For what it's worth, I shot this video Sunday. They were all over it again on Monday on the Gardner River in Yellowstone Park, which is now open year-round. Other park waters besides the Madison downstream from the WY/MT state line are closed for the season.
@@cyguy8577 It's less crowded for a bunch of reasons: --It doesn't turn out the consistent summer hatches of many other waters. --It's much harder to access due to rougher water and footing, and now that the road was wrecked in the flood, it's also a longer walk with vertical. --The resident fish are mostly under 15 inches (really 8-13 average in lower reaches, hand-size upstream of Osprey Falls). --It has maybe 1/25 cutts and cutt-bows rather than rainbows and browns in lower reaches and brookies in the headwaters. --Most of the lower reaches are too warm from late July through mid-September. The fall brown trout runs get pounded on, particularly in late September, but that's really the only time the lower reaches are hit hard. The headwaters are pounded by guided trips for rookies. All in all, it's generally a mid-tier water that has two huge advantages: it's open year-round now and it has geothermal inputs that keep it warm enough to fish in what was formerly the late season (October) and now will be all winter. It will be good through at least Thanksgiving, decent enough through the winter, and get good again in March and April. I also just personally don't like fishing crowded water. You could not pay me to fish Soda Butte Creek for fun, for example.
Beautiful Walter...well easy...which IS beautiful! As I really respect your ties - including rationale, hearing ya give props to ma man Charlie is awesome as he taught me mucho back in the early 90's down hear in the Boulder area. Yeah, Green Drake morsels...
Hey, cool little bug that’ll catch fish anywhere. Other than the extended butt and loop wing, it looks like a Missing Link. Thanks for sharing the pattern.
I've thought that too. I've got some ideas on how to make it look more so. Might be posting them. It's also A LOT easier to tie than a Missing Link, which is definitely to its credit. Mercer's flies work, but you can definitely tell he doesn't guide, because they get fiddily quick.
@ Agreed, the link isn’t too easy to twist. I don’t guide either, just passionate about the hobby and I have time to tie during the winter months and I’m hoping to get back out your way in a year or so, I’ve only fished the Big Horn though. There are some deer hair spun in a dubbing loop techniques I want to learn to hackle dry flies. Guys in Europe use the techniques, they don’t look particularly easy to do, but certainly make some beautiful bugs. Be well.
Nice tie. Another option here is to make a comparadun style wing with the poly/EP fibers. You can tie it in the same way (spinner wings + an upright section). Then wrap around all the clumps of fibers to get the 180 degree fan wing. Works great size 18-22 for olives and tricos.
You're basically describing an Upright (or Upbeat) Baetis. I was looking for a wing technique that would do two things: it looks more like a "squashed" bug, and the increased surface area and amount of hydrophobic yarn floats much better than the Comparadun style, which is important on the fairly rough water I'm generally fishing.
I am going to definitely try it next year with an olive-gray biot abdomen, an Adams-gray thorax, and MFC Smoke (dark gray) Widow's Web to match our Green Drakes. Most commercial patterns are too green for the Drakes of all species we have here from July through mid-September, particularly in the Lamar System. People call them "Gray Drakes," but they are actually gray-green Green Drakes. Look at my video for Dave Keltner's Soda Fountain Parachute for an idea of what I'm talking about. Charlie Craven's sample fly for his video (prior to actually tying a little brown one) is a fuzzy olive Green Drake. I'm sure that is great on greener drakes, but it looks nothing like ours.
Nice and congrats on being on your own away from Parks Fly Shop. How would you tie this in your PMD’s out there? Would you use gray body and rib with a pale Yellow?
If #18, probably light cahill thread with a light olive rib. Maybe light olive thread with a light gray rib. I would also look at using a PMD biot or a turkey round (which is not a material you see much anymore - basically a turkey fiber that looks and acts a bit like pheasant tail) and almost certainly would use the biot or round in #16.
See the reply to the similar question above. I might also go with a rusty brown Zelon (or whatever) shuck instead of a tail, since fish definitely prefer PMD emergers to duns.
For what it's worth, I shot this video Sunday. They were all over it again on Monday on the Gardner River in Yellowstone Park, which is now open year-round. Other park waters besides the Madison downstream from the WY/MT state line are closed for the season.
How do you like the Gardiner? Doesn’t seem to get the press some of the other rivers in the park get.
@@cyguy8577 It's less crowded for a bunch of reasons:
--It doesn't turn out the consistent summer hatches of many other waters.
