The Bighorn Monkey

Wahoo! I finally got the Bighorn monkey off my back - we actually fished the Bighorn River on Saturday. And I hate to say it, but I had a good time. It was what I expected in terms of fishing and crowd, but I found the river itself to be quite interesting with the unending waves of greenery on the bottom, and legions of huge trout that spook as you float over them. It was fun just to watch all the fish, and it helps to keep me motivated.
We didn't slay, but we did fine. Brady landed a tall 21-incher which was the prize of the day. No reinventing the wheel - the famed orange scud continued to produce. It was fun and I don't have to worry about getting over there anymore!
On Friday, we fished Armstrong's Spring Creek in Paradise Valley. It too was good, but the fish we caught were mostly small. But that's only because we couldn't hook any of the big ones that we spooked (and there were a lot of big ones).
We caught our first fish on mayfly dries of the year, and that was pleasant. There was one stretch where the baetis were thick and the fish knew it. Other sporadic rises occurred elsewhere.
I prefer the Armstrong's section over the Depuys, but I think I'm in the minority.

Land of the Giants

Brady caught huge fish. Clay practiced spey casting. Will and I got a few. Enough said.

Raynolds? Pass.

We debated at the round table of the Madison River brewery Thursday night, and the upper Madison won out over Maiden Rock on the Big Hole. So we started at Palisades, but decided it wasn't really wader friendly enough considering our time frame (it would take too long wading over slick rocks with no walking on the banks), so we moved upstream to Raynolds Pass. The fishing wasn't great, considering the location. We all caught a few, one decent rainbow. As Brady said on the way home, "I'm kind of mad at the Madison". Clay and I had no sympathy, considering the river's usual generosity.
It was partly cloudy, below 32 (despite the 40-degree forecast) and by the end of the day, the wind was bitterly cold.
We may opt for the Big Hole next Friday.

Successful sight-fishing

We fished the section of the Gallatin they call "Lunker Alley" on Sunday - it was fun. We were only out for a couple hours, but we caught a bunch including my biggest Gallatin Canyon fish. It's probably my favorite spot in the canyon - it's got a spring creek and a stocked pond that both dump in within a quarter mile of each other. A section of what we fished has tons of fish - whities and trout - that are apparent and not spooky, but are either selective or hard to get a drift in front of. I sight-fished most of the afternoon and finally got one to take. It's always rewarding to sight-fish with success. I look forward to my next encounter with "Lunker Alley".