Golden trout in May?

I can't really blame you if you thought I was full of shit - it is early. But you can start getting to some lower elevation mountain lakes in May. Some folks are convinced that this idea is pure horse pucky, like the fly-shop guy in Twin Bridges.

"Where did you say you're going?" he asked yesterday morning (May 27).
"A lake in the Pioneers at about 7,800 feet," I replied.
"You ain't gonna get there."
"Oh, I don't know. I think you can get to 7,800 feet around Bozeman."
(shakes his head)
"Well, you might be right, but we're gonna go find out."

What I didn't mention to him, and I'm glad I didn't, was that we were actually going to target golden trout. There are a couple of  lakes in Montana's Pioneer Mountains below 8,000 feet where FWP has decided to stock golden trout every six years (only once, in 2014, so far). FWP managers want to increase opportunities for these special fish and decided to go with lakes where naturally reproduction was unlikely - they prefer to save lakes with spawning tribs for native fish like cutthroats.
So with high hopes, we embarked up the east slope of the East Pioneers. And we made it to the lake with aplomb. There were a few small shin-deep snowfields on the 3-mile hike, but nothing that slowed us down. The lake seemed to have been iced-off for a while.

This was the worst of the hike and it was short lived.

Obviously we failed to catch any golden trout (because golden trout are hard to catch). We only saw three trout - all decent sized for goldens (assuming they weren't hold-over cutts from the final 2012 stocking) but they merely got annoyed with our flies and casually swam to deeper water.

We found a couple trout circling and shimmying, suggesting they were interested in doing the horizontal mambo.
But this lake has a long history of no natural reproduction.

Of note about this lake - it was FULL of sculpins. Sculpins are rare at mountain lakes, and I'm sure we saw several hundred from 1 to 6 inches, all different colors and patterns. It's unclear how that affects the fishery - they actually didn't seem preyed upon as there were so many, and they weren't the least bit skittish. Such a forage base could have a major impact on trout growth rates, but their significance remains unclear.

We called this one "Grumpy Guy." Photo courtesy Liz Juers. 

One theory could be that the trout we saw are actually holdover westslope cutts which were last stocked in 2012, making these fish 5 years old. The size of the trout would corroborate this idea, and the fact that the sculpins didn't seem worried also makes some sense, as westslopes are often thought to be one of the least piscivorous trout species (some populations throughout history have actually almost gone extinct despite having forage fish available).

Regardless, I'm just glad it's mountain lake season again. And that the fly-shop guy was wrong.

For more like this, check out the Flyfisher's Guide to Southwest Montana's Mountain Lakes. 

Fishing on the prairie

Another sensational weekend in Phillips County, Montana, on and around the American Prairie Reserve. Best believe we caught some dandy trout in the brown-water BLM reservoirs, and that we weren't the only ones doing so.

The whooshes of songbird swooshes can startle a person, far from the relatively metropolitan vibe of southwest Montana. Boges, who started with two good eyes and four good legs, plundered about without worry of endangering the neighborhood. Sunrises like the one below decorated each morning.

If only we can convince the powers that be to stock the reservoir on the private property at which we stay - it has a large forage base of scuds and probably fathead minnows. I'd happily fish for anything - even the weird fish native to this area like sauger, channel cats, paddlefish (yes, please), or sturgeon.

But the Madison River's nice, too.

Nearly driftless

"Depending on conditions" is a popular caveat around here - conditions being anything from fishing pressure to flow rate, clarity, hatch activity, road conditions, accessibility, et cetera. Oh and weather.

If you fish outside, you're aware of the role of weather. Especially if you are planning a trip, and especially if that trip is to a location with extreme weather, you better load up forecast.weather.gov. As a matter in fact, Liz and I witnessed the impact of extreme weather on our recent trip to the Driftless.

We were able to find fishable water by the end of our week-long trip, about six days after 7 to 8 inches of rain fell around Decorah, Iowa, causing flooding and dark-chocolate water. Our plans for lots of exploring were thwarted, wading wasn't easy, the water wasn't see-through, and the wind wasn't absent.

Most of the streams here are small and overgrown, but the water isn't tricky to read. The trout we found were small, but there is some natural reproduction and a few brood stockers. Rolling hills, lush greenery, and thick humidity distinguish the Driftless from the West, but the trout fishing is reminiscent.

Decorah is worth visiting, and the nearby fisheries are not necessarily the bland, cookie-cutter-stocker-filled waters about which you just read. We consulted a couple of friends who spoke highly of the area, and while there, stopped at the Highland General Store where a small box of film prints revealed big trout (the shop also had a selection of well-tied flies, fly lines, leaders, tippet, et cetera). Ethan and Jason at Northeast Iowa Flyfishing Guide Service kept us apprised about access laws and conditions - they are fishy folks who undoubtedly know where the big ones lie.

Between the trout, we camped at free public streamside sites ablaze with fireflies, met and caught up with family, dined at some old favorites, sampled the local drafts and even witnessed a brief aurora in southern Minnesota. Despite conditions, it was a fantastic trip.


Upon our return to Montana, we appear to have entered the nothing-but-90s-and-sun period of our season. Hopefully we haven't missed the day or two of fishable post-runoff pre-hoot-owl fishing (if that occurs this year) on some favorite rivers. Depending on conditions, we'll find out soon.

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!

Love that dirty water

There is always some fishing to be done in southwest Montana, even when the reports might indicate otherwise. Clay and I went back to the upper Madison cuz it was good enough last week - it was good again. We landed 35 between us, up to 19 inches. Relatively few baetis, but caddis and March browns made their spring debuts. The river was slightly green, but not nearly enough to add to the challenge. Soon, it will be time to focus on stillwaters, and so the story moves on...