Zen Leecher is set, well almost set, to start his Yellowstone pilgrimage this Thursday night.

He found out he has a serious flyfishing habit when it came to the quantities of rods and fly boxes he packed in preparation for the trip.

I only have 6 rods going along and 3 of them are 5 weights and about 15 or so fly boxes just incase I need some rarely used fly pattern variant.

Just can't get it into my mind that I can only fish one rod at a time, and a humpy, adams or EHC should attract strikes.

Well... the "pilgrimage" starts Thursday night and a report will follow after the following week. Hopefully the report will list "fish caught".

MicroBrew,

Since you have successfully garnered the Chopaka merit badge you should consider the running waters of Yellowstone.

If you outfish me I will gladly share my purple robe with you... size 46 long if you remember.

You probably won't rise to this transparent baiting as you are more wary than T M.

Oh wise one. Any trip to the Yellowstone would be to simply sit and watch the master. I would even be willing to fish with yarn only, sans hook, just to make sure the master retained his purple robe.
I will be offering my own sacrifice on your behalf. (It's actually a hemlock out back that we wanted to get rid of anyway.)

You might see if there are any reports on the St. Joe. I heard it fished real well last year about the first week in August on dries.

Chopaka was a kick. I heard that chronies also worked well. I just needed a master to teach the fine points in color & presentation.

Have a safe trip my friend.

I had some good info on the the north fork of the CDA last year but wasn't able to take advantage of it.

Chronies..??? I think technique is more important than a particular pattern. You've fished chronies under indicators and I think you've done good on them. Were you in a bellyboat or a regular boat that was anchored? I might have some "tips" if you were in a bellyboat.

On Yellowstone... the "master" doesn't have the same level of results in running water as he does in lakes. Don't know why that is, but it's a definite fact. Then again the only running water I fish lately are Rocky Ford, Yakima and the Metolius. RF and the Metolius are classed as tough water, but for some reason I do the best on RF of all 3.

Yellowstone fishing might be different as I'm targetting smaller streams like the ones I used to fish in PA and the ones I fish in our Cascades.

Keep some time free in September as I'll be going back to my "secret lake" when the water cools down. Should be leech time then.

Were you able to get a good camping spot at Chopaka? It's always fun to visit that lake.

Thank you for your kind words of offering a sacrifice.

Just for a twist I say you use a trout as a fly
Then try to get some bears to bite

Have a good trip

Master - I have both a belly boat and a pontoon boat, and an anchor. Used the anchor to cast those damsels against the reeds. I used the pontoon on this trip. Always interested in any tips that are thrown my way. I haven't fished chronies very deep yet, but understand it works very well on lakes like Cady.
I would target the smaller streams. I did well in Wyoming on one trip in a small stream that you could cross in four long steps. Picked up cuts to 14". I tend to prefer moving water as opposed to lakes but you have to wait until the levels drop for safe wading.
September will be wide open! I'd like to make any trip with you this fall.
Finally, we had the best spot on the lake. There is one spot at the north end of the camping area under a big ponderosa pine. That was all ours. Most of the people were down at the south end area where the site are closer together. We didn't have anybody else down at our end.
Let us know about your Montana trip.