Topics

1

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Quick Conditions Check - Lower Madison

« on: March 19, 2023, 07:43:12 AM »

With the roads dry and an extra hour of light in the evening, I took a quick drive down to the Lower Madison the other day.

Looks great and highly fishable (you should be able to play this as a video):

Madison031623

2

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / YNP Labor Day Weekend '22

« on: September 12, 2022, 06:06:53 AM »

My wife, dog, and I made it down to Yellowstone for the second time this year for the 150th celebration. I fished some new areas and my wife did this video of me fly casting (she straightens it after about 20 seconds). I'm sure I broke every casting rule in the book but I just try to get the fly on the water these days!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Ra0Da2kzw02-2A--qZjOQf7vz4XFPtj/view?usp=sharing

We also were able to get into the Park shortly after the flood in July. You can see the water color is different. I got a kick out of this baby bison running circles around its mother!:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zdxMT4h1wWELwc59xLpMaSuDn2MEXj9u/view?usp=sharing

Hope you can view the vids.

3

General Board / Boneyard Tales out today!

« on: January 25, 2022, 10:12:56 AM »

Hey guys, I finally put together a collection of my flash fiction and had it published by a small press in Texas. It's out today (print available in U.S. only but lots of eBook options).

https://linktr.ee/boneyardtales

I have quite a few fishing stories in there and some taking place in CA. That's not me on the cover, but rather one of my characters (and yes, that's a fly rod in his hand!).



Check out the terrifying trailer an editor friend made for me. Not every story in the collection is scary, but the trailer sure captures those that are.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15KFVdes2Dv8TXswWJwHBddQYeaopp974/view?usp=sharing

Proceeds will be donated to the Shriners Children's Hospitals in Spokane, Washington, & Galveston, Texas, USA. Thanks to all of you who have supported my writing in the past, and thank you Tom for allowing me to post this.

I hope you are all well in CA. Beware the man with little yellow teeth in the boneyard!

4

General Board / "Caddisman"

« on: August 23, 2019, 01:41:18 PM »

Hey guys, I'm seriously delinquent in keeping up with my old pals on the fishing websites and posting pics from my new adventures. I promise that will change, perhaps once we start getting snow.

In the meantime, I thought some of you might be interested in my most recent flash-fiction publication. It has a little fishing in it, so here you go:

https://themolotovc*cktail.com/vol-10/wild-flash/caddisman/

5

General Board / Halloween Tales . . .

« on: October 31, 2017, 08:57:29 AM »

Happy Halloween, P-Soul. 

It's been a rough month for me, but it was salvaged toward the end with a few of my stories being picked up for publication. If you're stuck behind a computer at work or in the doctor's office staring at your phone and need a distraction, check out my haunting/creepy tales . . .

“Yetimaker" (a 4th place finish in this year’s Flash Monster competition):

https://themolotovc*cktail.com/vol-8/flash-monster-2017/yetimaker/

“I Had a Boneyard in the Dakotas” (6th place finish in the same competition):

https://themolotovc*cktail.com/vol-8/flash-monster-2017/boneyard-in-dakotas/

“Bannack, Montana” (published as a just-missed-the-long-list favorite from Reflex Fiction's Autumn 2017 competition):

https://www.reflexfiction.com/bannack-montana-by-michael-carter/


The first two will also be in a print anthology to be published ~November 2018.

May you all have sweet dreams of creepy guys with little yellow teeth!

6

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Morning Browns 8/12 SW MT

« on: August 12, 2017, 01:00:06 PM »

Last time I hit the spruce moth hatch on the Gallatin was circa 2008. On the water last weekend and it was off the scale. No time for pics. Today, a bit slower, but I caught some browns on a river filled with rainbows and cutbows.

Looks like the spruce moths are on the decline, just in time for the hoppers to go come out and jump in the river to cool down!


Gallatin upstream:



Spruce mothman prophecies:



Didn’t really need to net this fish, but I wanted to try out my new clear net. It works:



Say ‘cheese’:



Dead things Mikey, dead things:



My fishing Ewok:



Until next time, tight lines to P-Soul,

Mike

7

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Going for Gold - Hyalite Creek - 7/8 a.m.

