When we came back online last July after a three month hiatus, we promised several site upgrades and improvements that never got done.  Damnation, there was fishing to do, bills to pay, jobs to trudge through – you know the drill. 

But the itch to do it better never quite got scratched away. 

It’s been so long since we promised a change, we figured we’d better just start fresh – so we’ve built a brand new site on a much niftier blog framework that’s loaded with features we’ve been dreaming about here.  

We’ve taken the best of this site and incorporated a big bucket of new features, with a many more to come over the next few weeks.  We’re still covering the Yellowstone fly fishing scene and have added south central and southwestern Montana as well. 

Why Chi Wulff?  There’s a real story behind the name – give us a look and tell us what you think.

Just like in the witness relocation programs – we’re now gone and have assumed another identity (click for Chi Wulff)……

(We are going to leave this site up through the season as folks have been looking back at last year’s reports quite a bit this spring….)

After talking about it since we came back online here at BFFY last July, we’ve finally gotten around to those site improvements that we started talking about last year. 

We’ve sorta gotten carried away in fact, and tomorrow will be announcing a move of Best Fly Fishing Yellowstone to a new URL and an entirely new site.   We couldn’t make all the things happen that we’ve wanted to offer our readers with our old blog template, so we’re just now today putting the finishing touches on our new site which we’ll announce tomorrow. 

Over the next few days you’ll notice some of our old posts disappearing from BFFY and migrating over to the new site, and yes, we’re going to keep updating river reports every week, and have added an array of south central and southwestern Montana rivers to the menu. 

More to come….

Sitting in my home office about sunrise this morning I can hear another yet another clue that spring is trying to elbow her way into Montana this morning – there are hoards of birds singing this morning enjoying some of the clearest skies we’ve seen in Bozeman and the neighborhood in weeks.

The Yellowstone is rolling along getting ready for spring as well.  There are still impressive numbers of midges on the water, though reports from friends fishing the river over the weekend suggested that the most productive fisher folk were still working streamers and nymphs deep and slow. 

There were spurts of both Blue Wings and March Browns (how nice to see a size 14-16 mayfly already) when it was partly cloudy on Saturday, but reportedly not as much in the sun yesterday.

There’s enough low level snow from the recent couple of stormy weeks that the Yellowstone will probably go off a bit the next few days as it warms up; we agree with those who fish it aggressively down to about a foot of visibility. 

Technorati Tags: Yellowstone river fly fishing

The only thing constant in life is change. - Francois de la Rochefoucauld

Technorati Tags: change

Shhhhhh!  Don’t tell anyone until Jake and I get a chance to make a run over there this week, but reports I’ve heard and read in the past 24 hours have me ready to walk over to the Big Hole and fish this morning.

The ice is off most of the river (it certainly should be after the warming spell this week), and folks have been floating the river as well as wading pretty much the entire river.  Nymphs are the game in the cooler mornings – work the deep runs and slots very carefully, though afternoons have brought hatches of Blue Wings, March Browns, Midges, and Skwalas.  Damn, that sounds like spring. 

Flows are pretty skinny right now, and most folks we’ve talked to who have floated suggest that boats go on below Melrose. 

Just in time for the season, the guys at Great Divide Outfitters have put up a nice post about eateries in the area – read it here. 

Technorati Tags: Big Hole fly fishing

I think it’s time for me to get out, because at the moment I’m only thinking about fishing 21 hours a day, and they’re the waking moments. And even when I close my eyes I’m thinking about it. - Rex Hunt

Technorati Tags: fly fishing quote

According to Missouri River Steve, it’s been much more like late winter in and around Craig this week than spring.  Actually his pitch is that it’s been about as warm as it should be this time of year with highs in the 30’s and maybe a low 40 like is forecast for today.  There’s been a fair amount of wind with these storms blowing through, along with more snow than rain. 

Sounds like folks have been nymphing with the usual fare as well as throwing streamers with success; a few midges are around, but no olives in notable numbers.

