Fall Scenes - Allegheny National Forest

Early snowfall at Pig's Ear

The other Spring Creek near Hallton

Head shot. Not one ounce of wasted meat.

Pop and his acorn fatted doe, one day shy of his 87th birthday.

Small World

The Chief stopped in the Ultimate Angler in Erie at lunch to get the scoop on the tribs and who in the hell was at the counter describing raccoon skinnin methods....Bunyan!

RatherBFishin with the Girls

Spending a day on the stream with my beautiful girls on a beautiful, crisp Fall day is just dandy. Just like the Old Man said to the Boy, "We're rich."

The apple does not fall far from the tree.

My girls.

The Fair Maiden with the catch of the day.

Snapper Fishing

Seems like things have been a bit slow with the RBF staff. All we hear about is trout trout and more trout (especially by Wade Rivers). So I loaded up the truck and pointed it south. After 1,000 miles I decided I better stop or I’d be swimming in the gulf. We booked a trip with the Bluewater Bandit, fired up the twin 250’s and headed out for some big grouper.
After a short ride off shore of 45 miles it was time to look for the big guys. My nephew Erik started off with a big one that he couldn’t budge, so he decided to practice some long line releasing (he didn’t want to bring it up from a mere 225 feet down).
I then had to explain were not fishing for trout and this is strictly a catch and filet trip.
Action proved slow for the big grouper but the Red Snapper fishing was hot and heavy. We landed many 20+ pounders, only to release them to return to the depths (closed season).

Action was steady for the next few hours, and then things got real interesting. I had a nice fish hooked when everyone started to yell I better real quicker that a dolphin (flipper) just turned and was headed my way. Little did I know that a 4 hundred pound dolphin hits like a runaway freight train. For a brief (felt like forever) time I was battling this brute for my grouper. Finally the battle ended and I was fishless, never fearing I asked the mate for another dead smelly fish. I proceeded to drop to the bottom and repeated the process. Only this time the dolphin left go after a short battle. Once again it was a red snapper and had to be released, only to never make it back to the depths. We watched as 3 dolphins surrounded it, then in a flash one darted in and the snapper was no more. We finished the trip by boating 7 nice grouper, one shark and dozens of red snapper and a couple cases of beer.

How it All Started

They damn near ran out of rental cars in Bozeman because Obama was in town for an organized nationalized healthcare propaganda event. Obama was then to visit Old Faithful, of all places. Now the Chief knows why he was subjected to a rectal search at the University Park Airport. Then the damn questions…“Those stickers on your luggage…what’s that RBF stand for? You some kinda right wing domestic terrorist freako?” “No sir!” the Chief responded, “Soc un gran pescador!”

National Car upgraded the Chief into a brand new Chevy Suburban with leather seats, sonar back up alarm, XM satellite radio, power sun roof and an in dash expresso coffee maker. Well, not really, but it might as well had a coffee maker, it had everything else. The Chief applied the famous RBF Sticker to the rear window, dropped the back seats and loaded up six cases of Montana beer, six pounds of turkey pastrami, mustard, sweet onions and Kaiser rolls, four 14 oz. Montana rib eyes, two Montana T-bones, a sack of potatoes, a bottle of Jack Daniels, twenty four cans of assorted sardines, smoked oysters and anchovies, six bags of fig newtons and a can of Slim Fast Shake Mix to hold him for six days in Yellowstone. Then it was off to Livingston, MT to pick up his bear spray at the Yellowstone Exhibitions B&B.

Before fishing the Gardner River, the Chief first stopped at the K Bar Saloon in Gardiner, MT for pizza and beer. You don’t come to Montana for the pizza, but if you do, only eat it at the K Bar in Gardiner, Miners Saloon in Cooke City or Chico Hot Springs in Pray. After the pizza, the Chief went and bitched at Richard Parks for the actions of one of his guides a few years back when the young cowboy tried to evict the Chief from an ungodly hole on the Gardner River. The Chief just don’t tolerate rude behavior in a man or punk kid in this case. Parks somewhat apologized then tried to sell the Chief his book on the YNP. The Chief gave Richard an autographed copy of “Caddis and a Beadhead”.

The Gardner River has some ungodly remarkable features. Travertine ledges, mudslides, geothermal heated bathing pools and huge boulders. The Boiling River flows into the Gardner near the 45th Parallel forming an ungodly natural hot tub of sorts. The Chief had thoughts about bathing here but decided to wait until he got to Chico next week. Seems the hippie chicks frequent the Boiling River. The refined chicks favor Chico.

