Green River

I've had quite a bit going on lately and I'm playing catch-up here as far as getting videos and blogs finished.  Here we go.

I fished the Green the other day with guide friends Dave Smith and Ben Brennan and was not disappointed.  Late fall fishing on the Green can be utterly insane it's so good, or it can leave you scratching your head.  The day we had was leaning more towards the former.  We had perfect weather, got multiple, healthy fish over 21-22 inches and simply put, just killed it.  It was yet another great, enjoyable day fishing with buddies and it didn't hurt that Ben got the biggest 'bow I've seen come out of a river (possibly ever) at the ramp.

I'll let the pic's do the rest of the talking.

We even ran into some nice Kokanee Salmon.

Now that's teamwork.

Biiiiiig freakin' bow.

SF Upper

I had to give the South Fork upper stretch one more go before the weather turns over in Swan Valley for awhile.  I planned to fish with my buddy Owen Jones and while making some breakfast, Scott Smith buzzes in trying to fish with us too.  It worked out perfectly and being that we now had a full boat crew, we made tracks toward Palisades dam.

The weather was great in the morning with the sun just starting to peek through and the temperature approaching upper 40's.  Streamer fishing was productive early with buggers and hairy, leechy looking flies and 

the Baetis hatch in the afternoon also produced some nice fish.  

I haven't had a chance to fish with my boy, Owen much this summer, so it was gonna be a good day anyway just fishing with friends; little did I know ol OJ was planning on freakin 'em all the way to the boat ramp.  Juice box got this bruiser Cutty in a riffle on an olive streamer and it turned out to be one of the bigger Cutthroat he's ever caught!  Congrats Owen on your hoss, nice work! 

OJ, freakin' em.

Also, Juice deserves accolades for maintaining composure with a big fish, even with two guides with cameras yelling at him the whole time...

Fishing Alcova

Recently headed down to Alcova to camp and fish with my friends Neil and his Dad, Greg, and Bill Durdel.  Fishing was decent the first day, but with gusts up to 45mph, we couldn't help but take a step back and just throw in the towel in the afternoon; which really only meant we hung out, shot guns and sipped bourbon....into the night.

The next day's forecast looked much more promising and the fishing turned out to be great as well.  Cloudy morning, low breeze and hungry fish made for a great day and although we never landed the boss we were looking for, we crushed it.  Streamer fishing was absurd.

Snowy Snake

Just enlarge this.

Called up my buddy Dave Smith the other morning to try and fit in an afternoon of fishing below Jackson Lake Dam.  Fishing was not quite as good as last time but it was still a great afternoon and with the Snake leveled off at something like 200 CFS out of the dam, the river is stable and totally set at winter flows.  Streamers are still great but the big fish weren't quite as aggressive this time.


Speaking of winter.....it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, while we did our own bike shuttle.



















Speaking of dinner......

Henry's Fork Trip

A few weeks ago I took an epic Henry's Fork trip with some good buddies and one very special friend visiting, Evan Schwanfelder.  Schwanny's a pal I used to work with in the fly shop and has since moved back to the NE where he is largely considered one of the greatest fisherman/singer-songwriter/pimp to ever be in the game.

This freaking monster ate a hairy, olive bugger in the canyon.

I had parlayed a SF canyon trip (video on that coming later...) on Friday into an all weekend Henry's bash with some of my old fly shop friends including Jeff Currier, Granny, Josh Gallivan, Neil Chamberlain, Kyle Somers and, of course, Schwanny.  After having an absolutely killer day on the South Fork with big Pat Harrington and Dave Smith, I parted ways and headed up to Last Chance to meet up with my boys.  The beer flowed, well, like wine and we partied all night at the Trout Hunter until they gave us the boot.

Party at the Trout Hunter

We fished the Ranch section all the following day after an amazing Trout Hunter breakfast.  The fishing on the Ranch is always a challenge and this day was no different, but for a situation I rarely find my self in...too many insects.  The Baetis at one point were so thick I couldn't find my fly or even detect a strike to save my life.  It was incredible.  Such a dense hatch and so many fish rising was really a sight to see.  We all eventually caught some nice fish and returned to the Trout Hunter for round two that evening.

The next morning Neil and I parted ways from the group and headed south to float the lower Henry's for a couple of days.  Sunday on the lower was some of the best streamer fishing I've ever had.  Neil blasted the Sirius radio and we caught up on all of our NFL games whilst we laid waste to burly browns and enjoyed cigars on stream.  It was a great day.

Neil's really colorful brown.

After much debate and confusion, we finally found a bar (the only bar) in Ashton and sat down to watch the Sunday night game.  If you ever find yourself in Ashton, ID and are thirsty, Ott's Place is it, literally.  We met some great people that night and I will definitely be back for a re-visit.

Another nice brown on the Henry's.

The next day proved to be another great one; nice fish and plenty of strikes in the afternoon after a fairly slow morning so I couldn't complain.  We fished hard and caught some bruisers until the sun was nearing the horizon and then finally headed back home.

