REPOSTED from the LIVESTRONG blog post - Are you a LIVESTRONG supporter who has a love for the great outdoors and angling? Looking to scratch a fishing experience like no other off your bucket list? You’re in luck! We have just what you are looking for!

Join the Firehole Ranch in West Yellowstone, MT on August 25 – 28, 2012 at Catch & Release for Cancer benefiting LIVESTRONG. Escape to Montana’s historic Firehole Ranch for a rare opportunity to fish the fabled, wild trout waters of the Rocky Mountain West. Guests will fish legendary rivers including the Madison, the Yellowstone, the Henry’s Fork of the Snake, the Gallatin, the Ruby, the Firehole and the Lamar, to name just a few. Enjoy absolutely unforgettable fishing in some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.

Catch and Release for Cancer will be limited to only 20 anglers and all participants must commit to fundraising a minimum of $5,000 to participate. Those who reach the $7,500 level in their fundraising will also receive an engraved Orvis Helios rod and $10,000 level fundraisers will be invited to the annual Ride for the Roses event in Austin, TX in late October 2012. This is a one of a kind experience and spots will go fast!

The weekend’s activities and fundraising will benefit LIVESTRONG, whose work provides support to cancer survivors globally. LIVESTRONG is a global leader in identifying the needs and concerns of those affected by cancer and taking action.

To learn more or register for this event visit – http://laf.livestrong.org/goto/releasecancer.

Over the hump?

I found myself looking out the window at the snow capped peaks above Livingston this morning watching the treetops swaying in the breeze. Inevitably my thoughts turned quickly to the day’s weather, that daily ritual of checking local forecasts and even maybe a quick look just to see what some fellow fisherman is waking up to on the other side of a mountain pass or two. Maybe I’ll just check out temps on the coast:

Forks, WA. High 45, not bad. Friends chasing steelhead out there soon.
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. 81, tropical.
Nelson, South island NZ. 75 and sunny, some lucky angler is stalking back country browns in shorts with big dries and applying liberal amounts of sunscreen.

Sunscreen? I don’t think I need to worry about that today. Small chance of sunburn through fleece long johns and 5 layers of Gore-tex. Windburn, now that is a distinct possibility. Neck gaiters and wool caps are tucked in my backpack and vest pockets. Somewhere in the bottom of a dusty boat bag there is a long abandoned tube of the stuff. Fear not friend, for the days are already getting longer by minutes a day. Soon you will be reclaimed from your wintry slumber and find yourself once again in a prime vest pocket easily at hand. After all we are over the hump. The Yellowstone National Park fishing season opens in a short four months and a few days, with plenty of fantastic spring angling leading up to that. Not to mention today, windburn and all. Hopefully a few generous winter trout will come to hand and I will rest easy tonight, thoughts of the upcoming season in my head. Dreaming of sunny summer days spent with friends and getting the chance to lace up the hiking boots and share a bit of the beauty and thrill that abound in our big backyard and it’s amazing waters.

I can hardly wait,
Brady Hughes
Firehole Ranch Guide

Good Fall Firehole Fanatics,
We are now officially into winter and the reality fall is over has sunk in. All good things must end I guess. I reflect while I sit here sipping a cup of piping hot coffee as it gently snows outside. It was another good one as I recall. Just enough warm weather to be able to squeeze in a couple of camping trips and just enough snowy and cold weather to bring the elk down out of the high country into my freezer. It was a fall of many firsts. It was Lamar’s (my lab/springer mix) first hunting season, my dad’s first bull elk, and my first time getting my truck really stuck in the mountains. Failure is always an option when it comes to first times. All events went well even though they didn’t happen as I might have imagined them.
Since it was my first fall in Deer Lodge, I spent a lot of my time on Google Earth and studying many other maps. This is one of my favorite things about fall. A chance to ride new roads, climb new hills, and fish new streams. New inspiration is on top of every mountain and around every bend of the river. This is a chance to have another first time. After all you never know where your next first time will take you.
Fall is a great time to be a fishing guide, especially if we’re not guiding. Even if we are guiding, at least the water is much less crowded. It gives us a chance to explore and expand our resume. It gives us a chance to hopper fish that one bank, streamer fish that back eddy where “Walter” lives, or knock the dust off the spey rod and swing brightly colored flies through that particular run that haunted our thoughts all summer long. Chasing our sporting dogs through golden fields chuck full with coveys of birds is always an option. As a guide, fall is also a great time to visit our neglected families and reconnect with reality. These are just a few reasons why fall is my favorite season of the year.
If it wasn’t for summer and winter, we wouldn’t have fall. The leaves are all but gone now. The days are very short, hardly nine hours long. Old man winter is on our doorstep. This is a great time of year to refill fly boxes, replace old fly line, or plug holes in our waders. Still it isn’t an excuse not to go outside. Even though winter fishing isn’t nearly as romantic as it is the rest of the year, I’m still passionate enough to get out at least once a week. I can’t believe it’s the middle of December already. My holiday shopping sprees are basically over…I hope everybody gets what they want. I know I already got what I want, a winter full of memories made this past fall.

