biggie's bugs and ramblings

2010-05-26T16:51:00.002-06:00

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Never any wind in Livingston!

2009-02-05T09:08:00.004-07:00

"Swans on Depuy's"

With 50 degree weather the need to get outside and play over rode the requirements of my to do list at home. Jason called and wanted to fish so I took a look at the internet weather reports and saw that the wind was blowing a consistent 34 MPH out of the South with gust to 50. I called Jason back and we planned on a quick fish on the Gallatin later in the day. Just to be sure the weather underground was accurate I placed a call over to Livingston to get a real time in person report. They told me it was a bit breezy but not all that bad, which for a Livingston resident means that if you can open the door without the aide of a numatic jack than it is calm outside. I called Jason back and mentioned that the Gallatin wasn't that interesting to me and that we should give it a shot over the hill, he needed to return a pair of broken waders anyways so we headed over the pass.

"Loomis, Trico and Jackson"

We made it to Bailey's to exchange the waders and once we stepped out of the truck the typical Livingston breeze was blowing close to the report from the internet. We exchanged the waders and headed up the river to check out the prospect of getting some firewood from RY timber. There wasn't much left in the wood pile so we deemed coming back with a trailer for a load of wood as useless. Even with the steady wind we proceeded up the valley to check to see if the wind was less above the Wine Glass gap. We stopped at the outflow of Depuy's to let the dogs run around a bit as well as drown a couple of flies. The wind was managable but the fish were not interested in either of the two flies that I had on my rod. The local sherriff stopped by to see how the fishing was and to give us a few pointers on where to get em with a worm sunk on the bottom. There were a few midges flying around on the Yellowstone and we witnessed one whitefish rising to the occassion. After the dogs wore off some energy and snapping a few photo's of the swans on Depuy's we headed for the Trail Creek route back to Bozeman.

"Elk on the Hillside"

Heading up the dirt road we spotted two nice groups of elk on the hillside and Jason scanned the herd for any sizable bulls. There were a couple of smaller bulls in the herd but nothing that made the jaw drop. It was a nice ride over the pass and we returned home content with knowing we at least got out and let the dogs burn off some energy.

Sometimes you have to be flexible!

2008-04-30T21:59:00.006-06:00

Another day in paradise started off with a boat full of snow and a slick wet harrowing drive over the pass to Livingston. Four inches of new snow greeted me this morning just after I spent the previous day washing the truck and spit shining the drift boat. I got an early start so I arrived in Livingston with plenty of time to spend another ten bucks at the Car wash in Livingston, clearing the snow that drifted from the back of the truck into the boat. After clearing the snow and getting the boat ready for the day I headed to the shop to meet my clients for the day. Livingston only got a dusting but the rain and warm weather from the previous two days had caused the Lamar to spit out a plug of muddy water and it was just about to hit town. On the ride over I was greeted with a weather advisory for a high wind warning from Livingston to Reed Point. The mud coming down the valley left us with no option for escaping the wind and we had to commit to a float below town to stay away from the mud.

The clients were ready and eager when I got to the shop at 8:15 and after the usual paperwork, looking over the gear and picking out a few flies for the day we made our way for Springdale. Rob Olsen was my guide partner for the day and we were being joined by four ministers from around the country. Jeremy was from Memphis, Glenn resided in Washington D.C., Bill was from Austin and Tom hailed from San Antonio. They were all minister that meet in seminary school and had been making an annual trip somewhere each year to catch up and enjoy each others company.

When we got to Springdale Doug and Mike were at the ramp getting their boat ready in a steady 20 mph wind with gust into the 30's. I talked to Rob to see if he was interested in changing our plans and wading the Boulder instead of taking a sailing trip down the Yellowstone. He told me he was up for anything so I headed over to talk with the group about the new plan. They were open to anything and told me all they really cared about was catching some fish, seeing some nice scenery and having a good time. My job was to guide them through the day and make sure they had a great time. I headed over to Rob and told him they were up to driving the extra distance to try and get a break from the wind. We left Doug and Mike and wished them luck with their sailing venture. When we arrived in Big T we dropped the boats at the Super 8 and headed up the Boulder Valley. As we crossed the river at the 8 mile bridge the river was pretty off color, I hoped it was just the West Fork and by the time we got to the next bridge the river had turned to a rustic red color and I had thoughts of spending a wasted day driving around burning fuel for no good reason.

We arrived at the Forks and thankfully the West Fork was the culprit and the Main stem of the river was in great shape. The guys pulled on their waders and Rob and I rigged the rods. The wind was still blowing pretty hard but at least we had a bit of protection in the river bottom with all the trees and high banks. We headed down stream and got everyone into their fishing positions. I set Tom in his spot and headed a bit further downstream with Glenn. Glenn hooked and landed a nice rainbow right out of the gate and I knew we had made a good choice. We spent the rest of the morning landing some very nice rainbows and by lunch we were pretty satisfied with the fishing. The river was starting to get some color as the day progressed and when we met back up with Rob, Bill and Jeremy it had gone from gin clear to a couple feet of visibility.

We had a very nice lunch on the bank of the West Fork and after everyone had a full belly we headed back to the truck for some more fishing. We headed up the river to another spot and when we arrived at the new access the river clarity had taken a turn for the worse. Clarity had dropped to around a foot and there was starting to be some floating debris in the water. I was sure that we were in for a quick end to the day but as the afternoon progressed the clarity got a bit better and we ended the day with a foot and a half of clarity. The afternoon fishing was not as consistent but we did manage to catch a few more fish and the hot bug of the day was a wire worm. The day ended with a few more fish under the bridge and we sent the ministers for a quick sight seeing trip up to the natural bridge. I headed back to town to fulfill my fatherly duties and attend the coaches T-Ball meeting to pickup the equipment and the team roster for the 2008 Season. We should have a fun team full of friends and cousins who will surely bring plenty of smiles and laughs to all of us as they swarm after the ball.

Blizzards, Bighorn and Baetis!

2008-04-29T09:38:00.004-06:00

The 2008 guide season is off to a furious pace and has left me with little time to sit and publish any journal entries for the past two weeks. It all got underway with a trip to the Bighorn where we had some very good fishing. The first two days of the trip were spent managing crowds and finding hot spots to fish on the ten mile float from 3 to B. I was paired with two great guys, one who had lots of experience and another who was pretty much a neophyte. Frank was a very nice guy who loved the sport of fly fishing and we turned his Buddie into a fly addict as well. At the time of this writing many of the clients are turning into one so I am having a senior moment, which shouldn't be happening to a man of 36, and I can't remember his name. Either way great progress was made on the casting front and the ability to detect a strike on an indicator. The fish were still very keyed in on midges and they were starting to respond to baetis nymphs fished on the bottom. Sow bugs and scuds were a major disappointment as the fish were not interested in them whatsoever, and that is strange on the Bighorn. Lots of fish were brought to net and the first two days were very successful. Day three brought a delima of trying to figure out where all the people were going to be. The Montana State board of Trout Unlimited had 27 guys on the river and there was also another internet message board of 10 guys on the river as well. You can also add in a group of 10 current and retired Vail Associates ski patrol, lift maintenance and higher ups that were on their annual Bighorn festival outing as well. These three groups in and of themselves made for a good number of boats on the water. I picked up Frank and his buddy and I made the decision to fish the upper three, in hopes of the crowds either floating the whole 13 miles or just fishing the lower 10. My plan came together great and we had a fun day fishing a different section of the river. The highlight of the last day was setting up in the Drum hole and seeing the first solid baetis hatch of the year on the Bighorn. The fish were on the adults strong and we managed to hook and land a decent number of fish on dries, which was a wonderful change from staring at a strike indicator for the first two days.

Upon arriving home I we were greeted with a nice winter storm that left us cold and wet. A couple days of getting gear back in shape and cleaning up from the Bighorn left me ready to set out on the next round of trips. The Orvis Rendezvous came to town and after collecting my free swag for sitting through a morning presentation about the Orvis company and their new Helios rod I set out with the boys from Breckenridge outfitters to float the Lower Madison. The river was dirty when we arrived and the skies were cold and over cast. We managed to turn up a half dozen nice fish on a black bugger trailed with a pink worm and as we hit the boat ramp to take out the snow flakes began to fly. It was only the start of three more days of cold wet weather on the rivers.

