Spent the past week painting, teaching and tying/ organizing
some flies. The good news is that I finished and shipped a series
of cutthroat paintings to a client of mine. I think the four cutthroat
watercolors will look nice framed and matted in their new home.
Now it’s onto the next project, another commission that, if all goes
well should be finished in the next week or so.

All four painting together on the floor. Each one is
11×14″.Top left to bottom right: Snake river fine-spotted cutthroat,
Bonneville cutthroat, Yellowstone cutthroat and Colorado river
cutthroat. Anglers who catch all four species in Wyoming earn a
cuttslam certificate. You can read an old blog about our cuttslam adventure here.

The freelance art world is funny. Over the years I’ve done a
number of projects and it seems like when it rains, it pours (in a
good way). Besides the paintings I’m working on, it also looks like
I’ll be doing some illustrations for the JH Planet’s best of issue. I
did some work for them last year, doing chariactures of various
winners. They were happy with them and it looks like I’ll be getting
out the ink and watercolors to complete a few new pieces…

The weather’s been pretty good around here and maybe i’ll
sneak out in the next few days and wet a line. Hope folks take
advantage of warm temps over the weekend.

Not all streamers have to be articulated with tons of
rubber legs… Here are some simple, farily ugly, yet VERY effective
blinged-out wooly buggers for spring lake fishing. My thought
process, “let’s make’em look like a panther-martin or something”.
And yes, these blinged-out synthetic mutants will work in a river
too…

Recipe: tail: gold flash, body: white sparkly chenille,
palmered olive grizzly hackle, Yellow dumbell eyes. Hows that for
easy?

I spent the better part of this past week fishing clients on the Snake river. For the most part the weather was great; sunny and temperatures in the 40s. We found some nice cutthroat trout feeding on midges in many side channels and back eddies. Jason, hailing from TN got to enjoy some great dry fly fishing on Thursday, bringing many nice cutts to hand.

Sunday proved a bit more difficult for me and my clients. We covered a lot of ground, fishing what I thought was great water. Unfortunately the wind really picked up, blowing straight up river and shutting down and hopes we had for some good dry fly fishing. The three guys were champs, not complaining at all when we switched to nymphs, fishing run after run. Eventually everyone managed some fish, include one BIG cutthroat, but I’d be lying if I said i wasn’t disappointed. I really wanted to get these guys on rising trout, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us (at least where we were fishing…)

It was nice to be out on the water for a few days and introduce visiting anglers to the waters I love so much. The fishing should continue to get better as we get into March.

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.

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

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

Seeing as the thermometer said 33 degrees outside, I couldn’t resist wetting a line. Taking down the christmas lights could wait! I headed to the Snake to scout some side channels. I walked, no trudged up river, following one braid after another hoping to find a pod of cutthroat trout sipping on midges. Unfortunately my fishing turned into more of a hike. A lot of the water I thought might be productive was frozen over, save a thin ribbon of current here and there. I ended up walking a giant loop in the river bottom, casting a few times here and there but really not coming across any water that excited me. Eventually I got back to the bridge and nymphed a seam/ shelf that I’ve hooked a few fish at before. It wasn’t long before I stumbled into a decent cutthroat (who came off before a picture could be taken) and a few whitefish. I rambled on down river and hit a few more pieces of water but never saw another fish. I did come across some mountain lion tracks though….

It never hurts to get out and I did enjoy the quiet. At least I can cross that area off my map and focus on other areas this winter with the fly rod.

Below are a few pics from fishing the wind last week. Finally got around to downloading them…

Gotta respect the zebra midge; a great pattern for winter fly fishing in Wyoming!

Not the biggest rainbow, but a pretty one. 

Well, Christmas has come and gone and we’re close to
welcoming a new year with new fishing possibilities. I’m sorry to
report that I haven’t done any fishing. We’ve been dealing with
some seriously cold temps here in the Hole; minus 20 has been
the norm lately and daytime highs haven’t been high at all.
Needless to say we’ve been hunkered down, only going outside to
take Lulu for walks (who doesn’t seem to mind the cold at all).
Instead of donning the waders and long rod, I’ve been tying flies
for the upcoming season. Right now most of the ties are nymphs;
stoneflys, pheasant tail variations, zebra midges, etc. These are
patterns that I use a lot in the winter months, but also in waters
like the Green and Firehole rivers. The beginning of the new year
is always kind of fun, forcing me to organize fly boxes and order
fly tying supplies. Today Lulu and I are heading to the fishing
cabin. I imagine there’s some snowblowing to do and I’ve got some
woodworking projects to get on.