« on: July 08, 2017, 03:31:37 PM »

In the post-Photophucket world, I'm posting this report in a few places. Hope the pics come through O.K.

I woke up this morning with a real dilemma on my hands. Chase the salmon flies on the Gallatin, or the golden stones on Hyalite Creek. I had caught my share of fish on the Gallatin, so I opted to go for two firsts - first fish on Hyalite Creek, and first fish on a golden stone pattern.

The damn salmon flies will have to wait.

This “creek” is more like a river. Still very fast, but wadable:





My wife snapped this shot of a yellow-black caddis-like fly on our fence:



Needless to say, I brought some yellow and orange striped stimulators, and of course the golden stones:



I fished double-fly rigs, and was happy to catch fish on all three patterns.

Can anyone confirm that these are not rainbows? They look like they could be golden trout, which I believe are found in a limited area in Montana, including where I was fishing. Could be rainbow/golden hybrids?:







The hot fly was the orange stimulator:



All in all, very productive morning on the dries. Stoked to catch some firsts. Water levels have been tapering, which means I might be able to try my trick knee on the bigger waters soon.

Parting shot - trout head gnawing on a stimulator:



Tight lines to my friends at P-Soul.

8

General Board / Soliciting micro fiction votes.

« on: June 28, 2017, 12:49:16 PM »

As some of you know from my postings on other websites and the twitter, I’ve had a few short stories published in the last few months.

I have a new, very short micro fiction story up called “Dirty Bird.”  It’s on the long-list for a UK-based, international flash/micro fiction competition. Totally stoked about it.

In any event, I’m looking for votes from you all at P-Soul, if you like it. If you don’t, don’t vote for it. Vote for another piece or please just go fishing!

I had to use the word “festival” and stay at or under 150 words, which is really short but still longer than most sasquatch fishing reports. You may have to tap the e-book and scroll through to the right to get to “Dirty Bird” - I think it’s the 16th story in:

http://adhocfiction.com/read/#FlashEbook

Thank you in advance to anyone who chooses to vote. However it turns out, I’m thrilled to be on the long list and make a few people cringe.



Now, I need to get up to speed and start posting my trout reports here again. With the favorable weather I’ve got some good ones coming, I think. 

9

Outdoor Activities / 1/19/17 Daily walk through Woodland Park (updated 4/7/17)

« on: January 19, 2017, 01:33:20 PM »

There’s a trail right by my new house that leads down to Middle Creek.  I try to walk the dog down it every day for some excercise. 

My wife and I took the trail a couple days ago - on the way back we discovered about 100 feathers in the middle of the trail.  Something had been eaten (demolished?) by something.

So I set out today to see if there were any dead things or animals or something.

It was uneventful, but the dog got a good walk and the wide open spaces never cease to amaze me.

The start of the trail near my house:



The dog usually leads the way, especially coming back:



This will be an alfalfa field when the snow melts.  I get the same feeling here as I do in the desert or way out the open ocean.  The expanse of open space seems to warp time and distance:



Alfalfa sprinklers - I believe these move on their own when the water pressure gets high enough:



Getting closer to the end of the trail:



Neighboring farmer’s gate:



Tree:



Uninhabited animal quarters:



End of the trail at Middle Creek.  The creek was completely frozen over, as was the nearby irrigation canal, so no worthy pics of either:



Looking back towards home into the snowscape:



Bridger mountains in fog - looking back towards civilization:



Wish I had the camera the other day.  It was bright and sunny and I could have got some snapshots of whatever died, or at least some feathers.


Dog tired and asleep.  Time to get something done (or perhaps take a nap myself)!

10

Food & Recipe / Chicken & Dumplings

« on: December 29, 2016, 12:47:36 PM »

Making this today.  One of my favorite cold-weather foods:



Chicken & Dumplings (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

~1.5 lbs. boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter, cut or broken into chunks
2 cans (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 small/medium onion, diced
2 packages (12 oz.) refrigerated biscuit dough (I use Pillsbury Grands Jr. Golden Layers Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits, but any brand will do)

1. Put soups, butter, onion, and about 2.5 cans water in crock pot and stir. Submerge chicken breasts into mixture.

2. Cook on low for 3 hours, and then high for 3 hours. Stir with a large serving spoon - chicken pieces should break apart.