This was an awesome trip with some great friends and yet again reinstates my passion for fall fishing, not even just because the fishing is so on, but because it's great to fish with a group that is all out of work, enjoying the offseason, with a hankering to cut loose and get out on the river.

America.

I'm always amazed by the vastness of this part of the world and love the country and the people that make it their home.

More to come soon!

New Tetons on the Fly Edit

The new edit is done.  After two great days fishing in August with Bruce and Bruce Jr. I've finally it all put together.  I had a great time fishing with you both and I hope you enjoy!  See you soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J13JoiRQ8lM&feature=plcp

(Make sure to view in HD)

Stay posted for more videos to come.

Peace.

Fall Fishing the Snake

This Fall's fishing so far has simply been amazing.  Everywhere I go, leaves are changing, brown trout are plentiful, and the autumn sun hangs low and provides a spectacular backdrop to this, my absolute favorite season of the year.

Recently on a groggy morning after a late-late Brew-pub Oktoberfest, I got a call from my guide buddy Dave Smith to hit up the Snake River dam for an afternoon float.  Without hesitation I got my gear together, rubbed the hangover out of my eyes, and met dave after remembering where the hell I had left my car and wallet.....

The fishing was great.  Browns were hot and jumped. A lot.  That was all that mattered.

Dave ended up hooking a nice lake trout and I couldn't help but notice that the ol' boy was the perfect size for filleting.  Took that mac home and made some awesome fish tacos that night.  

Great day.

I just returned from an epic South Fork and Henrys Fork camping trip so stay posted for that in the future!

Fall Stoneflies

Still plenty of stones to go around.

Fall is here

Its been awhile since my last post due to September being just slammed and fishing staying spectacular here, in Jackson.  The days seem to fly by at the beginning of fall here and being on the river everyday with great people makes them go even faster. 

Lewis with a nice cutty.  Good work this One Fly, man!!

The Jackson Hole One Fly Tournament was a huge success and ran on September 8-9.  Given Only one fly per day, teams compete over the weekend to catch big trout on the Snake and South Fork with the guide serving dual purpose as judge.  Congrats to one of my great clients, Lewis Lee for winning 3rd place individual angler high score!!!  
As always, the One Fly was fun and intense and I can't wait for next years!

Post One Fly is always incredibly busy here and this year was no different.  September is usually simply fantastic fishing due to the flows maintaing around 2200 CFS, the cooler mornings and different weather patterns of fall, and the shots at big fish.  If you can set the hook on a weary, subtle cutthroat trout strike this time of year, you're typically going to be rewarded with a nice, fat, fall cutty.  

I've had some really great days this summer/early fall on the river with clients and friends alike and to be perfectly honest, although I love my own, personal autumn fishing, I always get a little bummed as it all winds down.  With a couple guide days left and a few more possible trips, the season isn't quite over yet and there are plenty of great days left to be had.

The view of the Tetons in the fall can't be beat 

Flows at this point have dropped to about 300CFS at the dam and the river is now low and set for winter.  Fishing is still great, although sometimes a little slow, and the fall weather is stunning.  Please call or email if you have any questions or would like to book a trip.

Here are some pictures from the fishing as of late.

Stay posted for some client videos as well as a new Seasons edit coming out soon!!

peace.

Had another great day this week fishing with Mike on Deadman's to Moose.  We got an early start and were quickly rewarded with tons of action all throughout the morning.  The cloud cover really brought the fish up to dries and provided an nice departure from the intense sun and afternoon heat we've been accustomed to lately.

Thanks for coming out Mike and I hope to see you soon!

Snake River Fishing

I've had some great days fishing the Snake lately.  This season has been a superb one so far and I've been super busy fishing with clients.  As of late, the big fish have (finally) been more plentiful, accepting of flies and rewarding good drag-free drifts.  All over the river, log jams are fishing well and side channels and riffles are also holding nicer fish.  Chernobyls, smaller ants and terrestrials are all turning fish along with smaller flies like PMDs, caddis and of course, Adams.  After a slow start, the Snake is really starting to fish to its potential and I've been very fortunate to have some great folks in the boat.   

Today I fished with Dick and Darcy up in the park and was very impressed with the quality of dry fly action we had.  Tricos provided a near blanket hatch in the morning and early afternoon and fish feed on surface flies hard almost all day.  After many nice fish came undone early on, we started to get in the groove and Darcy ended up racking up the numbers.  We boated many nice cutthroat between 9-14" with an occasional 16+ giving us the slip.  

This nice, surprise brown was landed while fishing to a pod of voracious cuttys with a simple trico.
I had a great day fishing ya'll and I hope to see you soon!

The Snake is fantastic fishing right now!  Book soon as we are really getting busy on the river and stay posted for a South Fork report.

