2 Guys and A River

A killer was on the loose near one of my favorite stretches of the Yellowstone River. Its name is Ursus arctos horribilis. Every time I venture into the back country in Yellowstone National Park to fly fish the ‘Stone (below), I ready my hand to swipe the trigger guard off the bear spray holstered at my side. I’ve even practiced aiming from the hip; I might not have time to pull the canister from its holster if faced with a charging grizzly.

Recently, however, there was another killer on the loose in the Yellowstone River. It too has a Latin name.

But you won’t see it lumbering alongside the river. Even if you’re a few feet or a few inches away, you still won’t see it. The name of this killer is Tetracalsula bryosalmonae. It is a microscopic parasite that causes kidney disease in fish. Within a week, it recently wiped out 4000 fish (whitefish and trout). Apparently, it poses no health threat to other animals or to human beings.

The situation was so serious that the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) closed a 183-mile stretch of the ‘Stone from the northern border of Yellowstone National Park near Gardiner, Montana, to the city of Laurel, Montana.

Parasite with a Vengeance

First discovered in Europe, the parasite was detected in some Idaho fish hatcheries as early as 1980. But it wasn’t until 2012 that the parasite was found in the Upper Snake River. Now it has attacked fish in the Yellowstone River with a vengeance.

Fisheries experts do not know if the parasite transferred via a human being or an animal. FWP biologists will study the situation and determine a strategy for managing and containing the parasite. Damage control is a more likely outcome than is eradication.

In the meantime, I am reminded of the importance of cleaning and drying our waders and boots before moving from one river to another. If you’re new to fly fishing, here are a few suggestions.

Use a garden hose and vegetable brush to remove mud.

Let the sun and heat dry out your waders.

Don’t forget to turn up the gravel guards during the drying process to dry the underside of your waders.

Use a blow dryer on felt soles and inside your wading boot.

Felt can hold moisture for a few days. Experts often recommend waiting between five to seven days before using a pair of boots with felt soles on another river. A few minutes with a blow dryer can, obviously, speed up the drying process.

Perhaps the move away from felt soles — which began five years ago but lost some steam – will emerge again. Maybe conscientious anglers will buy multiple pairs of boots, keeping a set for the Yellowstone, a set for the Madison, and so on. It’s too early to tell. Hopefully, biologists will figure out some strategies for anglers and other outdoor recreationists to avoid transporting the parasite.

Let’s do our best to pay attention to the problem and search for the best counter measures.

Fly fishing hacks – they are legion. In this short post I offer seven. A few years ago, I was struggling to thread a tiny (6x) tippet through the tiny eye of a tiny (#20) dry fly. My fly fishing friend — and I honestly can’t remember which friend— said, “Here’s a little trick I’ve learned. Use the river as a backdrop. This makes it a lot easier to see what you’re doing.” Presto! I had tried using the sky, the green grass, and even a light-colored branch as a backdrop. I had not considered the river.

It worked, and it’s been life-changing. Okay, it has not been life-changing. But it has certainly made it easier to tie tiny tippets to tiny flies.

Here are a few other fly fishing hacks I’ve learned over the years that have made my time on the river bit easier or a bit more effective:

Use a candle to wax your rod ferules

This prevents the end-of-the-day frustration of having sections of your rod stuck together. When this happens, the danger of breaking your rod increases as you try to pull it apart.

Keep a piece of carpet handy to stand on when you put on your waders

Make sure you always have a small piece in the back of your vehicle. It’s more comfortable to step on carpet instead of gravel when you are standing on the stocking feet of your waders. It’s even more helpful when there is mud or snow on the ground.

Wet your leader knots before you tighten them

If you don’t do this, you risk weakening the knot you’ve tied. When you pull it tight, the friction causes heat, which weakens monofilament. Yes, a little bit of saliva might be the difference between landing an 18-inch rainbow and losing it.

Stand at the river’s edge for a minute before you cast or set foot in it

Okay, this might not be so much a fly fishing hack as it is common sense. There might be a feeding fish right in front of you. Or, you might spot one feeding at a place you did not intend to fish.

On bigger rivers, take the time to fly fish up from where people take out

Fly fishers in a drift boat will often ignore the final hundred yards before they get out. They have rods to put away and gear to stow. So fish upstream to see if there is a run or two which has not been fished.

Use a larger dry fly as a strike indicator for a tiny dry fly

Do you have difficulty seeing size #20 PMD or BWO pattern?

Join the club.

One remedy is to carry a pair of binoculars. Just kidding. What works great is to tie on a larger fly first—something you can see like a size 12 or 14 tan elk hair caddis or Royal Trude (which has a tuft of white in it). Then, tie on about 10-12 inches of tippet and then the fly you’re going to fish. When the larger fly takes a nose dive into the water, you have a strike.

When fighting fish, pull them from side to side rather than up

Pulling fish to the side makes them use muscles which will tire them more quickly. This enables you to release them before they are too tired and stressed out to recover easily.