On Thursday the I awoke to horrible weather with temps in the mid 20's and 4 inches of new snow in the boat. I made the harrowing drive over the Bozeman Pass to meet my sports for the next two days. They were both new to the art of fly fishing and there was no way in hell that I was going to put them in a drift boat in 30 degree weather and a blizzard. After introductions and a quick discussion on the day ahead we called up Depuy's and got two rods so that we could use the warming huts to stay out of the weather. Rookies on the spring creeks is quite a challenge but it was much better than the alternative of sitting in the boat. Marty was fire fighter from a suburb of Chicago and his father in law Dick was a business man in the same area. They both wanted to give fly fishing a try and we spent most of the day working out the kinks of casting and how to control the line. They both made good strides and we had a great time trying to catch rising fish in Depuy's, which is rather difficult when 20 feet is a good cast. We did manage to land some fish and they both really enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about how to use a fly rod.

Day Two brought more weather in and the day started with a trip to the car wash to spray out the left over snow and make room for more snow later in the day. We headed up the Yellowstone to the Grey Owl put in and the weather was similar to the day before, we had silver dollar size snow flakes falling but the air temp was a bit warmer and the wind was calm. The day started out with Rubberlegs and PT nymphs trailed under indicators. We fished the middle of the river and had a great time hooking whitefish and getting used to fighting fish. The sun broke out briefly as we hit the Paradise campground so we took a break and ate some lunch. We did managed to land a couple of trout before lunch along with a couple dozen whitefish. After lunch the baetis starting to pop and I tied on dry flies with small bead droppers. We pushed off from shore and we caught a few nice fish as we floated down the river. Dick broke off his flies at the irrigation pump and I dropped anchor to retie some more bugs on his rod. The fish were rising fast a furious in the small slot but the anchor had slipped and we were out of either of their casting ranges. I picked up the rod and gave them a lesson on how to make a reach cast. It took a good 40 foot cast to get to the fish and it took two cast to bring a small rainbow to the boat. I'm not big on bragging about my skills but both of their jaws were wide open and they were amazed with how easy I made it look. I gave the rod back to Dick and left them in astonishment over the skills of their guide. We pulled anchor and headed for the deep run above the YVR and the fish were going completely ape over baetis adults. The wind was howling as it pushed in a new front and casting was a bit difficult to say the least. After spending a half hour watching them struggle I decided to head down river to the hole across from the YVR where the wind would be more of a help than a hindrance. As I pushed through the fast water to the spot I knew they would be rising in the skies opened up with some of the largest snow flakes I have ever seen, and they were full of water. We hit the spot and the fish were going nuts. Dick had knee replacement surgery earlier in the year so I positioned the boat so he did not need to get out. Marty headed up stream of the boat and immediately started hooking one fish after another. Dick's first cast landed a nice cutthroat and they were both really excited to see a native fish from the river. The snow continued to fall for a half hour and the fish never let up until the sun popped out and melted the newly fallen snow. It was a glorious half hour and one I will not forget for a long time. We finished up the day with picking off a few more fish that were feeding on left over baetis and it was a very memorable trip for them both.

Saturday brought another set of clients from Southern California. I had set them up with my good friend Jamie for a float on Friday and they had floated the lower part of the Yellowstone and caught some nice fish on nymphs. They also got the privilege of freezing their tails off in the snow storm and when I arrived at the Murray to pick them up they still looked cold from the previous days float trip. They had a good time with Jamie and an even better story to tell me about the trip with him. Bill takes a bit of convincing to feel comfortable with some aspects of fishing and he was a bit skeptical of the guides he was setup for his trip to Montana. They were sitting in the Murray Bar on the night they had arrived in town and they met a woman at the bar. They were telling her that they were scheduled to go on a trip with some guides they did not know and that they were uncertain of the trip. The woman at the bar told them her husband was a guide and that if things didn't work out for them that her husband would do a great job for them. She ask them who they were supposed to fish with and they told her that the guides name was Jamie Benedickt. She got a big grin on her face and told them that this was her husband and the card she was pulling from her pocket book was his. They had a lot to talk about since Tina is a local wine rep for one of the distributors in town and Bill and Ramsay are both in the wine industry back in California. She also gave them some insider information to razz Jamie about and when they got in the boat with him they played with him for a few hours before letting him know they had drinks with his wife in the bar. Jamie was glad he did not make an ass out of himself and there day was fun despite the weather.

I picked them up at the Murray and we were off to Depuy's. Bill and Ramsay have both fished in a lot of places and they were very excited to get to challenge their skills on the famous waters of Depuy's Spring Creek. We started out at the lower hut and both of them hooked fish on nymphs right out of the gate. I knew they wanted to try their hand at some dry fly fishing and there were a good number of fish feeding on midges early on. We reeled up and headed for the pod of rising fish that had been above the pond a few days ago and when we got there the fish were feeding veraciously on the surface. We spent the next couple of hours fishing to rising fish and watching them sniff the fly and refuse it. Both of them were astonished by the selective fish and how tough they could be to catch. We pretty much worked them over for a few hours and it was time to head for the hut for a quick bite to eat. I pulled out the grill and quickly cooked up a nice flank steak that I had marinated in a special seasoning blend. They fished for a few minutes while I prepared the meal that fit nicely with a fine bottle of Etude Pinot. Since they were both wine experts I decided to dazzle them with a nice lunch and bottle of wine. It payed off when they both mentioned never having this good of a meal on a fishing trip. We finished up the feast and headed for the upper end of the creek in search of more rising fish. Not much was going on with the bright sunshine so I headed them to the slough where fish actively cruise and sip left over meals. It is a fun spot to fish since you can watch the fish move and try and position a cast in front of their path. Ramsay missed a nice rainbow and we watched a rather large brown trout makes his path around the slough. I told Ramsay that that was the fish I wanted to see him catch and low a behold ten minutes later he placed a perfect cast in front of the monster and the fish swam lazily towards the fly. I was pretty certain the fish was going to turn off the fly but he headed straight for it and Ramsay and I got to witness one of the most amazing rises I have seen in a long time. The fish was coming straight at us and he poked his head up out of the water and the whites of his mouth looked like a great white shark as he sipped in our midge offering. Ramsay made a nice calm hook set and the fish took off like a bat out of hell in the shallow water. The run was a bit much for the 6X tippet and the fly came back at us almost as quickly as the fish has eaten it. Even though we did not land the fish it was an amazing fish and I am sure Ramsay had a hard time falling asleep to the image of the fish's mouth open wide and sucking in his dry fly. I know I did. We finished off the day and I received a very nice email from Bill thanking me for a wonderful trip. I hope our July trip is just as successful and I look forward to sharing more of Montana with Bill and his guest.

Sunday left me a day to spend with family and a chance to relax from the week that was behind me. Reece and I hit the Hot Springs for a swim and spent the afternoon napping in front of the Television. It was a very relaxing day before setting back out on the water on Monday.

Monday was going to be an easy day with just one angler and a couple of dogs in the boat. Brian works for a company that supplies my wife's company with product and he wanted to get out and do a float. The weather forecast was promising warm weather, with temps in the low 70's and light winds. I picked him up at the Holiday Inn and we headed for the Yellowstone. When we got to Livingston the winds were not so light and I held my breath hoping it was just the gap wind that Livingston is famous for. I called in my shuttle to Toots and we headed for Pine Creek. When we arrived at Pine creek the wind was calm and the sun was warm and high in the sky. I was hoping the clouds would roll in for some baetis activity but it was not looking promising. There were only two other vehicles with trailers in the lot so I knew we would have much of the float to ourselves. Dave Mckee was already in the water ahead of us and the other group was in a raft. As I got the rods ready another vehicle pulled up and Dave and James Warren jumped out the vehicle. We chatted for a moment and I put the boat in the water. We started out nymphing with a Rubberleg and Blue Copper John. The fish were eating the copper john well and by 11 I made a stop to let the dogs out and to wade fish a small side channel. I looked closely at the rip rap on the other bank and noticed the first caddis of the season. It got my juices flowing knowing that we were on the verge of the annual mothers day caddis hatch in the days to come.

