With opening day for fishing in Yellowstone National Park right around the corner (Memorial Day weekend), we thought this would be a great time to give a heads up about how to make sure your fishing trip to Yellowstone is the best it can be: 1. Yellowstone NP Fishing License 2012 License Fees: 3 day- $18 7 day- $25 Season- $40 Children under 16 can obtain a youth Yellowstone fishing permit for free. Don’t get caught without one!   2. Yellowstone Map We carry a great selection of Yellowstone maps.  And if you’re lucky, we might even point out some … Continue reading →

The Skwala (Stonefly: Perlodidae) hatch is our first major hatch of importance in the West… Continue reading →

Our guides are happy to help you improve your technique, and angling knowledge, in whatever capacity you’re looking for. Whether it’s learning some new knots, getting tips on fly selection, learning how to double-haul, or just simply having a fun, relaxing time on the river, be upfront about what you want to get out of the day… Continue reading →

  The past few years have seen a big focus on wading boot soles, over justifiable concern about how aquatic nuisance species (ANS), are transmitted. There has been a strong trend away from felt soles and toward rubber compound sole materials, primarily because rubber soles are easier to clean and dry out quickly. There is certainly a lot of good thinking behind this trend. At HCF, we take these threats seriously, and applaud all efforts to heighten awareness about invasive species impacts. In fact, years ago we initiated, and continue to maintain, dip tanks for treating wading gear at entry … Continue reading →

As the popularity of fly fishing continues to rise and more and more well-heeled professionals with short, but successful, business careers enter the sport I’ve noticed a somewhat disturbing trend. I suppose this may have always been true, but it seems to me that there is a surplus of hyperactive newbies who have the notion that if they buy the right gear and hire a guide they’ll immediately morph into trout-slaying machines. No need to “pay my dues” in this era of immediate gratification. Perhaps it’s a reflection of modern society. If I throw enough money at a problem, the … Continue reading →

“Dying is no big deal. Living is the trick.” – Red Smith eulogizing a fellow sportswriter We all die, but how many of us lead contented purposeful lives? Henry David Thoreau made famous the observation that, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” But Thoreau wasn’t much of a fisherman. In fact, he eventually gave it up entirely. Reading Red Smith’s quote got me to thinking about how often fishing leads to an understanding of myself as a sentient being wholly engaged in the act of living. (Something Thoreau would have appreciated.) It’s an addiction really. And once … Continue reading →

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” –Henry Ford Fortunately, such is not the case for modern fly fishers and their fly patterns. Fly designers have long debated the relative merits of the “big three” elements of fly design: size, silhouette and color. What every fly tyer and angler wants to know is, of the “big three”, which is most important? Some would say that this is an essential question to answer. Dialing in on the perfect fly takes time and a little luck. Opportunities can come and go … Continue reading →

I had planned to write about the evils of a proposed golf course and trophy home development known as the Canyon Club. Currently under consideration, the project would reside along the banks of the Snake River in Jackson Hole. But I have been personally and professionally embroiled in this controversy for so long that, today anyways, I’m unable to muster the will to continue the fight. I’m emotionally drained. Which leads to a major concern that those of us who love trout are often faced with…namely the unrelenting onslaught of those who would exploit our diminishing cold water resources for … Continue reading →

They say when it rains it pours. If it happens to be pouring on you, you may well think you’re jinxed. And that’s exactly how I felt for a two-month span during the summer of 1996. Though the preceding eight years of guiding operations had gone comparatively well, a bad moon was rising and all hell was about to break loose. It all began on the Green River… 11-July-1996 We weren’t twenty minutes into the float when my client, Kent Petersen, latches into a fine 20” brown trout. Not wanting to miss any good water while Kent wrestled with his … Continue reading →

This article was originally published in the summer 2000 issue of Jackson Hole magazine. Designing trout flies for a living is pretty risky, unless you happen to catch a little luck and you’re Guy Joseph Turck.  Then you can live the life most of us in the real world can only dream about… every day. Turck, 42, is a poster boy for “laid back;” one of those people you’ve really got to get to know for a while before he says very much.  When the talking finally kicks in, you’re going to learn something about trout fishing.  Count on it. … Continue reading →