Fairy Shrimp

I'm pretty good with bugs as they relate to fly fishing. For some reason, learning the aquatic entomology was one of my first priorities (should've probably focused on reading water and downstream hook sets). But recently at a high-elevation lake I was stumped by the creatures before me, so I thought I'd share the find.

(sorry for the low video quality - that's partially Blogger's doing)

They are kind of scud-like, but propel themselves differently. The have lateral filaments similar to some burrowing mayflies, but are not mayfly nymphs. This is why god gave us entomology professors. Professor Malcolm Butler from North Dakota State University had no problem identifying them as fairy shrimp.

It seems that they are so slow and meaty, trout often eat them up to the point of complete extermination. Therefore it's likely that if you see fairy shrimp, you won't see trout. That held true where I found them. And for some reason, they often occupy seasonal pools - indeed, I found them in a cutoff oxbow from a lake's outlet stream.

Trout apparently do coexist with them in some places like Montana's Blackfeet Reservation lakes, however, so do further investigate if you find fairy shrimp. If there are fish, they'll probably be fat.

The bugle of the brown trout

There are not many places where trout are as long as the flow, so I figured it was worth a shot. I didn't expect to catch any 30-inchers, nor do I know what I'd have done if I hooked one (probably thrown my rod in and gone home) but it was not the only two-foot brown sampled here.

Problem was, there are also plenty of dinks here. I figured my biggest challenge (besides getting a monster to eat, fighting off moose, avoiding the harassment of ranchers and the eyes of anglers) would be to getting a fly past the eager adolescents.

It was moosey land - I took a minute to analyze every black or brown head sticking out of the willows to see if it had an ear tag. All I saw were brawny bulls of the bovine variety, but most of them stared me down then encroached a bit - not reassuring when you're already on edge. I had one hand on the bear spray most of the first couple hours.

At fisheries like this, you almost feel like you're breaking the law, stepping through river-spanning fences and getting the hairy eyeball from locals (though everything is officially on the up and up as long as the water is open to fishing, you gained access at a public road/land and stayed within the high-water marks). You at least feel like you must be out of the loop since few others ever fish these certain places. Or the only one in the loop.

But the ranch workers couldn't have cared less, no moose were seen (until the drive home when I saw a group of six) and my six-inch Double Bunnies quickly sank past the dinks.

I landed a half dozen fish over about eight hours, but zero browns. And one chamber-of-commerce rainbow - I should've packed it in then.

Montana celebrity sightings

Fly anglers hear it all the time: "I've always wanted to try fly fishing. It looks so rhythmic/peaceful/poetic... " So when some people get rich and have time, they make a run at it. I would too.

Tom Brokaw getting crocked at the Livingston Rodeo.

And sometimes, these celebrities come to Montana for a taste - and why wouldn't they? Here's a brief list that I've come across from Montana recently.

• Reba McEntire
• Laura Bush
• Martha Stewart
• Barack Obama
• Hugh Cregg (and the news)
• Tom Brokaw
• Henry Winkler
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Bob Ojeda
• The dude (not fishing but wearing a Simms shirt at least - and a great picture)
• Dusty Baker

Tell me who I'm missing! Who've you seen fishing?

Falling

Rivers rose and temperatures fell.
Fish rose and rain fell.
Grasshoppers die while big orange sedges hatch.
Fisheries open as summer closes.
Hebgen trout migrate while colored leaves fall.
Mornings need sleep, noon needs fishing.
The 90-degree sun has set behind the snow-capped ridgeline.

Rod tips rise and stress falls.

Autumn begins Sunday.

How to catch golden trout

Also featured in the Flyfisher's Guide to Southwest Montana's Mountain Lakes

How do you catch golden trout? The same way you catch any other trout, except that you usually have to try harder.
There is consensus that they are not dumb (internet forums, fishing friends, and the guys at the lake with us), and in my experience, they only like your fly once. Then the trout go away for awhile and comeback savvier, having convened with their brethren about what is actually food. This constant evolution is impressive, making this gorgeous quarry even more special.

The first challenge in catching golden trout is determining which lakes hold them. In Montana, that's not terribly difficult through the MFISH database. Some popular destinations are Lightning Lake, Cave Lake, the Hidden Lakes (Gallatin Range) and the Golden Trout Lakes. In Wyoming, however, they don't offer stocking records on their website. Particularly in the Wind River Range, lakes that hold goldens are often valuable hushed-up local secrets. A good Googling can help, but befriending a Wyomingite is most helpful. Elsewhere, I don't know.