We caught several nice fish from the side channel and headed back for the boat. We were doing well with the copper john so I decided to leave the flies as is for the time being. As we floated along the next bank I started to see a few more caddis and we even had a few land in the boat. I pulled in at the next shelf and dropped anchor for Brian to make a few drifts through the deep drop. After missing one fish I decided to take a gamble and try fishing a caddis pupae just to see if the fish were looking for caddis at all yet. I switched out the rubber legs for a olive zonker and tied on a tan sparkle pupae. We pulled up anchor and stuck two fish back to back on the caddis pupae across from Charlie's old house that fell into the river during the 96 floods. I guess that my question had been answered and the fish were looking for the pupae and larvae already. The caddis continued to bounce around in small numbers and I started to have thoughts of grandeur about the hatch getting started. We fished down to the area where the river broke into the spring creeks and we had lunch in the deep slot above the fancy rip rap bank. There were few fish breaking the surface and it looked like they were eating emerging caddis. After lunch I rigged up my five weight with a royal stimulator and a tan pupae off the back. Brian managed to land a nice bow on the pupae and I told him we were going to dry fly or die for a little bit. The pupae took a few more fish but it was not really hot and heavy so I decided to switch to a larvae imitation instead. Bingo the fish responded right away and we spent the rest of the day picking off fish from heavy rip rap banks and deep shelves the rest of the float. The wind picked up about the time we hit Carters and there were few caddis still out and about. My thoughts of maybe catching the hatch right as it starts was dashed for the day but the fish were all over a mangy caddis and a king prince. We caught fish all the way to the 9th street take out and the day was finished up with a moose cow and her calf on the bank just above the take out, right in the middle of town. It was a wonderful day and we will have to see what happens with the hatch. Today may be a great day but I need to get ready for tomorrow's trip and take care of some errands and bill paying before I hit the river again.

The forecast is calling for cold weather to move back in tonight so we may have delay in the hatch until it warms up again. I did not expect to see much of a hatch this year on the Yellowstone with all the low elevation snow but the cool weather may give us a break and let us fish a day or two before the river gets dirty and blows the hatch out. Only time will tell.

Leaving the Real World Behind

2008-04-16T07:42:00.003-06:00

Round two of 5 Bighorn trips for this spring begins today. The bags are packed and I will be dropping Reece off at school and heading East. A couple of quick stops in Livingston to finalize next weeks guide trips and to pick up a new pair of bootfoot waders. Then it's on to the middle of the Crow Reservation and a date with a group from San Diego for three days of netting fish. The trips to the Bighorn are usually a good time but life takes a turn from reality with a lack of contact with the outside world. The isolation from Television, the Internet and even newspapers is a great relaxation but I would have no idea if George Bush got an itch and decided to invade another oil producing country to help line his buddies pockets with even higher fuel prices for American consumers.

With that being said my fuel cost for getting to the river and back will run around $200 which takes a bite out of buying new clothes for the boy or taking the family out for a nice weekend getaway. My tax rebate won't be going back into the economy as our trusty government officials hope it will. No new TV or electronic purchases, no new cars, no new toys. My rebate will be going to household bills and into the pockets of excessive profits for Exxon, Cononco and BP.

Enough with the tirade, for those few readers who visit the site I hope that you have a great end of the week and I will post a full report of the good times and the mishaps that take place on the Bighorn for the next few days. I am sure there will be more memories like last years alteration of the table in our cabin so that I could fit my fly tying vise on it. Until then good luck fishing and have a great weekend.

The Big Swing!

2008-04-15T15:21:00.008-06:00

Tax day had me feeling a bit depressed since I had to send most of my savings to the feds and the state, so after putting in a hour with my buddy spraying doors we decided to get out and enjoy the warm weather. With temps in the mid to high 70's we hitched up the Jet boat and headed for the Missouri in search of carp and a possible pike bite that has been rumored around town. As we pulled into Manhattan for a few road soda's, slice of pizza and a few snacks the wind almost blew us off the highway. The winds were steady at 20 to 25 but we left Manhattan with optimistic thoughts of some shelter in the canyon stretch of the Upper Missouri. The wind continued to pick up as we headed West and when we got to the turn off to head for the Mo the air quality had dropped to a very poor rating from the fallow fields that were being swept to Great Falls by the wind. I was really glad that I didn't live in Townsend because from the turn off it looked like you needed a respirator to be outside from all the dust in the air.

We bumped up the road to the put in and when we got there the canyon was providing a little bit of protection from the horrific wind. We decided that since we bounced the boat down the 6 miles of wash board road that we would go ahead and put the boat in the water. The water was slightly off color but the waves were not bad and we shoved off in search of some fish. We made it up the river about a mile and we decided to take a quick ride up the river to check on a feeder stream that dumps into the river. We went past the creek and pulled to shore to let the dogs take a run and burn off some of their energy.

The wind was still gusting and there were some sheltered bends along the river where we decided to pull in a run some lures. Our real search was for a pike so we pulled out the bait casters and spin rods rigged with # 4 bucktail spinners. We fished for a few minutes but the wind made it tough to keep the boat in position. We decided this was not our day so we fired up the E-Tech and went for another boat ride. We wanted to see how far up the river we could go and after bucking the head wind for a half hour we arrived at a fishing access site midway through this section of river. We were excited to make it all the way to the access and it will definitely come in handy this fall for some duck hunting and a bit of out of the way pheasant hunting as well.

The river was pretty easy to run and we arrived back at the truck in about 20 minutes. We fished near the boat ramp for about 20 minutes and I managed to snag one carp square in the back just above the tail. It was a lot of carp and I really glad when the hook came out and the large lure did not hit me in the head. We called it a day and headed back to town with some good allergy problems and a nice sunburn from taking off my hat all day.

After two days of weather in the 70's we awoke to snow this morning and temps in the low 30's. I just returned home from picking up supplies for my three days of guiding on the Bighorn and the temp on my truck was a balmy 31 degrees. About 5 inches of heavy wet snow have fallen already and they are calling for more of the same this evening and into tomorrow. I hope it quits snowing before I leave for the Bighorn tomorrow morning and that it warms up a bit for the guys I will be guiding from San Diego through the rest of the week. You have to love spring time in the Rockies.

Risk, Reward, not on the Jeff.

2008-04-14T08:07:00.002-06:00

Each year I get a wild hair to float the Jefferson and get away from the rest of the angling world. Usually it becomes a nice scenic float with a fish or two coming to the boat. My good friend Peter, who grew up in the Jefferson Valley was eager to hit his home water so we planned to pick his brother up and hit the river. I arrived to pick Peter up and we had a couple of inches of new snow in town. We loaded up the dogs and the gear and made the 60 mile trek to Whitehall to pick up Wade. When we arrived at the ranch his parents were on their way to Sunday's Church service. Peter and I took a few pop shots at the gophers in the pasture and picked Wade up at the house. We headed up river to the Headwaters of the Jefferson and dropped Wade's truck at the take out. The weather was warming nicely and when we put the boat in at Twin Bridges the day looked very promising.

Wade has only fly fished a couple of times and we spent the first ten minutes getting him back in the groove. The Beaverhead was pretty dirty with about a foot of visibility so we tied on black buggers and a worm for Wade while Peter and I took turns fishing streamers and rowing. When we got to the confluence with the Bighole we saw crystal clear water and kicked ourselves for not putting in on the Bighole rather than the Beaverhead. To this point we had not even had a bump or a legitimate take on the nymphs and thoughts of a typical Jefferson trip started to eat at the eagerness of having that rare day of good fishing on the river. We made a couple of stops so the dogs could run around and we could stretch our legs. Peter finally had a nice bow swirl at the streamer and we both got reinvigorated by the sight of the swirl. Peter gave up the front of the boat and I set out with the Kystal Bugger hoping to actually hook and land a fish. My first cast to the bank came tight quickly and a small brown was on for about a nano second. We both thought, ok maybe it was just taking the fish some time to get on the feed. Optimism is a great thing but it only gets you so far. I fished for another half hour and finally hooked a solid fish that lept from the water and spit the hook.

