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...

Prospecting for skwalas

Clay and I hit the lower Gallatin River this afternoon near my old stomping grounds - my old neighbor Jake let us come out. It was good - between the two of us we got 18 fish in about 4.5 hours. The were eating the skwala nymph, the baetis nymph, and the pheasant tail. Oh, and the skwala dry. We saw one shuck and based on appetite for the nymph (and the fact that a fish rose for my indicator and for a baetis nymph dangled carelessly just under the surface), I decided to see if they were looking up. They were- I landed two fish and missed about 6 others on the skwala dry.

A call to rods

It does happen - stream access was taken away from Utah's anglers. And despite the popular belief, it wasn't by the Obama administration.

Attempts to overturn Montana's stream access law will not stop, and one day, anglers might be on the losing end. Enjoy it while you can.

Now is the time we should go stake our claims on the lower Ruby and Mitchell Slough, being mindful to be respectful of the law and the landowner.

I lived on the banks of the Gallatin River for three years and saw, on more than one occasion, naive and disrespectful anglers march across landowner's grass, sit on their furniture while pretending to be oblivious to their indiscretion. I've seen hordes of embarrassing anglers hike from one end of a private property to another, over and over and over on the Bitterroot. I was going to holler an apology to the pissed-off landowner on behalf of responsible fishermen, until I saw his silver pistol glisten in the sunlight - that was my cue to move on (see photo to the right).

In my experience, the myth of the gracious Montana ranch owner is true - they've been nothing but gregarious and warm, as long as you obey the rules and don't endanger their land or livestock. It makes me wonder if the angler who gets chewed out doesn't deserve it (most times).

Opponents of the stream access law claim it's jealousy and social warfare. Or, as in Utah, that it depreciated property values. But really, I think it's just that they don't want people on their property, which is understandable, but in Montana, folks have the right. Landowners ought not take it out on the angler - rather take it up with their legislative representatives.

Even President Obama has enjoyed the right. When he fished the East Gallatin River last summer (a river known to host its share of landowner v. fisherman conflicts), he didn't pay to fish a private stretch - he took advantage of his legal right.

Some burden to keep anglers honest is on the landowner, however. If there are not 50-square-inch orange signs posted, consent for access is implied (read it here), which can be verbally rescinded. But when you find yourself fishing a questionable place that is not posted, at least pick up some trash so if the landowner comes out and accuses you of trespass, you'll have a peace offering (to go with your defense).

So get after it - but be vigilant, respectful, law-abiding, and most of all, exercise common sense. We've got it pretty good in Montana, for now anyhow.

Hebgen Lake Ice-out Report

Friday we hiked in to the Madison Arm of Hebgen Lake from Highway 191. It wasn't an easy hike over snow and through mud, but if there's open water on Hebgen, it's usually worth it. To our surprise, it appeared as though the entire Madison Arm was open (can't be positive, though). There were lots of Hebgen midges, but it was blowing a gale and no fish were rising. The lake even appeared to have slightly turned over as it wasn't very clear. So it was one of the few times when fishing Hebgen seemed futile. There were lots (I counted about 50) baetis along the river, and we found one pod of consistently rising fish (alas this section of the river is closed until May).
The estuary is interesting water and hosts some big rainbows.
But, the point is that there are definitely sections of Hebgen that are ice-free and on less windy days, I have no doubt that the fishing is lights out (rumor has it that the South Fork Arm and Whiskey Bay also have open water - the north shore has a ways to go). It takes a little work to get there, but anyone who has fished Hebgen knows of the reward.
On Saturday I towed the camper out to the lower Madison and floated Black's Ford to Greycliff with Clay, Brady, Caroline, Josh Duchateau and his fiance' Sandy. The fishing was good for the first half of the float (for everyone but me, but I digress...). The closer we got to the takeout, the bonier and less fishy the water became. We capped the day with beers around a campfire, enduring that infamous lower Madison wind. We hit the hay thinking the wind would soon stop; alas it gusted and gusted all night. It was kind of insane. I got up at about 6, broke down and came home.
The rest of them floated again today and apparently the fishing was quite good, but windier yet. I wish I could've joined them, but I popped home to get my aggressive dog before last night's campfire, so I was on my own.
Also, last Wednesday I found some new public water on Bozeman's locally "secret" stream. It's a place that doesn't have much for public land so it's always good to find more. The fishing was good - they wanted the baetis nymph.

