mones
12-10-2010, 12:19 PM
Just before we left a fisherman told us that there was an old guy with a red beanie,who "ran the show down here." We moved our camp into the park and ended up at the Madison Junction Campground.An upgrade big time... the restrooms had heaters!!! This area is where the Firehole and the Gibbon River meet to form the Madison. The next day we headed to barns #2 a fishing run on the Madison that has been written about in numerous publications. Its a very popular spot. We pulled into the parking area, it was packed. We headed down anyways but brought the ice chest and lawn chairs.(best move we ever made)
The river was just like the parking lot, packed... We had only one option, sit and observe,which was fine cause our cooler was full of beer and sandwich makins. There must have been 9 guys in the water and sure enough the guy with the red beanie was one of the them. I think there were two guys fishing nymphs and indicators the rest were casting long lines...they were all fishing downstream....and seem to be moving downstream every third cast or so.They all seemed to exit the river at the same spot. When the guy with the red beanie got out he headed our way....the first thing he said was "you guys are all right , most guys charge right out to the water wade up to their necks and mess the hole up for everybody."I offered the old guy my chair and a beer,he said sure and introduced himself as Martin Tolly... Syracuse New York . We shot the shit for awhile . Miller finally asked WHAT are you fishing?
Martin said,the soft hackle fly, in a tone like we should have known. Uhh sir we dont have a clue of what you are talking about. So we got the full story. The flies have been fished since the late 1800. It is a gentlemans sport and dont ever forget that...It is simple and there are rules...
There is no need to wade past your kneecaps. There is an entrance and an exit to every run. you always fish downstream.start at the head of the riffle.
keep moving do not become a "potted plant" NEVER step in the river below a fisherman working downstream go above him and wait your turn.Fishing from the top to the bottom of a run is called "making a pass"....
Martin looks at our rods and says "take those split shots and indicators off and throw them in the garbage"He is the drill sargent and we are the recruits and do everything he says. HE GIVES US A BUNCH OF FLIES!!!
Martin says to fish heavy tippet...0010...8lb maximum....
Miller gets into the lineup and hooks one Martin coaches. I run the video camera. 20 inch rainbow landed lots of hootin and hollerin....
Matin gets in and hooks and land another big rainbow. I keep the camera rollin.. the whole thing seems surreal..
At the end of the day Martin asks where are we staying? we tell him that we are camped at Madison Junction.. He says that that is the best real estate on the river and we should fish there tommrow...
On the drive back we wonder if the martin is giving us a tip or trying to get rid of us......... more later
The river was just like the parking lot, packed... We had only one option, sit and observe,which was fine cause our cooler was full of beer and sandwich makins. There must have been 9 guys in the water and sure enough the guy with the red beanie was one of the them. I think there were two guys fishing nymphs and indicators the rest were casting long lines...they were all fishing downstream....and seem to be moving downstream every third cast or so.They all seemed to exit the river at the same spot. When the guy with the red beanie got out he headed our way....the first thing he said was "you guys are all right , most guys charge right out to the water wade up to their necks and mess the hole up for everybody."I offered the old guy my chair and a beer,he said sure and introduced himself as Martin Tolly... Syracuse New York . We shot the shit for awhile . Miller finally asked WHAT are you fishing?
Martin said,the soft hackle fly, in a tone like we should have known. Uhh sir we dont have a clue of what you are talking about. So we got the full story. The flies have been fished since the late 1800. It is a gentlemans sport and dont ever forget that...It is simple and there are rules...
There is no need to wade past your kneecaps. There is an entrance and an exit to every run. you always fish downstream.start at the head of the riffle.
keep moving do not become a "potted plant" NEVER step in the river below a fisherman working downstream go above him and wait your turn.Fishing from the top to the bottom of a run is called "making a pass"....
Martin looks at our rods and says "take those split shots and indicators off and throw them in the garbage"He is the drill sargent and we are the recruits and do everything he says. HE GIVES US A BUNCH OF FLIES!!!
Martin says to fish heavy tippet...0010...8lb maximum....
Miller gets into the lineup and hooks one Martin coaches. I run the video camera. 20 inch rainbow landed lots of hootin and hollerin....
Matin gets in and hooks and land another big rainbow. I keep the camera rollin.. the whole thing seems surreal..
At the end of the day Martin asks where are we staying? we tell him that we are camped at Madison Junction.. He says that that is the best real estate on the river and we should fish there tommrow...
On the drive back we wonder if the martin is giving us a tip or trying to get rid of us......... more later