Peter and I had our fill of casting heavily weighted flies and decided to put on a dry fly just for fun. We weren't catching them on streamers so we figured it would not make any difference in our success to fish a dry and have some fun. Wade religiously fished his nymphs and we were both impressed with his go for it attitude. I tied on a Fat Freddy Skwala dry and proceeded to see how tight I could get it to the bank. Peter jumped back into the front of the boat and began his assault on the shoreline. We started to joke about opening a lodge on the Jefferson and how it was such a reliable fishery. We also said we could start an online "War of the World's" type rumor about the Skwala hatch on the Jefferson. Just as the conversation got more in depth a nice brown trout came to the surface and sucked in the Skwala dry fly that we had only tied on for fun. I guess that the Skwala god's were getting back at us for making fun of the hatch that doesn't really exist on the Jefferson. It was a great laugh and it put a topper on a slow day of fishing.

We hit the ramp and headed back down the valley with a quick stop at Peter's folks new house. The amount of wildlife that uses the Jefferson Valley is amazing and we saw everything from Deer, Elk, Turkey, Sand hill Cranes, Pelicans and lots of ducks and geese. With Turkey season just getting started this weekend I may have to break out the shotgun and to the river for some gobbler action, it surely would be more productive than fishing.

Winter's still got a grip

2008-04-08T09:38:00.002-06:00

As the Jayhawks were making their comeback against Memphis last night the erie orange glow came over Bozeman as another snow squawl moved into town. The flakes were wet and coming down at a moderate pace, slightly covering the grass and making the streets wet. As I turned out the lights and shut off the boob tube the flakes were still falling but there was not much accumulation on grass in the yard and it had been snowing for a couple of hours. However when I woke up this morning we were greeted with about 7 inches of heavy wet snow. I had planned to take my boat back out to the barn at my folks house but I got caught up running around town and never made it out to the house. I guess that is why it probably snowed so much and now I will have to let it sit in the sun and turn to water.

The good news is that we are continuing to get great moisture and after checking the Bridger Bowl snow report this morning they have had another 11 inches of snow from this storm, which is on top of the 20 inches they recieved on Saturday night. For the year they have had 392 inches of cold smoke and have settled base depth of 119 inches. They also have extended the season by one week and I am sure that they could remain open through April with the snow they have right now, but the Forest Circus only permits them so many days and then they have to sut down operations. It has been a good snow year and I am looking forward to a great summer of fishing and hopefully I don't have to use my swift water rescue skills to often while I am out on the rivers this summer.

Only in these United States

2008-04-07T09:39:00.005-06:00

Bozeman was treated to another great "American" event with the Monster Nationals taking over the Brick Breeden Field house for two nights of shows. Once my 5 year old son Reece saw the commercial on TV I knew I was obligated to take him to the show. Fortunately our friends Cora and Len had free tickets from Cora's advertising job with the local TV network so I could free up some extra cash for a few over priced show souvenirs.

We arrived just as the show got started and thank god I took the advice of some friends and purchased some ear plugs prior to hitting the field house. The noise of these beastly trucks is amazing especially when you couple it with being held inside of an arena that amplifies the sound. The trucks were actually pretty amazing and the power and speed at which they travel was something to see. The evenings highlights for Reece were when one of the trucks attempted to do a donut, like we used to do in the High School parking lot and his tires got a bit to much grip sending him onto his roof. They quickly pulled the truck back over onto it's wheels with the lift and readied the truck for the next event. The next event was racing around the oval track and jumping the piles of cars. The same truck made his first run around the oval and on the second set of cars he went high in the air and landed hard, breaking off his front tire and nose diving into the stadium dirt. The crowd cheered with great enthusiasm and I am sure the owner of the truck wants to never return to Bozeman after all the cost he ensued from the his disastrous evening in the field house.

The evening finished up with a visit from megasaurus the fire breathing, car eating dinosaur. The lights went black in the "Brick" and the three story monster entered the arena. The kids loved the fire and flames but the dino was really a let down when he started to chew the car in half. I am also pretty sure the facility managers were not real excited about all the glass, metal and car parts being mixed in with the high dollar rodeo dirt that was laid on the field house floor for the event. The show ended with a stop at the souvenir stand and parting with 30 dollars for a couple of flags, a hat and a whiz bang boomerang. I can honestly say that the show was a pretty good time and it will be a couple weeks before Reece talks about anything else.

The Weekly Fly (Bob Jacklin's Giant Salmonfly)

2008-04-04T09:06:00.006-06:00

Hook: Tiemco #200r Size 4 and 6
Thread: Flo. Orange 210 Denier
Tail: None
Egg Sack: Black Elk or Deer Hair
Body: Salmon Fly Orange Dubbing over Dyed Black Elk Hair
Ribbing: Two Brown Saddle Hackles
Wing: Long Blond Elk Hair
Legs: Black Rubber Legs, Med
Head and Collar: Bullet Head Dyed Brown Deer Body Hair

I am very honored to know Bob and I have always enjoyed our conversations both in his shop and when he would stop by to say hello when I owned my shop. Bob's love for the sport and his compasion for sharing is second to none. Be sure and bookmark the weekly fly and check out all the great tiers who will be sharing patterns and stories.

Spring Break on the Bighorn

2008-04-02T11:44:00.010-06:00

Spring Break used be a week long break from attending school and plans for trips to Mexico, South Padre or Florida were on the plate. Now that most of my friends are past the age of seeking college party weeks I am settling in to more family oriented breaks. My son is not in school yet so I did not have to plan a week of keeping him entertained while he takes a break from school. My longtime friend, Mikey, is a 7th grade science teacher and he gets a week off in the spring. We planned our third spring break trip to the Bighorn and we all had a great time. I can honestly say that I have been friends with Mikey longer than anyone else on the planet, we were both in our mother's stomachs while our parents were on vacation in Mexico in 1971. Since that time we have been on many great adventures and shared both good times and bad since that trip to Mexico.

My dad and I left Bozeman on Monday morning to meet up with Mike's father Chris who now lives in Lewistown Montana. Rob who is from Boulder and Skip who lives in San Diego also were coming to the gathering since they were Chris's partners in crime while attending the University of Colorado back in the 60's. Skip is an aging hippy and retired architect. Rob basically has always just been "Screwing Around", but has been involved in a backpack manufacturing business as well as Colorado real estate. My dad and I pulled into Cottonwood Camp at around 4 pm and found a note on the counter in the Brown Palace. The boys were out fishing and they left us instructions for the two legs of lamb that were in the fridge. The lamb was in the oven at 325 and we unpacked our bags and let Trico run after a few pheasant scents in the nearby field.

The boys finally made it back to the camp, bundled in all their warm gear and ready for hot showers and a warm up from the 30 degree weather and 10 mph winds that blew most of the afternoon. They braved the elements because the dry fly fishing kicked into gear just as the sun was getting low. Mikey's dog Daisy had a big day lurking the banks feeding on goose droppings and watching the guys fish. I think her big first day made her a bit ill and as you can see in the following photo she spent the next day in this uncomfortable position.

Day two for the group got off to a slow start due to the cool weather and a few too many cocktails mixed with some recalling of the past that went well into the night. Mikey, my dad and I jumped into my boat while Chris, Rob and Skip jumped into Chris's boat. We set off from the 3 mile access at around 11 am and made our first stop at the 10 dollar hole. Chris and the Boulder wrecking crew stopped above the hole to check on the fast water that had been productive in the fall during their duck hunting trip. I mentioned that the fish like the fast riffles in the fall and the deep slow water in the spring. Mikey and I both had fish on our first few cast and my dad finally got his rod rigged and jumped in between us. I caught a few fish and then left my dad to have the upper end of the hole where I was getting fish pretty regularly on a zebra midge and a sow bug. Mikey was killing them in the slow drop off at the bottom end of the hole and by the time we each had 4 or 5 fish to the net the other boat pulled in. Chris was eager to fish his new found fly in the slow deep water below the main bucket that holds the majority of the fish. Chris has gotten into fishing 1/64 ounce jig heads with two colors of Marabou lashed to the hook. It took about three cast for the jig fly to entice a nice rainbow and he continued to hook fish in quick order for the next hour or so. The jig fly was an interesting concept and it produced fish from water that I have always looked past because of the lack of current and the uneasy approach to fishing it. I have done well fishing dries in the same area but that is the only time I have spent anytime fishing the large deep pool.

