Yellowstone Fly Fishing Episode 2: The Firehole River
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2021
- Fly Fishing in Yellowstone National Park on a river know worldwide, the Firehole. Fishing the Fountain Flats section for wild rainbow and brown trout in an area popular for viewing one of the park's large bison herds.
#yellowstone #flyfishing #firehole #Wyoming #remoteflyfishing
Thanks for this, I might be heading there soon. Glad to see you know your bugs.
Love your videos!! I am however curious about the fact that though you cast with your right hand, all your fly reels seem to be set up for right hand retrieve as well. Isn’t that more difficult when landing the fish? Just wondering was all. 😇
Thanks! You’re the second person to ask this in literally the past month. I had to think about it. My first fly reels were left hand retrieve. It felt uncoordinated to reel with my left hand. I’m right handed. That’s the only reason I can think of.
Okay, I think I better understand you now. I’m also right handed, but unconventionally when shooting pocket billiards I hold the thick end of the pool cue with my left hand (like a lefty because that’s what seems comfortable for me). And because I’m not playing on the pro circuit or moonlighting as a pool hustler, I doubt anyone notices this shortcoming of mine. But if like myself you cast with your right hand (and just think of your fly reel as something which simply “holds your line” as you strip the line in with you’d left and worry about getting it back on the reel after landing the fish), I think you’ll find this can save you a lot of time (and hassle). 😇
Very cool video, enjoyed it. Hopefully I’ll get to fish those rivers someday
Thanks, I had a great time. You should plan to get there! I have videos I am editing for several of the other rivers inside and outside the park. And in one of them I will land my first Yellowstone Cutthrout Trout. I would have caught more had I not had the wits scared out of me when a large Otter stuck her head up 15 ' in front of me to check me out. She was then joined by two, normal size, otters (young adults) and headed up river --- I got it all on film, even though I tying on a fly and not paying attention.
Beautiful video, thank you
Glad you enjoyed it
Nice video!
Glad you enjoyed it - I have a few more to post - fishing and exploring in Yellowstone and outside the park in Idaho and Montana.
I have a Hardy Perfect in what looks to be the same size as yours tl (3 3/8) Looks like you are using a cane rod there - what is it? That should balance out nicely - the perfects are heavier than the corresponding reels in the lightweight series.
I really like the Hardy Perfects (ball bearings!). I'm fishing a (3 1/8) as the rod is a 4 wt. I'm a big fan of bamboo rods. I'm fishing a Payne 204L (8 1/2 ft), which weighs 4.2 oz. The reel weighs 5.6 oz so it is a bit out of balance, but not that I notice. I am thinking about getting a large arbor reel to avoid the tighter loops in the leader and see if there is a noticeable benefit.
@@RemoteFlyFishing Thanks for this. That Payne is certainly a classic, and ideal for those smaller Yellowstone rivers - I wouldn't want to have to wrestle a 5 pound brown in strong current in the Madison with that one.
The only can rod I still own is a 7 1/2 foot 5/6 Sharpe's Scotty. These nice impregnated rods were affordable in Canada back when I bought this one, especially in comparison to the high end American rods like the Leonards, Paynes and Winstons. I have settled on Sage 4 piece graphite rods for now, and have a battery of these that included 5, 7, 8 & 10 weight rods in various models. I still have a lovely homebuilt 8 foot 4/5 that I built on a Winston graphite blank, bought from the Winston shop years ago in San Francisco, before they moved operations to Montana. This is still my go-to rod for close-in dry fly work, since it has a very delicate action and is easy on tippets.
I have passed on most of my Hardy reels (and my 2-piece rods) to my son. That includes an LRH lightweight with two spare spools, a Princess with a spare spool and a Marquis 10 with two spare spools. These have been ,replaced them with quality American-made large arbor reels that are less prone to coiling your fly line and leader. They also have superior drag systems and better anodizing - the finish on the older Hardy cages will suffer if you do not keep them cleaned and treated with a good spray-on automotive wax.
