On the road out West, fly fishing, Part II

From Jackson, Wyo., on a recent day, after floating the Snake River, fishing cutthroat trout, I left for the Madison River, near Cameron, Mont.

The route I took follows, essentially, the west side of Yellowstone National Park. I was headed for the West Fork Cabin Camp on the Madison, a friendly and economical place where I stayed a couple of years back.

I was driving a pickup camper, and could have opted to drive through Yellowstone from Jackson, criss-crossing the park en route to West Yellowstone, Mont. But I chose not to fish in the park on this trip, and figured I could make better time going around Yellowstone, than through it.

A note, however, if you are headed to Yellowstone yet this year (or next) and want to fish. There are many rivers in the park to recommend, among them the Lamar — as pretty a river as there is — as well as Soda Butte and, of course, the Madison inside the park. The latter, however — the Madison — where it runs inside Yellowstone can be a bit stingy with its trout, and oftentimes requires not only a deft hand with a fly rod, but also a good eye for which hatch to match exactly.

That said, the Lamar, Soda Butte and the Gallatin, both inside and outside the park, among at least a handful of other streams, generally make for good to excellent fishing on a given day or evening, and are worth a try.

Often, but not always, this is nymphing water, and the standard fare, especially bead-headed nymphs, including Copper Johns, Prince nymphs and Pheasant Tails, generally in sizes 16 to 18, sometimes smaller and occasionally larger, usually produce.

Meanwhile, the Gallatin inside the park, and also farther downstream, above and especially below Big Sky, Mont., is also both beautiful and productive.

Meanwhile, back to my trip this summer . . .

The West Fork Cabin Camp lies just a stone's throw from the Madison, and my intent was to stay there in my pickup camper and wade and float the Madison with my two boys, who were traveling with me.

Staying at this same camp a couple of summers back — which features RV and tent sites, as well as homey cabins to rent — we caught and released a lot of good sized brown trout. Many of these were caught while wading the river only a short distance from camp. Some were caught during a day's float in a raft I rented.

This time the fishing was tougher. Others who have fished the Madison this summer have had their challenges also, or so we were told. Whether this is because of work being done upstream on a dam, or for another reason, I don't know. I know only that, while we caught trout, their numbers were fewer this summer than during our last time out.

Still, we caught enough to keep us interested, and happy.

Cost is about $100 a day for the larger craft.