Hi Jim,
You sure are a great inspiration. I get enthusiastic with your replies, but also feel guilty taking your time.

Must be nice to have an office on the water. I once had an office with a “walky talky” on the slopes and with my day off, once a week, I’d ski at another area in up state NY. You sound a bit familiar with your days off. I guess that shows priorities.

Well that 115 deg (dry heat) changed to 80 in a day and brought the monsoon season and a big storm with 2.4” of rain in 45 mins., and left water dripping from a light fixture in my living room by the fireplace. I guess I get overwhelmed with all the things to consider when thinking and planning a trip. It seems to create more worry than it’s worth. All I need to do is “kiss”. Like, just forget the house and pool and pay a service for example, then play it by ear. Feels better already. Thanks for your support and keep the light on for me. You and Yelly are high on my list not to miss.

Related to our questions --
How do I tell the mamas from the papas in elk? The papas stick their nose higher in the air (due to their neck muscles from last seasons rack) but they are probably long gone from the mamas by now. And I’ll let the Pratt Dilator Set and the stomach pump slide. I’ll buy a little aquarium fish net for checking the bugs.

I did buy a Geirlach book “Good Flies” from mail order but it only has black and white fly sketches, color would help; well at least it shows good designs, but they are still confusing. This fly fishing stuff takes a lot of study and is similar to golf in many ways; you know presentation of the fly and presentation of the ball and being a member of the 20/20 club is like the hole in one club. It’s kind of funny how one can compare the two most “impatience producing” and frustrating yet rewarding “sports”.

I’m getting better with the knots and tied the leader to line better than ever. The nail knot works great with the “tie fast” tool that I bought 40 years ago and never used, found instructions on the web. Had a hard time with a ballpoint pen. I also finally found the eye in a #18 Hare’s Ear beadhead and got it tied on a 5x tippet. Now I may need one of those clip on magnifiers. How in the world can a trout see anything smaller than a #20 whizzing by in the current?
Oh, and surgical tubing works great for the hemostats and tools, probably for a net also. I have a lot of pieces from the RC sailplane launcher, still good after 20 yrs. I’ll carry the good old tweezers I used on the Apollo (yea, old space program) relay test assembly at one of my jobs, but this time for the little hook handling. HA. Oh well, later.
Sorry I get carried away, soon they’ll be wearing little white coats.

Barry

Greetings again Barry! Don't ever feel that you take up my time! I enjoy your
emails and comments, lets me know I am doing my job. Hang in there and start
packing, the river is calling your name.

Hey JB...Who's the professional fishing the Madison ?

Hi there Beverely! Thanks so much for nailing down your dates before you even got on the plane to leave! Glad you guys had a great trip, and thanks for not giving up too many secrets, you are true fly fisher for life. Shawn sent me some great photos too. The video should be interesting as well! Until next time!

Tight Lines!
JB

Hi JB...My buddy Shawn and I locked in our dates for next season before we got off the plane! Your location to Yellowstone Park enabled us to have an excellant time fishing the Gibbon, Fire Hole, Nez Perce where we all caught fish daily....with options like that , a person just can't go wrong staying at Dome Mt. Location, Location, Location......looking forward to fishing the River next year.....HOPPER TIME !!!

Hey Buddy,
Once again, the Fun Ticket was in high gear last week at Dome Mountain. What can I say, you guys are just the best there ever wus.
The men from Reel Recovery had their lives touched by other men that care. It don't git no bettern' nat in my book.

Our time with you in the river caused some side-splitting, fall off the raft, pee in your waders, swaller yer chew kind of fun as well.

Doug will never forget his "lesson" on fly fishing. We laughed all the way back to Denver.

Mike had a couple of "awesome" fishing days with a fellow Knucklhead. Keep up the good work, thanks for the meat and wine.

Can't wait til next year amigo. Let me know if you want to put together a sailing/fishing trip to Key West this winter.

Love and light
Capt Coy