One of fly fishing’s most celebrated annual event, The 2012 Fly Fishing Film tour, is coming to Bozeman Friday, February 17^th at the Emerson Cultural Center.  This traveling spectacle serves as a stage for the best filmmakers in the industry, an avenue to support critical conservation groups, and one sweet party for anglers.  This year’s films will feature incredible footage from our own backyard (Montana!) as well as destinations including the Bahamas, Belize, Alaska, New Zealand, Canada, the Gulf…and many more!  This year’s tour will make 125 stops across the U.S. and Canada – so we’re once again psyched to see them in Bozeman

Show starts at 7:00 p.m., doors open at 6:30.  We have discounted tickets here at the shop for $12.  Tickets are $15 at the door.   This show sells out fast, so get your tickets now.

See you there!

Typically I don’t fish the spring creeks of Paradise Valley during the months of November, December, January and February.  Experience has taught me that the creeks just don’t fish that well during these months and philosophically I think the fish deserve a little break from us fishermen.  And, as I have gotten older, I have found that my body just doesn’t tolerate the weather conditions that accompany winter fishing.  Freezing temperatures, wind, snow and sleet just don’t add up to a good time anymore.  I know that my attitude towards winter fishing conditions will disappoint my old friend Fred Nelson who likes to boldly proclaim that if one is not cold, wet, sweaty, complaining about too much wind, or the fact that there is no wind at all, that it is too cloudy, or just too hot and bright, you are just not fishing.

 However, this past week I had a change of heart about winter fishing and visiting the spring creeks during, according to the calendar, the dead of winter.  As many of you know, and for those of you who don’t, we have been experiencing a very mild winter.  Not much snow, especially in the valleys, and warmer than normal day/night temperatures.  Last week with day time highs predicted to be in the high 40’s I decided to through caution to the wind and spring for the forty bucks it costs to fish the spring creeks at this time of year.  Well, if I only considered those days that I caught a bushel of fish a successful day of fishing, I would have to report that my day was a total bust.  However, at this point in my fishing life, I count any day that I can get on the water a successful one.  The day was clear and bright, the temperature did indeed get into the very high 40’s, there was little wind, there was no one else on the creek that day and I got to visit with my old friend of some thirty years Betty Smith.  As for the catching of fish, the closest thing I came to a fish that day was a couple of cookies baked by my wife and painted to look like little rainbow trout. 

Every year beginning in September fly fishermen from all over the country start to show up in West Yellowstone, Mt. to begin their assault on the upper fourteen miles or so of the Madison River located mostly within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park.  They are drawn there by the migration of brown and rainbow trout making their way from their summer home in Hebgen Lake to their spawning grounds in the Gibbon, Firehole and upper Madison Rivers.  Most of the fish will range in size from 16 to 18 inches but there will be a fair number of trout in the 19 to 22 inch category and a few really big ones that will top 24+ inches.  Every year a couple of lucky fishermen manage to catch a true fish of a lifetime that measure in the vicinity of 30 inches.  The largest I have ever heard of caught was a big old male brown trout that measured in at 32 inches.  It’s the opportunity to catch one of these beauties that really fuels the mania that is fall fishing on the Madison in YNP.

  Many of these fishermen will be fishing streamers using techniques learned from steelheaders.  There will be plenty of guys using big nymphs on full sinking lines.  And, over the past couple of years, I have started to see a few spey guys and some Czech nymphers too.  The fish start to show up in the river as early as late August and fishermen will pursue them throughout October and into early November when the park closes.  All this is great fun and adds a late season boost to the fly shops, motels, restaurants and saloons of West Yellowstone.  Myself, I like to chase these fall runners in a much different way.  I prefer to pursue these fish with dry flies.  Any overcast day during this time of the year will find me heading into the park in search of late season baetis hatches and rising fish.  Many of the fish running up from the lake will feed freely on these sometimes prolific fall hatches.  I believe that these fish are well programmed to feed on the surface because they are exposed to some great hatches out in Hebgen Lake.  Midges, callibaetis, damsels and dragons, PMD’s, tricos and prolific ant hatches are at one time or another available to the fish that inhabit the lake.  So, when they move up into the Madison in the fall, if they are exposed to a good baetis hatch they will take full advantage of the situation.  The great thing I have found over the years is that almost all of the fisherman on the river in the fall are chasing fish using techniques that crowd them into a handful of spots along the river leaving large sections of the river empty and available without crowding for myself and a few others who choose to take advantage of some great late season dry fly fishing.  I’m talking about challenging dry fly fishing for quality fish.  These fish have been pursued all season so they are battle tested veterans that are not easy to fool.  For the most part you have to bring your A game when you are after these fish.  You have to be able to make accurate casts with long leaders tapered down to fine tippets with, size 20 to 24, adult baetis imitations.  And, most of the time, this has to be accomplished in less than ideal weather conditions.   The challenges will be great but the rewards will be well worth the effort.  There have been many a late season day when I have caught more and bigger fish than my streamer/nymph fishing friends who overlooked the obvious and continued to pound the water with subsurface techniques while there were quality fish rising all around them.

