Grayling on Dries

The days are slowly getting longer and warmer here in Wyoming. Although skiing has been very good, my thoughts are continuing to drift towards spring fishing. I am continuing to hear good reports from the Henry's Fork. Wade fishing with nymphs through winter holes sounds like it has been productive below Ashton. I've not heard much from the Snake or South Fork, so if anyone has been fishing there, leave a comment! Usually by early March, it is finally warm enough here to see good results on the Snake, possibly even with small dry flies. Our snowpack is still looking very healthy, which means we should be out of drought troubles this year. Not much else new to report. I am just starting to plot an early April trip with some of the guys in search of some hungry fish. If weather and water clarity permit, we'll probably hit the Big Hole River in southwestern Montana for a four day stint. The Skwala Stoneflies come off in April, and the fishing could be great. Here are a couple of shots from the Big Hole from April 2005. Here is a typical Big Hole Brown taken on a streamer. The second picture is a shot of my brother-in-law Sean Tufts holding a Grayling that he caught on a dry fly. The upper Big Hole River still holds small populations of fluvial Grayling (maybe as few as 100 fish per mile), and they love dry flies!

2009 Jackson Hole One Fly

I received notice a few weeks ago that I will be fishing in the Jackson Hole One Fly this year. Good friend and fishing client John "H-bomb" Holland put together a team and applied last fall. Along with John Wiley and Peter Chung, they kindly invited me to fish with them. After years of guiding in it, I am thrilled to now have a chance to fish in it! I'm already looking forward to it and cannot wait. We will be team "This Is Fly", partially representing the fabulous online fly fishing magazine. The One Fly is an invitation-only event that raises thousands of dollars each year to put towards local stream improvement projects here in Western Wyoming and Southeastern Idaho. Teams of four fish over two days with the limit of only one fly per day, per angler. Founded by Jack Dennis and Paul Bruun in the 1980's, it has turned into a large foundation for stream improvement and the valley's best know fly fishing event each September. Make sure to visit their website at http://jhonefly.org/ The weather here is slowly getting nicer, with warmer valley temps each day, and less snowfall in recent weeks. Fellow guide Josh Graffam waded on the Henry's Fork a couple of days ago and said he did quite well on nymphs, netting a half-dozen nice rainbows. Here is a nice shot of "one fly" from the Big Hole River, Montana...a nice size 12 mother's day caddis. More soon!