Enhancing hunting opportunities for all hunters

An old hunting buddy told me, “you make your own hunting luck in these mountains”. The past few seasons I’ve had my share of that kind of luck.

This fall, in late October, I took my 43rd bull elk in my 43 years hunting them. In early November I lucked into a nice mule deer buck on US Forest Service land. Two years ago I had the good fortune of finally drawing a bighorn sheep tag after applying for over 40 years. My sheep hunting partner, Brandon Wynn of New Mexico, and I hunted the mountains in our hunting district for 21 days before we saw our first rams. We’d endured grizzly bears in camp, slugged through over 2 feet of snow in search of bighorns from 6,600 to over 10,000 foot elevation. Due to our ages, I'd just turned 70 and Brandon 60, we called ourselves “Team Geriatrics”.

I took a fine ram in mid-October and Brandon scored his later that month. Our rams turned out to be the best rams to come from our hunting district that season.

With the good hunting opportunities in Montana on our public lands I’ve always felt I should give back to organizations that preserve and enhance hunting opportunities for all hunters to enjoy. With that I’ve joined as a life member of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (#1291), Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and Montana Wild Sheep Foundation (#398). These organizations enhance hunters opportunities by providing life-long memories of wild, fair chase public land hunts with friends and family.

As 2021 ends please join me and give what you can to support these fine organizations that do the good work so all future generations of hunters can enjoy what we have experienced. Thank you, and I’ll see you in the woods or on the river.

Off-the-beaten-path waters of Yellowstone Country

For me August means exploring Yellowstone country’s off-the-beaten-path waters.

This last week took us to a few places we’ve not fished in many years.

Check out the photos, and a separate short video below.

This photo shows Jake with a colorful rainbow/cutthroat hybrid he took on a Thunder-thighs hopper in a small stream.

Terry shows off a brace of fine Westslope Cutthroats he took on one presentation from a lake I’d not fished in decades.

Then there’s one of me with a brown trout in a slough that grows a few huge trout few anglers fish.

The final picture is of a Fall Green Drake that emerges on some of our off the beaten path waters as well as more popular rivers and streams like Slough and Soda Butte Creeks and the Lamar River in Yellowstone Park. This year the #12 drakes are emerging a week or more earlier than “normal”. A #12-14 sparkle dun is deadly for taking fish rising to these huge mayflies during their time on the water.

The video below is of a very small stream nearby that holds a fine population of wild Yellowstone Cutthroat trout. You won’t catch any cutts over a foot in length, but they are lovely fish and come to small hopper patterns this time of the year. And, the only company you might have on the water is a moose, beaver or otter.

If we want to continue to have clean water, good aquatic insect and wild trout populations on Yellowstone country rivers like the Gallatin, Beaverhead, Missouri, Madison and Yellowstone I encourage you to support organizations like Upper Missouri Waterkeeper and Cottonwood Environmental Law Center. Both are barebones advocacy fighting the battles to keep our waters free of harmful pollutants and full of wild trout. Please join me and give what you can.

I hope to see you soon on the river. 

Observation, Approach, and Presentation

We’ve had an action-packed week in Yellowstone country. It began early Tuesday morning when our resident moose, Bullwinkle, decided to wage war on Jackie’s birdbath.

An hour later Yvon and I were on the water where he started out winning a battle with a gorgeous hooked jaw male brown trout he took on one of his famous soft hackles fishing it on his favorite bamboo rod, one the master Leon Hanson from Michigan crafted for him.

Yvon releases a nice brown trout.

The following day I had the pleasure of fishing a few hours with the new US Ambassador to Japan and his wife. Both caught fine trout on caddis patterns and promised to return soon, for a full day on the river.

New US Ambassador to Japan takes a nice Madison rainbow on X Caddis.

Most evenings Terry and I fished emerging caddis activity. You will see Terry sitting on the bank watching a big brown trout rising to emerging caddis pupae. A X Caddis Tan #16-18 and an amber Iris of the same sizes are the only caddis patterns needed for success. As with all our flies, they are easy to tie, highly visible and durable and fool lots of big trout.

Heads up! Here’s a large brown trout rising to emerging Caddis.