I did keep my 3 3/8 inch Perfect though - l love the ball bearings and the agate line guide. However the weight of the thing overbalances smaller graphite rods, so I keep it spooled up with 8-weight shooting heads for deeper and faster water. Oh, and I kept my Princess Multiplier too - this one is spooled up with 7-weight lines, and is still a personal favourite for situations where you need to recover slack line in a hurry.
Thanks again for posting these videos - I haven't fished the Yellowstone area for years, but it remains my favourite trout water.
The videos are really nice I just don't understand why you fish downstream so much I never fish downstream unless I can't fish upstream, but I love the chilled vibes.
Thank you! I really don't have a preference. It depends on the river. For example, in this video, early in the morning I didn't want my shadow to give me away as the water in the Firehole is very clear, something I noticed when I first started fishing at this bridge (the walking, bicycle bridge). But after crossing the bridge I saw the signs warning people to stay off that side heading upstream due to underground thermal activity. My plan was then to head down stream as there is a cold water stream entering the river, but then the bison moved in and took away that option. Another thing you might notice is how effective casting and swinging soft hackles are on the Firehole in the first video I published in this series, catching several fish. In the third video of the series, fishing the Gibbon River, I fish this entirely upstream until my camera batteries expired, which was unfortunate as I caught 6 or 7 trout walking back down stream in the middle of the river and casting to runs on either side. And, here’s one of the best reasons folks cast downstream at places like Henry’s Fork in Harriman State Park, as these large trout are extremely difficult to catch and casting over them will put them down …. So you do what makes the most sense and take advice from people you run into while fishing the river.
Is that a Winston rod? What length and weight?
Thanks for asking. I wish I had a Winston rod. The one Winston bamboo rod I’ve cast was a gem. Smooth in how it feels like everything is in unison - you see where you want the fly to land and it just lands there. I am fishing my favorite 4 wt rod, an 8 ½ foot Payne 401L, which weighs 4.2 oz. I brought 3 rods with me on this trip depending on rivers I planned to fish and the size of the trout I might encounter. I fished the Payne on the Firehole and Gibbon. I fished a Jenkins 8035 on the Madison, and it performed very well against a few large rainbows. And finally, on Henry’s Fork, I fished a rod built for me by Fred Kretchman based on a Payne 102 taper
@@RemoteFlyFishing I live in a different part of the country. I have some wooden rods I use on my youtube channel. Google Bill Emshoff youtube
Did park service have a cover policy ?
Not to my knowledge. They have rules regarding a distance you need to maintain from animals - wolves and bears - 100 yards, bison and elk, twenty five yards. If you search on TH-cam you will find videos of what happens when people get too close. I had an opportunity to film a wolf after fishing Soda Butte, but by the time I broke out my camera with large zoom lens, the wolf had vanished into the sage brush --- and when I panned to the right there was this guy who had been trying to sneak up on the wolf to get a closer picture. So I filmed him.
"Gibbon" not "Given".
it looks like heavily overfished waters.
It is, especially on opening day as all these other rivers in the area are running high due to snow runoff. The trout also average on the small side and as the water heats up many head to the smaller and colder feeder streams where I suspect the larger ones fall prey to predators That said, it is an amazing and unique river to fish, and in a number of areas plenty of time to watch out for and avoid bison and bears - with nearby access to your car or people on the walking/bicycle path - especially when fishing alone.
@@RemoteFlyFishing wild animals are not funny for sure
Update! Those Buffalo are FAST!! At Firmilab, they also a heard of fenced in Buffalo 🦬, and on the fence is a sign which reads, “If you run across this field, you had better be able to do it in 9.9 seconds, because the bull can do it in TEN”! 😇
That's funny. Some friends and I were partying at a local dairy farm, when we were young and stupid, when one guy climbs over a fence to take a shortcut. Ah, not a good idea, that's where they keep the bull.
Yeah, those Bison are MUCH FASTER than they may seem at first glance. Be careful out there. 😇