Working And Guiding In Yellowstone Country

A "SUNDAY TIPPETS" GUEST POST...

Today, I have a special treat for all of you!  An acquaintance of mine, Kerry Almond, has graciously accepted to write a "guest post"!   One of my favorite places to fly fish is in Yellowstone.  The beauty cannot be surpassed.  And Kerry is up close and personal with it, six months out of the year.  Originally, from Utah...he has lived and fished in Idaho and Montana and has vast knowledge of the amazing fisheries in those areas.  His story is amazing.  I am sure that you will enjoy...       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I was one of those guys that was fed up living a fast paced, stressful life as a manager for one of the largest financial companies in the world. As everyone knows, in 2008 the economy was in a  downward spiral and the company I worked for decided that they were going to pay me 40k less a year. Their “take it or leave it” attitude just didn’t set well with me and after being a loyal team player for such a long period of time, I politely told them where they could stick their job. So I decided it was time for me to go do what truly made me happy and became a Guide in Mecca.

My personal Mecca is West Yellowstone, Montana. I was very fortunate to land a job in Bud Lilly’s Trout Shop and after a couple seasons, I convinced them that I could guide. Working and living in West Yellowstone with rivers such as the Madison, Gallatin, Henry’s Fork and Yellowstone all within a stones throw makes any fly fisher anxious to wake up every morning to get out and catch fish!  What makes guiding out of West Yellowstone and Bud Lilly’s so special is the diverse clients we get in the fly shop. We get the families that have just driven through the park and saw all those fly fishermen out there catching fish and are excited to get out and try it, to the experienced fly fishers that want to go out and fish a specific hatch or technique or water that happens at any given time.

Some guides prefer to guide the more advanced fly fishermen, where you rarely have to deal with the casting lessons, the tangled lines or the endless lost flies in the bushes.  I however, actually enjoy getting out and teaching the families and kids the sport we all have grown to love. There is nothing more exciting to me as taking a family, father and son or just a person that has never fly fished out onto a river and teaching them how easy fly fishing really is and how exciting it can be to learn about hatches, feeding lanes and fish. My satisfaction comes from watching all the pieces come together and the clients start catching fish and the endless smiles and excitement on their faces.

I was in the shop one day last season and watched 2 guys rolling into town on Harley’s in full riding leathers and park across the street ( in a no parking zone) and I thought, “Man, I hope a cop comes by” and went on with my work. As luck would have it. the guys came into the shop looking for a guided trip and guess who was up on the list…..me.  I met them at the shop the next morning and got them all set up with waders and rods and we headed for the Madison River. These guys were both from Canada and were on a road trip all the way down the Rockies. They had never fly fished, but thought it looked “cool” and wanted to try it. After a quick lesson we waded out into the river and within a few casts the fish started to cooperate and the smiles, laughs, smack talk and fun had begun. That was my most fun day on the water with clients last year. I still get a picture every now and then of the fish they catch on the Bow River and a smile comes across my face knowing that the addiction started that day we were on the river.

There are never-ending opportunities year round on most of the rivers in the area. You can fish most of Madison outside of the park up until the end of February, just the section above Quake lake to Hebgen then the river opens back up the 3^rd Saturday in May. Yellowstone opens up to fishing the Saturday of Memorial day and fishes all the way to it’s closing the first Sunday in November.
　

Sunday Tippets:  
My favorite hatches to fish:

Salmon Flies

Henry’s Fork - May 20th to June 15th

Madison River - June 25th to July 15th

Golden Stones
Henry’s Fork - July
Madison River - July

Gray Drakes on Slough Creek
                                                          July 15^th to Sept 15^th

                                                          Terrestrials on All rivers
                                                          July 20^th on

http://www.budlillys.com/

                                                                                                                So, whether you are new to the sport or a pro, come on up and feel free to drop by and get the low down on what's going on around our area.

I hope to see you all out there with a smile on your face. I know I will.

"Dream Big And Live Bigger".

Kerry Almond