Macro what? Wha-cro lens?

I promised my dog I'd spend some time with him today, but I also thought I'd try to sneak in some fishing, so I headed over to the Yellowstone across from Mayor's Landing. Alas it was quite windy (I'm sure it was more than the 26 mph winds that weather.com said), so I decided to hike along the river instead of fish.



Along the way, I stopped to check for bugs and got some photos with my Canon point-and-shoot. I used the "super macro" and am impressed with the results. You can virtually put the end of the lens on the subject and it still focuses, and it was way easier than my slr macro lens to hold steady. It makes me wonder if I shouldn't put the lens on the open market and get some cash for it.
Incidentally, the baetis are looking semi-cooked - they didn't look quite ready to pop.
From top to bottom: Midge larva, baetis nymphs, cased caddis.

Finding that swagger on the Boulder

The (Big Timber) Boulder River is wide awake, and not just down low. I decided to head over there after seeing that temperatures had reached about 54 degrees at Big Timber already - it was my best shot at some blue-winged olives. But instead of staying low and maybe catching some mayflies and run-up rainbows, I decided to fish new water at the Boulder Forks FAS, which was good because I was able to fish the West Boulder for the first time.
Both rivers are absolutely stunning, with gin-clear water in beautiful settings. A fresh coat of powder made the scene all the more gorgeous. It was the warmest 32 degress I've felt in a long time, and the wind was minimal. Peace and trout.
Both the mainstem and the West Boulder were fishing - small fish in small pockets on the West, bigger fish in nicer runs on the main (appar- ently, the West de-iced only a couple weeks ago). I managed to bring a 19-inch rainbow to hand - a nice stepping stone on my way to filling Brady's shoes on Fridays.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to get better at holding fish for grip-n-grins (and more creative in shooting them). It doesn't make it any easier when you have to set the timer, balance the camera on a rock and hope it's in focus. At least it validates my claim.
For the third week in a row there were good numbers of winter stoneflies - I've seen more in the past three weeks than I thought existed in the world.
I wouldn't mind getting back over there before long - but we have other fish to fry (so to speak). Stillwater River, anyone?

Winter stones, skwala nymphs and the Big Hole

Got back to the Big Hole, my favorite river du jour. The fish were hungry - unfortunately the whitefish were hungrier than the trout. For the first time, I actually got sick of catching them (I'm usually happy just to catch a fish). It was all about the size 10 yellowish variegated-chenille girdle bug (which I fish as a skwala nymph, and I assume they take as one), and the occasional Copper John. I only fished a small chunk of water downstream of the Maiden Rock Fish & Game access, but there are several holes there, all with fish. Clay, Brady and Josh Duchateau fished upstream and I'm sure hammered fish.
There were a few midges, but more winter stoneflies. I saw three fish rise so I threw on a size 14 Royal Wulff at the end of the day, but got no respect.
There were tall ice shelves, but they had mostly receded. I heard that the river is actually ice-free (for the most part) down- stream of Jerry Creek, which is kind of crazy this early in the season. I've seen several harbingers of a low-water year (fishing closures) and I will add this to the list.
And I have to mention the huge fish Josh D. and Brady got at the Upper Clark Fork on Thursday. I'd love to post pics, but they're not my intellectual property so you'll just have to imagine the long beautiful browns and obese, ornery rainbows. Several 20-plus-inchers.
I took last Friday off as I had the opportunity to work, and that night we celebrated my 30th birthday with homemade sushi and Salmonfly Honey Rye. They tell me it was a good time - I have reason to believe it was.
On a side note, Brady's work schedule will prevent him from fishing on Fridays for the foreseeable future. That puts the onus of producing impressive fish squarely on Clay and me. We can do it. We can do it...

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".

Upper Clark Funk

The Upper Clark Fork ain't an easy place to fish. We narrowly avoided a second-straight triple skunk. I've got a few things to learn about the UCF, but I'm an eager pupil. Oh, and it was windy. But like has been said, catching dandy trout in the largest Superfund site is good, no matter what.

Merry spooky coyote!