Today looks no different, with a forecast high of 43 and a 30% chance of rain or snow in and around Craig, though Mr. Weatherman has temps forecast to reach a balmy 50 on Sunday and an almost summer like 68 on Tuesday.  We’d place our money on the rainy day forecast for Wednesday this week…..

Technorati Tags: Missouri river fly fishing

Hell, if I’d jumped on all the dames I’m supposed to have jumped on, I’d have had no time to go fishing. - Clark Gable

Technorati Tags: fly fishing quote

Today’s wave of cold and snow won’t change things on the Bighorn a heck of a lot; traffic on the river is definitely starting to pick up – it’s nothing like the “regular season” madhouse that it can be – but you certainly won’t be alone on the upper river.

We’ve heard that Soap Creek is still intermittently dumping dirty water in down lower, making the upper sections much more attractive at this point in time. 

Sounds like most folks are still producing quite well on the river with nymphs as they have been for weeks – scuds, sowbugs, SJWs, Ray Charles, small mayfly nymphs, though the streamer crowd has been doing well as of late. 

St. Xavier is forecast to be 38 with an 80% chance of snow today and tonight, tapering off to 70% on Saturday.  By Monday it will be in the 50’s again in the sun – welcome to Montana in the spring. 

Technorati Tags: Big Horn fly fishing

I’ll be damned if it’s not snowing again and a bit chilly today in Bozeman – this weather still makes the crew around my house think of warm, comfort type foods. 

Today’s Chipotle Black Bean Chili with Cumin Pork is a recipe that the one who must be obeyed harvested from a Bon Appetit last spring when having some friends over for her book club, some of whom were vegetarians.   I know, for most of us carnivores vegetarian fare is unimaginable.  We liked it that the recipe was tasty and allowed carnivores to enjoy a nice pork addition to the chili, while the vegetarians could just eat their beans.  After a bit of tweaking in the kitchen, we’ve come back to this recipe again and again. 

Chili
2 tbs. olive oil
2 large onions, chopped medium
12 garlic cloves, chopped (yes, 12)
8-10 tbs. New Mexico chili powder
2 tbs. ground cumin
1 bottle dark beer
10+ cups water
1.5 lbs. dried black beans, sorted, rinsed, quick soaked
1 tbs. Mexican oregano
2 tsp. finely grated orange peel
1-3 tsp. finely minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo, to taste (we typically use even more pending how hot the chiles in the particular can we’re using)

Pork
2 tbs. olive oil
3 lbs. country style boneless pork ribs, cut into ¾ inch cubes
1 tbs. ground cumin
½ cup chicken broth

Chili Fixin’s
1 cup chopped sweet onion
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 cups grated hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese
Chipotle crema (2 cups sour cream combined with 2 tsp. or more minced chipotles in adobo)
Your favorite green salsa (homemade best)

Chili – heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium high heat; add the garlic and onions and cook until soft and translucent (7 to 8 minutes).  Add the chili powder and cumin, stir for 90 seconds, then add the beer, water, beans, oregano, and orange peel.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered (lid ajar slightly) 2.5 to 3 hours until beans are tender.  Add the chipotle chiles, correct to taste with salt, and smash roughly half the beans with a spud masher.  Stir well and continue to simmer until creamy and thickened to the consistency you want, thin with chicken broth if needed.  I think it’s even better made the day before.

Pork – heat oil in large skillet; sprinkle the cubed pork ribs with salt, pepper, and the cumin.  Add pork (1/3 at a time) to the skillet and brown on all sides (7 or 8 minutes).  Reheat the skillet between batches to make sure the pork crisps well.  When the third batch is done, reduce the heat to low, add all the pork back to the skillet along with the ½ cup chicken broth, cover, and simmer stirring occasionally for 35 to 40 minutes.  When the liquid is largely absorbed / evaporated, up the heat to medium and make sure the pork crisps up again.  Remove to serving bowl.

While the pork is finishing, reheat the chili and get the fixin’s ready to serve.  Chili goes into each bowl, and let your lucky guests add their chosen toppings, finishing things off with the crispy pork. 

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: chipotle black bean chili