Today we arrived on the river early to find rising like wolves to Pink Lady mayfly spinners. I knotted on my new foam-hackle spinners and began taking several nice browns and rainbows until they abruptly quit rising. A short time later we noticed they’d moved into the soft-frog water along the shoreline and were feeding on #24 emerging midges. Adding a long pull of 6x tippet and knotting on a #24 Zelon Midge proved deadly on these rising fish, for half-hour until they quit rising.

We did not sit on the bank long before fish began feeding on emerging caddis, their explosive rises giving us the clue to switch to patterns like our Tan X and Iris Caddis, tied with sparkling-trailing shucks that imitate impaired emerging adults stuck in their shucks, and recognized by big fish as easy prey. We took several nice trout until the rise-forms changed, again. Now the large fish sipped casually, moving slowly to take PMD Duns drifting in the seams and behind boulders along the shore. A switch to #18 PMD Sparkle Duns was all that was needed to fool most sippers.

Eperorous spinners bring up big trout during morning spinner falls on Madison.

By close observation, careful approach and presentation with proper fly patterns we had a banner week of fishing Yellowstone country. I hope to see you see soon. And now, I’m heading to my fly tying table to replenish flies used this week.

YELLOWSTONE FOREVER

PMD Mayfly.

Last week we saw some good dry-fly fishing on Yellowstone Park's Firehole and Madison Rivers. Pale Morning Duns and caddis brought fish to the surface during their emergences, but we could use a cloudy/rainy day to bring on heavy emergences of the mayflies that result in some of the finest dry-fly fishing of the year.

Young moose racing us.

Yesterday morning we got into a race with a young moose that ran along side our vehicle as we headed to a native fish and bear program meeting with JD Davis of "Yellowstone Forever”. Jackie and I served on the Board of Directors of Yellowstone Forever, formerly Yellowstone Park Foundation, for many years and continue to work with them on the awesome programs they fund in the Park. Please help fund YF programs if you can by sending a few bucks their way!

A sleeper late day fishing bet is the Madison River between Quake Lake and there West Fork, 8pm to dark, when tiny midges bring big trout to the surface. #22-24 Zelon and Scotty’s Midges are the best flies to present to the rising fish. You see the photo below of Terry landing a nice rainbow on a Zelon Midge at $3 Bridge this week.

I hope to see you on the river soon!

My friend Terry with a nice Rainbow trout he took on a midge below 3$ Bridge.

Nice brown trout I took on a PMD #18 Sparkle Dun on the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park.

"It's a game of inches..."

I just returned from fishing my way to eastern Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota.

I enjoy spending time in the turkey woods and on the prairie this time of year. Pasque flowers dot the pine hills and pincushions and phlox litter the prairie floor. The sounds of male sharptail and sage grouse whopping it up on their dancing leks trying to attract females to mate with echo off nearby buttes. It’s a great way to spend some spring time in the woods and on rivers not far from our Yellowstone country home. I do this not because I find fishing or turkey hunting so terribly important, but because I suspect to many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant, and not nearly as much fun!

The turkeys cooperated by coming to our soft-quiet calling from slate, box and mouth calls. Patience was key too, we had to wait it out on a couple big birds who took as much as an hour to travel a short distance to our location.

Taking big trout required patience too, and figuring out what the fish were rising to.

BWO (Baetis) Mayflies.

Midges and Midge shucks.

By doing what the river told us and with careful observation, proper presentation, and the right fly patterns, those with trailing shucks, fish rose to imitations of tiny midge and BWO (Baetis) mayflies. Best dry fly patterns were Zelon and Scotty’s Midges and BWO Sparkle Duns, #20-22. Like my good Colorado friend, talented guide and angler Pat Dorsey says, “It’s a game of inches where everything has to come together. Fooling your opponent is the icing on the cake…”

Nice brown taken on a Zelon Midge #22

If you love Montana’s native and wild trout make sure you are a current member of Montana Trout Unlimited.

This organization is keeping our politicians and appointed officials honest at this critical time in native and wild trout management. There’s been attempts to do away with current stream restoration and native /wild trout enhancements projects within our state. Science is taking a backseat to political agenda. Montana Trout Unlimited is our watchdog. Support them now like you’ve never done before. We cannot afford to compromise what we’ve long fought for. Stay informed, write letters and comment on these proposals. Let’s continue to fight the good fight to protect-restore and enhance all the great work that has been done in the past and into the future to keep Montana’s native and wild trout programs the world’s leader in fisheries management. Support Montana Trout Unlimited today! Thank you.

