DAY OUT FOR THE SHOP

Earlier this week, I had the follow-up visit with the surgeon who removed my gall bladder, and I got the thumbs-up to return to normal activity. Dan decided it was cause for celebration, so the next day, we went fishing! One of our new shop employees, Craig, came along to make it a threesome. It was a basic decision; he can row, so he can go.

We started mid-morning on an absolutely gorgeous day. Bright sunshine and warming temperatures greeted us at the launch. We would have liked a little less wind, but we’ve seen a lot worse, it was a day off, and we were going fishing, so who cares about the wind! Oh, and the Mother’s Day Caddis were out … Life is good.

We started with stonefly nypmhs trailed by caddis emergers, and it didn’t take long to realize we had the right combo. A few fish were taken fairly quickly from the boat, but once we stopped and wade-fished favorite holes, the action really picked up. With slightly fast water flows, the fish were stacked up in the holes and the slack water. And with a very slight tint to the water, some of our favorite conditions, we were able to wade with stealth, adding to our success. The pattern continued all morning, afternoon and into the early evening; catch a few from the boat, catch more, and bigger fish, when we waded. And the stonefly/caddis emerger pattern also held throughout the trip.

Dan did try throwing dry-fly caddis during the warmest part of the day, in some very tasty looking holes, but the fish weren’t rising. Everything was taken on the nymphs and emergers. Lucky for us, we really like fishing that way.

The stonefly nypmhs that worked the best were Delektable Olive Hurless Flashback, Delektable Gray Hurless Flashback and Delektable Olive Mega Prince Flashback, all in size 6 and 8. Our Caddis emergers were the Shop Vac and One Man Party, both in size 14 and 16. I also caught a couple on a size 6 Brown/Black Pat’s Rubberlegs, but the Hurless and Mega Prince were more productive.

After two weeks of R&R following my surgery, it was an incredible way to spend my first day back in "the real world." Hope to see y’all out there, so get out and fish!

Marty

We had another great Spring day of fishing on the Upper Madison floating from Storey to Varney. Dan and Nancy getting out is special anytime and we had some of Dan’s new creations to add to the fun. Bern Sundell joined us and had fun catching too. He did lose his hat in the wind and we could not recover it so you can see him hatless. Dan added enhancements to the Delektable™ Hurless in Gray and Olive with a new colored flashback. They rocked! The trout loved them. We were fishing a two nymph rig in the same technique that Craig described on April 3rd.

I can’t share the words used when the big one got away. I switched to 3X from 4X after that and still got some nice trout and landed them. It was a fun day.

Nancy

Our first fishing report on the Upper Madison is from Dan and Craig. The bite is on and the river is on fire. Craig adds…

Here is a report from the friend of the guide reporting as a guest in the boat. Rumor had it that the weather was supposed to cooperate and be pleasant on the Upper Madison in early April. I guess that’s all relative to what you are used to. A gentle breeze (20+) out of the south thankfully blowing down river to help the rower but not necessarily the fisherman! You can’t learn so much about your casting on a calm day either. We started at McAtee and pulled out at Varney Bridge with numerous stops in between. "You can’t be afraid to jump out of the boat and fish the spots" Dan explained but suggested you only do it with experience to be safe. "You’re moving by so quick in the boat that you’ve only got one shot. If you’re off just a little bit you’re not going to catch that fish." And he was right and proved it. On numerous occasions we would stop near good water and make multiple drifts with our double nymph rig before finally locating a fish. Or we would make multiple drifts with no results, add some more shot and them BAM! "fish on" and repeat successive casts.

Previous guide advice was to use a leader roughly 1.5 to 2 times the depth therefor I was using

