September and October are two of my favorite times to fish the wondrous water of Yellowstone National Park and I always have the same problem on day-off from guiding anglers. Where should I fish today? Should I travel to the Lewis River, is it too early for the big brown in the Lewis Channel, are the large brown beginning to run in the Lower Gardner, do I run down and fish the Madison for the brown trout moving up out of Hebgan Lakes or do travel to the Firehole to fish the Black Caddis and Baetis Hatch? As you can see it can be a tough decision however as much as I love to chase the big trout I also love to dry fly fish and as the days grow cooler I know the summer is ending along with the major hatches.

And this is the big one.

If you are new to fly fishing, you have probably missed this one. If you are an old timer and have not found it, you aren't any better a fly fisher than the guy who just started last week. This secret applies to casting, hooking a fish, playing a fish, and landing a fish - just the most important stuff in our sport. Have any ideas?

Since the Czech took the Rivers World Championship by storm many of us have had a go at the techniques and flies that they used. Most of us have not refined the techniques to the level of winning world championships. Some have rejected the technique as not fly fishing. To me it is just another tool in the box. Something to be used when needed.

I have been playing with some woven flies, and they work well for me on bluegills in this area. I had tied on some legs, and then wove around the legs to add action to the fly. Then a very dangerous thing happened, my mind went in a few weird directions. I decided to run the rubber legs through the loops on the material being woven. I did that and the legs stayed in place but were pointed down. I tied up five variations of body colors with four colors of legs.

For many of us fly fishing is a year 'round passion that we either embrace fully, or try to corral to fit within our busy schedules. For others it's strictly a Spring/Summer ordeal where hatches and dry flies are the driving emphasis for their time on the water. Once the frosts arrive they roll up shop and move indoors or onto other pursuits. I personally have always carried my time on the water into the winter months, but admittedly mainly on selective days where Indian summers and January thaws are welcome anomalies. There are the normal lulls in my time on the water caused by a few other conditions that course threw my veins each year, and that seem to overcome my fly fishing and fly tying efforts. They come in the form of Spring Gobblers waking me up at first light, and the velvet bucks of early fall which prompt my bow to come off the pegs.

What do you see when you look at this picture? A boy with a fish? Maybe the vest that's about a dozen sizes too big? That big smile might be the first thing you looked at. Then again, somebody's going to complain that he isn't holding the fish right or that he's holding it out of the water. I see something else.

Here in southwest Montana, fly anglers are blessed with spring creeks (both private and public) and streams that have the same quality of spring creeks. I don't believe it's an overstatement to say that my area – Livingston and surrounding areas, through Paradise Valley, to Yellowstone National Park – is definitely at the center. All the fishing activities and guide businesses asides, the biggest reason I live and fish in this area is that these streams will teach us the essence of fly-fishing. It will never be redundant to repeat "Spring Creeks are the classroom of fly-fishing".

WOW, it's already 2014. The earth has made another complete circle around the sun and those of us on this tiny astronomical dust speck are preparing to start another year. Many people use this event to resolve to make some changes in the way they live their lives. Unfortunately most of those resolutions are soon forgotten; however I hope that some of my readers will consider some of the following resolutions. I think they may change and enhance your enjoyment of fly fishing.