Big brown taken during BWO emergence with #20 BWO Sparkle Dun.

AIMING FOR SUCCESS ON ANY TROUT STREAM

I am honored to be a part of SCHOOL OF TROUT again this year. Since its beginning instructors including myself, Tom Rosenbauer, John Juracek, Kirk Deeter, Bob White, Tim Romano, Hilary Hutchenson, Jeff Currier, Steve McFarland, Pat McCabe, Karlie Roland and Todd Tanner enjoy sharing our experience and knowledge with anglers.

School of Trout, when compared to other fly fishing schools, is noted for its focus on excellence, never being satisfied with mediocrity. Our goal is to give participants the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed on any trout stream, anywhere in the world.

Please take a minute and look at schooloftrout.com then check out what folks are saying about The School of Trout. Sporting Classics writes: “You’ll learn about dries, nymphs and streamers; about fly rods and reels; about lines, leaders and tippets, about when and how to take photos…and when it makes more sense to simply look around and smile. Ultimately, you’ll discover how to become a fly fisher, and you’ll do so under the tutelage of the world’s finest instructors.”

If this sounds intriguing then look around the website and consider signing up, or signing up a spouse or friend!

WINTER MIDGES

I am a luck fly fisherman. I live in Yellowstone Country, and I fish the waters surrounding the Park more the 150 days per year. Most fly fishers are not clued into midge fishing, which is too bad. Year in and year out, midge activity provides the area’s finest dry-fly fishing, and it happens over a longer period of time than any other insect emergence.

Perfect winter midge weather on the Madison River.

The short introduction above is part of an article I’ve written for the April-May 2021 issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine. This article discusses successful strategies for Yellowstone’s longest hatch, winter midges.

Please continue reading my article by subscribing to Fly Fisherman online (subscription link at top of page) or pick one up at your nearest fly fish shop, sporting good store, or grocery store around the country. Or if you prefer, you can download the Fly Fisherman app on your smart phone and subscribe there to receive Fly Fisherman news digitally.

Below are a few photos of fishing Yellowstone’s longest hatch. As always, thank you for your continued interest in Yellowstone Country and Fly Fishing with Craig Mathews. Hope to see you in Yellowstone country!

Sneaking on trout rising to midges.

Madison rainbow trout on Zelon Midge.

Winter midge pupae shucks.

Note shucks on emerging midges.

Spring creek rainbow taking midge pupa in drift.

Fly-tying Cripples, Stillborns & Shucks

Over 30 years ago, in the May 1990 issue of “Fly Rod and Reel”, I wrote a short article discussing the idea of imitating nymphal shucks trailing behind newly hatched, impaired mayflies, caddis and midges.

I went on to say the idea was not new, and had been discussed as early as 1931 in Col. E.W.Harding’s excellent book, “The Flyfisher and the Trout’s Point of View”.

Fly fishing friends and I were working on simple fly patterns incorporating trailing shucks. We found they were, and still are, incredibly effective on ultra-selective trout on western spring creeks and rivers.

I came upon the short piece this week and thought you’d enjoy reading a bit of history on our first fly patterns tied with shucks.

Below is the article in its original version. Hope you enjoy this read!

Forever Young

Finn mugging me with the 2 birds.

Finn, our oldest German Shorthair, is in his 13th hunting season. Two years ago he had ultra sound and cat scans that showed 2 masses on his liver. We weighed his having surgery followed by chemo but with his age we opted to allow him what we thought was his last year to be chemo free.

The last 2 years have been some of his best times in the woods and field. Another photo shows him, (the white and liver dog) with our 3 year old Gizmo locked on pointing a pair of Gambel quail in the AZ desert. I lucked out taking the double when I moved in and flushed them. See photo above of Finn mugging me with the 2 birds.

Gizmo and Finn pointing a pair of Gambel quail.

Finally a shot of all 3 of our shorthairs with a bunch of birds we took from their points. While we know the other shoe will soon fall, Finn has enjoyed the last 2 seasons in the field and so have we.