We moved on down the river and had good fishing in the Vines during the afternoon and early evening. The "Wrecking Crew" stopped on the Greycliff shelf and Skip and Rob did well nymphing with the usual suspects. Chris continued to fish his jig in the deep run below the main hole and it proved to be another productive spot for the Jig fly. Trico found the goose droppings enticing just as Daisy had the day before and I spent a good bit of my day chasing her away from her el natural feast. After spending a hour or so catching fish from the Vines we moved on down the river and found an open spot across from Mike's house. It took one cast to find a fish in the run and after about 20 minutes the crew arrived to see how we had done. We told them of our exploits in the Vines and Chris made a B-line from the boat to the slow deep water below the main run. The five of us took turns rotating through the hole and Chris pounded on the fish in the deep slow water with his jig.

At about 6:30 we made a run for the take out and another great meal. Mikey brought up some pheasants from his fall hunting and threw on a back strap from the cow elk he shot from his porch while using the grill on his deck as a shooting bench. Mikey said the only regret he had about harvesting his elk was that he forgot to light the grill before he squeezed the trigger. It was quite a feast and after dinner we all had a great laugh while Chris struggled to make a few more jig flies for the next day of fishing.

Day three was another cool day and we set out for another float late in the morning. We switched up the boats a bit but we spent most of the day fishing the same holes as a group. The highlight of the day was on our first stop across from the club. The fishing was fantastic and we left the old guys in the hole. Mikey and I took the dogs for a walk up the bank looking to flush a few birds from their hiding spots deep in the Russian Olives and Buffalo brush. As we made our way over to the old channel that hasn't seen flowing water in many years the dogs jumped up a group of Wigeons, Teal and Gadwalls that were resting in some standing water. Mikey and I quickly hid in the brush and called the dogs over to see if the birds would try and return to the luxury of the puddle off the main river channel. We sat and watched the ducks make fly by's over the puddle and we really wished we had a couple of decoy's to help make them feel like the puddle was a safe place to return. We watched and listened to the various calls and had a wonderful time on our simulated duck hunt. After 45 minutes of watching we headed back to the boats and found out that Mike's dad had also headed over to the channel and enjoyed the show as we had.

The rest of the day was spent stopping at spots and catching fish at all of them. I gave the jig a try and hooked a fish after 5 minutes of plying the depths with Chris. It was definitely an effective way to fish the slow water but the air and water temp was too cold to make it any fun. My fingers froze after a few minutes and I told Chris I would try it when it was warmer outside. One of the last stops we made that day was also very memorable as I left Rob and my dad at Turkey Point while I headed for the back channel to give Granamon's shelf a try. It took me about a half hour to land 20 fish and I waded back to the boat to fetch Rob, who had spent most of the first three days screwing around with his setup or walking the bank aimlessly. Rob is well know for just screwing around and accomplishing nothing. During college he used to leave Boulder and drive all the way to Moab Utah to screw around in the desert by himself for the weekend. I did not have enough daylight to allow Rob to rig his rod and I marched him and my dad across the channel and handed him my rod, that was already rigged with the appropriate flies and the correct amount of lead. He stuck a nice brown on his first cast and quickly brought it to the net. After landing a couple more browns and a rainbow he struck fast and the fish he fooled headed upstream fast. He did a great job turning it around and the fish took off downstream. My first assumption was that he had ass hooked the fish and we started off downstream to try and land the fish. My dad and Rob walked down the shallow shore line and I busted through the brush to get up on the bank to see what Rob had hooked. After running down the bank 30 or 40 yards I spotted a beastly Rainbow that was hooked square in the corner of the mouth. Rob was not making much progress so I told him I was going to get in below the fish and that it would probably run back towards him when I got in the water. I made it about 10 feet off the bank and the fish did exactly as I had planned. The only problem was that Rob was ready for the move the fish made and he came unbuttoned from the fly. I got a very good look at the fish and I can conservatively say he hooked into a beast that was close to two feet long. I have seen a good number of fish over 24 inches in the Horn and this fish was one of those I have fondled in the past. It made for a great end to the day and we all headed back for our last meal together and to recall more stories from years past.

The dogs were worn out from the cold water, goose droppings and running around while we fished. We feed on Elk Burgers and played some cards before hitting the sack. My dad and I were leaving the next day and the rest of the group was fishing for one more day. They got another late start and my dad and I pulled out of town around noon. When we hit Hardin the snow started flying and by Billings there were several inches of new snow on the ground. My dad and I were glad we weren't on the river and we kept the crew in the back of our minds as we battled heavy winds that ate a half tank of gas on the way back to Bozeman.

It was another great trip and we are looking forward to some hunting and more good times this fall!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T07:58:00.001-06:00

Freestone Swap Flies

2008-03-22T08:51:00.003-06:00

Many of the fly fishing message boards have fly tying sections and I have always wondered wether it was worth participating in a swap of flies with other members of the forums. I finally got off my butt and decided to give it a try. The Rocky Mountain Fly board started a Freestone Swap at the start of the new year. Each tier was to provide two of their favorite fly patterns for each tier involved in the swap. I quickly churned out 28 flies for the swap and left them on the side of my tying bench for the next two months. Luckily I remebered the flies just before the deadline and sent them along to the swap leader. He distributed the flies and returned the flies from all the tiers. I was impressed with the quality and the wide variety of patterns that came back to me in the mail. I had a great time participating and I am sure I will have to do this again in the near future. Here is a taste of what came from the Rocky Mountain Fly Forum's 2008 Freestone Fly Swap. Enjoy!!!!

Outdoor Roundup a bust this week

2008-03-13T09:47:00.002-06:00

As I opened up the Bozeman Daily Comical this week to see the new featured outdoor writer it was obvious that this week would continue on the downward spiral that the first half of the week has been. I am not sure if it was Dave's decision to slow down on the articles for the paper or the papers decision but either way I was not as excited to look at the outdoors section of the paper knowing that Dave was not going to be writing and that the dreaded Parker would have the headline. As I expected Parker wrote and article complaining about how people wear their hats and that his reasons for wearing a hat were the only one that mattered. I don't know how much more time I will spend reading the Comical's outdoor section if the rants and prejudices of Parker's continue to grace the headlines.

After reading through the Comical I set out to check on other papers from around the area. The only paper that had a fishing article was the Billings Gazette and the Denver Post. The Gazette article was about the ongoing controversy between Montana and Wyoming over water in Yellowtail Reservoir. The fight has been on because Montana wants in stream flows for the valuable fishery on the Bighorn River and Wyoming wants the water left in the lake so that the boat ramp at the upper end of the lake can be used. The only problem with Wyoming's claim is that even when the lake is at full pool there is still no one there to use the ramps, except for a few folks from Montana. At least the tone of the article was about the controversy probably being solved for the time being by mother nature who has put copious amounts of water in the mountains that will make it's way to the lake this year and keep both sides happy.

The Denver Post article was about a broken pipe at Spinney Mountain Reservoir and how it was going to affect the spawning of Rainbows and Cutthroats in the Dream Stream this year. A broken pipe that takes water to the city of Aurora is preventing them from releasing water from the reservoir and the flow will be low, even with a lot of snow pack in the mountains. A couple of anglers were quoted and they were disappointed they would have fewer spawners to harass with the lower flows. One guy was even quoted as saying he was disappointed he might not get to relive his epic day last year when he caught 7 trout over ten pounds, most of which were probably spawners from Elevenmile Reservoir. It's too bad that the pipe isn't broken every year so that these guys leave the spawners alone. I really feel for poor Landon Mayer, he will have to find another place to harass spawners for his hero shot's on next years magazine covers.

Speaking of Landon, I was thumbing through the newest issue of Fly Fisherman and he was on the cover holding a huge cutthroat from the Dream Stream. I looked at the inside cover to see the info on the shot and to make sure it was the Dream Stream. I did find the caption interesting due to the fact that the photo was taken of Landon and he also took credit for taking the picture as well. I am not sure how one accomplishes this feat, but I guess you could set up the camera on a tripod, guess on the focus and framing of the shot and then snap the photo with a remote for the shutter. I don't get this guy and his need to become famous.