We caught this guy at code-name Gazed Acids Lagoon. Traveling sedges were the dominant hatch and the trout were eating them.

The second challenge is getting there - it basically always requires a high-elevation uphill hike. Golden trout rarely live below 9,000 feet and there aren't many roads that high. Some hikes are harder than others - the trek to Lightning Lake (one of the most popular destinations for goldens) is notoriously ridiculous.
The final challenge is getting them to eat. You'd probably guess that they're easy-ish to catch since they get fished relatively sparsely, but that is not the case. Throw the box at them until you find something that works, then throw the box at them again until you find something else. I've heard of people catching them on Muddlers, scuds, midge larvae, and I've only ever caught them on dry flies -the Goddard Caddis and Bloom's Parachute Flying Ant.

As the heat continues, mountain lakes become inviting options. They're great for exercise and scenery, and rare fish like goldens, pure-strain cutthroat, and grayling. Catching a golden trout is something most fly anglers will never do, so it's always an honor to have one in the net. Go while you can!

Cruisin' on a Saturday afternoon.

Gently down the stream

Drift-boat-style rowing is not as easy as I thought. I've knocked friends out of boats, spiraled back to the ramp on stillwater, and embarassed myself otherwise...

Photo courtesy Ben Pierce

Practice and muscle memory are necessary to overcome the counter-intuitivity of the "drift-boat stroke". Understanding how to read water (float-read, not fish-read) helps, but does not make rowing second nature on your first trip. Liz, for example, is an experienced kayaker who knows which lines to take, how to approach hairy stuff, how moving water reacts to paddle strokes, etc., but admitted it wasn't completely natural to turn the raft. It's sort of akin to learning to back a trailer; go slow, and if you turn wrong, do the opposite (hopefully there's time). Above all, stay calm and carry on; eventually the boat will do what you want. And, as everyone told me, you have to push the boundaries of your comfort level to improve. Check (with aplomb, if a little horn-tooting is allowed).

We floated a small, cliffy river that's only runnable during runoff. It was about the lowest flow we were told floating's possible (well below the 25th percentile), so there was plenty to avoid.We figured it was pretty regularly Class II, up to II+ at the narrower spots.

Calluses peeled from the trunks of my fingers by Saturday night; pouring a little beer over my endorphins had me floating again quickly.

We swiped some branches at a couple points, but that was as hairy as it got. I put us front-first through some gurgling tongues as I wanted, and now feel ready to take on some new water.

It was a tremendous weekend replete with good friends, spectacular aurora borealis, the float, and a rainy hike to the Devil's Glen. None of the water was super fishy, but everyone caught trout on flies, everyone charted new Earth, and everyone had a memorable experience. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...

Adieu et c'est la vie

Starting now and continuing for a few years, the non-native-but-wild cutthroat trout present in an unnamed drainage are going to be euthanized or relocated in an effort to help conserve an even more endangered native fish. Limits are high, and a mandatory-kill law, like the one at Yellowstone Lake, was apparently on the table (though decided against). Non-native trout removal is happening nationwide and it is what it is.

But liberal limits and a fish trap are certain not to guarantee elimination of the big, beautiful fish, which are currently planting and fertilizing eggs. And there are undoubtedly hundreds more - maybe thousands - that are too young to spawn this year, thus making them difficult to capture. Fisheries management is an inexact science and managers admittedly don't really know how to handle this situation in a multiple-use/conservation-minded area keeping as many folks happy as possible. It's an experiment that will be evaluated when it's over.

So we fished. Within 15 minutes, Liz landed three around 20 inches - it probably goes without saying that the level of "sport" was low (we didn't fish over redds or anything, but we might as well have). These fish were absurdly aggressive - in some holes, two casts was an extended dry spell. But this trip was more about having fun while helping conserve a unique fish in an incredible place, than it was about sport-fishing. We have no illusions about our success.

Big smile now...

Fish til you giggle...

Gratuitous

Like a boss

And they tasted great...

At the fishing access site...

Caviar!

If you recognize this fishery, have at 'er and help conserve an endangered fish. Keep in mind, however, that it's small water and a fragile ecosystem that probably wouldn't appreciate throngs of anglers.

We hate to lose this tremendous fishery, but if not for the efforts to rid the big and beautifuls, the creek would be closed this time of year and we'd never have the opportunity in the first place.