I went to see if what I'd been telling people in my column was true - it was. Fish were rising to midges at La Duke hot spring on the Yellowstone River in December. My credibility breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't know whether to thank me for being right or to slap me for the taking the chance.
I didn't fish tho, cuz it was windy, I had the dog, the fish looked small, and frankly, I didn't feel like it.
Regarding the coyote (to avoid rewriting, I'll quote from an e-mail I sent my mom about the coyote): "As for the coyote - that was my cue to get the heck outta there. I have no idea what happened. I was just driving on some back road by the Church Universal and Triumphant (that doomsday cult down by Gardiner that apparently has sniper towers, etc) and saw this freshly dead coyote hanging in a tree. The leg it was hanging by had been skinned to the bone for about 3 or 4 inches and the other back ankle had a ring around it. There was some blood around its front right armpit (no cut tho), but other than that it looked fine."
It was spooky.

Three Dollar, Make You Holler...

Cabin fever got the best of us and we headed up to Three Dollar Bridge yesterday. As Brady said, "Still haven't had a bad day there." Fish were caught - nothing huge but that's okay. When it's barely 25 degrees, merely catching trout will suffice. (trout photo courtesy CTK)

Bald-faced fish stories

"... I caught 96 brookies in 45 minutes," said the red-bearded liar sitting adjacent to me at the tire shop. The shop employee and I, who had been engaged in a pleasant fly fishing exchange, gave each other a quick glance of "sure ya did, pal".
Exaggeration is commonplace in recalling fish tales, but let's not treat our fellow anglers as stupid. That's one fish every 28.125 seconds, including cast, rise, hook set, battle, landing and release.
Hundred-fish days, while possible, are often questioned and rarely occur. Hundred-fish hours, are bald-faced lies.

Heavy hearts

My friend Brady and his wife Caroline, also my friend, floated and fished the Yellowstone today. A former co-worker of mine and former and current coworker of Brady's body was found the other day after being reported missing a few days earlier. The cause is what you suspect. Everyone who knew the guy is sad about it. I'm grieving. We threw hoppers with heavy hearts.

The search for a fishable evening caddis hatch

I fished the upper Ruby yesterday with the intention of staying until dark to finally fish an evening caddis hatch on clear, moving water. Well, the water was clear, but the skies weren't and I was washed away by about 6 p.m. Alas, I had many options on the drive back to Belgrade. So I stopped at the lower Ruby near the dam - no caddis. Even further down the Ruby at Alder Bridge - caddis, clear water and risers - but the water was running so high that I could not get underneath a bridge to the rising fish (and I wasn't about to try anything funny with those notorious four-wheelin' Ruby River landowners keeping watch). Then there's the upper Madison - but I decided to forgo it in favor of the lower as time was running short and I knew right where to go on the lower. Or did I. There was a good hatch (bright, white caddis) and clear water, but, as has been the case there lately, no rising fish. I did catch a good brown drake hatch, but again, thefish didn't care. I'm gonna try again tonight somewhere around Livingston. Here's hoping...

It looked like a World War II movie...

...as the salmonflies kept coming and coming and coming as far as the eye could see, like a fleet of B17s. I had no idea that salmonflies hatched in numbers like that.
This was Friday on the Big Hole. The river was rippin', but there was enough visibility. Our oarsman was white-knuckled and alert all day, and he did a great job keeping us afloat.
Fishing was good, not great. Make that our fishing was good, not great. We had enough rises, but we couldn't get hooks into some of them.
But it was an awesome day, just seeing that kind of hatch. I hope to hit it again next year.

Happy Mother's Day Caddis

I have waited til Sunday evening to post this, so I hope I'm not giving away anybody's perceived secret, but the Mother's Day caddis are ALL OVER the Yellowstone (and I've heard they're starting on the Madison). I spent my past two days floating caddis dries and nymphs through the Yellowstone's surprisingly clear water. Floated the bird section both days, and while the bugs were thick, the fish were not up on them like I would have liked. But they were rising sporadically in most places and heavily in the foam back eddies. Ultimately, both days were outstanding and an absolute blast. Unfortunately, I'll bet the Stone's only got hours before she's blown out for the duration. At least we got a couple days in. Too bad it doesn't work out so nicely every year.

Suddenly surrounded by boats...

Within five days, my two best fishing buddies both got boats. One got a used raft with a fishing frame - a perfectly adequate floating device - and the other got a pristine, brand new Montana Boat Builders custom Freestone wood driftboat that his brother spent months hand crafting. I guess I can throw my waders away.