The beautiful Gardner River

Mudslide

Now that's just incredible!

One of the most ungodly places on Earth ...Yes, there are elk in the background.

After a long hike, the Chief found out that the mudslide of 2008 somewhat filled in that ungodly hole on the Gardner and found it devoid of the big browns, so the Chief started to fish his way back up to the footbridge with some RBF Rubber Legged Bugs. He was glad that he packed his 8 ½’ 3/4 wt for the trip. The rod was perfect for cutting through the gale force winds. Even with his sweet Streamborn in hand, the Chief managed only six trout in a couple of hours in the somewhat arduous conditions. It felt like November in PA.

After the long climb out of the canyon, the Chief adjusted the Suburban’s super climate controlled heating and ventilation system to thaw him out. The Chief stopped at the Food Farm for two bags of Oreo Cookies and a gallon of low fat chocolate milk for the long ride across YNP on his way to Cooke City, MT. There was elk shit on the sidewalk in front of the Food Farm. The cookies were gone before he got to Tower. It sure was good to see the Lamar Valley again. Little did he know that the fishing was to be ungodly.

The Lamar Valley

Paradise Valley Rainbow

Soda Butte Creek - August 19, 2009

The "Cone"

On this day, the Chief experienced his finest day fishing ever. Well, while not fishing with the Fair Maiden. Never in his forty-five years of fly fishing had the Chief experienced such a day on the water. This section of the creek had changed quite a bit from last year. Despite the summer rains, the water was noticeably lower.

Words alone cannot describe the beauty of Soda Butte Creek (2008)

The Chief arrived at the Lamar Stock Trail parking lot around 10:00 AM. There was a bunch of flatlanders in the parking lot preparing to get saddle sores up in the Lamar Valley. The Chief took time to explain the virtues of American Mammoth Jackstock to the wranglers saddling up their draft cross horses. These types of horses, with their wide backs, will stretch most riders to the point of misery. Jackstock, with their ergonomically shaped backs allow for much more pleasant riding. They were impressed with the Chief’s rather unusual knowledge of equines.

The Chief in 2008 enjoying the beautiful Soda Butte Creek

It was a déjà vu all over again for the Chief when he reached into his beer cooler. Seems that he was here just last year drinking beer. The Chief downed two Moose Drools to prevent dehydration. Moose Drool is far and away the best-selling beer brewed in Montana. It is chocolate brown in color with a creamy texture. A malty beer with just enough hop presence to keep it from being too sweet. They went down easy. The Chief then filled his gel-cooled hydration bladder with three Scape Goats in preparation for the day’s fishing. This English-style pale ale is very smooth, refreshing and well-balanced. A perfect ale to enjoy while fishing! This soon became the Chief’s favorite brew while fishing YNP. He also packed a water bottle in case he ran out of beer.

The Chief hydrating with a fine Montana Ale.

From high atop the water, the Chief could see that the trout were already rising. They were rising continuously. There were spinners in the air, #14 olive brown spinners...Small Western Green Drakes, Drunella flavilinea, or Flavs are quite numerous in the Lamar Valley and can provide excellent fishing. Flav spinners typically fall in the evening, but possibly due to the damn near gale force winds the past several evenings, they decided to fall this morning. Today was calm, partly cloudy and a delightfully balmy 48 degrees.

Small Western Green Drake

The Chief tied on one of his famous RBF Gum Wrappers in an olive, #14 variety with three strands of BRF Zelon for wings. Those hungry Yellowstone Cutthroats that were off the feed for three days began to take the RBF #14 Olive Gum Wrapper with reckless abandon. The Chief has no idea how many fish he caught, but remembers that he had to use three RBF Gum Wrappers due to excessive fish damage. He now has to work on the durability factor of his deadly spinner pattern. I suppose the Chief landed about 20 cutthroats during this one-hour spinner fall, not moving more than 100 feet.

The rises subsided. The Chief took a break and ate two cans of sardines with hot green chilies and watched the flatlanders cross the creek. Having good success previously with a Chernobyl Ant on the Lamar River during mid-day, the Chief decided to walk the banks and cast this ungodly contraption into the depressions and at the water edges. The Chief caught 18 cutthroats before stopping at the footbridge. It was time for a late lunch.

