Blog - Page 12 of 29 - Teton Fly Fishing -Jackson Hole

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.

July’s fishing update

July 26, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

Things have been busy around here leaving little time for blog posts and fishing updates; my apologies. July’s been full of fun fishing trips, good clients and unpredictable weather (clients had wool gloves on during a particularly cold, wet day a few weeks back!) Throw in a 3 month old labrador puppy, and you get the drift….

I’ve had the pleasure of guiding quite a few new as well as returning clients lately. It’s always nice to see familiar faces and catch up on what’s happened since last summer. We’ve been fishing the Snake, Green and Salt rivers lately; all of which are in great shape and producing. Dry fly is best on the Snake, with lots of fish being fooled with large attractor patterns. When fish get a bit more picky, PMDs (parachutes and sparkle duns) get the job done.

Bruce shows off one of his catches from the Green river. He and his wife, Susan did a nice job last week fooling some brown trout….

Yesterday was day off for me and Jamie insisted I take her and Lulu out on the boat. We headed south to the Salt river for a change of pace and had a great time. My friend Matt joined us and it’s safe to say everyone had fun. Lulu did great on her first drift boat trip, taking it easy and supervising Jamie and Matt’s casting. I’m off to fish the Snake this morning. Hope everyone’s having a great summer!

Lulu keeps an eye on rising trout as Jamie mends the line….

A little break along the float; everyone’s taking it easy

Matt shows off a nice Cutthroat trout. We won’t hold it against him that he caught it on a nymph!

mid july fishing..

July 11, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

The summer weather around here continues to keep us fishing guides on our toes. For a while there, things were getting hot; fishing was good in the morning and slowed a bit during the afternoon heat. This week however a much cooler, wetter trend took over. The wet, cool weather should help keep local water temperatures in check and make for better fishing throughout July and August.

I had the pleasure this week of fishing several repeat anglers as well as few new ones. We fished the Green and Snake rivers, finding fish in both. The Green has fished well lately with Dry (big rubber-legged stoneflies) dropper rigs. Today, with fishing slowing due to rising water levels, we switched to streamers a caught some real nice browns. Like the Green, our Snake river cutthroat trout have been falling for yellow sally patterns and small chernobyl type flies. A lot of smaller fish are taking dry flies with the occasional bigger cutt coming to the surface.

Derek shows off a nice Brown from the Green today. This guy feel for a Black and Red streamer.

A little family fun amongst the busy season

July 1, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

I’ve been busy towing the drift boat around lately, floating clients on the Green and Snake rivers. Both are in good shape and fishing pretty well. It’s nice to pull on the oars while watching my anglers cast stonefly patterns to eager fish.

I had a day off this past weekend and told my lady I was taking her fishing (she sometimes gives me a hard time that we don’t get out on the water together as much as we’d like- I have to agree). So off we went, boat in tow; heading south to the Hoback. We had a great day on the water with Jamie fishing like a champ. Most of her fish were caught with yellow stonefly patterns, although a peacock PMX also did well.

Jamie bringing in a snake river cutthroat trout in the Hoback canyon…

Fruits of her labor… A lot of eager fish hit her stonefly patterns.

Now for the dog news…. We decided to get back on the horse and get a new pup. Lulu is a 9 week old yellow lab. Her temperament seems great (she’s curled up at my feet) and I can’t wait to teach her the ways of the water…

Jamie and Lulu…

Firehole, lakes and flows

June 18, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

The past week had me out on the water with various anglers from across the country. With Yellowstone National Park waters clear and fishing well, it was only natural we headed north. The Firehole is a fun place to be casting a fly as David and Ken of Florida learned yesterday. Both guys were able to catch some spunky brown and rainbow trout. Other anglers lately have fished the Lewis and upper snake with me. Both are fishing well and offer up some different water than typically fished around Jackson. I also took Tom out on some lakes last weekend while he was in town. Boy did we have fun catching rainbows on leeches and wooly buggers!

Ken works in his first Yellowstone Brown trout. Swinging soft hackles is always a good way to fish riffles on the Firehole..

