Has the Slow Season Begun?

DATE: Tuesday, 9/27/2005

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, partly cloudy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's near Ace in the Hole

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #14 brown Norfork River scud, #14 gray Norfork River scud, #20 Kay’s Gray, #14 mini bugger

OTHER: I fished with Dick. Wayne joined us later. We had a good morning, but catching has slowed considerably. Dick did real well, and caught about 20 fish, not bad for a slow morning. Wayne must have really got into them 'cause his rod was bent all morning. He definitely is a fishing machine. I'm afraid our "slow" season is upon us. The next few days should tell the tale, but if indeed it has slowed, it was good while it lasted.

A Change in Scenery, Crooked Creek

DATE: Saturday, 9/24/2005

TIME: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, cloudy, light wind

WATER CONDITIONS: Normal

LOCATIONS FISHED: Crooked Creek, downstream from Snow Access

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Cabela’s light-action spinning rod and reel

FLIES USED: Rebel crawfish, Rebel grasshopper, Little “O”

OTHER: I fished with Kay, Ron, and his friend, Beverly. We had a great morning, and caught lots of fish, though most were small. We caught smallmouth bass, bream, rock bass, and a sucker. Ron caught a couple of dozen with several smallmouth bass weighing a pound or more. I hooked and played a short time a nice smallie, probably about two pounds, before it broke off. I could have done much better with a fly rod, but didn't know the conditions of the stream well enough. Next time, I'll take a 4 or 5 weight. Fishing Crooked Creek should be good until mid-November.

I Broke the 10’ Winston

DATE: Friday, 9/23/2005

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's near Ace in the Hole

HATCH: Small cream midges

ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud

OTHER: I fished with Wayne. We had a super morning, and caught lots of fish. Sad to say, no one else seemed to be catching any. It was pretty incredible, actually, as we were catching fish almost every other cast. On the next to last two casts, I heard my rod pop just a little, and on the last cast, nothing seemed to happen, and the end of the rod went shooting down the line. It BROKE at the butt end ferrule in the mid-section (3-piece rod). Fortunately, it was about time to go anyway.

P.S. As a post script, I mailed the rod back to Winston this very afternoon, about $10 postage, and $30 for repair, but that's not bad, and I want/need my 10-foot rod back.

Drifting Down the Norfork with Dick

DATE: Tuesday, 9/20/2005

TIME: 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, partly cloudy, cold front moving in and low barometric pressure

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Quarry Park to top of 2^nd island above Ackerman/Handicap Access

HATCH: Small cream midges

ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud

OTHER: I fished with Wayne and Dick. We launched one-man pontoon boats at Quarry Park and floated downstream. We had a great morning, and caught fish. Hot spots were along the residential docks in the Resort Hole and the pool above the upper riffle at McClellan's. While we caught a decent number of fish, the numbers were down from previous weeks, although the size of fish was considerably larger. In the pool above the upper riffle at McClellan's, I caught 6 fish on the first 7 casts, and 5 were above 16 inches, though none were above 20 inches. I caught one brown, one cutthroat, and the rest were rainbows. Generation began about 11:00 AM and ran us off the river, though the one-man pontoons handled 2 generators just fine; in fact, I wouldn't hesitate to fish 2 generators from the pontoon. I didn't see many fish until the 2nd riffle below the Resort Hole, but saw several in that riffle on river left. I also did not see many redds.

A Slowdown in Fishing

DATE: Friday, 9/16/2005

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's near Ace in the Hole

HATCH: Small cream midges

ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT

FLIES USED: #14 brown Norfork River scud, #12 Dave’s Hopper, #14 foam ant

OTHER: I fished with Dick. We had a great morning, and caught lots of fish, though catching had slowed from previous trips. Also, fish have moved from previous trips. We did not observe many other fish being caught, so we must have been in the right place at the right time. Besides using the brown scud, I put on a hopper and caught a nice cutthroat. I switched to an ant and had a ferocious strike by a large brown, but could not hook up. By this time it was approaching lunch, and I was hungry so we left the river.

Back on the Norfork River

DATE: Tuesday, 9/13/2005

TIME: 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's, from Otter Creek to Ace in the Hole

HATCH: Small cream midges

ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud, #16 brown Norfork River scud

OTHER: I fished with Ed and his friend, Jim, both from Memphis. What a pleasure it was for Ed to have called this morning. I contacted Wayne, and he was resting from a trip to Minnesota. I wanted to fish and thought it would have to be solo, but then Ed called and said he was in town. Anyway, we had a great morning, and caught lots of fish. The fish seemed a little larger than those caught in previous days, and they had good color. Ed caught 4 tagged fish and I caught 3; none were big, though. Also, Ed and I picked up some coontail moss near Ace in the Hole and found SOWBUGS! One was dark chocolate, about a #14 or #16, and the other was olive brown, #18. It was good to see sowbugs back in the river as I have not seen them in several years.

Once again, it was a glorious day with lots of fish hooked and landed. Ed and I have never had a bad fishing trip after several years of fishing; in fact, they have all be great with lots of fish. I am truly blessed to have such good fly fishing friends!