Dozer, Finn, and Gizmo.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for upcoming blogs on Yellowstone Conservation, fly fishing and more.

Man In Yellowstone

This is a photo of the two remaining wick - i - ups in Yellowstone National Park.

According to the History of Man in Yellowstone, these wick - i - ups were used about 1800 by Tukuarikas or Sheepeater Indians. Tuka means mountain sheep and Aika means eat or Sheepeater Indians. They were a small tribe of about 400 who were friendly but, timid people. The only Indians to live permanently in Yellowstone. They were the weakest of all mountain clans, they did not possess horses or firearms, their tools were of the crudest type. They were a slender, wiry people who wore furs and skins.

The Sheepeaters traveled on foot in very small groups accompanied by large dogs which were sometimes packed or used to pull travois. In the winter they lived in caves along the Gardner River, the summer season they ventured to the higher plateaus following the game. There they erected skin covered lodges or wick - i - ups as seen in the photo.

The Tukuarikas vanished from the scene as the white man invaded their refuge. They left without a contest for ownership or treaty of cession, however to see these shelter withstand the elements of time for so many years makes this beautiful area spiritual to us.

Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season and a healthy 2021.

Craig and Jackie

CLIMATE CHAOS

The evidence is in, and it is clear.

Climate change and its negative impacts will increasingly harm trout populations throughout the interior western states. It is the biggest threat facing our world today. Our food systems are increasing stressed, our lands, waters and wildlife species are threatened like never before. But it is within our power to reduce the activities that contribute to the problem. 

I hope you will tune into the link here to our Earth X TV show where Trevor, Todd and I discuss what climate change means to wild and native trout, local economies and more.

Thanks in advance, and remember to VOTE for positive leadership and action to prevent climate change and save our fisheries and wildlife, and our planet.

THE POWER OF OBSERVATION

Tippy, fishing observer and companion.

In the past many fly-fishing authors stressed the need for anglers to use their powers of observation. Vince Marinaro, Ennie Schwiebert, Datus Proper, Doug Swisher and Carl Richards, and John Juracek and I spent much of our onstream time observing trout behavior.

We wanted to determine what stage of insect trout were feeding on whether emerging nymphs, impaired-crippled duns or half-spent mayfly spinners, for instance. Several developed fly patterns accordingly, to represent the life stage of insect the fish were taking, or what big-selective trout keyed on or recognized about an insect that brought them to take it over the more numerous insects that might be present on the water. Flies like our Sparkle Dun mayfly series, Iris and X Caddis, and Improved Zelon and Scotty’s Midges are examples of some of the many ideas and resulting fly patterns we came up with observing what the river and trout were telling us.

Take a look at the photos within this post. The first is a shot of Yvon Chouinard fishing a spring creek with our fishing companion and observer Canine Tippy. Yvon and I approached this pool and without taking a minute to observe what the stream was telling us, we began pitching grasshopper patterns in likely spots within the pool. Result, not a rise. As I kneeled next to Tippy it dawned on me that she was keenly observing the pool, something certainly had her attention. At first, I thought she was merely watching Yvon casting away with no success. I sat behind her and noticed she was focused on the foam line you see in front of her. I watched closely, sure enough she was observing a fish rising subtly in the foam, its dark chin poking thru the foam for something in the drift. I bellied closer now with nose to the water and watched emerging midges drifting in the foam. Many of the emerging midges were trapped in their nymphal shucks. Two trout now were sipping only the impaired midges unable to escape the surface tension, their wings or abdomens stuck in the shucks. I twisted around to scootch back to Tippy and not disturb the risers when I my left ham tightened and cramped up forcing me to rise to my knees that put the fish down.

We moved on to other water, but I knew I’d be back and find the fish rising again. I planned to present a #22 Improved Zelon Midge. After lunch I snuck back to the pool while Tippy and Yvon worked upstream. I sat on the water and observed. Soon a nose peaked thru the foam and I knew one of the fish was back taking emerging/impaired midges by its subtle riseform. Three pinpoint accurate presentations with the fly knotted to 6x tippet and I was fast into a plump 17” rainbow trout that cartwheeled through the pool and came to net a short time later.

