive surface feeding. Instead we tied on nymphs and streamers and brought a few fish to hand.
Overall Lulu did well. As some of you know, Lulu’s retriever instincts kick into overdrive when fish are involved. While she did get excited, I think she did noticeably better. When we got home, we realized how great it was to get out together in the sun and on the water! Can’t wait for more days like it to come.
mild winter so far
hmmmm. What’s been going on around here at Teton Fly Fishing world headquarter? Well, not too much. I’ve been busying doing a lot of substitute teaching lately. The weather’s been pretty lousy so it hasn’t been bad being inside with high schoolers. So far this winter, snow and cold temps have alluded us. Days have been grey and kind of mild. Fish can be found gorging on midges during the warmer day in slow backwaters. Also tying a lot of flies and booking trips for the upcoming season. Hopefully my friend Matt and I will get out this weekend and scare up some fish.
I took two fine folks from Memphis out yesterday for a few hours on the Snake. I was hoping to get them into some rising cutthroat trout but I think the shift to colder temperatures (single digits) put the fish down. When the sun was out we did see bugs, but not much in terms of feeding fish. Fortunately Bruce managed a whitefish and some other strikes and he and his lady seemed to enjoy themselves.
Bruce hooked up on the Snake
As some of you may know, I’m a bit of a guitar junkie. Always on the prowl for an old instrument to add to the stable, I couldn’t resist a beat up vintage Martin 0-18. The guitar arrived Friday night and I haven’t been able to put it down. Despite being ridden hard and put up wet, this little 1952 Martin sounds FANTASTIC!
The new (old) Geetar! Single 0 body, mahogany back and sides, spruce top, rosewood board… oh how i love thee. Feel free to send any of your old guitars to me….
