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Fishing Reports

Jimmy's All Seasons Angler / Fishing Reports (Page 97)

Gerry “Randy” Randolph, Master Fly Tier.

Randys bass bug display

An engaging and gentle man, Randy is a fly-fishing and fly tying enthusiast. But looking deeper in the fly-fishing scene, he is world class at producing bass bugs.  Just a glance at what he produces at the fly tying vise and then finishes with paints and resins backs this reputation up.  Randy spent several man-hours building the display shown in the photo above. It is meant to collect and preserve a number of his creations. Since his move from California to Idaho, Randy has also become immersed in tying trout flies. A few of these occupy a place on this remarkable display that is now on display at Jimmy’s.

 

 

 

 

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Saturday, February 22nd Fly Tying Demo with Quinn Grover

Quinn Grover Quinn G. Book

 

Quinn Grover has been fly fishing since he was a boy and writing about the sport since he was in college. His work has appeared in The Drake, The Fly Fish Journal, American Angler, and other publications both literary and fishy. His first book, Wilderness of Hope: Fly Fishing and Public Lands in the American West, was published in September of 2019 by the University of Nebraska Press. He has a PhD in English from Idaho State University and he is an English Professor at BYU-Idaho. He spends the moments between classes thinking about whether trout might be rising in the nearby Henry’s Fork. He has concluded that they probably are.  This will be Quinn’s first tying demo at Jimmy’s where Wilderness of Hope: Fly Fishing and Public Lands in the American West, is available for purchase.

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Saturday, February 15th Fly Tying Demo with Doug Gibson

Doug Gibson

Doug is a respected figure in Greater Yellowstone Area fly tying and fly-fishing. A native of Newdale, Idaho, Doug has been tying and guiding professionally for about half a century.  Forty-six of those years have been with Three Rivers Ranch and two with Vern Bressler’s River Meadows Ranch. Such experience has made him authority on fishing the Henry’s Fork drainage.  The list of concerns that Doug has tied for is also impressive: Bud Lilly’s Trout Shop, Dave Cochran’s River’s Edge, House of Harrop, Hunter’s, Orvis Alaska, Orvis, Deep Water Key, and ongoing at Three River’s Ranch.  Whether it is for the Henry’s Fork, the Teton River or lesser known but quality waters such as Fall River, Bitch and Robinson Creeks, Doug has a depth of fishing experience for each.  Through gaining this experience he has created effective patterns for every occasion.  He also knows where and when traditional patterns are effective in the region. Being generous and knowledgeable look for Doug to share not only tying tips, but also presentation ideas for the flies on which he will focus.

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Saturday, February 8th, Fly Tying Demo with Wes Ashcraft

Wes and Friend

I work for the City of Pocatello in the “clean” Water Department. I fish for “fun”! I like to find different water and different species especially with my wife and daughter. I tie flies that are simple and catch fish, I love Stillwater, fishing the Snake (not American Falls), but really love a good creek!    I started fly fishing because I got tired of putting worms on my wife’s hooks, naturally she always caught more fish than me!  We fish primarily still water on pontoon boats or from our small boat, but enjoy a nice river or creek now & then.  My wife bought me a fly tying kit for Christmas one year & just started tying flies.  I find fly patterns off the Internet, demos, expos, & YouTube. Social media has also been a great source of reference for me & has helped me connect with some great local people.  Some of the tiers that have influenced me along the way are Collin Carlson, “Wild” Bill Schiess, Shawn Bostic, Aileen Lane, the Fly Fish Food guys, & Gary Barnes.  One of my fondest memories was catching my first fish on a fly I tied myself; now thinking back that must have been the dumbest fish ever!    The flies I will be tying are a variety of my favorite flies, mostly used on still water, but some that I use on systems.

 

 

 

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Saturday, February 1st Fly Tying Demo with Tom Provost

Tom P. Pic

Tom was born in Fresno, CA in 1968. At age 12, he took his first fly tying class at the Royal Coachman Fly Shop in Fresno. That began more than 40 years of fly tying and fly fishing addiction. A week never passed without tying a fly for 30 Years.

 Tom has fished, guided and tied flies for Trout and Steelhead in CA and Oregon, Trout, Char, Grayling, Salmon, Pike and Halibut in AK and Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit and Barracuda in the Cayman Islands.  For the last four years Tom returned to the Trout Fishing I cut my teeth on. Now he fishes, guides and ties flies for the Madison River, Yellowstone Park, all area lakes and the Henry’s Fork, Teton and South Fork of the Snake River.

With the materials and innovations now in fly tying, our options as creators of natural, life-like Trout food designs are unlimited. Tom will be talking about fly design and how to effectively fish to bring life to your fly!

For my demo at Jimmy’s Tom will be tying “Trout Spey” flies. He I uses these flies with a “Micro Spey” rod. He will discuss and demonstrate how to use marabou, rabbit, hair, weight and other items to design and tie flies for specific purposes.

