West Fork Of the Madison and Hebgen Lake Boating…

The family heads down to the West Fork area of the Madison River to fish the water just South of West Fork Cabin Camp, where Michael and I stayed in 2017. This is all riffle water with very few exposed boulders…

West Fork area on the Madison River…

Breakfast round of go-fish with Cairo…

Cairo…ready for a busy day…

These are a few of the streamer patterns I packed for this section of the Madison River…three Articulated and one Cone Head…

The view from the bridge at West Fork on the Madison River…

It was bit windy when we arrived…

Aimee, Diane and Cairo…dressed for wind…

Looking North…Up the 80 mile riffle…

Looking South…

Michael out in the middle…

Cairo lending suggestions, advise and pro tips…

Michael retrieving a streamer…

Using my Scott Centric 10′, 6wt. fly rod and Nautilus CCF X2 Reel…

The “old guy” geared up  with new Simms G4Z Sockingfoot waders ( they are the bomb)…especially when one has an Ostomy…

The only boulder in the river within miles…

Michael with a nice Brown Trout…

These are the rods and reels Ally, Nick and I used here…(L-R) Scott Centric 10′, 6wt., Scott A2 10′, 6wt. and Winston BIIIX Super 10, 5wt. 

My driver, heading back to the Madison Angler’s House…

 

Aimee wanted the entire family to spend the afternoon boating on Hebgen Lake. We took snacks and beverages to explore parts of the lake I had never seen in all of my trips up to that particular area…Cairo had a blast…

The Marina at Hebgen Lake, MT…

There were small Trout rising to Callibaetis emergers all over the place in here…

Zooming Hebgen Lake…

Snacking in a cove away from the wind…

There are lots of sheltered spots to pull into…

Cairo and Michael…

Cairo in the groove in the front of the boat, He was jumping up and down while Michael held on to his life vest strap. Probably the most fun of the entire trip…

After our boating adventure, we all headed to West Yellowstone and the pilgrimage to Blue Ribbon Flies…

Ally at the shop…

A view towards the rear of the shop…fly bins on the right…

…and towards the front of the shop…

Hair bin…I am not going to mince words. The quality of this onetime Fly Fishing Mecca has gone down the tubes since Craig Matthews is no longer involved. I am sorry to say that now, it’s just another run of the mill fly shop in West Yellowstone…

I did, however, pick up a few things…

TR’s Burgers in West Yellowstone for dinner, next to BRF and Michael rated as excellent Bison Burgers…

Michael photobombing Aimee…

…for the tourists…

Cairo’s crash landing at TR’s Burgers…

 

NEXT: Last Day in Montana….The Bridge and Moo’s 40th. celebration

 

 

PT/TB

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Belated Trip…Bishop, CA Fall 2022

This is the trip I took with Michael, Ally, Nick and HERO up to Bishop, CA in the Eastern Sierra over Veteran’s Day Weekend , November 2022. Friday was overcast and cold. Saturday was perfect and sunny. Sunday an arctic blast froze all of us off fishing and the Lower Owens River….

Upon arrival, a visit to Mahogany Smoked Meats for for some sandwiches and goodies to take up to Intake II…as we drove up the mountain, the snow began to appear on both sides of the road. We did not expect this so early in November. A preview of the record Winter of 2022-2023…

A frozen intake II above Bishop…

It was very cold…

We stayed long enough to eat and then headed down the mountain  to fish the canal East of Bishop…

One can see the Eastside of Bishop from the canal…it holds Trout and Bass year round…

Michael rigging up to fish a nymph…

Michael works a nymph while HERO and Ally watch from across the canal…

Looking South on the canal…

Some other folks appeared while HERO and Ally keep a watchful eye on everyone. No one was catching any fish with fly or spinning gear…

HERO and Ally switched sides…

Looks like productive water but nope…the water temperature was 43 degrees…

The guys moved over to the Lower Owens river…

Michael working hard for a Trout…

Sure is a pretty sunset…

Indeed…

Michael and Nick had a Jones for some Mexican food so we went to this joint and sat outside where it was freezing and the overhead heaters were of no avail…

Ally laughing at me while she enjoys a margarita…

Michael and Ally deciding on what to order…

Mmmmm…this was gooooood…I had to sit in the car to warm up while those guys finished desert…

The next morning ( Saturday ) we headed out for the Lower Owns below Pleasant Valley Res.

