FREE Pat Green Concert @ YVL

Yellowstone Valley Lodge, Paradise Valley Grill and Montana Fly Fishing Guides are happy to announce that Pat Green will be playing at Yellowstone Valley Lodge Saturday, July 31st.  Did we mention he’ll be playing for FREE !

Gates will open at 6:00 PM and music will start around 7:00 PM

To hear some of Pat Green’s music stop by his website at www.PatGreen.com.

We will get you more details in the next couple weeks so stay tuned!

2010 Grasshopper Infestation

We thought we’d re-post this article again as it’s gotten a lot of attention from all those anglers looking forward to their late July and August fishing trips.  So here it is again…

Original Post from May:
Great news for those planning your Montana fly fishing trip for late July and August.  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just reported that this summer is in for a severe grasshopper infestation.  Charles Brown of the USDA stated that based on recent federal surveys many western states, including Montana, may see the most severe hopper outbreaks in the last 30 years.  See image.

The Yellowstone River runs through some of the prime ranch land in Montana near Paradise Valley and toward the eastern plains.  The ranch land bordering the river are mostly hay fields where hoppers can grow prolifically in both size and numbers.  A perfect August hopper fishing day would include temperatures in the 80’s, a 10 to 15 mph downstream breeze and a sunny day.  The heat gets those hoppers moving and the breeze knocks them into the water, where trout eagerly wait for their afternoon meal.  Some of the best hopper fishing on the Yellowstone River occurs east of Livingston where the bigger Rainbow and Brown trout reside.

So while ranchers and farmers prepare for the massive infestation, fly fishers should rejoice and make sure to tie up some Chaos Hoppers and Chubby Chernobyl’s.  There’s only one catch you have to be in Montana this summer to fully appreciate it!

Mother’s Day Caddis Update 04/27/10

Happy Mother’s Day Caddis hatch!  We hope you can get out and fish it today, because some nasty weather is rolling our way.  Highs over the next few days will continue to drop while the chance of rain will increase through Friday.

Not to worry the fishing will still be very good as we have a great March Brown and Baetis hatch that will be prolific with the cloud cover.

In the video fishing report you’ll see that the caddis hatch really just started yesterday.  While the number of bugs on the water are not epic they are starting.  Farther downstream near the 89 bridge the hatch was much heavier and we expect to see more of that today.

Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted!

Montana Fly Fishing Guides – Headed to the Keys

Well it’s time for Eric Adams and his Dad to head down to the Florida Keys for a few days. Florida has been hit hard by the cool weather this spring so we’ll see what happens – at the very least we’ll have a great time looking for Bonefish and Tarpon with Captain Ted Christie and Captain Perry Coleman.

We’ll be able to keep you updated via the Mobile so stay tuned!

Casting Accuracy Part II – Common Mistakes & Solutions

This is part of a series about Improving your Casting Accuracy – Part I can be found here.

In this post on casting accuracy we want to eliminate some obvious errors in technique that we see on a daily basis.  If you can fix any of these issues your casting will improve in a single day!

Problem #1 – Breaking your wrist
This is a loop and distance killer.  Remember casting the fly line is all about controlling the line in the air.  So having good loop control starts with not bending/braking your wrist – especially on the back cast.
Solution – if you just can’t seem to fix this is to stick the butt of your rod in your long sleeved shirt.  Try it and you’ll be amazed!

Problem #2 – Bringing the rod back too far on your back cast
Again that’s another loop killer.  Many of our fishing guests come from parts of the country where a windy day is 15 mph.  Well, welcome to the West where that’s pretty much our normal breeze.  Hence the 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock technique taught by many does not work in a stiff wind.  I tell all my beginner anglers that if you can’t see your rod hand in you peripheral vision you are going too far back.  If you must think of it like a clock face then 9:30 to 12:30 would be a better example.
Solution – have someone stand behind you for a few minutes and physically stop your hand if it goes too far back. You can also watch your cast, stopping your hand before it goes too far back.

Problem #3 – Trying to cast too far
This is where all anglers eventually breakdown.  Fortunately, this is easily solved.  It’s as simple as moving closer.  If you can move closer to a trout do it.  Casting 35+ feet for a trout is only for specific scenarios, the closer you can get (without spooking the trout) the better your accuracy will be.  To get distance and accuracy is all about having good technique and practicing at it.
Easy Solution – stop casting too far and move closer!  Remember a 30 foot cast is only about three times as long as your nine foot rod.

Problem #4 – Not practicing or practicing incorrectly
Solution – As we’ll continue to harp on, practice in your yard, driveway or local park after walking the dog.
Better Solution – Move to Montana where you can fish about 9 months a year.  We promise you’ll be an expert caster in just one year. 

Problem #5 – arises from the aforementioned ‘solution’ – you get fired from your job, have no money, your girlfriend/wife dumps you, you end up working in a fly shop for pennies and have no time to go fishing.
Solution – just come fishing with us for a few more days a year.

Yellowstone River fishing report 03/04/2010

Wow! What a beautiful couple of days we’ve had in the past few days.  When it’s warm this time of year AND the wind doesn’t blow upwards of 15 mph that’s a great day to go fishing around Livingston, Montana.

There’s not a whole lot of insect activity right now, but there are some midges in the afternoon, a few random baetis, and every once in a while you see those tiny black stone flies crawling long the snowy banks.

Regardless, of the insect activity the water is a balmy 39 degrees and flowing at 1,160 cfs so a small pheasant tail (sz 16-20) and a zebra midge dropper (sz 16-20) is a good nymph rig.  You won’t have to go too deep as the water is low, plus you’ll want to concentrate on the inside riffle corners, side channels and tail outs of the pools.  We’ve also been picking up a few nice Rainbows on white streamers dragged slowly off the banks.