It's a full moon

Did you expect anything else? A full moon in Yellowstone is a sight to behold...and to paint! And I knew exactly where I wanted to go to capture that fleeting moment of a summer full moon in Yellowstone. Where else, but Yellowstone Lake - at a calm bay where you could see the reflection in the still water.

July 15 was the night of the full moon - July 2011's only full moon, named "Full Thunder Moon".

Some moon rising and setting photos from the last couple days...

The current Yellowstone wildflower show...

Our Yellowstone Zoo...

Salmon flies have arrived! 

if you fish, that's BIG news...

To the fish, salmon flies are a rare treat, and there can be splash after splash of fish jumping for them. For an avid fisherman (or woman), fishing during a salmon fly hatch out is an almost magical time.

Many people might think that having thousands of large insects flying around the water would cause the fish to be so engorged that they will no longer bite a hook. However, fish are opportunistic feeders. Much of the year, getting an adequate meal is hard for the fish to do. When the salmon fly hatch out occurs, the fish will often eat far more than they ordinarily would if they could.

In part, this is because the main hatch out doesn't last very long, so the fish must take advantage of it while they can. How does this help the fisherman?

It helps by triggering a feeding instinct so powerful that often the fish will strike at almost anything that even comes close to looking like a salmon fly. Large trout have been observed swirling time and again after a floating twig that approximates the size and wing coloration of a salmon fly, during a hatch out.

So if you fish...come quick and enjoy!