Our first stop was at this gate … there were tow other vehicles parked there. It had been awhile since I have visited the Lower Owens. Back in the day, one could driver up to the river’s edge, but too many fires caused by morons who don’t follow simple DWP rules, ended all of that easy access…

We started here:

The flows were just about perfect ( 150cfs.)…

Nice view of the Sierra while rigging up…

Michael is ready to catch a Trout using a small Baetis nymph pattern…Later, this pattern was very productive…

Barker’s Baetis…

These are some of the bugs present, in the bio-mass, at that time…

Michael brings a little Brown to hand…

Some dark water where I would toss a small streamer in the past…

Michael nymphing result…

My “Green Stick” in the tules…

Nick scores with his (Ahem) spinning gear…

Michael looking for a rise on the far bank while HERO watches…

PT, Ally and HERO with a great backdrop…

Ally and Nick trying an upriver bend….

Michael with another resident…

…and another…

…nice water and view…

HERO intently waiting for Michael to catch a Trout…

The gang in the meadow…Michael, PT, Ally, Nick and HERO…this was my last fly fishing outing with HERO…

This is where used leader material goes. It does not speak well for CA fishermen…

Sunset …

Whiskey Creek in Bishop for a Caesar Salad…

…and a really good steak…

I have been a customer at Eastside Sports in Bishop since Michael got his first boots here…

I always find something I can use…

 

NEXT:I will think of something…

 

 

PT/TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WADE LAKE, BETWEEN THE LAKES and BACK TO THE BRIDGE…

Saturday morning, September 23 was cold and overcast. Michael and I decided to take a drive over to Wade Lake  West of $3.00 Bridge. He had spent a warm July day there with Aimee a couple of years back and wanted me to check it out since I had never been there…

Heading towards $3.00 Bridge …

Further West on the road to Wade Lake…

Getting out to stretch and look around…

Wade Lake is down there…

There are some real trophy fish in this as well as nearby Cliff Lake but we didn’t come to fish and were the only people there on this day…

Nope, nothing rising…

A dock for launching watercraft…

It was a little frosty across the lake…

Heading back out towards $3.00 Bridge…

Big sky in Montana…

Look South on the Madison River from &3.00 Bridge…

A close up view upriver, on the Madison…

Quake Lake on the way to the Madison River between the lakes…looks like we may get some sunshine…

A pull off point between the lakes…

The Madison between Hebgen and Quake Lakes…yay sunshine !!!

The Madison towards Quake Lake…

A perched Osprey who was fishing the same water as we were…

The Osprey was checking out this stretch of river and could care less about out presence…

Another perspective…

Michael works a streamer…

While I roam around and take some additional photos…

The tree without the Osprey…he was fishing...:-)

Two “Old Loners” on the Madison…

More water that Michael worked his streamer through…Here…

…and Here…

So Michael catches a Whitefish…

…and gets his left arm soaking wet in the process…

We pack up and head back downriver to $3.oo Bridge…

…and see this fellow where all the scree and talus is located in the photo above…

Arriving back a the starting point above $3.00 Bridge in the late afternoon…

Michael wants to give my Winston BIIIX Super 10′, 5wt. a workout…

Going for it…

Well now…a skinny Rainbow…

My turn…

Then this guy…

On a #20 Shop Vac…the thread version on the left…

From this spot…

Throwin’ some shade on that guy…

$3.00 Bridge at sunset…

Looking West at sunset…

Last guys in the parking lot…as usual…

End of a good day !!!

 

NEXT: Last day on the Madison…

 

 

PT/TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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