Rainbow sipping emerging midges.

Just this afternoon I was fishing the Madison River near $3 Bridge when a Baetis (BWO) mayfly emergence began around 3pm. Perfect conditions existed for a strong hatch of the tiny olive duns. The first rain and cool air temps we’ve had in 10 days brought on a strong emergence and big-selective trout rose to the duns. My friend and I took turns fishing to rising fish, landing several fine brown and rainbow trout while we bantered back and forth how clever we were to have the right flies, and how easy the fishing was. That was, until the fish began ignoring our #22-24 Baetis Sparkle Duns.

I laid out on rocks at the bottom of a favorite pool to once again observe, and do what the river told me to do. It didn’t long to discover emerging midges mixed in with the olive mayfly duns.

I watched as a couple midges were taken by trout that ignored the larger mayflies ten feet from my perch on the rocks. A quick switch to a #22 Improved Zelon Midge and I was back in business taking a few more selective trout before all dry fly activity ceased for the day, and what a great day it was. Again, because I took a few moments and observed, and simply did what the river and its wild trout told me to do.  

The final fish of the day was a fine brown trout, photographed next to #13 Patagonia wading boots taken just a stone’s throw above $3 Bridge. 

Observation is key in conservation work as well. Many organizations beg for gifts and donations and brag about the great work they are doing. When we observe and investigate we find some actually do very little of what they purport to accomplish, some actually whitewashing and covering up agency mistakes and outright lies.

We like the best bang for our bucks, that’s why conservation and environmental organizations we support have long histories of small payrolls and administration costs, and lots doing the strong grassroots advocacy and activism work they say they are.

A couple groups we’ve partnered with are Montana Sportsman Alliance, Conservation Hawks and Mountain Journal.  Please check them out and support them. They stand tall and advocate for those things we all love about Yellowstone country from its wild and native trout and wildlife to public lands, clean water and air.

Thanks for your support and reading this, and your comments and observations along the way.

Stay tuned for more updates and reports but keep in mind, it is fall, our most favorite time of the year. We’re fishing and hunting and enjoying our public lands before the snow-wind and cold come to Yellowstone country. With that I might be a few days longer between blog and Instagram posts, but please stay tuned and Thank You.

Why Do I Fish?

I met John Voelker, AKA Robert Traver, in the mid 1970’s. At that time he was a retired State of Michigan Supreme Court Justice, distinguished attorney and fly-fishing author. I was a Michigan policeman, soon to become the new Police Chief of West Yellowstone, Montana.

John’s books hold a place of honor in my library. Books like; “Trout Madness” and “Trout Magic”. So does his “Testament of a Fisherman”. In these crazy times it seems everything runs faster: grow your business, consume more, buy more, get the biggest-fastest computers-UTVs and ATVs so you can ride to the tops of the wildest-steepest mountains. We’re buried in information and misinformation that we devour from our cell phones and devices. I admit, I fish to get most of the taste of it out of my mouth.

John and I communicated back then thru the US Mail trading weekly fishing reports, fly patterns and criminal court news from Yellowstone. I was excited to find a couple beaver ponds in Yellowstone Park that held Labrador size brook trout, and since John always told me he wanted to catch a 4 pound brookie on a fly I invited him to come to Yellowstone for a week of fishing. I’ll never forget his letter in response, “With gasoline approaching the price of good bourbon, and because I’m afraid of flying, please send photos”. I sent John several big brook trout pictures that year. Sadly a few years later John passed away.  I had many of his letters and Christmas Cards in my collection and the best place for them, I figured, was to donate them to Montana State University Library’s Angling Collection where they are to this day.

Do me, your kids and grandkids a huge favor. If you love Yellowstone. If you enjoy the wildlife-wild places-wild and native trout PLEASE read the attached then donate whatever you can to the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. The Park and surrounding ecosystem and its wild inhabitants need our help NOW more than ever before. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kids and grandkids will thank you too.

"FUNNY HOW THE NIGHT MOVES WITH AUTUMN CLOSING IN…"

You may recall these words sung in a song by my friend Bob Seger.

Autumn is closing in here in Yellowstone Country.

Fishing friends Yvon, Terry and I had some great late summer grasshopper fishing this week.