From now until December 31st, if you place an order for any fly rod in our store online valued at more than $450.00, you’ll receive a free River’s Edge 5/6 wt fly reel, backing, and line.  This offer is limited to online orders only and we only have 5 or 6 weight lines available for this special.  Just specify which line weight you wish to have, 5 or 6, and the direction you reel and your free reel and line will be sent with your order. 

The River’s Edge Fly Reel will comfortably hold a 5 or 6-weight fly line with 100 yards of 20 lb backing. The reel features a large arbor spool and comes in a nice matt black finish. With a smooth disc drag system that is easily converted from left or right-hand and a large drag knob that allows for easy and accurate micro drag adjustment, this reel provides quick retreival rates with more than enough drag to handle most freshwater needs. The line is a Scientific Angler GPX type taper line in willow color and comes with a butt section and pre-tied loop. This reel and line combo normally retails for over $125.00 but is yours for free with a purchase of a qualifying fly rod. This offer is limited to supplies on hand so act now before they are gone.

Every year about this time I like to make a trip to Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park to try my hand at catching a late season Yellowstone Cutthroat.  The fall is a special time to visit anywhere in Yellowstone but I especially like to visit the northeast corner of the park and fish not only Slough Creek but also the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek.  The visiting fishermen have mostly left for their homes in faraway places and the locals are either hunting or concentrating on fishing for fall spawning brown trout, which do not occupy the waters in this part of Yellowstone.  I have grown accustomed to having the creek pretty much to myself at this time of year.  This by itself makes the four and a half hour round trip drive from my home more than worth it since solitude has always been an important part of the fly fishing experience for me.  If I manage to catch a fish or two it pretty much makes for a perfect day.  That ‘s not to say that I find myself completely alone since the lower end of Slough Creek has become a popular gathering place in the fall for a handful of avid wildlife watchers hoping to catch a glimpse of a wolf or grizzly bear that frequent the area.  When I arrive at the creek at this time of year I am always amazed at how little water seems to be running down the creek bed and every year I carry on a mental debate with myself about the ethics of fishing for these beautiful fish in such skinny water. 

  It doesn’t take a very experienced angler to figure out just where these fish are holding at this time of year and I worry about the additional stress I might subject these fish to so late in the season if I am lucky enough to hook a few.  Every year I convince myself that the cooler water temperatures and lack of overall fishing pressure in the fall allow me to catch and release a few fish without detriment.  So I gear up and head down to the river’s edge with mostly a clear conscience.  When I arrive I observe an occasional fish rising to some imperceptible food source either on or very near the surface.  I figure the fish are probably taking some form of midge so I tie on a size 20 adult midge imitation with a midge pupa trailer.  After about an hour all I have to show for my efforts is a couple of refusals from two different respectable cutthroats.  I decide to take a break and remind myself to look around and take in the splendor of fall in Yellowstone.  As I sat on the bank I began to notice something moving around in the grass, among the rocks and even in the shallow water margins of the creek.  A closer look revealed a number of small frogs hoping and swimming around in the warm sun of a fall afternoon. 

 The frogs were about the same size as a couple of black foam cicada patterns I had in a box of flies in my vest.  It seemed plausible to me that if one those frogs were to stray too far astream that an opportunistic cutthroat looking to consume as many calories as possible late in the season wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to feed on one.  I decided a change of tactics was in order so I tied on a size 10 black foam cicada and started to fish the closest pool.  I didn’t make three casts before I found myself hooked up to a nice Slough Creek Yellowstone Cutthroat. 

  Now I can’t say that I continued to fish that pool and a number of others taking one fish after another but I was able to fool several more fish before I decided to call it a day and head back home.  The combination of solitude and a few cutthroats on a beautiful fall day made for that perfect fishing experience I had hoped I would find on yet another fall trip to Slough Creek.