Mayhem II - part 1

"bruiser" wrote in message
...
After a long drive (925 miles plus a little side trip to get my float
tube)

Indian Joe announces --clave was a big success as I went into West
Yellowstone and met with this interesting squaw who is trying to surrvive
in the white world. She is a self taught graphic designer wo specializes in
buffalo hide designs and aspires to move to africa where her skin color
would not be a depermint. and she could work on elephant skins--she hears
the people there are a little behi9nd in computat or design.
I was a little impressed and upon finding that she liveds alon and liked
budweiser began to have big plans....have plans to fly out that way next
month (if i can find my credit card ] and offer a joint venture [ will get
some of that stuff that keeps it hard for 24 hours]--we plan to design a
logo to go on my hummer and jet plane as soon as more of you buy stock in
PETRO CHINA and i can sell my shares.

Arrived hom from raleigh airport last evening after a two hour drive in
rain
about 2pm with note from wife confirming tennis game at 8am this
morning.. just had 2 1/2 manhattens with dinner so am going to bed tonight
now dreaming about that 20er incher i took on opening day at yellowstone
river with no audience.

After a long drive (925 miles plus a little side trip to get my float tube)
I arrived at a beautiful campground around 9 AM last Saturday. Warren had a
nice spot for me and the place was a zoo - one campsite alone looked a
little bit like Woodstock. And some moron had apparently cranked up his
chainsaw and dropped a 40 footer before I got there. The campground cleared
out quickly after the weekend and it was only half full the rest of the
time. ROFF campers dominated. Our campsites were exceptionally clean and
the camp host got to know us all quickly by first name. We were across the
road from a nice section of the Madison between the lakes. As I pulled up
and said my hellos, a wide eyed Willi said "good fishing Bruce - big dry
flies." Sounds like fun.

Met Mike Makela, Mark Tinsky, Harry Mason, and Brian Nelson for the first
time. Excellent guys and each one an awesome fly fisherman.

Speaking of awesome, one night Willi and I were trying to catch some risers
at the big pool near the campground. The fish really start rising about
nine and Jeff and I had fished it without too much success the night before,
kind of walking through and seeing the risers for the first time. Willi was
getting hookups, and I was getting some takers, but neither of us had landed
one on a dry. When I admitted defeat and gave up, Jeff M came walking up in
street clothes, ie he didn't want to get wet again. I handed him my rod and
he caught one of those fish on the third cast or so! Since my feet were
already wet I took the poor thing off the hook for him and Willi took the
photo (I think).

Seems like I spent the first day on the Madison and it can be a big
mystifying river at times. Maybe caught 4-5 fish all day and made maybe a
zillion casts. Oh yeah, we fished the West fork of the Madison and I caught
one really nice fish and a few small ones.

Day two caught about the same. We floated the Madison in Warren's boat and
Brian Nelson's raft. Brian is a great guy and a real pro. He really *is* a
pro since he's a Montana outfitter. I rowed the boat quite a ways down the
Madison and I think Warren only had to check his pants two or three times
(g). He let me row under a low bridge with narrow openings. We made it
fine but in retrospect I should have had him do it with so much gear at
risk. For those of you that haven't been there, the Madison flows about
fifty mph (g). It was a thrill for me.

The Finn dominated the float day with a couple of big fish on stonefly
nymphs (?) He was smiling pretty big all week.

Monday RW and I fished the Gallatin just outside the park and in another
spot just upstream of Big Sky. We caught some fish. By the way, channel 11
is the official ROFF channel on those annoying radios - which are tailor
made for a clave. RW radioed me in the Gallatin and told me that a
horseback group was coming by and he caught a fish when they passed.
Amazingly I did too, right on cue, and they all stopped and watched. I
wonder if any of them could tell it was a whitefish (g).

Tuesday it was Mike M, RW, Willi, and I in a nearby river. Willi was
returning to a place where he and IJ had slayed them a day or two earlier.
Willi delivered. We laughed, we cried, we hiked, we waded, and we caught a
bunch of brown trout. The fishing was good even in water that had been
touched by the other three 20 minutes earlier. Willi actually struck too
hard on a fish I spotted and gave him the fly. Wonders never cease. It's a
pretty small stream and the locals like it so that's why it's nameless.

The guys were all a blast to hang out with and Indian Joe is the clave MVP.

We're all friends with Harry Mason now also. He is as nice as his flies are
awesome. If you buy flies you should give www.troutflies.com a try. I have
always been amazed at the quality and prices.

Wednesday - Rattlesnake Lake - everyone caught fish except me and RW caught
three. Man was I ****ed. At the very end I broke off a damsel on 3X as I
was working my way back to the bank. John caught a nice big silver rainbow.