Great late summer fishing days for Yvon.

A short video of a big fish taking a hopper is attached as are a couple photos of fish we took on hopper patterns.

But, now is the time to tie up several  #20-24 Baetis Sparkle Duns. Look for them at Umpqua Feather Merchants as well as Mathews Sparkle Duns.

With the forecasted weather change from to and sunny to cool and wet we will begin to see afternoon emergences of the tiny olive mayflies on all rivers and streams in Yellowstone Country.

Look for the olive duns to emerge best in inclement weather conditions during the afternoon hours from now into November. Big fish will feed on the duns and ignore big nymphs and streamers.

I’m working with Earth X Television and Conservation Hawks to produce a program slated for 23 September. In the the 30 minute segment we will discuss how climate will effect anglers and hunters in the future. Stay tuned here as more details to follow. I hope you can join us!

Call to Action, The Time to Act is NOW!

There are bedrock values we all share as Americans. We believe in fair play, we believe in looking out for our neighbors, we believe in liberty tempered by responsibility and we believe it is our duty as businesses owners and members of local communities to take care of the natural world and the one we’ve made, to operate in a sustainable and community building way.

Most of us believe that science should lead discussions and decisions we make about our natural world. Science warns us climate change is THE single greatest threat to native and wild fish on the planet. If we care about our fisheries, if we value our rivers, lakes and streams, and other natural resources it should be our hope, no not hope, but our obligation to pass these valuable and unimpaired resources on to our kids and grandkids.

These unimpaired natural resources are the primary economic driver of solid positive economic prosperity we as business owners see in Southwestern Montana and Yellowstone country, and around the world. Here in my home state they are the backbone of our local economies. In our sparsely populated state with just a million residents, tourists come to fish and experience native and wild trout, spending over $3 billion a year that supports nearly 40,000 jobs. Nationally, according to the US Department of Commerce outdoor recreation contributes over $650 billion a year to the US economy, over 2% of our national gross domestic product.

Over the past 30 years Yellowstone and Southwest Montana, which is known around the world as “The Trout Heart of America”, has felt the predicted impacts of global climate change: increased fire occurrence, decreased winter snowpack, higher summer air and water temperatures, lower fish numbers and retreating alpine glaciers. The journal of “Science” reports that our warming climate is the primary source of the decline in snowpack, which is our natural water storage system and the primary source of water in many regions. A healthy winter snow pack, that melts away slowly through the warm summer season, feeds our rivers, lakes and streams, allowing them to maintain cool flows throughout the warm summer months. For cold water fish species like trout, this is the safety valve that gets them through the warmest times of the year.

The stark reality is that if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the primary culprit behind climate change and warming weather and water, native and wild trout habitat in the western United States could be reduced by 50 percent-and even more in some locations. I know everyone is concerned when science tells us that every natural system that supports life on earth is in a state of decline. Some folks respond to these warnings from 99% of scientist by denying their validity, or they make excuses that we do not have the expertise or time to worry about this, or the hope that someone might figure it out or technology will save us in the nick of time.

According to the world’s leading scientists like EO Wilson, the 21st century must become the “Century of the Environment”. If our government, science and the private sector do not begin to cooperate immediately to address the issues like climate change, the earth will lose its ability to regenerate life as we know it. In other words, we are toast.

While this depresses many anglers and business owners, I find action is the cure for depression and the basis for our environmental business philosophies. One reason for being in business is to make sure our government stops ignoring our environmental crisis. Action is necessary if we are going to be doing business in the generations to come, evil wins if we sit on our couches and do nothing. We must exert our power as individuals and businesses to defeat climate change. In other words, it is up to us to save the planet.

That is why our Fly Fishing Climate Alliance has pledged to become carbon neutral in the next 10 years, by 2030. Our FFCA is an alliance of fly-fishing shops, guides and outfitters, lodges and brands who believe it is our responsibility to solve the climate crisis so we can save our planet, our businesses and native and wild fisheries. And, we will lead the way, by our example and shine the light of science to solve the climate problems. We will work to inspire others to rise to this challenge and defeat the single greatest challenge to our fisheries and ourselves, “Climate Change”. Please join us for our kids, grandkids and all future generations to come.