Regardless, we indulged for one weekend. It was something most lifelong fly anglers will never experience, and we appreciated every second and every fish. Hopefully this was not a final goodbye.

Copyright Liz Juers

More photos

Treat yo self

We're taught that all seconds tick the same, but I'm skeptical. The weekday seconds between about 7:30 and 4, for example, seem much less ambitious than some. But that gives us plenty of time to dream and plan, and hope that the best is yet to come.

Now that I have a little wiggle room in my budget (crazy shout goes out to Assurant Health), I can afford to trade some of the slow seconds for quick ones - like the ones I spend between the banks of a trout stream. And spend a little money on luxuries like Depuy Spring Creek. And treat myself.

Working up a sweat

Attractor dry-fly season has arrived at central Montana's forgotten trout water. Even the whitefish wanted in - I've never seen so many rising whities. Only a Stimmie and a Humpy were used. 



Game notes: Bergan broke his second rod in two weeks on Saturday - this time his dainty 3 weight at the hands of his dog. He will call upon his 4 weight to take its place in the rotation until a new mid-tip section can be ordered and wrapped....The bank sign said 99 degrees on Saturday afternoon....With the three 15-inch brook trout landed this morning, Bergan has caught his biggest cutthroat, rainbow, brown and brook trouts of his life in 2011 - congratulations to him...He was finally able to land a fish using Sweetheart, which was added to the lineup last weekend when Bergan's 8 weight switch rod snapped.

Community Service

Tuesday I had the opportunity to help a local 5th grade teacher introduce her students to some aspects of fly fishing. Specifically, I went to help the students identify bugs they found in the Gallatin River, which is about three blocks from the school. 
Buddies Will and Brady joined me. We split up into four groups and looked for bugs to identify, sketch, record what phase of life they were in, what type of water they were in, and other things.

Turns out, these kids know their bugs. To an extent. When we arrived, I got nervous that the kids might actually know more than I - they had bug-identification books, several seines, river boots, fly rods, bugs in vials, and had some tough questions about how to tell insects apart. One young man asked what the difference was between a honey fly and something else is. I responded that one's bigger and different color, having never heard of a honey fly and trying to avoid losing my credibility. When in doubt while streamside, what they'd found was a March brown nymph (although most actually were rhithrogena or baetis). There were some crazy mottled tannish mayfly nymphs that I was unable to ID, but on Tuesday, those were March browns too. We also found a few big stonefly nymphs, some midge larvae, dozens and dozens of cased caddis, a couple free-living caddis, some cranefly larvae, and a couple sculpins, among other myriad bugs.
It was good to connect with my community and its kids. I don't get enough interaction with kids. We might get invited back in a month or two to help them actually fly fish - here's hoping!
With knowledge of what bugs were active, Will and I fished upstream after school. Neither of us had fished that bit before, and it was good.

The March brown emerger (soft-hackled Pheasant Tail) was the fly of the day. Thanks Mrs. Wilson's class!

These guys must be awesome - they have it pasted on their truck window.

I found this hilarious, so I thought I'd repost it: "Really???" I think they should just get it tattooed on their faces, so nobody misses how sick and epic they are.

The link is to Dan "Rooster" Leavens' blog. Leavens runs Stonefly Inn and Outfitters in Twin Bridges.

Montana's brookies

Brook trout aren't typically thought of as being terribly ferocious. Voracious, to be sure, but not aggressive per se. They'll collect as many mayflies and midges as their stomachs will hold, but streamers aren't generally used when targeting them. But over the past year, I've learned that they can be quite predatory and will hammer streamers as much or more than brown trout in many situations.
In Montana, most of the best brookie water is kept under wraps. I can tell you a dozen places where rookies could have a good day with small ones, but big brookies are hard to find.
The best place that I know of (that's not a secret) for big brook trout is Georgetown Lake. I've never fished it myself, but I've heard reports recently that they're back with a vengeance (it has suffered in the past 10 to years, apparently due to whirling disease).
Check out this video from Blackfoot River Outfitters (the brook trout action is from about 1:10 to 1:50):


The biggest brookie that Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks has surveyed there was about 20.5 inches in 2006. In 2007, about 60,000 4-inchers were stocked and in 2008,another 50,000 er so were added. By 2011, the population should be thinned out a touch, but their lengths should be getting up there. It might be a great year to investigate the brook trout bounty at Georgetown Lake.