Calling Hogs

Spent this past Saturday on the Bitterroot with Matt Breuer and Blakely. Floating in the Breuer's skiff, we enjoyed the slightly seasonally warm temperatures, and to a lesser degree, the biting winds. While the float was a little hurried, we were able to stick some fish, including two solid rainbows who were both caught on streamers. Icing on the cake. As always, watch it in HD on vimeo.

Music: Diplo "Sarah"

Calling Hogs from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

In other news, I now have a friend with a boat. It's nice.

Cutties are for Suckers

A warm January day on the Bitterroot with Zach and Stan from False Casts and Flat Tires. Before the day on the water started, we slapped a Fiberglass Manifesto sticker on Zach's truck. For a while, it seemed like all I could catch were suckers. 4 or 5 of them in a row at one point.  Big ones, too - 21 to 22". But, eventually we found the trout. Which was a refreshing change for me from my previous winter experiences on the Bitterroot. We caught our fair share of cutthroat and rainbows. I caught a nice 18 to 19" cutthroat and 16 to 17" rainbow to end the day.

I was a little taken aback about the physical condition of a lot of the upper Bitterroot fish. Seemed like every other fish had some level of eye trauma and/or mis-shaped mouth. It was a little alarming.

I went with a more vintage film look this time around. Admittedly, I was a bit inspired by Instagram. But, you guys don't need to know that. As always, watch it in HD on vimeo.



Cutties are for Suckers from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

Music:
Jake One
"Gangsta Boy"

On the 'Root with FCFT

This past weekend, I met up with two of the members (Zach and Stan) of the False Casts and Flat Tires gang to do some winter fishing on the Bitterroot. The Bitterroot and I have always had a somewhat rocky relationship. While I had solid, productive days on the Bitterroot, I have never had "one of those days."

That is not the case for the boys over at FCFT. They seem to have the Bitterroot dialed in. So, I felt pretty confident about getting into some fish when we hit the water on Saturday morning. Alas, the weather schemed against us. After consistent air temperatures in the low to mid 40s for most of the previous week, the air temperature dipped into the low 30s. As a result, the fishing was a little slower than desired.

"They are like guide land mines" FCFT - Photo courtesy of FCFT

As it is with winter fishing, you have to find where the fish are stacked up and feeding. We never really found them. We found some whitefish, but the trout were few and far between.

While our efforts were not quite rewarded, it was a great day to be on the water.

An idiot with a broken fly rod. Photo courtesy of FCFT

Zach is always producing great content over at FCFT. His skills with a DSLR make me want to get acquire some talent and grab a DSLR and start snapping photos. All of the photos in this post were taken by the FCFT crew.

Red wire worm = iridescent blue spot - Photo courtesy of FCFT

We are planning on getting back out on the water this weekend. We have a hot tip about some good winter fishing on the 'Root. Hopefully, it makes for some good footage as it has been too long since YGF put out a video. Damn you Holidays (Shakes Angry Fist) !!!!

Winter in Yellowstone

I visited Yellowstone National Park this weekend with some friends. On Saturday, we drove the northern road from Gardiner to Cooke City and back to Gardiner in search of some Yellowstone wildlife. We saw our fair share of elk, buffalo, pronghorn, mule deer, and a singular weasel, decked out in it's wintery white. Unfortunately, the weasel came and went before we had a chance to capture in on film.

We ran into some of the wolf watchers that frequent the park some of whom were following the slough creek pack and others following the blacktail pack. We were not able to spot any wolves through the scopes or in the binoculars, but we were assured that they were just there, over on that far slope, behind those trees, across that divide. We have seen wolves during our past trips to Yellowstone, but no luck during this trip.

On Sunday, we went snowshoeing on the upper Terrace Loop near Mammoth Hot Springs. My friend Laura is an exceptional outdoor photographer and she took some excellent shots of YNP during our visit. Check out her website, VERHAEGHE PHOTOGRAPHY. Hopefully, I can get her out to the Big Hole for a day of fishing and photos.

feeding Bull Elk

a cliff located south of Soda Butte Creek

a buffalo winter

Mammoth Hot Springs

buffalo feeding on ze grass

Bull Elk feeding

new growth

Ewe feeding

Northwest entrance to Yellowstone

snowy hillslope

south of Soda Butte Creek

Double Rainbow Trout on the Mo

Went to the Mighty Mighty Mo this weekend to fish for it's monster rainbows and browns. Stopped by Headhunters Fly Shop for some nice flies and good advice. Fished between Holter Dam and Craig. With party cloudy to mostly sunny weather in the mid- to high 30s, we were hoping to get into some midgy dry fly action. But, when 12:30 pm hit, the wind came with it and all hopes for dry fly fishing were dashed. There were some sporadic rises, but never enough to fish to risers. It was nice to see large trout feeding at the surface during these long winter months. While we didn't get into any monsters, Bucko and I caught some solid rainbows between 17 and 20 inches. I ended up with two rainbows, both around 19 inches. Bucko caught 7 trout, but he also caught two whitefish, so that hurts his overall score. I did have a shot at a 19 to 21 inch brown trout later in the day, but it's acrobatic run loosened the size 18 lightning bug out of it's mouth.

I spent all day with water up to my right thigh. I have some massive leak in my waders that I cannot find. My left leg feels left out of the water party. It can't wait until spring and summer when it will finally get a chance to feel the rush of cold water during the wet wading season.

The highlight of the trip was the wintery double we brought to the net. More than 3 feet of rainbow represented in two nice specimens. Yes, the famed Double Rainbow. In this video, I pay tribute to the double rainbow guy. If you haven't seen it yet, do it now. Then watch this (in HD on vimeo).


Double Rainbow Trout on the Mo from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.