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Saturday, January 25th Fly Tying Demo with Scott Sanchez

Scott Sanchez again

Scott Sanchez began tying flies at age 12. As a youth in Utah he offered his first of many fly tying workshops. He has worked in the fly fishing industry for decades, and is now the manager of JD High Country Outfitters in Jackson. He is also a member of the Scott Rods Pro Staff. Scott has written articles and sold photos internationally, and his photos have won regional and national awards.  His books include Introduction to Salt Water Fly Tying, The Never Ending Stream, and A New Generation of Trout Flies.  In 2007, he received the Arnold Gingrich Lifetime Achievement Award for literature from the Fly Fishers International and in 2010 he was their recipient of the Buz Busek award for contributions to the fly tying world. Scott has been a featured guide on national TV programs. He is considered one of the most innovative fly tiers in the world. During the annual Jackson Hole One Fly he is in high demand for his ultimately effective flies. He has decades of experience fishing around the world but especially in the Greater Yellowstone area. It has been nearly a decade since Scott’s last tying demo at Jimmy’s. At the upcoming demo he will likely offer new patterns he has created since that event.

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Saturday, January 18th Fly Tying Demo with Tom Hipp

Tom's Two Beauties

Tom comes from the upper region of South Carolina.  He is an electrical engineer at the INL where he has worked for 32 years.  He has been blessed to fish some of the premier streams in the world.  These include the Eglington, Brooks, Matura, Bow, and Naknek.  However, the local rivers and lakes of Idaho and Montana offer some of the most fascinating opportunities.  He will gladly share some of the simple patterns and techniques that have proven very effective for him and his wife, Susan.  The audience can express interest in whether they would like to see an 8” articulated leach or a #24 baetis.  Typically, Susan and Tom fish #16s to #24s on local waters.

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Saturday, January 11th Fly Tying Demo with Mike Glissmeyer

Mike Gliss.

Michael Glissmeyer grew up in a little town called Pine Valley, Utah.  He lived just minutes from the reservoir and spent every chance he had riding his bike with his fly rod gripped over the handle bars up the 4 mile road to chase trout. It wasn’t long before he wanted to follow his father into the world of fly tying.  At ten years old he had started selling flies at the local lodge.  A few renegades, damsel patterns, and woolly buggers were stuck into a piece of paper titled “Pine Valley Reservoir flies”.  A few years later he moved with his family to Southeast Idaho and the rivers he grew up fishing on family vacations.  A lot has changed since those days on the reservoir but his passion for the sport remains the same.  Michael has what some may call an “addiction” to tying and throwing big streamers which has become his main tying focus.  He has demonstrated his tying skills at events including the Eastern Idaho Fly Tying & Fly Fishing Expo and that popular evening get-together called Tie One On. He also does fly-fishing destination presentations based on his broad experience fishing regional waters. Mike currently resides in Idaho Falls with his wife and daughter and you can find him running Idaho Fishing Outfitters Shop on Highway 20 just north of Rigby.

 

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South Fork 12-28-19

You have likely noticed the lack of our fishing reports on this river and on other regional waters. The main reason is because of “Old Man Winter.”  Certainly there will be some bluebird days when getting out on the river to enjoy fish responding to midge or diminishing BWO activity or a well-placed streamer or rubber leg pattern is attractive. But when the air temp plummets, the wind blows, or an atmospheric inversion takes place, tying flies for that upcoming nicer season seems more attractive.

One thing that is favorable for the later season is that flow out of Palisades Dam has been around 1200-1300 cfs so far the winter.  That’s better than the  earlier predicted 900 cfs and results in “not too bad” flows around 1600-1700 cfs at Heise. With Palisades Reservoir at about 85% of capacity it could be that flows remain at this level through the winter in order to fill downstream American Falls Reservoir and make room for what so far looks like an average run-off.

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Saturday, January 4th Fly Tying Demo with Todd Lanning

Todd L.

Todd grew up on a farm in Melba, Idaho and learned at age nine to fly fish from his grandfather.  He spent almost every summer as a kid with his aunt and uncle in Hamilton, Montana on the banks of the Bitterroot River.  Here he fell in love with Rocky Mountain fly fishing.  Todd served his country with the Marines; beginning soon after high school.    He is a veteran of the Gulf War, Somalia, and the L.A. Riots.  Todd returned to Idaho after his service and took a guiding job for Headwater Outfitters in Ketchum, Idaho.  Years ago Todd spent two years managing the fishing department at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Idaho Falls where he was responsible for one million dollars in inventory.  Next he managed at South Fork Outfitters. Having worked for Mile Lawson at Henry’s Fork Anglers for over a decade is a dream come true and gives Todd further detailed expertise on fishing not only the Henry’s Fork but all quality regional waters. This array of experience, along with many years as a fly tier,  make Todd able to demonstrate and suggest flies for all seasons on local waters.  He is in demand to demonstrate his fly tying skills and to present his experiences on regional waters at fly-fishing events throughout the country.  During his demo Todd will surely have new patterns since his last demo at Jimmy’s in 2015.

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