Wednesday and Thursday were very different days. Wednesday was cold, stormy and windy, while Thursday was warm, sunny and calm. So, we fished according to the conditions…Olive streamers and small mayfly nymphs on Wednesday and hoppers, moths, ants and caddis on Thursday. The temperature Wednesday morning was below 40, the skies were dark gray and the fish were aggressive.

Olive streamers with a small sz.18 or 20 mayfly dropper (Shop Vac, Hogan’s Red Headed Step Child, B.H. Tungsten P.T. Flash Bug, Amber Studly Nymph, etc…) tight lined with occasional strips, during the storms brought a lot of nice fish to the boat. We were fishing an 8 ft. leader with a sz. b split and would throw just slightly upstream, give two big mends to let the line sink and then bring the line tight and slowly strip in. We fished everything-off the bank, through the middle, next to rocks, etc…and didn’t seem to find the fish too concentrated in any one spot, they were spread out fairly well. And, while most of the fish took the small bead trailer, a few good fish took the streamer and I’m sure most of the fish which ate the bead were drawn in by the bigger streamer. Since we fished sub-surface all day Wednesday and I’d heard the weather for Thursday was supposed to be good, I told my clients that we’d try and work the dry the following day.

Thursday started out with a bang, we had two strikes on the flying ant before the anchor was even up, and that’s how the morning continued. Big, darker bodied hoppers and Royal Trudes as lead flies, with the Delektable™ Olive Sparkle Bug or Cinnamon Delektable Flying Ant as a trailer, brought fish up consistently all morning and early afternoon until a 1 o’clock lunch. Early morning fishing was hottest on the banks, the fish were looking for nocturnals and we were one of the first boats down-before the fish had seen a million flies cast to the bank. However, by mid morning we started to notice the fish moving to the shallows and rock slicks. We started getting less strikes on the big flies and we switched the hoppers and Trudes to orange Turk’s and small Half Downed hoppers, imitating the Spruce moths we started seeing on the river. After lunch, we started getting less strikes but were moving bigger fish. A sz.8 cream colored Slammer trailing either the Cinnamon flying ant or the Olive Delektable CDC Holographic caddis in a 14 moved some big fish. We either dead drifted the rig in the middle or were skittering the flies above rocks and which also moved a couple large fish. The day ended with a 20+ inch fish that ate the holographic caddis in the middle, ran for every rock in the river, and came to the boat twice…only to come unbuttoned just above the storey ditch takeout. That’s fishing, right? Go Fishing, Charles P.

Sometimes, the greatest joy of flyfishing is the solitude that can be found on one’s favorite waters. Other times, it’s found in the camaraderie of a group of friends, sharing in a joyous experience. The latter was the case recently. Our shop had the pleasure of guiding a dozen friends for four days, along with four of their wives one day, for some great times on the Madison River. The group was part of a “retreat” of sorts, hosted by a local ranch owner, client, and friend of the shop. Following the business of the gathering each morning, the group headed to the river for some afternoon fishing.

The fishing was, honestly, spotty, as afternoon thunderstorms conspired against the bug hatches and slowed the bite. But everyone caught fish, including the first-timers, and everyone left with huge smiles and great memories.

Thanks guys (and ladies!) for a lot of fun on the river. Good company with great clients is always the best part of our job. “Marty the Montajun”

While the bug hatches did slow a bit causing dry fly fishing to be a bit weak, the nymph game was all right if you had a rotation and weren’t afraid to stop A LOT and change your rigs. PMD nymphs, Hogan’s red headed stepchild’s, and P.T.’s both standard and soft hackle all in 16’s and 18’s were all great bugs during the rain. I was fishing these either in conjunction with each other or dropped off of one of Dan’s special redback sz.14 GB CN Superflash Yellow Sally nymph’s.

When fishing small nymphs (or small dries) in tandem, I like to fish the bugs eye to eye so as not to create unwanted drag on the first bug. Just take the tippet about to be used for your dropper and instead of tying the tippet to the hook of the lead fly, tie it to the eye of the first fly. Tight lined through the mid-depth and shallow riffles in the middle of the river, fish seemed to be chasing the nymph rigs as emergers, however dead drifted through the deeper rock channels next to rocks was also deadly. And, while two small nymphs were the only real option in strong gusts of wind, hail and lightning, after the storms had subsided the dries did tend to pick up a bit; mainly the rusty spinners. Since we were doing late afternoon floats (4-9 p.m.) we would get a chance to fish the rusty spinner fall from 7-9. A sz.16 or 18 rust colored mayfly fished in the rock slicks or on the bank, behind a trude, became a great tactic and picked up a few good fish. If the spinner wasn’t working, I would trade it out for a sz.14 gray Delektable halo emerger or olive sparkle bug to match the caddis, which were also either in their spinner phase or had been knocked down by the rain.

GO FISHING!!

Charles P.

The catch of the day and a lifetime for our friend, Joe Irons, is Tamela. We were very proud to share in this beautiful day. Joe was wearing a tuxedo along with a White Delektable Screamer with flowers and a rod tip, nice touch! We had not confirmed that was the fly that landed his catch but it happens to be working right now in the Madison. We had fun with our fishing buddies at the Boulder River table. Here are a few choice photos to enjoy.

Congratulations Joe and Tamela!