Thursday Outdoor Roundup

2008-03-06T08:22:00.004-07:00

Bozeman Daily Comical: Dave Mckee's new adventure.

This weeks article by our own beloved Dave Mckee points out many of the different subjects he has covered over his ten year run of writing outdoor articles for the paper. Dave has been a great part of the paper and his articles always bring a dose of humor to all to often serious subjects. He is moving forward and will only be writing a fly of the week article to make way for another writers article in the outdoor section of the paper. I personally am not looking forward to hearing the rants and bitterness that Parker Heinlins writing will bring back to the paper. Mr. Heinlins attitude towards others and his need to degrade and parade pessimistic view points will not have me looking forward to reading the outdoor section of the paper each week. We will miss Dave and his positive fun attitude to all things outdoors.

Billings Gazette: Saturday fly-fishing expo targets youngsters

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/03/06/features/outdoors/48-flyfishing.txt

This weekend the Billings chapter of TU and the FFF will be hosting their long awaited fly fishing expo. The weekend is highlighted by plenty of kids activities along with a visit from Dave Whitlock. The kids will have the opportunity to attend a free fly tying lesson and compete in a fly tying competition at the end of the session that will award them with gear for fly fishing and fly tying.

Missoulian: Do as I say, not as I once did: Get a fishing license

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/03/06/outdoors/out10.txt

This week the Missoulian actually had a hunting and fishing article that did not include Ice fishing locations. Greg wrote a nice article reminding everyone that the new license year is upon us and he relates his embarrassment over getting a ticket years ago because he forgot about the new license year. Montana has a strange system for licensing and it catches plenty of anglers off guard each year. March 1st is the license renewal month and many people just forget about it since it is a strange time of year to renew. Don't forget to stop and get a license if you are heading out on Montana waters in the next few weeks.

Denver Post: Rainbows to color South Platte soon

http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_8415729

Charlie Meyers column this week speaks of the high cost of gas and telling your child they will have to go to community college rather than Princeton because he is going to use their college fund to pay for the gas to get to his favorite fishing haunts. He then tells about fishing the South Platte above Chatfield Reservoir just outside of Denver. The fishery is near town and maybe there will end up being enough money left in the college fund to send his child to the big name school of their choice. The tone of the article is probably affecting every ones plans and traveling the distances that they once did to fish may change with fishing closer to home because of the high price of fuel and the absurd profits that Exxon and BP are making from stealing from all of us.

The Weekly Fly.

2008-03-03T15:47:00.003-07:00

About a month ago I was approached by fellow guide Mike Nelson and his friend about helping them out with a new website they were launching. The website has been up a running for about a month now and it features a new fly tyer or fly pattern each week. I was privileged to help out with some flies for the site. There are some great tiers scheduled to be aired on the site such as Kelly Galloup, Slyvester Nemes, Dave McKee, Dave Bloom, Doug Mcknight and many others. Check it out and bookmark the site for a new pattern each Monday. The address is www.theweeklyfly.com.

My first pattern is a fly that I have modified and dressed up a bit. The original fly comes from Brad Downey, who guides on the Bighorn River and he has come up with many great patterns that kill em on Tailwater and Spring Creek fisheries. The Downey Dun is a great bug and it is simple to tie. The materials for the pattern are cheap and make for a very good floating bug. Give it a try. I will take some photos and post it here so that you can see a couple of different views of this wonderful bug.

Thursday Outdoor Roundup

2008-02-28T09:37:00.003-07:00

Bozeman Daily Comical: Nez Perce want to expand hunt!

The Nez Perce trib wants to expand it's hunting of Bison around the borders of Yellowstone National Park. This is being met with plenty of resistance from government agencies and from conservation groups who don't like the hunt in the first place. The debate continues and no one is every going to be satisfied with any plans regarding the bison.

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2008/02/28/news/20bison.txt

On another note in the Section, I will be tying Tailwater Flies at Fins and Feathers flyshop this Saturday from 10 am until noon. The flies I will be tying are a highlight of the bugs I use on the Bighorn during my spring and fall guide trips. The tying demo will focus on the Bighorn and when and how to best match the hatch activity in the spring and fall. The main focus will be on the Bighorn but most of the patterns will relate to fishing other tailwater fisheries throughout the area as well. Come join in the fun, it's free and open to everyone.

Ravali Republic: The ties that Bind!

http://www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2008/02/28/outdoors/0090outdoors.txt

Once again the Missoulian had little in the way of hunting and fishing articles. Another article about ice fishing and that was about it, so I checked out the Hamilton Paper and they had a wonderful article about guys getting together at the Local brewery and tying flies every Wednesday night. The owner of the brewery welcomes the tiers and they have helped turn slow Wednesday night business into a buseling night at the brewery. There are some fine tiers in the Bitteroot Valley and one my favorite personalities that I have met in the fly fishing world is interviewed in the article. John and Elna Foust are perhaps the best people that I have gotten to spend some time with and I hope to one day get invited over to their home again.

Billings Gazette:Blue Haven: Paradise Valley stream reels in the trout anglers

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/02/28/news/state/18-bluehaven.txt

Wow this is actually the headline article on the Gazette's Website today. The article details some of the perils and fortunes of owning the famed Armstrong Spring Creek. The article starts off with some history of the ranch and how the fishing has become another source of income to keep the family traditions alive. They herald the number of people who pay big money to fish the creek every year, and some just to hold a spot for the following year. Then they talk about the perils that go along with owning the creek, especially the public outcry after the heavy floods of 1996 and 1997. It is an interesting read about the creeks.

Denver Post: Brutal winter puts Antero fish in peril

http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_8347365

Once again problems are occuring at one of Colorado's most popular trout lakes. Antero Reservoir in South Park has gone through many issues over the years with drought and dewatering to the harsh climate the lake is located in. This year the drought is not the problem, it is the drought busting winter causing the headaches this time. Antero is a very shallow lake and with the amount of ice and snow on top the oxygen levels are at dangerously low levels. Light penetration is not producing the growth of plants which in return provide oxygen to the lake. We will have to wait and see how the resistent fish of Antero adapt to yet another problem.

Doc's in Paradise

2008-02-27T09:34:00.007-07:00

Saturday's trip was a nice way to get back in the saddle of the guide season and I was certain that Sunday would be a much different experience with three anglers hitting Depuy's for a day of fishing. Saturday's trip with Rod was quick and to the point, he wanted to get some ideas of places to fish on his own and his only real concern was getting back in time to hit Bridger for a half day of skiing. The prospect of chasing around three guys on the spring creeks was a bit daunting and I knew that I would be dead tired at the end of the day. Fortunately when I arrived at the lodge I found out that two of the clients for the day were very experienced anglers who lived over the divide in Missoula. Running back and forth between three novice anglers can typically is like trying to compete in an Iron Man Triathlon.

When I arrived at the lodge I found out that Kent was the only one there and the other two were already in Livingston at the Super 8 hotel. Kent needed to stop by his house and pick up his license so we planned on meeting back up in Livingston with the other two. It was nice to make the drive by myself, especially since the truck ride to and from the river is usually the part of the day that I dislike the most. When we arrived in Livingston the weather was ideal with clouds hanging low in the valley and not a breath of wind. We made a quick stop at the Yellowstone Angler to pick up a pair of flip mitts for Kent. Luckily George was at the shop taking care of a few things and he had the door open. After shooting the breeze with George for a moment and the clients picking up a few things we headed for the creek.

Betty was in great spirits and the typical oddities of the house and the property were discussed with the clients. For those of you who have never been to Depuy's Spring Creek, I can tell you that the tour of the Southern style plantation Mansion is as much of a highlight as the day of fishing can be. The home was built by Betty's father who had mimicked a Plantation home he saw on a Calender from South Carolina. He built a fountain in the front that has two howling wolves and in it's hay day water spouted out of the wolves mouths. Inside the home there are some very interesting photo's that are about 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall. One of them is of Betty's sister fishing on the creek and the other one is a photo of a mid 1960's Miss Montana fishing on the creek as well. They also have some local travertine walls and a Pun ta Fan from India in the living room. First time visitors are always amazed with the place and you really need to see it to believe it.