Overall fishing conditions are improving here daily. Driving home from YNP yesterday, it seemed that a lot of tributaries to the north (buffalo fork excluded) have dropped and are clear or very near clear. Looking at river flow charts, it looks like most rivers have peaked and are now falling. It won’t be long before we’re floating big waters like the Snake. Hope everyone’s enjoying the sunshine!!

Return client David T. shows off a fine Firehole Rainbow. Trout in the Firehole may not be the biggest, but they do tug on a line!

Tom McCoy is in fish heaven. He claimed our lake fishing to rival any of the “gold medal” waters of CO he use to fish!

Fishing’s good in Yellowstone National Park

June 7, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

Fishing conditions are improving daily around here in Jackson Hole. Lately I’ve been spending time guiding clients up in Yellowstone National Park. The hotspot right now is the southwest corner of the park; notable (and fishy) waters in this area include the Madison, Gibbon, Lewis and of course the Firehole. These popular waters are fishing great and I love fishing the Firehole with guests this time of year. Most days allow anglers to fish some great hatches of PMDs, BWOs and caddis, and when fish aren’t feeding on top, nymphing and swinging wet flies often work well.

Me, capturing Sam, photographing Bob, catching a fish… follow?

Highlights from last week include taking Bob and Sam up to the Firehole. Neither had ever been there before and were eager to fish this great river. This was Sam’s first time with a long rod and he did great, catching browns and rainbows while Bob got his zen on and nymphed some nice swift runs. Super fun to spend the day with some great guys from San Antonio.

Sam shows off his first ever fish on a fly (a Firehole brown trout). Not a bad way to kick things off!

Bob shows off a nice Yellowstone Cutthroat trout; one of many he landed on a different day fishing with me.

In addition to guided trips last week, I managed to fish yesterday with my friend Matt. We hit the road early and fished a sweet little cutthroat lake. The fish there aren’t big but they sure are pretty! Off to the Firehole again this week with eager anglers.

A gem from a high country lake. I think the Yellowstone cutthroat trout are my favorite.

Grayling

June 1, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

Spent the past weekend traveling around Yellowstone National
Park and the surrounding area. Every year about this time Jamie
and I make a run north, spending a day or two in Yellowstone
together before the summer gets nutty. This year we added to the
getaway and drove over the Beartooth Pass, spending a night in
Red Lodge, MT, before returning through the Lamar Valley and
Mammoth Hot Springs.

We had a great time, and in addition seeing lots of wildlife
and cool country, we also managed some hiking and fishing. We
hiked to two lakes in Yellowstone. One skunked me. I saw plenty
of fish, but, save one, they wanted nothing to do with my flies.
Too make matters worse, thunderstorms rolled in and forced us to
retreat down the mountain.

The lake we fished today though treated us much better. We
decided on a lake that holds Grayling; a rare treat for a fly angler.
I’ve been fortunate to have caught grayling before (there are some
accessible lakes around if you know where to go), but I’m always
excited to pursue this rare Salmonid. After a good hike, I strung up
my rod and began casting. As you can see from the pictures below,
a few fish were caught.

One of several Grayling fooled today with a leech
pattern

Jamie standing along a small spawning stream. No, we
didn’t fish the stream, just observed.

Close up of some of the many spawning grayling in this
tiny stream. It was really cool to walk this stream that was all of 3
feet wide at its widest point; like a big aquarium. It’s finds like this
that make backcountry fishing so cool!

Close up of another fish.

Trout and Grizzlies

May 28, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

We knew we were in for a great day when we stumbled upon a bear-jam in GTNP. Keeping tourists, locals and rangers gawking was a female grizzly bear and her two cub; seemingly unbothered by the chaos and rain. After a little bear viewing, Matt and I headed north to Yellowstone National Park. This time of year most people fish the Firehole for good reason. We had other plans though. Lewis lake and river were calling and we were answering.