Another year older, another inch on the fish story...

Me: Is there a dress code at the Rib and Chop House?
Brady: Yeah.
Me: Cuz all I have are my sweat pants.
Brady: Oh, that's fine.

Myself and two friends spent my birthday fishing Nelson's Spring Creek in Paradise Valley, Montana on Saturday. Fishing was good for the most part; there were slow periods and the incessant wind was bothersome. But the fish were nice and it's always fun to sight fish to big, wild trout.

After fishing, we sneaked a peek at a friend's beautiful almost-ready-to-float wooden drift boat - it's looking awesome should be ready to rock soon.

We capped the night at Montana's Rib and Chop House, and 14 succulent ounces of pork chop rejuvenated my spirit after a full day of challenging fishing.

Soon there will be skwalas, followed by caddis, and many midges mixed in. Fishing is going to be very good, very shortly...

Delight and dismay at Depuy Spring Creek

Forcefully pushing my Bugger across the stream, an epic gale nearly put me in the drink. It's tough to maintain your balance when your feet are a foot into the muck. But, that's just another day fishing one of Paradise Valley's spring creeks in the offseason.

We hit Depuy's yesterday because the forecast was for temps around 40. To our delight, the temps were actually around 45 when we woke up. To our dismay, there were sustained winds of 35 to 50 miles per hour, with gusts to 75. To our casual delight, winds were forecast to "diminish" by mid-day. Plus there's always the chance that the winds will somehow blow over the top of Depuy's property. So we got there at about 11:15 a.m. and to no one's surprise, it was pretty windy.

But the fishing was decent - everyone landed at least a couple fish in the intermittent spots when a cast was possible. By about 3 p.m., a mini-blizzard had plastered snow to our waders and we decided we'd had enough.

Even with all the adversity, it was still worth the off-season rate of $40. It's a place that will get hatches (more than just midges, too), won't be frozen over, and will have fish that are more than slightly awake. And despite the fact that it's often the only option, there's rarely anyone else there. I'm shocked that more locals don't take advantage of these glorious fisheries.

But I won't complain too much - it's nice to have the run of the place to yourself.

Mahogany duns

I am really starting to get skeptical about fly shop fishing reports (one unnamed shop, in particular, which I frequent based on promixity). Some examples:

• "Blue winged olives seem to be the predominant hatch in the late afternoons making for some good dry fly fishing on the overcast days." Wrong. The dominant hatch has unquestionably been the mahogany duns. They're all over, sunny or overcast. There has been sparse bwo hatches on overcast days, but that's it.
  
• A buddy of mine was recently in this same shop, and they told him there aren't actually October caddis on the Gallatin. They said that while these bugs look like October caddis, they're actually something else, a couple sizes smaller. (buzzer sound). While the Gallatin does get these smaller bugs (that are still big, orange caddis, just have lighter-colored wings and are a couple sizes smaller than the 'real' October caddis - the same patterns will work for both), it definitely, without a doubt, gets October caddis. They're size 6 to size 8, have dark wings, and the distinct vein pattern that the 'real' October caddis have.
  
• No shop's fishing report has ever mentioned the October caddis hatch on the Gallatin. If they truly knew the river and what was going on, October caddis would definitely get a mention because Orange stimmies (or any dry caddis pattern tied in a size 8 with an orange body) will get voracious strikes anytime after 6 p.m. in September and early October. If you see even a single October caddis, tie one on, cuz the fish will go bonkers for it.
  
• "The Yellowstone has been fishing well. Cloudy weather will make for thick baetis hatches, and streamer fishing is continuing to improve." Wrong. The baetis have been virtually absent thus far, and the fish are definitely not chasing streamers yet. Ask somebody who's fished it lately. Seriously...
  

I could continue, but ... I just wish the spread of disinformation would cease. If you don't know, say you don't know. Don't just pretend.

October caddis

For those of you who haven't discovered the joy of the October caddis hatch, let me tell ya - it's great. Here on the Gallatin River, it's certainly not a blanket hatch. In fact, I've never seen more than a couple on the water at a time. But it doesn't matter - the fish know they're there and will hammer an orange Stimulator. They've been hatching for a couple/three weeks already, and still going steady. Get out there and enjoy a great and underappreciated hatch.

Mayfly identification?

I need a little help with a few bugs i came across lately ....