We got all the paper work and payments made so we headed for the Lower Hut to get the day started. Bob Fry was there and he got a fire going for us in the hut so that we could come in and warm up when we got cold. Everyone got their waders on and rods rigged. I handed out an assortment of flies to the two Doc's from Missoula and sent them on down to fish below the hut. We rigged Kent's rod and headed down to fish below them. Matt took up the prime spot on the corner and Sam was fishing just above him. Sam was fast to his second fish by the time that we made it to the deep run below Matt. Apparently the flies I dissed out were working pretty well. As I got Kent into position Matt hooked up with a very nice rainbow. I gave Kent a quick idea of where he wanted to cast and I ran off to net Matt's fish. Matt surfed a healthy Yellowstone River male rainbow right into my net and I mentioned that there must be some fish starting to move in from the river to get ready for the spawning activity that should start up in the next few weeks. We released the fish and I set back to help Kent with the spot I had chosen for him. Before I could get back to Kent Matt was into another nice fish and he told me to stay there, he could handle the fish without me. By this time Sam was on the move and looking for another spot to fish. I gave Kent the rundown on where the fish hold and how to read the different colors of the bottom to determine the trenches to run his flies down. I walked Sam down to the slot below the log wing dam and showed him how to approach the spot. He mentioned to me that this type of water doesn't interest him much so I pointed out how he could wade downstream a bit and cross over to the riffle below. He said that looked much more appealing and I headed back to help Kent some more. Sam did give the first spot a try and he hooked up within a few cast. Matt was also landing his fourth fish of the day and it appeared we were in for some good fishing. Matt was running a Grey Spring Creek Scud # 16 trailed with a # 18 Heathen and I had Sam setup with # 18 Barr Emerger with a # 18 Big Ugly trailing off the back.

Kent was struggling a bit and I had to adjust his weight so that he didn't hang up on each cast. Kent had a good spot in the run but when the clouds are over head it can be a bit more difficult to fish the spot he is in. There are not a lot of occasions when the bright sunshine helps you out but for the spot Kent was in the sun does give you the ability to spot the fish and see what depth and where they are feeding the most actively. Matt kept roping in one fish after another with the majority of the fish falling prey to the heathen. A few fish ate the scud as well but it was obvious what the fish were really looking for. Sam was around the corner by this time and Matt had pretty much put a hurtin on the corner hole. He landed 8 fish and lost a couple of more so we decided to head downstream a bit.

I put Kent in the best hole on the creek and sent the other two on a trek to the bottom of the creek where the culvert lets the creek flow into the Yellowstone. Kent and I waded across to the deep hole below the slough and I gave him the rundown on where to cast and how to make the right presentation. He blew the first two fish because he was not used to the small movement of the indicator and set the hook a bit late. Finally he got on the board with a nice 18 inch bow. He managed to land a half dozen fish from this spot and I we decided to see how the other's were doing. My stomach was starting to growl a bit from all the running back and forth so I also wanted to see if they were getting ready for some lunch.

I rounded the corner expecting to see them fishing the two deep runs above the culvert but they were both standing about 20 feet upstream of the culvert drifting their flies into the culvert. They were hooking a fish every couple of drifts so I headed down to investigate what they were doing. I set Kent up in the deep run below the log and headed for the two Doc's to see what was going on, and to see if they were hungry yet. There was a ton of fish stacked in the culvert trying to get into the creek and the two of them were in a mess of trout. It was pretty amazing to watch the number of fish that were migrating past them as they fished. Kent hooked a couple of fish above and after the two of them landed a dozen or so fish a piece I brought up the subject of lunch. They said they would be right up and we stopped to fish some fish that I spotted on the way down. Matt hooked and landed another 5 fish from the Beaver Hut hole and then we all headed for the hut and some lunch.

Sam wanted a shot at the hole I put Kent in earlier so I told him to head up in ten minutes or so and I would have lunch ready. The hut was like a sauna when I arrived and I had to open the door and let it cool off a bit. I set up lunch and all three of them hit the hut ready for some food. Julie had made some great Sandwich's that were complemented by some good ole fashioned Chicken Noodle soup, chips, grapes and a pasta salad. We ate lunch and shoot the shit for a while. After lunch we decided to head up the creek to see if there were any bugs hatching closer to the spring. We drove up through the middle of the creek and there was not much going on. After getting to the upper hut we decided to give the top of the creek a try and after an hour and one fish between the three of them it was obvious that most of the fish were in the lower end of the creek right now. Kent also needed to get home to pack for a trip to Dallas so we headed back to the cars and the lower hut. Sam and Matt wanted to give the plunge pool below the pond a try so we fished up the creek to the plunge pool. By this time it was getting close to 4 o'clock and the fishing was shutting down. Sam had one strike in the plunge pool and by the time Matt and I got up to the sheep bridge he was heading back to the car. Matt wanted a shot at the plunge as well so we walked up and fished below a group of trumpeter swans that watched intently as we fished the hole. Matt got one take in the plunge pool and then he decided he had enough. They also had to drive all the way back to Missoula that night so getting on the road sounded good to them. The day was a lot of fun and the fish were really keyed in on the midge pupae more than anything else. I packed up the truck and I sent the two heart Doc's back to Missoula, I told them to keep an eye out for my light blue Super Puma in the coming weeks on the Bitteroot.

Watching someone else complete your quest!

2008-02-26T09:23:00.010-07:00

Friday was a scouting day for the upcoming weekend guide trips and it started out as a beautiful day. My good friend Shook stopped by the house and wanted to take the dogs out for a run. We loaded Trico and Tater into the back of the pickup and threw in a rod and a handful of midge adults in case I saw a few rising fish. I have been on a quest to get the first fish of the year on a dry fly for the past two weeks and this day was not shaping up to be the day either. The sun was bright and high with only a few wispy clouds hanging around. The midge hatch on the Lower Madison has been getting better and better each day but the weather has been to nice and finding a fish that doesn't spook has been a monumental task.

After stopping at the Beer Cave for a cheap 12 pack of Olympia we finally hit the highway and were on our way to the river. For those who might be wondering I prefer beer that was brewed in a vat the size of Rhode Island rather than a fancy micro brew beer. When we got to the river it was dead calm and the dirt road on the back side of the river was calling for the dogs and a quick jaunt alongside the truck. We traveled down the back road and once we hit the Indian Rings we kicked the dogs out of the truck to get a bit of exercise, Trico really needs some after spending a lazy winter inside. We took the lazy route and ran the dogs in front of the truck because we only wanted heavy breathing from the dogs. We arrived at what we call "Gagne's Box" and there were a dozen or so fish rising in the slow current directly next to the shoreline. The dogs took a drink from the river and I readied my rod with a Griffith's Gnat trailed with a Cripple Thor.

Once the rod was rigged I headed for the water and stripped out 30 feet of fly line. I started my cast and let a perfect cast fall just to the side of the rising fish with the fly floating right down the feeding lane. I thought the cast was perfect but after it made the drift the fish were done. The spot that they like to rise in is only about a foot of water and with the bright sun shining down I thought there was a good chance I would only get a couple of shots, and I was spot on in my thinking. I reeled up the flies and headed back for my ice cold beer. We waited and watched to see if the fish would come back up and after 10 minutes I knew that the quest was not going to be completed on a day like this. It was now time to take a few pictures and let the dogs burn off their pent up energy.

We spent the rest of the afternoon touring the gravel roads of the Gallatin Valley. The trip took us down the Madison with a quick stop at the Buffalo Jump and then on up to Logan. We took the frontage road up the Gallatin with a quick stop at Sir Scott's for a double tall Captain and Coke. After a quick fill up and another 6 pack of beer we headed along the East Gallatin and along the foothills of the Bridger's looking for "Snow Gophers" and to see if the elk were sitting on the "Running Elk Ranch". We completed the loop and headed back to the house so that I could tie up a few flies for my half day wade trip the next morning.