3. Cut each raw biscuit into quarters and roll the dough pieces into balls.  Drop dough balls into crock pot and carefully stir into the mixture.

4. Cook for one more hour on high.

5. Serve in bowls.

11

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Hyalite Reservoir - 10/2 mid-day SW MT (longer version)

« on: October 03, 2016, 01:22:44 PM »

I heard the reservoir was fishing well so my son and I scouted it out a couple days ago, and fished it yesterday.

We arrived and it was all sunny skies.





A very short walk through the woods got us to the spot.



I got dogged by two nice fish - I had them in close enough to see the flicker of their white sides and put a smile on my face, but they broke off.

Finally landed the third, which I’m pretty sure is a Yellowstone cutthroat:





I know the Yellowstone cuts frequent the reservoir, as do the arctic grayling (the fish I was hoping for, but did not get).  You can see the faint throat slashing better in this picture:



Unfortunately, my other head shots were blurred.  I really wanted a better pic of the throat. 

I fished a full intermediate clear line on my 5 wt., with this sculpin-like pattern:



After about 40 minutes of fishing, a hail storm moved in, so we packed out.

As Murphy’s Law would have it, by the time we got back to the car and put our gear away, the sun came back out.  Nonetheless, we headed out to look for animals.

Hyalite Creek in fall colors:





No animals, so I figured I would share this painting with the Board; from a restaurant in Ione, Washington:



We’ll have to hit the reservoir again, with rain/hail gear next time.  Tight lines, everyone, and clearer headshot pics. 

12

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / 8/15 pm - Middle Creek, MT - Go Big, or go small

« on: August 16, 2016, 08:13:38 AM »

I know this site sort of specializes in big game, but, like a lot of things in life, I think you should either go big or go small.  There is no in between.

So I went small yesterday evening.  A quick, two-minute walk from the place we’re staying in SW MT revealed a very small creek.  Average depth appeared to be about five inches.  It was so shallow, I didn’t think there would be anything there.



But there was.  And, although I didn’t land many fish, they were on the rise for small flies.  Not much room for but the smallest roll cast, and not much room to set the hook, so a lot got away.



Purple haze, followed an ant (both size 18), was the ticket.



I left with a big smile, and enjoyed the sunset. 

13

Outdoor Activities / Kirk Hill Hike, SW MT (outside of Bozeman)

« on: August 15, 2016, 09:41:22 AM »

Went for a quick, two-mile hike near Hyalite Creek with the family yesterday.  It was a fairly easy hike, and resulted in some nice views from the top.  We didn’t see any wildlife to speak of (except birds and insects).  But in these parts, not seeing certain wildlife is actually a good thing (yes, my son brought bear spray).   






































There’s another mile or so long loop you can add to this hike.  Might check it out soon.  Thank you for viewing our hike. 

14

Outdoor Activities / Little Spokane River Area Hike

« on: July 28, 2016, 09:23:30 AM »

I like Tom’s board because he’s got a forum for just about everything.

I think this fits within the “Outdoor Activities” category as it pertains to hiking in the terrestrial world.

I spent some time with family in the Little Spokane River area near the Indian Painted Rocks in Eastern Washington.



This guy came around the corner - a little too close for comfort . . .

Unzoomed:



Zoomed:



Some other visitors:



I love seeing wildlife, big or small:



I had not done that hike in over 20 years, and was sure glad I did.  I’ve only seen moose a few times in my life, especially in such close proximity, so this was a nice treat.  I’ll take moose over bear or mountain lions in terms of threat level, but you still don’t want to make one of these guys mad!

15

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Son's First YFC - 7/26 SOC - Cliff's Notes Version

« on: July 26, 2015, 02:59:26 PM »

I enjoyed fishing south county this morning with my son.  We got into a steady bite of YFC's on the KM.



My son's first YFC hook-up:



One of his YFCs for the morning:



Fairly challenging conditions with increased surf and surge.  All in all a fun morning though.  Stoked for my son to add a new species to his list.

Here's to many more!