"Rollin', rollin', rollin'...man is my ass swollen"

The Deadly Black & Tan Chernobyl Ant

While the Chief was enjoying some turkey pastrami sandwiches, the fish began rising again. They were on a feeding frenzy again! They were taking something just below the surface. The Chief got out his RBF mosquito net and slipped it over his ungodly Frabil landing net and captured several Flav duns! Oh, the excitement! An evening hatch appearing at 2:00 PM! He quickly knotted on a RBF #14 Olive Sparkle Dun. This magnificent mayfly emerged for a solid two hours and the Chief was into it again! The pace was feverish! Damn near one fish every other drift!

The Chief believes that he caught this fish four times!

The most remarkable thing about this emergence was that the Chief never saw one dun make it into the air! He has never seen anything like it! Those hungry trout were so proficient in sucking in those emerging duns that none survived! Again, the Chief could not tabulate the number of fish landed. He just knows that 99.9999% of the fish hooked were landed except for the bruiser that shot directly downstream in a shallow riffle. The smart trout pulled a tricky maneuver and swam free.

The hatch subsided, the sun came out and winds started to blow. The bison forded the creek. It was now time for some Scape Goat and a fly change. The Chief tied on his one-legged Chaos Hopper that took a dozen trout earlier in the week.

One of many that took the Chaos Hopper

It was back to leisurely fishing, slapping the Chaos into likely lies. Sixteen more trout were caught. The sun started to set and the Chief made his way back downstream. Trout were again feeding below a shallow, shelf riffle. Baetis spinners! A tippet change and the Chief was back into business catching seven beautiful cutthroats on a tiny RBF #18 Rusty Spinner.

The Chief wasn't the only angler to catch this dumb trout

The heater in the Surburban felt good on the drive back to Cooke City, MT. Some days you can catch’em and some days you can’t! The Chief will forever remember this incredible day on the beautiful Soda Butte Creek.

Sunset on Soda Butte Creek

Armstrong's Spring Creek - August 22, 2009

Armstrong's Spring Creek, Livingston, MT

The Chief could not believe that he could have had better fishing than he had in the Lamar Valley. But he did. Floating the Yellowstone River with friend Matthew Long of Long Outfitting, the Chief caught more trout than he deserved. He caught trout throughout the float using only two flies, a Club Sandwich and a Hi-Vis Brown Ant. But the best fishing came on the Chief’s last day. He decided to fish Armstrong’s Spring Creek on the O’Hair Ranch south of Livingston, MT in the beautiful Paradise Valley. He had never fished this section of the famous spring creek. He had fished the DePuy stretch several times with the Fair Maiden.

Matthew said that the spring creek bookings have decreased substantially this season due to the closing of one booking agency and the thirty percent decline in local fly shop sales and guide services this year. Matthew has not experienced this decline and is busy as ever. You would know why if you have ever fished with him.

Matthew and his father Bill prepared the Chief well for the day’s fishing. Bill provided his #22 Biot Sulphur Sparkle Dun, bits of tactical advice and suggested areas to fish. Matthew suggested the no nonsense tactic of throwing hoppers and ants.

O'Hair Ranch Horses

The Chief forgot his well stocked beer cooler back at the B&B and had to go back. He didn’t begin fishing until 10:30 AM. A very large cuttbow took the #22 Biot Sulphur Sparkle Dun on his very first cast. But he snapped it off on the hook set as he was not accustomed to using fine tippet after throwing those huge foam bugs on 4X in the Yellowstone River.

Spring Feeding Armstrong's Spring Creek

The PMD’s and the Paradise Valley Sulphurs, actually a baetis, began to hatch and the dumb trout began to show themselves. The Chief dropped a tiny RBF Pheasant Tail off of a RBF PMD Sparkle Dun and hooked numerous average sized browns and an occasional rainbow. The emergence waned and he moved up upstream to the area below the corrals. The Chief's heart started to pound when he spotted several large rainbows and hybrids cruising eating ants and hoppers.

He tied on a Hi-Vis Brown Ant and quickly hooked a very large hybrid. The dumb trout performed a tricky maneuver in the weed beds and broke off the Hi-Vis Brown Ant. The Chief continued to fish the Ant switching occasionally to a Chaos Hopper. All in all, Chief caught twelve beautiful trout before lunch on those contraptions.


Kate Long provided a delightful shore lunch including elk burgers. The Chief grilled the burgers and just sat and took in the scenery while drinking numerous fine Montana Ales.