--It's much harder to access due to rougher water and footing, and now that the road was wrecked in the flood, it's also a longer walk with vertical.
--The resident fish are mostly under 15 inches (really 8-13 average in lower reaches, hand-size upstream of Osprey Falls).
--It has maybe 1/25 cutts and cutt-bows rather than rainbows and browns in lower reaches and brookies in the headwaters.
--Most of the lower reaches are too warm from late July through mid-September.
The fall brown trout runs get pounded on, particularly in late September, but that's really the only time the lower reaches are hit hard. The headwaters are pounded by guided trips for rookies.
All in all, it's generally a mid-tier water that has two huge advantages: it's open year-round now and it has geothermal inputs that keep it warm enough to fish in what was formerly the late season (October) and now will be all winter. It will be good through at least Thanksgiving, decent enough through the winter, and get good again in March and April.
I also just personally don't like fishing crowded water. You could not pay me to fish Soda Butte Creek for fun, for example.
Beautiful Walter...well easy...which IS beautiful! As I really respect your ties - including rationale, hearing ya give props to ma man Charlie is awesome as he taught me mucho back in the early 90's down hear in the Boulder area. Yeah, Green Drake morsels...
Great looking fly. Can't wait to tie it. Thanks
Great tie and I salute your message. Our waters are shrinking.
Hey, cool little bug that’ll catch fish anywhere. Other than the extended butt and loop wing, it looks like a Missing Link. Thanks for sharing the pattern.
I've thought that too. I've got some ideas on how to make it look more so. Might be posting them.
It's also A LOT easier to tie than a Missing Link, which is definitely to its credit. Mercer's flies work, but you can definitely tell he doesn't guide, because they get fiddily quick.
@ Agreed, the link isn’t too easy to twist. I don’t guide either, just passionate about the hobby and I have time to tie during the winter months and I’m hoping to get back out your way in a year or so, I’ve only fished the Big Horn though. There are some deer hair spun in a dubbing loop techniques I want to learn to hackle dry flies. Guys in Europe use the techniques, they don’t look particularly easy to do, but certainly make some beautiful bugs. Be well.
Nice tie. Thanks for sharing.
Lookin' great!
Nice tie. Another option here is to make a comparadun style wing with the poly/EP fibers. You can tie it in the same way (spinner wings + an upright section). Then wrap around all the clumps of fibers to get the 180 degree fan wing. Works great size 18-22 for olives and tricos.
You're basically describing an Upright (or Upbeat) Baetis. I was looking for a wing technique that would do two things: it looks more like a "squashed" bug, and the increased surface area and amount of hydrophobic yarn floats much better than the Comparadun style, which is important on the fairly rough water I'm generally fishing.
Really nice tie. Thanks. I can imagine this as a Green Drake, Flav, PMD and right down to midge sizes.
I am going to definitely try it next year with an olive-gray biot abdomen, an Adams-gray thorax, and MFC Smoke (dark gray) Widow's Web to match our Green Drakes. Most commercial patterns are too green for the Drakes of all species we have here from July through mid-September, particularly in the Lamar System. People call them "Gray Drakes," but they are actually gray-green Green Drakes. Look at my video for Dave Keltner's Soda Fountain Parachute for an idea of what I'm talking about.
Charlie Craven's sample fly for his video (prior to actually tying a little brown one) is a fuzzy olive Green Drake. I'm sure that is great on greener drakes, but it looks nothing like ours.
@@YellowstoneCountryFlyFishing - Thanks for those thoughts on the drakes.
Very nice tie
Thanks Walter 🎉….. Sweetness Personified !!!!!! Will Twist a number up and into the Box !!!!!
🍁 🎣 👍🏻
Have used something very similar to this for pmd, and as you said black is hard to beat, and yes on tenkara, nice tie
Skinny Timmy is money 👍🏼! Thanks ….
Nice and congrats on being on your own away from Parks Fly Shop. How would you tie this in your PMD’s out there? Would you use gray body and rib with a pale Yellow?
If #18, probably light cahill thread with a light olive rib. Maybe light olive thread with a light gray rib. I would also look at using a PMD biot or a turkey round (which is not a material you see much anymore - basically a turkey fiber that looks and acts a bit like pheasant tail) and almost certainly would use the biot or round in #16.
Nice fly, easy to tie and I bet it catches fish…
If you were gonna do this in PMD , Would you use a gray thread under body and a yellow or pale yellow Ribbing?
See the reply to the similar question above. I might also go with a rusty brown Zelon (or whatever) shuck instead of a tail, since fish definitely prefer PMD emergers to duns.