The Lewis and I have always had a love/hate relationship. I’ve had some great days on it, mostly in the fall when the brown trout are angry, but I’ve also had moments of glory other times; when trout rise to hatching mayflies and caddis. With this in mind, we spent most of the day fishing the river. Unfortunately there wasn’t too much going on. We fished and explored some great water and I did manage to catch two browns on nymphs, but we walked away wondering where the fish were. After having lunch, we drove back to the south entrance and hiked back to where the Lewis flows into the upper Snake.

The Snake was a high, muddy mess, but the Lewis was clear. We wandered up river for a while, seeing nothing but spawning suckers. Finally I managed one nice Cutthroat on a streamer, but again we were a little dismayed by the lack of trout. We ended up back at the confluence and Matt hooked up with some nice cutthroat trout and whitefish. After we both finally called it quits, we hiked back to the truck. Across the river in a meadow we spied another bear. After it disappeared into the willows we called it a day and headed home. I gotta say, despite the slow fishing, it was an awesome day. There’s something nice and refreshing about wandering wild country in the rain. Can’t wait to do it again!

Matt fishes some nice holding water. Nothing was holding though..

Never get enough of the brown trout..

This tall trickling waterfall was the highlight of my day. Just one of the many surprises Yellowstone offers

Breaking the ice. Nymphing a fast, deep run got this little guy.

A wet week in the ‘hood

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

Wet. That’s the way things have been around here lately. River
flows have gone up and dirt roads are muddy.

Last week, I had the pleasure of taking Tom and his son, Ben out
for two days on the water. The guys were celebrating Ben’s recent
graduation from Uof New Hampshire. Due to high waters around
Jackson, we hit the road and stayed at the Teton Fly Fishing cabin
in Dubois. While there we fished for rainbows in a local stream, and
despite the rain, sleet and snow, Ben hooked up with a few nice
fish and landed one beauty. The next day we headed to the Big
Horn for a float. Again we battled some lousy weather but the guys
were champions! Some BIG fish were hooked; fish that caught Tom
and Ben by surprise, taking off up river, down river, jumping, etc.
Only a few were landed, but the guys had a blast!

Yesterday Jamie and I headed up into the hills hoping to fish a
small cutthroat lake. I was excited, Jamie a bit sluggish after a
Saturday spent at the Brew Fest on the town square. We managed
to get within a mile or so of the lake, only to be shut down by deep
snow covering the road. We debated hiking on, but with a steady
rain falling, ended up bailing and taking a drive through Grand
Teton Park looking for animals.

It looks like the wet weather is on its way out. Have a few fishing
trips planned this week so hopefully I’ll have some reports and
photos in the next few days.

Salmonflies

May 16, 2015/0 Comments/in /by testing

Salmon flies are mythical beasts of bugs in the fly fishing
world. Measured in inches, these stoneflies migrate to the banks of
some rivers in the greater yellowstone area, exciting fish and
anglers alike. I’ve never properly fish a salmon fly hatch, always
arriving too earlier or late to the scene. This year, due to an early
emergence, I was on it. First fishing the Henry’s Fork on Tuesday,
then returning on a solo camping/fishing mission Thursday and
Friday. It seemed my timing was right, fishing just above Ashton
and catching fish on big rubber-legged nymphs and bushy dry flies.
Did the hatch live up to its reputation? Well, yes and no. It wasn’t
exactly a fish catching free for all, but it was pretty good and has
me yearning to go back. I’d say I had to work for my fish, but was
rewarded plenty, especially when I hiked into a deep canyon away
from the crowds and fished size 4 foam patterns to the browns and
rainbows lying in wait in fast pocket water. Below are some
pictures…

Salmonfly nymph found crawling to the bank. Unlike
mayflies, stoneflies crawl to the bank before emerging.

A rainbow in the hand.

You can’t fish this hatch without expecting some vistors
crawling on you.

Rise and Shine. After spending the night in the back of
the truck, I was up, making coffee and off to another stretch of
water.

Sometimes the nicest fish lie tucked in on the bank
awaiting a clumsy fly to flutter down. Unfortunately for this guy,
the fly was fake!

The spots on a wild brown trout are unreal!

A view of the river. Getting down to it was the easy part.
The trek out made the blood pump!

The getaway; this male brown trout was excited to get
back to faster water.