Happy Holidays,
Josh Duchateau

Happy Labor Day weekend to everybody. I cannot believe it is already September. I am completely flabbergasted that the summer is winding down and we have only 2 weeks left at the Firehole Ranch. I sincerely hope that most of you made it out to Montana and the Firehole Ranch this summer. It has been one of the most beautiful summers in recent memory. Just this past 2 weeks have been gloriously warm, blue bird skies, and I hesitate to mention in case it is a curse for the next 2 weeks, but very little wind relatively speaking. So what have we been up to for the past little while (since it has been way to long since I last relayed what the fishing has been all about here in Yellowstone country). Well, we have been on the Yellowstone River a lot, the Box Canyon and Warm River stretches of the Henry’s Fork, local lakes, and of course the Madison River. The spruce moths this year showed up in great numbers and provided some fantastic dry fly fishing. It still amazes me that before 5 years ago, we never even mentioned spruce moths in our area. Now they are a staple of August fishing and similar to this year, can provide some of the best dry fly fishing of the season. So what is happening now. Well the Yellowstone River over by Gardiner is still providing some of our best dry fly fishing. Foam and rubber flies are the rulers of the roost, with chilly dawns, morrish hoppers, and other late night wiggly creations fooling most of our best trout from over here. As we dip into September make sure to have a good supply of Parachute Adams, and Royal Wullf Criplles in #12 and #14, because our September drakes are showing in the rivers of the Lamar valley as well as the Yellowstone. As for the Madison it is flying ant time, and just about any day where the weather is like it is forecasted to be for the next week, could land you in the middle of some serious trout gorging. Red and black ants, black ants, cinnamon ants, and honey colored ants are all possible ant du jours. Be armed and ready. In between ant sightings hoppers, beetles and resurgent caddis and Baetis will provide the bulk of the best fishing the Madison offer for the next couple of weeks. Expect to see us on the Fork the next couple of weeks as well, especially in the Box as the baetis begin to wiggle up the twisted currents of this nymph fishing extravaganza. This is my favorite time of the year to fish the Box as the crowds are super thin, and the fish are super fat. If you haven’t made it the greater Yellowstone fishing paradise yet, i would strongly encourage you to drop everything and get here quick.

Hope to see you casting flies on the river.

Rowan

Good Morning Folks,

Officially this is the latest date that I can remember that the Madison has finally come into what can be reasonably considered fishable shape. Clear water is pushing down from Quake Lake, and the West Fork has also mostly cleared. A few other tributary streams further downstream, like Indian creek, are still carrying a little color, but for the most part clear water rules the channel, and it is well past time to be fishing the Madison. Not to say that we haven’t been doing the ol’ Montana chuck and duck for the past month or so, but now dry flies and small nymphs will be adorning our fly rods for the rest of the summer. Salmonflies are working their way up from Varney, and some of the trout are showing their frustration with their lack of vision and attacking these large bugs with gusto. It will be bug soup here for the next couple of weeks as Goldenstones, Yellow Sallies, PMD’s, Epeorus, Green Drakes, Hydropsyche Caddis, all will be riding the salmonflies coattails. The Madison is higher than normal still, so good cast in close to the bank are going to bring more willing risers to the dry fly. The Madison says it is game time!!!

Meanwhile, the Henry’s Fork is in the middle of bug soup, up and down its entire length. The Box Canyon has great flows and the nymphs in this water are on the prowl. Small nymphs such as Shop Vac, Serendipities and Pheasant Tails are the way to go in this boulder strewn obstacle course. Big rainbows lie inn wait for the angler willing to go nymphing hardcore. Game on here as well. The lower fork around Ashton has been producing great dry fly fishing with Green and Gray Drakes, caddis, and PMD’s. In between hatches go with the standard nymphing fare here and you will stayed tied to fish all day. Game is on and in overtime in this water.

Sad to say, but it is not game time in the Park,…yet. But it is coming and it could be very soon. Look for some fishing opportunities to open up this week, and just continue to get better as the month progresses. More on the Park fishing pops later this week.

For now, it is time for this fisherman to return to the 50 mile riffle and throw some of the big bugs. Game on.

Tight lines and Jumping Trout

Rowan