Some of our Amur Maple tree leafs are turning yellow and same with a few Aspen leafs on the trees along the lower driveway. This morning it was 41 degrees here in the valley, and when I called the shop it was 32 degrees in town.

The first run-up brown trout are arriving in the Madison River from Hebgen Lake. A friend took an 18" male on one of our Chaos Hoppers at the Barns Pools yesterday. He was practicing with his new 11' 6" Tenakra TFO "Soft Hackle" rod and our special DT Tenkara line I'd sold him. We cut the 35' line in half making 2 lines, one a 12 footer and the other an 18 foot line. I knotted on a 6 foot piece of tippet to the tiny welded loop at the end of the 18 footer and sent him into the Barns Pools to practice with his new rod and line. An hour later he called from his car as he was driving out of the Park sputtering something about catching a big trout on his new set-up. He drove into the shop and showed me an out-of-focus shot of his fish next to his new rod. We get a lot of these lately from folks trying the Tenkara!

This week too I've been fishing my simple Tenkara set up. I've taken 6 flies in one of our little fly boxes, a roll of tippet, Fly Magic floatant and my Tenkara rods; the 11'6" Soft Hackle and 8'6" Cutthroat Models depending on where I plan to fish. I've picked my flies well for it seems I have had a great week fishing Cam's Skittering PMS (Epeorus) Sparkle Dun, Nick's Skipper, Steve's Epeorus Elk Hock Dun, a Wired Dip, a #17 Tan Iris Caddis, and a Chaos Hopper. I have fished the Gallatin River, Upper and Little Firehole Rivers, Grayling and Nez Perce Creeks and the Madison River both inside the Park and below Earthquake Lake. I have worn out lots of flies, gone through a tube of sunblock, and taken plenty of good trout with my simple set up. I dare say no one has had more fun fishing than me! Stay tuned for our book, "Simple Fly-Fishing with Tenkara and Rod and Reel" due out late this year.

Our baby west slope cutthroat trout are doing well in our little hatchery. All are slated for release in Yellowstone National Park this summer. We feed them daily and they know when we walk through the door as most come to the surface with their tiny noses poking out of the water looking for the little conveyer belt we sprinkle their food on to bring them their chow. We are proud parents to over 7,000 fry now and I'll bring you a few pictures of the operation in a later newsletter.

Too, our water pipeline project I wrote about in last week's issue is nearing completion. The spring box is in, 6000 feet of pipe laser accurate dropping the pipe from the spring to our tank. Now we must bring the pipe up the side of the tank and cut into the tank, place a float inside and turn on the water to our tanks inside the huge pasture never before utilized for grazing. You may be asking why we want to do this, to bring cattle into an area with tremendous grass potential to forage in a pasture which may contain over 1,000 elk during winter months which are their to winter and depend on the grasses to get them through. It has been shown time and again that elk will respond and winter on areas grazed by cattle at the right time of year to "freshen" the forage. Case in point here in the valley is when the State of Montana purchased elk winter range years back and removed all cattle from the range. The first winter the few elk that did show up soon left and went to nearby ranches to winter on pastures grazed by cattle the previous spring and summer. It used to be the bison that grazed and "freshen" the range, with them gone cattle have taken over the bison's role and now provide that required grazing at the proper time to bring optimal winter forage for elk. What does this have to do with trout? Plenty, by providing winter pasture away from sensitive riparian areas big numbers of winter elk, often over 5,000 here in the valley, graze in the lightly grazed pastures well away from small streams and seeps so important to wild trout habitat and their recruitment keeping river systems intact and effectively functioning on all cylinders. Fine wild trout habitat, healthy pastures and riparian areas and sustainable ranching practices in the Madison Valley, the most intact valley in Montana from a wild trout-wild life standpoint. Groups like Trout Unlimited, Montana Land Reliance, Trust for Public Land, Nature Conservancy of Montana and the Madison River Foundation working hand in hand and side-by-side to protect and preserve what we all love about this part of the world! Remember to support them. Stay tuned here for updates on other projects upcoming in following reports and thanks to all of you who support us, and these great organizations.

As usual in the rest of this issue, you'll find fishing news from Yellowstone Country in the weekly Fishing Report. You can see what's hot off the vise in the Fly of the Week, get a sneak peek at some of the best materials on our tying bench in the Fly Tying Material of the Week, and stay up to date with the guide staff and their trips in the Guide Trip of the week.