Before the Storm

After the late lunch, the Chief continued to catch fish until a mighty storm blew across the valley. He donned his L. L. Bean rain gear and Sunday Afternoons Cloudburst hat, sat and watched the storm. After the heavy rain and hail, he caught fifteen more rainbows and hybrids mostly with the Hi-Vis Brown Ant. He was getting tired after eight long days of fishing and was ready to quit when a swirling wake appeared twenty feet out. The Chief quickly cast out the Hi-Vis Brown Ant.

He hit it and the fight was on. The Chief skillfully turned on his camera and securely placed it in his wading jacket pocket. He netted the beast, estimated at just under 24 inches, after an epic battle. The beast had two Hi-Vis Brown Ants in his mouth! That’s when the Chief noticed that his camera was in the water! He skillfully retrieved the camera and released the magnificent fish but not before snatching the lost Hi-Vis Brown Ant!

It was a bitter sweet walk back to the Surburban. After thinking about that magnificent trout, the Chief set the Surburban's heater on 90 degrees and placed his camera on the defroster vent. The camera was fully operational the next evening!

It was a very good day on this very beautiful spring creek. It is not often when one can fish over trout averaging 14" with plenty of willing trout 16" - 24".

A 14 oz. Montana Rib Eye at the Stockman in Livingston and Kate's Caramel Brownies back at the B&B completed another wonderful day in Paradise Valley.

SIDE NOTES – Armstrong’s Spring Creek has larger fish than DePuy. There may be more trout in DePuy, though. The water types are more diverse on DePuy. The upkeep on DePuy is much better. Daryl mows the paths and there are plenty of benches to rest.

Sunset in the Paradise Valley, MT

Miners Saloon & Casino, Cooke City, MT

After on long day on the Lamar River, Miners Saloon & Casino was the place to be. A band from Missoula was playing Hank Williams, Jr. tunes and the Chief was devouring a 20" pizza and downing numerous fine Montana brews. The bartender was so impressed the Chief didn't need a "box" for his pizza that he honored the RBF Pro Staff on the famous beer cooler in this famous saloon.

Yellowstone National Park - August 14-19, 2009

Soda Butte Creek Cutthroat - Round Prairie

The fishing was absolutely fabulous! Snow in Cooke City, MT on August 16. It never got out of the 40's for the first few days. The gray drakes, flavs, and olives provided incredible action often for more than two hours! When the fish were not rising, a Chaos Hopper, Hi-Vis Brown Ant or X Caddis would catch more than you could imagine.

Two grizzly bears were seen; one on the Soda Butte Creek and one along the Lamar River. Trout Lake lived up to its name. All of the fly shops were reporting disturbing crowds in the Lamar Valley. It was found not to be true. Later in the week, I learned that there were four members of the Lloyd Wilson Chapter of TU fishing the Soda Butte Creek in the Round Prairie on August 19. We never crossed paths! I believe I did see Skip from a distance, though.

Down with old....

Well it’s been a busy summer at the Rossiter lodge. We are still managing to land a few trout in the outhouse beat. Although high water has limited my fishing I still manage to at least wet a streamer.

This past weekend consisted of removing the old chimney ( snake central ) and installing a new chimney.

Down with the old…

Somehow I always end up doing all the roof work.

Here’s a nice shot of the new window I installed 2 weeks ago.

With all the high water this summer I haven’t been making it to my favorite brookie streams, but hear is a shot from late June



P.S.

I’m hoping for a nice fly tying weekend at the Rossiter Lodge in November. I’ll keep everyone updated.

Hunting Trip

I wanted to throw up a quick photo of my latest conquest. We went to this remote island, where the quarry were these genetically engineered squirrels. Big bastards too. Here we are posing with our trophy. I'm the one on the right.... Pretty exciting stuff....Enjoy!

Spanish Nymphing

The Spanish Youth Fly Fishing Team introduced me to Spanish Nymphing. I introduced them to the chicas. The team taught me how to long line nymph. They laughed when they told me that the Frenchies claim that they developed this method of nymphing. Actually, it was developed by the Catalans for fishing the beautiful, crystal clear mountain streams of Catalunya.

The first chica that the Chief introduced to the boys was this tanned, long legged babe.

Notice Wade's mentor in the background

She was quite noticeable at the awards ceremony. Even the Chief took notice. “Eduard, introduce that chica to us’” pleaded Jonathan. I did. She enjoyed the Spaniards’ attention.

Jonathan, Chica and Sergi

The Frenchies, the Portuguese and couple of Americans also got into the act

Later that evening, I introduced the English and the American chica to the boys