Blog

Considered the grand daddy of fly fishing shows, January 27, 28 and 29 will be the ONLY East Coast dates on this years tour. Rich will have a show each day in the Destination Theater to give you a glimpse of what TroutHunting Yellowstone Country is all about. This year's presentation is sure to knock your wading boots off thanks to the addition of new eye catching photos from fish pornographer in residence, Bryan Gregson.


Expo Hours
» Friday, January 27, 2012: 10:00 am-6:00 pm
» Saturday, January 28, 2012: 8:30 am-6:00 pm
» Sunday, January 29, 2012: 9:00 am-4:30 pm


Grizz just sent in a few images captured with his camera phone... and a little of his "Grizz-bonics"   to complement them. If your like us, many times we also have no idea what he is saying, we just smile a nod... smile and nod...

It's 8:33am here in Somerset and the local National Guard has released the mob upon the green carpeted isles of the flyfishing show. It almost resembles a Gladiator showing at the great Roman coliseum, only on a much smaller scale and not nearly as bloody........yet

The natives are crawling out of the woodwork. The isles are littered with broken bamboo, gore-Tex swatches and spools of space age polymer tippet material. Left, celebrity fly maiden and casting instructor "Millie Paini" keeps the mob at bay.

_________________________________________________________________

Long time Henry's Fork Steward and TroutHunter friend, Jim Dean spells out another great article in this issue of Fly Rod & Reel titled "A Tasters Guide to Mayflies"  [CLICK HERE]

                             
Midges, Black Ice & Vitamin D

From: TroutHunter Field Desk Mid-Jan, 2012
Location: Beautiful downtown Last Chance, Idaho

One kind word can warm three winter months. ~Japanese Proverb


In our case, here in Last Chance, we may need a few more kind words to warm us up through one of our historically long winters. You see, up here we do have 4 seasons, but they read more like this; Early Winter, then Winter, then Late Winter & finally next Winter…..so say a few kind words for us friends & help us along to the time when the water thaws & the rivers run rich with bugs & fish.

But hey, on the bright side, we’re currently a little over 2 weeks deep into an early January thaw. It’s currently 42 degrees outside, sunny as all get out & what little snow we have is beginning to slowly melt away. The Midges are out in score & the fish are taking note. Earlier today, I strolled out back to take a look at the river and was pleasantly surprised to see a good number of single midges and even a few clusters. A more detailed observation of the rivers surface revealed dimpled rings from rising trout. A kind sight on a warm winter day for sure.


It’s curiously difficult to say anything negative about our current weather, but someone upstairs really needs to turn on the faucet of frozen love & dump copious amounts of snow on this cozy little fishing village, ensuring a healthy dose of H2O for our little finned friends come summer time. But, until then, we’ll cheerfully bask in these sunny 1st days of 2012……..because they won’t last & we’ll soon be back to sub zero temps and 3 day blizzards…. you can bet on that.

The midge fishing ‘round these parts has been pretty good as of late. Last week, a few of us ventured the frozen highway over to the Madison to test the frigid waters. We fished two consecutive days & were met with an array of conditions & results. The 1st day was sunny with a forecasted 39 degree high temp, but a strong & steady East wind kept the chill factor feeling like the single digits and it only took a few casts to get that dreaded ice started in the guides. On a high note, the midges were out in full force - clustering in large groups behind every ice capped boulder and cut in the bank. We found good numbers of fish feeding in every slack water slick and made relatively easy sport of them. A properly placed G-gnat turned the trick every time and the fish we hooked were healthy in their winter colors. It was a fine day indeed, with fast enough fishing to make the outside temps seem just a tad bit warmer.




We woke the morrow with high hopes of repeating what we’d had the day before. The sun was burning down again, but the wind had laid down to almost non-existent – making for some super ideal winter fishing conditions. But……..the Midges had decided to take a hiatus it seemed, and we had to actually look about with diligence to scope even a single midge. We had plenty of deserving opportunities and in true form, TroutHunter Guide & Scott Pro-Staffer “Zach Wheeler” saved the day by landing a healthy Brown in a glassy back-water slick. The remainder of our post-holing traipse was spent trying to put the sneak on circumspect trout feeding selectively on solitary midges. A few smallish type fish were landed in a skinny side channel, but the better fish we tried to annoy were put down within a few casts, making for a good old fashioned lesson in angling futility. Not to complain though, because our jaunt was filled with plenty of opportunity - on one of the warmest early January days we’d ever experienced in SW Montana.



So, as our long winter continues, we’ll look forward to these warm sunny days, which bring with them the opportunity at a few rising fish. During the cold spells, we’ll toss a few more logs in the fire-box, kick back and dream about the season to come, which will undoubtedly bring with it bigger bugs & ample pods of hungry Trout.


Words - Chris "Grizz" Andelin
Images -Bryan Gregson

___________________________________________________________________________

Our Japanese TroutHutner friend Katsu Wanibe dropped us a note from his recent New Zealand trip. This couldn't have come at a better time, it’s currently -16 degrees outside here in Island Park! Seeing the warm waters of the southern hemisphere sure makes us all wish we were there!.. and a little jealous! ----  Thanks, Katsu!

"I've been to New Zealand, "Brown Trout Heaven" on my New Year vacation. High quality gear, HATCH 4 Plus Rene Signature Model made a successful result of catch. Thank you so much for your recommend!"