Crazy Evening Flats Fishing

Just got back a few days ago from my most recent trip down to Charleston.  I'm leaving to head back to Jackson in a matter of days so I when Kenny called me late Friday night to get in one last day or two of redfish fishing, I didn't think twice (it didn't hurt that ol' Kenny's Berfday was Sunday and we partied hard, happy berf sooooooooooon!).

I left NC early on Saturday morning and got to Chuck-town around 1 and headed straight out onto the water with Kinnison and his older brother Robert.  The tide was shaping up to be best for fishing around 5ish so we had plenty of time to slam beers on the boat.  This time around we focused on the waters of Kiawa Island and the many flats surrounding that area.  After doing some exploration in a creek adjacent to a $ Kiawa Golf course we headed to a productive flat.  As the water flowed in we all hopped out of the boat and waded to what looked like great water.  Kinnison's buddy Trent was in another boat within sight of us and was posted up on a decent flat as well.  After seeing one fish tailing and not having much of a shot at him I could hear Trent in the distance hooked up with a nice red.  Bastard.  As it turned out, the tide wasn't quite as big as predicted, not nearly enough water ever made it into our flat and the fishing suffered.  Luck was not on our side, but  thats how it goes sometimes; we barged up with Trent and hung out until we had to head back.


The next day we fished the afternoon/evening tide again and I have to say, it's great to finally be able to fish these "gentlemen's tides."  Most of the best tides I've fished typically involve hungover, bleary-eyed skiff rides out to the flats so it's refreshing to get out for an afternoon trip now that the tides are later.

The decision was made to hit up the Wando again as some of the flats in that area can retain tide water for quite some time.  We motored straight to a familiar creek, anchored the skiff and hopped out to wade the vast system of relatively hard bottom grass flats.  After waiting for for the tide to bring in enough water, the fish tails started popping up.  While the first part of the tide proved to be challenging, with reds feeding skittishly and infrequently almost like they knew we were close by, fishing had to get hot soon.  Kenny had some decent shots but no takers and soon we realized that our best option was to explore and find more productive water.


We searched the expansive flats for awhile and finally settled on a great looking flat perfectly located beside a deep feeder creek that would hopefully allow fish to stay in the area feeding longer due to the convenient entry and exit point.  We couldn't have chosen better, and sure enough, while other flats had receding water and fleeing fish, our spot had plenty of water and happy fish all over.  The tails started wagging and the fish started foraging hard.  


The fishing got crazy good really fast.  The shots we had at some fish were simply stupid.  I had fish tailing happily two rod lengths away at times.  On one occasion I was stripping leader to keep up with the red chasing my fly; needless to say, the hookset was not the best handshake I've ever had.  All told, I ended up hooking three reds in a matter of one hour and Kinnison landed a nice redfish just as we started losing the light.


As the day turned to evening, the sunset brought a fiery glow to the flat and per usual, the fishing instantly turned off just as abruptly as it had started.  Stay posted for the video edit from this trip and the many others that I had so far this season down in Charleston; It should be done soon.


This marked the best evening of redfishing I've ever had and was one of the most fun trips I've had down in the SC flats.  I won't be able to return until the fall as I'm now preparing for the loooong trip back out west.  Fishing has been great in Jackson and I look forward to getting back to some familiar waters and fishing with clients.  This season should stack up to be an epic one!  If you haven't already booked with myself or Jack Dennis Flyfishing Trips you can reach me at weldonjones@gmail.com or give Bruce a call at 307-690-0910.





I'll be west soon.

Chuck-town

A few weeks ago I went back down to Charleston to visit my fishing buddy, ol' Kenny.  He used to live in Jackson and has since relocated to SC.  He's got a skiff and has acquired quite a bit of know-how when it comes to catching redfish.  Catching reds DIY can be frustrating without much local info so wrapping your head around the tides and knowing the best flats are things I leave up to him.

This trip we choose to fish some flats close to Mt. Pleasant, just off the Wando.  Fishing just off the higher traffic Wando River seems un-productive until you get to some of the flats on the first part of a flood tide; the flats literally come alive with tailing redfish.  Standing on the bow just watching the water enter the flat and the exact moment when all of a sudden redfish start to feed is a sight for some eyes that haven't seen tails in quite awhile.

The fish were happy for the most part.  We must have seen 20 damn reds and had legit shots  at maybe 4 of those fish.  Kenny got a nice one that wasn't tailing in dense grass like many of the others.  There were so many fishing tailing that at one point I was casting to about 3 fish at once.  Unfortunately for me, they weren't as receptive and it was hard to present a fly in the dense growth.  After some pretty tough days on the flats just seeing all those fish made for a great morning.

After fishing to happy reds for about 45 minutes solid, all of a sudden, the tails disappeared.  The tide was finally going back out and our window was closing.  The flats we were finding productive were perfectly situated beside deep water creeks being feed by Wando water and must have served as a nice exit once that water began to recede.

Such a sick day to finally see some super active reds!!

Oh yeah, the tide was so big the day before that we came back to the ramp to find it gone, and Kinnison's car muffler deep in water.  The Ex-ploder's seen better days.

Memories of Montana