7 1/2 ft. leader. Dan recommended starting at 9′ and go up to 12′ especially when nymphing in order to get the fly down to the bottom. Also, throw away the bobber and try using one or a pair of teardrop shaped indicators. 3 – If you’re not catching fish in a good spot then you should add weight especially this time of year when fish aren’t going to move far. 4 – Don’t strike with an upward hook set; swipe the rod perpendicular to the flow and drift of the line. 5 – Abandon the line mend and adopt the ‘fold and follow’; less strain on the joints and you don’t pull the fly off the bottom since you’ve got more control. 6 – When fishing two flies, go eye to eye, rather than attaching the tippet to the hook bend; doesn’t effect drift of the fly in the water and enables a more free drift of the top fly. Only use the bend when fishing crayfish and streamers. 7 – Don’t be afraid to jump out of the boat in mid-stream and fish good buckets or pocket water! Remember to use caution. (All I need to do is be able to identify those places). 8 – Keep my thumb on the top of the rod grip when casting into a ‘beat your ass’ wind! 9 – Pass the tippet through the eye of the hook twice when tying it on. 10 – Don’t set the hook when there isn’t a fish on; In other words don’t assume there is a fish on just because the indicator is towing under. 11 – Although good for business, when you get hung up while drifting it takes less time to go to shore and retrieve the fly than it does re tying a whole new rig! 12 – Get those oar rights that automatically put the blade at the right angle. 13 – Don’t walk away from he boat and assume the anchor will hold. 14 – Make sure you pack a fork when you pack a salad! 15 – Fish "Fly first"! That’s just a few things off the top of my head from my day of learning, fishing, and–of course-catching.

Water flow rates were good and still very clear. We fished the whole day with Delektable Hurless™ in gray and olive and Delektable™ Mega Prince Nymphs as the Skwalla stones become active and had constant action (when presented right!) with rainbows to 19" and a few browns including some gaudy ones and nice sized whitefish to boot. The water is still cold and the fish aren’t moving far out of their feeding lanes for a passing nymph. The abundance of small fish in the 12" to 13" size range are good signs for some fun fishing throughout the 2012 fishing season here on the Upper River and I can’t wait to get back out!

Dan adds that it was great getting out fishing with Craig; springtime in the Rockies is my favorite. Game on, get out there and have some fun.

Craig and Dan

Happy Birthday Dan! Dan had the afternoon off with lots of fun at the lodge eating Marty’s famous gumbo with friends. Tim surprised Dan and arrived from the east coast for birthday fun and some fishing. Elle of Elles Belles provided the incredible birthday cake which originally was going to be a trout but needed to be a steelhead so there was enough. The cake was an incredible piece of art and delicious too. Thanks to all for being part of Dan’s special day. Wow! What a cake!!

The Beartooth Work Crew were treated to a day on the Madison. It was a sunny, warm day, which lends itself to tougher fishing but nice weather for being outside on a break from work.

What a beautiful day on the Madison it was! The Whitefish King, “Grandpa” and I teamed up with Marty as our guide from Lyons Bridge to Palisades for a morning to mid-afternoon float. I fished all dries and Grandpa fished all wet flies. The day was an overall slow day as far as the numbers and size goes but, I enjoyed every second of it whether I was catching fish or just practicing my casting, and enjoying the beauty of the day. We put on a number of different flies that worked for very brief periods, then nothing and time to switch out again. The same seemed true for Grandpa with the wet flies. The great part of all this was, there was plenty of time to simply enjoy myself and take in nature, which was a great thing for me since I don’t often get to do this (this was my first time on the Madison this year). Some of the flies that worked were the Yeager’s 409, PMD’s, and the Delektable Cinnamon Ant. The same fly rarely caught a fish twice before we wound need to switch out again. We had several big fish rising to a <huge> Fat Albert, but none would go ahead and eat it.

Grandpa caught several large whitefish, giving him the biggest fish of the day, but I caught the most fish including some smaller six to eight inch trout. I did however catch one rainbow that was roughly fourteen inches long. Marty worked very hard for both of us. He really is a great guide and definitely deserves credit for the immense effort he put into the trip. I know I wouldn’t have caught even half the fish I did without him. I also want to thank Dan and Nancy for letting me go out and goof off all day, it was greatly appreciated. My busy schedule has made it hard for me to take a day off, with full time work in the fly shop and my taxidermy business after regular work hours and weekends. Even if the fishing is slow I always like to say: “The worst day fishing is better than the best day working!” Not to say this was the worst day as I have had way worse.

Jenn

The afternoon portion of the float included Kevin and Marcus guided by Marty. The weather was in the upper 80’s with the wind changing from north to south throughout the afternoon. We fished dries for most of the day. We got the occasional rise from a decent fish on the hoppers but they were few and far between. We tried several different patterns in the afternoon from hoppers, to caddis, and PMD Rusty Spinners. Keven even tried a massive streamer and got one fish that was about 10 inches in length. Overall, the fishing was slow and only smaller fish were rising. Still it was an awesome and gorgeous day to go fishing with Marty.

Marcus