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I've found that fish start to stir when the water hits 40 usually around mid march in a normal year unlike this one.

She deserves an xtra special mom's day.

This video reminded me of one I saw many years ago perhaps taken in Yellowstone of a grizzly attack on a full grown male elk. The elk charged forward as the bear grabbed onto its massive antlers pushing the bear backwards for some distance down a shallow stream.Once the elk could no longer maintain the charge the bear was able with his great strength to twist the elk's neck enuf to cause it to fall defenseless onto its side.Awesome.

Thanks Capt A & Eric for the info.This occurred just upstream of the Park.

I enjoyed Dan B's talk.His reference to Gaddabout Gaddis The Flying Fisherman brought back nice memories of when I was young & just starting to flyfish. He had a tv show in which he used his small plane to fly around the country mostly to bassbug for lmb with his 8wt Shakespeare Wonderod.So the "flying fisherman" reference had a dubl meaning.

It all depends on how much it rains.If not much the rivers should be able to absorb the snowmelt well.

You beat me to it. B)

We should have a few ISA sign up forms on hand as there might be 3 young guys I spoke to yesterday at the Tinley show who'll be coming to join.

That's.strange.Using striped sunflower exclusively good #s of cardinals along with a few juncos,chickadees,& the occasional bluejay & red breasted woody continue at my feeder at times thruout the day especially early & late.My neighbor uses a variety of seeds & gets mostly sparrows.

I can work Tinley 9-noon on Sunday.Btw it's a good idea to get there a little early as based on my experience last year it could take awhile to find the booth at this sprawling single story high school.

Without some non environmentally destructive magic bullet answer to the world's energy demands things can only get worse as the world's population not only increases but also makes greater energy demands on a per capita basis as well.Energy conservation can help to slow the process;but absent the magic bullet only a halt in population growth can stop it.Don't hold your breath for either happening

I used to chastise Norm for not including pix in his fishing reports.I won't anymore.

The St Croix Imperial was rated the best rod in the $200 range in one of Yellowstone's recent shootouts.It's made in Wisconsin & will feel lighter than a comparable TFO which tend to be heavy in hand.I imagine that's the reason TFO doesn't include rod weight info in any catalogs. I have an 8'9" TFO 3wt which while being a nice rod overall is actually slightly heavier than my 9' 6wt Orvis Access.

Breakfasting cardinals.

Channel 11 did an unbelievable story yesterday about a cupl of guys one in his 30s the other over 50 who regularly swim in Lake M thruout the year regardless of water or air temps.Swimming often as temps start to drop in Fall acclimates their bodies to the slowly decreasing water temps as winter approaches.These guys were shown swimming out to slush ice about 250 yards from shore and diving under it before swimming back to shore where they hurriedly dressed saying they could remain reasonably warm for no more than 5 minutes after getting out of the water in frigid air. It was reported that one of the guys actually went for a swim in yesterday's sub zero temps! The only things they wear other than swimtrunks are neoprene booties & skullcap. This story along with another I saw recently about the severe hardships including death borne by climbers on Mt Everest makes you appreciate the extremes man can accomplish.It also makes me feel like a woos for complaining about my hands getting cold quickly as I've aged.

Nice shot of one of those huge Milwaukee R. browns being held by Tim A on the cover of the latest Orvis catalog.

Eric I'm disappointed in you.You've caught enuf big bass to know that fish is closer to 20.08.

It's been good to witness the ever increasing " darkside" membership to the ISA over the years since I joined back in its early days.

The Winston B111-SX which was the only rod in the test considered "terrible" won the 2012 international fly tackle dealer best of show award.I guess you can draw your own conclusions.

Mike Thanks for this very interesting post.Surprising how poorly Winston did.One thing I've always found that consistently separates less expensive rods from premium priced rods is their swing weight.

Another is the ongoing eradication of cutthroats in the lake due to predation by illegally introduced lake trout some years ago.Since the river flows thru the lake I imagine the river's cutthroat population has suffered too.

There's a steep winding path down to the river that might've given them canoe access to the canyon if they were in good enuf physical condition.

The Firehole is an enigma typifying the enigma of the Park itself. It was once regarded as the best dryfly trout stream in the country before what I believe was an earthquake that caused boiling hot water from the surrounding hot springs for which the river is named to enter the river making the fishing marginal until Fall when big browns come into it from the Madison which is formed by the confluence of the Firehole & Gibbon Rs.I once took an amazing pic of a flyfisherman wading within a few yards of a herd of bison crossing the river. in the near background there's a steaming hot spring pouring into the river and further back an erupting geyser.

I was under the(mistaken?) impression that a few years ago the club had determined that we would not have anymore organized outtings on small more vulnerable rivers like the Dupe. I think that's a good policy there being both larger and longer rivers,K3, Fox,Kish, Vermillion available for the outtings.

Better still plan a trip to see & fish it & some of the many other rivers in & around Yellowstone Park which is unlike any other place on earth.The fishing will provide a nice change of pace from the endless pursuit of just smallies as well as making you a more well rounded fisherman. The best month to go is September for the weather & lack of crowds.