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Coffee at the wonderful Cappy’s again this year. No Jim Danskin this morning so we head over to Arrick’s ( http://www.arricks.com )for advice and local consultation. The overcast clouds are all around us, it is cool but not cold. Suggestions from Arrick’s include fishing between the lakes on the Madison River, Hegben Lake gulpers by the Madison Arm are just getting started – usually best from 7 am for tricos and from 9:30 am for callebaetis. Also on the Madison River, one can go toward Cliff & Wade Lake access and move upstream with stimulators and a dropper. Slough Creek and Gardiner River just OK; Yellowstone Lake good for callebaetis from shore first thing in the morning then the fish move out from shore. Also could look at the Gallatin in the Park above Taylor Forks (which is putting some silt in the river).

We decide to check out the Madison Arm (although it is getting pretty late in the morning – like closer to noon?) and head to the Madison Arm Resort. MS/GK rent a motor boat for 2 hours (14 foot Lund) and head west across the Lake. AB/JR/AM fish by resort on a point unsuccessfully (although AM caught a 3inch fish on a size 14 bead head grayish hares ear nymph). The shore fishers headed back down the road to where the Madison River entered the Arm and explored fishing in the River along the bank. Water looked great and AB and JR both raised larger trout. The fish went for the PT dropper. Good water to come back to particularly when the browns are running.

MS/GK return from the boating extravaganza without fish. Guy in office was surly in separate incidents to both AB and MS. He seemed grumpy and generally unpleasant. This was not a place we would recommend to folks to visit based upon our experiences with the operators.

We headed downstream to fish the Madison between Quake Lake and Hegben Lake. Fascinating place with still signs of the flooding damage done to cabins as a result of the 1959 earthquake which killed 28 people. AB hooked the biggest (and maybe the mostest fish) with a 18 inch trout and a mess of white fish. Water looked great and we did have some company even though it was mid-week. 

Off to dinner in West Yellowstone (a 30 minute drive) at the famous Mountain Mike’s! JR had the usual keystone chicken fried steak – not as high in his estimation as the one’s last year – JR only rates this years chicken fried steak as 3 beaks out of 4. Returning to the Madison River that evening, we fished at Raynolds Pass access just below Quake Lake. Very scenic although it was very crowded by the access area. We walked in probably a mile and a half to get away from folks. Carrying the headlamps was crucial since we were not even starting our evening adventures until after 8:30 pm. In this section, the water is very fast, very riffly. One needs to break it into very small sections and fish those as if they were the only water that mattered. As the light declined to that post-sunset, dusk gray, the fishing really started to pick up for some fast action particularly for those using a size 14 Pheasant Tail dropper. Serendipities had been recommended but all I had were size 18’s which were not producing – maybe too small. A 9+ foot leader with a big black stonefly (3X at that point) about 6 ½ feet down followed by 2 ½ to 3 feet of 3X tippet leading to a size 14 PT seemed to be the recipe for success on this evening. With the bigger tippets, one had a chance to control hooked fish when they reached faster currents. Off the water sometime after 10:30, we packed up and headed back to West Yellowstone.

Headed over for breakfast at Cappy’s coffee shop in the Yellowstone Book Peddlar shop. Still had the good French Roast coffee. Met up with Jim Danskin again (oldest licensed guide in Montana!). Also chatted with a couple of his buddies including guides Doug Pope of Blue Ribbon Flies and Rick Willey of Madison River Outfitters. With glowing references from Jim D., you can be sure that these are two guides are in the top class of the whole area! Reports from these folks indicated that fishing opportunities were around the Gallatin River above Taylor Creek (afternoon fishing), South Fork of the Madison with Hoppers, Lamar River in the NE corner of the Park was just starting to clear, and the mainstem Madison was probably fishing best of all the waters in the region.

We headed out to try the South Fork of Madison just outside of town. Saw lots of moose sign in a very moosey looking region. The water head great sinuosity with holding waters in the corners due to deeper pools. Stream was very wadeable in the riffle sections. Greg was able to find a section where the water was higher than the top of the hip boots! After carefully draining the boots, he continued fishing in the blue sky conditions we found. GK and AB found some small brookies, AM found a large pod of whitefish and was able to hook a 15+ incher but overall we found no resident browns or bows. Looked like great water in the fall when the browns would come back up streams to spawn.

Since we were so "close", we took the opportunity to head over for the afternoon to Yellowstone Lake with the intention of hitting the Madison down below Quake Lake again in the evening. Boy, were we surprised to find it took us almost 2 hours to get over to the Fishing Bridge part of the lake. The wind was blowing strong so casting was very hard and all of the water close by shore was pretty whipped by the waves to be silty! The wind was blowing from northwardly this afternoon for reference. JR was able to call his office and execute some financial transactions during this time; you really don’t have to be disconnected from the rest of your life out here – you just may want to be free of it!! We headed back to West Yellowstone and using the CB radios, we evaluated our fishing trip destinations for this year. The following table summarizes our discussions that afternoon:

Nearing the end of the trip, we are rating the fishing experience overall on this trip as follows:

Andy 4

JR 5

Greg 3

Mike 4

Al 4

Arriving back West Yellowstone, we tried dinner at the Old Town Café as a change of pace. While change can be good and exciting, this dinner experience was less than stellar. We don’t plan to return. Our team tried the huge T-bone steaks and chicken fried steak (2 beaks only). After dinner, AM went over to Arrick’s to chat with Matt Klara who would be an outstanding fishing guide for AM and son Peter in the second half of the 2001 expedition.

Headed out about 6:30 p.m. to fish the Madison River just below Quake Lake at Raynold’s Pass access. Hiked down river about 1 ½ miles to get clean water. MS, JR, GK all hooked a few but no real turn-on of the fish as had happened the previous night. Fished hard but hatches didn’t happen. Not sure what was different this night from the previous night but these things happen. Got back to West Yellowstone about 11 pm and then crashed for the night.

Up in the early morning and over to Cappy’s for coffee. The rest of the team packed up Andy’s rig and left at about 9 am heading to Spokane to drop off MS and then to Seattle to conclude this year’s adventure! Unlike previous years, AM gets to live out a dream and stay behind in West Yellowstone this time!! Leaving about 10:00 am, AM drives to Bozeman Airport to pick-up his son Peter who will join him for the following week of additional vacation in Yellowstone! That will be subject of a future chapter of the 2001 adventures.