Thursday - Yellowstone river opening day. Crowded, fun. The buffalo swam
right into the run I was fishing and toward me. I left. I caught two
pretty big yellowstone cutts (who has those pictures?) Several among us did
much better. We went back and fished the Madison below Quake Lake that
evening and did pretty well.

Friday - Madison. RW, I hate to tell you but we all had a great day. I
walked to the west, downstream side of the same bridge and just got on fire
and so did everyone else, pretty much. When the fish are eating pheasant
tails I have a chance (G).

Friday night smiles all around. Great campfire. Said goodbye to everyone
and got up at 5 AM folded up the tent and drove home. Honked at Danl in
Salt Lake City. Danl, you caught up to me because I drove by one of my
childhood homes in Idaho Falls. Sorry if my horn scared you! Fished the
Animas for 2 hours on my way home. The drive wasn't as bad as I thought it
would be.

I know that I have forgotten a bunch.

Thanks again Warren. I had a great time.

bruce h

The Finn dominated the float day with a couple of big fish on stonefly
nymphs (?) He was smiling pretty big all week.

Sounds like a typical week for Mike, the basitd!

The Finn dominated the float day with a couple of big fish on stonefly
nymphs (?) He was smiling pretty big all week.

Sounds like a typical week for Mike, the basitd!

Great report bruiser..........I knew if anyone could do it the Finn could
............WTG Mike........Next year i hope


Handyman Mike
Standing in a river waving a stick

Great report bruiser..........I knew if anyone could do it the Finn could
............WTG Mike........Next year i hope


Handyman Mike
Standing in a river waving a stick

One of the many things that I forgot to mention is that Danl now has a
"pool" on the Madison named for him. It was Friday afternoon and we thought
that he just might ditch the fly and rod and catch them bare handed! Fly
fishing was too easy for him at that point. A pool on the Madison is any
water deeper than 20" and moving slower than 30 mph (g).

Charlie Choc lent me his wader pants for the Yellowstone when I ignored
Warren's advice and rode into the park planning to wet wade. Bad move.
CC's pants were tall enough to be chest waders on me though and if I'd have
had a pair of suspenders I could have waded across!

The mayflies in the Yellowstone were being called Green Drakes and they were
nice looking bugs. I'd scoop them from the surface and they would
immediately fly away. Danl pointed out that it was probably an illegal act
in the park.

The Madison is a productive bug factory with lots of good fish. I think the
fish mostly wanted golden stones, flav mayflies, and caddis late in the day.
Way over my head but fun to watch. The Madison is a lot of work to fish
unless you're staying at Slide Inn and there are 150 large, difficult fish
that you can see from your bathtub! Don't try fishing there if you ain't
staying there either! (g)

bruce h

One of the many things that I forgot to mention is that Danl now has a
"pool" on the Madison named for him. It was Friday afternoon and we thought
that he just might ditch the fly and rod and catch them bare handed! Fly
fishing was too easy for him at that point. A pool on the Madison is any
water deeper than 20" and moving slower than 30 mph (g).

Charlie Choc lent me his wader pants for the Yellowstone when I ignored
Warren's advice and rode into the park planning to wet wade. Bad move.
CC's pants were tall enough to be chest waders on me though and if I'd have
had a pair of suspenders I could have waded across!

The mayflies in the Yellowstone were being called Green Drakes and they were
nice looking bugs. I'd scoop them from the surface and they would
immediately fly away. Danl pointed out that it was probably an illegal act
in the park.

The Madison is a productive bug factory with lots of good fish. I think the
fish mostly wanted golden stones, flav mayflies, and caddis late in the day.
Way over my head but fun to watch. The Madison is a lot of work to fish
unless you're staying at Slide Inn and there are 150 large, difficult fish
that you can see from your bathtub! Don't try fishing there if you ain't
staying there either! (g)

bruce h

"Joe McIntosh" wrote in

I went into West
Yellowstone and met with this interesting squaw who is trying to
surrvive

RW and I saw Emmylou H hitchiking out of West Yellowstone one afternoon. We
were headed the other direction and figured she'd get a ride pretty quickly,
faster than we could turn around :-)

bruce h

"bruiser" wrote...
"Joe McIntosh" wrote:

I went into West
Yellowstone and met with this interesting squaw who is trying to
surrvive

RW and I saw Emmylou H hitchiking out of West Yellowstone one afternoon. We
were headed the other direction and figured she'd get a ride pretty quickly,
faster than we could turn around :-)

It's a good thing wayno wasn't driving - you'd both be suffering from whiplash.
--
TL,
Tim
http://css.sbcma.com/timj