Piney Creek (Day 3), U-Cross, Wyoming

DATE: Thursday, 9/8/2005

TIME: 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: Normal, clear

LOCATIONS FISHED: Piney Creek, near U-Cross, Wyoming (upper limits of the creek on Dave and Sandy Todd’s Ranch)

HATCH: Small cream midges, blue winged olives, caddis

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #6 muddler minnow

OTHER: Fished with Dick. We fished the deep pool at the very upper end of Dave and Sandy Todd's ranch. I finally got rid of the top water stuff and small streamers, and fished a #6 HEAVY muddler minnow. It did the trick! After the 3rd or 4th cast across the creek, I threw the muddler minnow into the deep riffle and on the strip back I thought I had hung vegetation on the bottom. When it moved, knew I had a great fish. I managed to fight and land about a 16-inch rainbow trout that was HOT! Dick changed flies and put on a #6 muddier minnow as well, and made the best cast of his fly fishing career up into the same riffle. I saw a small flash and thought he had hung a 6-inch rainbow, but when I saw his rod doubled over, knew he had a good fish. He fought and landed a 17-inch rainbow that was very strong and heavy. We both quit fishing after the big fish, knowing that it would not get any better. We both saw a bigger fish than either of us caught but it was swimming for all it was worth after we scared it from its undercut hideout.

I took Kay back up to the riffle about 30 minutes later, but the casting was very difficult for her. I made a couple of casts and hooked two fish, both on the #6 muddler minnow. The secret to Piney Creek was to fish the deep riffles, with a heavy fly! This is a great creek, and will yield some big fish to the fly fisher that knows how to fish it.

As an aside, Dick, Carolyn, Kay, and I "scoped" out the upper parts of the ranch in the morning, and moved several mule deer with great sets of horns. When we got to the back edge of the ranch, we jumped 5 of the largest mule deer bucks either of us had ever seen. We followed them with binoculars across a ridge and onto the next ridge where they eventually laid down. Imagine this, five world-class mule deer, at one time, laying within a 25-foot diameter circle. In addition to these deer, we saw many other bucks, does, and fawns, as well as a small herd of antelope. This was indeed a great day God gave us, and one that will never be repeated in our lives.

Piney Creek (Day 2), U-Cross, Wyoming

DATE: Wednesday, 9/7/2005

TIME: 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: Normal, clear

LOCATIONS FISHED: Piney Creek near U-Cross, Wyoming (middle limits of the creek on Dave and Sandy Todd’s ranch)

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #12 parachute hopper, #14 foam ant, #10 olive woolly bugger, # orange woolly bugger

OTHER: I fished with Dick. The water in this reach has deeper pools, 6 to 8 feet deep, interspersed with riffles and shallow water. The creek has heavy growth of instream vegetation with few invertebrates observed. I did see an occasional rise, but was not able to take anything using dry flies. I managed one small rainbow on a woolly bugger, but saw several other fish. This creek has potential!

Piney Creek, U-Cross, Wyoming

DATE: Tuesday, 9/6/2005

TIME: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, sunny, windy

WATER CONDITIONS: Normal, clear

LOCATIONS FISHED: Piney Creek near U-Cross, Wyoming (lower limits of the creek on Dave and Sandy Todd’s ranch)

HATCH: Small cream midges

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #12 parachute hopper, #14 foam ant

OTHER: I fished with Dick. The water was relative skinny, with occasional riffles 3 to 4-feet deep. The creek had heavy growth of instream vegetation with few invertebrates observed. I did see an occasional rise, and had one hit on the hopper. I was unable to take any fish today.

Sought Creek (Day 2), Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

DATE: Sunday, 9/4/2005

TIME: 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-80’s, partly cloudy

WATER CONDITIONS: Normal, clear

LOCATIONS FISHED: Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, upstream of 2^nd walk-in

HATCH: None

ROD USED: G Loomis 9’ 3-weight

FLIES USED: #12 parachute hopper, #14 foam ant

OTHER: I fished alone, making a number of casts against undercut, shaded banks, but was unable to bring a fish to the fly. In fact, I did not see evidence of fish or rises, nor did I see anyone else catch fish. Slough Creek was crowded, as one would expect for Labor Day weekend.

Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

DATE: Saturday, 9/3/2005

TIME: 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-80’s, partly cloudy, very windy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, above VIP Pool

HATCH: Occasional sulphur

ROD USED: G Loomis 9’ 3-weight

FLIES USED: #12 parachute hopper, #14 foam ant

OTHER: I fished with Kay. I managed 4 or 5 fish on a parachute hopper, and one on a black foam ant. The fish would move several feet to look at the fly, making a shark-like wake. Kay managed to catch a couple on parachute hopper. She's becoming a good fisher. We met a cancer survivor who's getting treatments in LR; his name is David Berry.

DuPuy Spring Creek, Montana

DATE: Thursday, 9/1/2005
TIME: 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM
WEATHER: Low 80’s, sunny, windy
WATER CONDITIONS: Normal, clear, and cold
LOCATIONS FISHED: DePuy Spring Creek, Montana, lower end below Eva’s Hut
HATCH: Occasional PMD
ROD USED: Sage 9’ 5-weight
FLIES USED: #14 parachute PMD, #22 sparkledun, #20 copper john
OTHER: I fished with Kay. We managed to take a couple of fish on the sparkledun, a couple on PMDs, and several on copper Johns. Fishing was tough.