Saturday morning we were greeted with snow showers and socked in cloud cover that was ideal for a great day of fishing. I packed up my guide gear, filled the thermos with coffee and stocked the cooler with water and sodas. Reece and Moira were still asleep when I left the house to meet my client. I arrived at the shop and the client arrived ready for a few hours on the river. The customary introductions were made and we fitted him with a pair of boots and waders. While they were filling out his license I gave Rod the rundown on my plans for the day. I told him the weather was prime for the Lower Madison. Rod ask me if there was any chance we could fish the Gallatin instead, his in laws had moved to Bozeman last year and he wanted to get acquainted with some access points as well as get some pointers on fishing the Gallatin when he returned for visits in the future. I was happy to accomodate his request so we changed course and headed up the Gallatin Canyon for a tour mixed with a little bit of fishing. On the ride Rod told me off his fishing experiences and mentioned that he had not done much nymph fishing and the little bit he has done he did not really enjoy. I told him we could look for some dry fly fishing but that the Gallatin midges were just getting started and I had not seen a lot of fish rising on the river in the past week. I pulled off and showed him some of the productive spots along the river to fish and we finally made it up to the highway bridge that crosses over the Gallatin just north of the Big Sky turn off. There is a nice back eddy below the bridge and if there were going to be any fish rising they would be in the foam in the back eddy.

We put on our waders and headed for the spot below the bridge. I could not believe my eyes when we got to the spot, there were a dozen fish poking their heads out from below the foam. I knew that we could catch them and I was a bit disappointed because I was going to have to sit back and watch as someone else caught fish on a dry fly. The "Sipper Midge" I tied on for Rod entice a fish on the first cast and it was sure great to see a head finally take the fly from the surface. Rod set the hook and after a brief tug the fish was gone. We sat in the hole for an hour and Rod landed one nice feisty rainbow and lost another 7 fish that ate the fly. The rod guides were freezing and soon Rod's feet were feeling the cold as well. He had enjoyed the fishing a ton and wanted to see some other areas that he could fish on later visits. We headed back down the Canyon and I took him for a tour up the Squaw Creek Canyon to see the River Run's Through it Rock and show him the nice access that is away from the roar of the traffic on Hwy 191. His feet were still cold and he needed to get back to pick up his father in law and meet up with the family for a half day of skiing at Bridger Bowl.

I dropped him off back at his rental car and we talked about doing some more fishing when he returns in the summer. We had a great time and I am looking forward to fishing with him again even though I had to sit and watch him complete my quest for the one on a dry fly.

Thursday Outdoor Roundup

2008-02-21T08:27:00.004-07:00

Bozeman Daily Comical: Fish Porn Tour arrives in Montana.

No link to this article but the AEG Fly Fishing Film Tour makes it's appearance in both Missoula and Bozeman this coming week. For those who are not familiar with the film tour it is a series of short films that a group of guys who call themselves the Angling Exploration Group put on each year. The films are very hip and remind me more of snowboard films than anything. The footage is great and all I can say is that I do get a bit jealous that they can travel all over the world in search of fish. It is definetly generation X's take on fishing and for me it can be a bit over the top.

Billings Gazette: Just for kids: Get your fishing gear ready

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/02/21/features/outdoors/30-kids.txt

Mark Henkle brings us another good article on the rights of spring and getting your gear from the garage and cleaning any mouse nest or cob webs from the old tackle box. Spring also brings out the itch to get the kids outside and spend some quality family time at local ponds as the ice thaws.

Missoulian: This time of year, fishing can be hit and miss

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/02/21/outdoors/out18.txt

A roundup of late season ice fishing throughout Western Montana. Not much for the fly angler but there are some reports on fishing for perch and trout on the lakes around the Missoula area.

Denver Post: River's recovery suddenly threatened

http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_8307816

This week there was an annoucement of a possible enviornmental catastrophe from an old mining tunnel located near the Headwaters of the Arkansas River in Colorado. Mining has some steep history in Colorado and an old tunnel that is blocked has over a billion gallons of contaminated water sitting behind the plug. If the tunnel lets loose it will send heavy metals such as zinc and cadmium down the river and pretty much kill one of Colorado's finest freestone rivers. The problem could also cause a substantial loss of human life as there is a trailer park located near the tunnel's mouth. This is a major problem facing the state and federal agencies as they try to find a fix to this horrible situation.

Feels like spring is just around the corner!

2008-02-20T09:50:00.006-07:00

Back to the bench was the plan for this morning when I hit the sack last night. I started my day with a bit of breakfast and the usual caous that consumes our household every morning. Reece wanted to wear the same clothes as he did the day before and my wife was upset with him and the fact she was running late. In the midst of the situation the phone rang and it was Jason on the other end of the line. He started the conversation with "don't you ever check your voicemail ? " I am not one that cares much for his cell phone and I do at times find my mailbox full, especially in the winter when the only ones calling are friends looking to pull me away from my fly tying and household duties. His second question inquired if I would be ready by 8:30 to go and get recertified on my First Aid, which expired two days ago. I had totally forgot about the challenge course and I told him I would get Reece to school and be ready when he got here.

I sent the wife off to work and had Reece get his shoes and coat on so that we could drop him off on our way down to the Red Cross office. Jason arrived at the house and we jumped in the truck on our way to daycare. Reece loves to see Jason because he likes to rough house and what 5 year boy doesn't like to do that. We made it to the Red Cross office and the test went off without any hitches. I was Fifty bucks lighter in the wallet but at least I was in compliance and did not have to deal with the Red Cross for another three years. After the certification class we headed to Sportsman's Whorehouse because Jason needed to pick up another cot and bed roll for the lodge. We also made a quick stop at IHOP for some breakfast, which also gave Jason time to convince me my fly orders could wait and that we needed to fish. Jason is having his shoulder operated on and this would be his last day to get out before the surgery. With fourty degree weather it is hard to make an argument about staying indoors and not getting out to enjoy the weather.

After a quick stop at the house to pick up the dog, waders and the rest of my gear we headed to the lodge. We discussed wether to just fish at the "trench" or wether we should take a drive up the canyon and check out the "Hog Hole." The "trench" is the home hole and we guide and fish it all the time so we decided to head up the canyon and try and catch one of the escapees in the "Hog Hole." As we drove up the canyon the river looked very tasty and I noted several spots to fish in case there was someone in the spot we wanted. There were only a couple of other anglers out on the Gallatin and we fiqured our chances were pretty good that the "Hog Hole" would be open. As we rounded the corner into Big Sky there was a car parked in the parking spot along the road and we had to make a decision about where we wanted to fish. We turned the truck around and as we were going heading back to the parking area I recognized the car and told Jason we could walk down to one of the lower holes, which holds the Ancency monsters on occassion as well.

We had already put on our waders back at the lodge so we just needed to grab our rods and take the short walk along the guard rail to get to the river. When we got down to the hole Charlie was releasing a nice rainbow and Ben was re rigging his rod. Ben was stuck fishing on the road side of the river because he had caught his waders on one of the guard rail bolts and tore an "L" shape hole in his waders that was probably 5 inches by 8 inches long and right above his boot. He was not in the mood to wet wade in the 30 degree water. They mentioned catching a couple of fish on a Sculpin and after shooting the breeze for a few minutes Jason and I headed down river to ply a few fish from under the bridge. Unfortunately the deep hole only produced one 13 inch Yellowstone Cutthroat for me and a skunking for Jason. We fished the hole for about an hour and I ran the gammet of flies trying to ping a good one. After catching the cutthroat we made the decision to head back up and see if Charlie and John had done any better. They both had a couple of more fish but it was still very slow for them as well.

Charlie offered up his spot on the opposite bank, I had my fill of fishing for the day but Jason decided to give it a go. John and I sat on the bank shooting the breeze about our days spent living in Colorado and Charlie joined in on the conversation a short time later. Jason stung a couple of fish on the opposite shore and after sitting on the snowy bank for twenty minutes my rear end started to get a bit cold. Jason waded back across the river and we headed for the truck. The fishing was great but the catching was pretty slow so we headed back down the canyon and called it a day. The warmer weather this past week does have the juices flowing and I am really looking forward to the next couple of months and all the great spring fishing that is just around the corner.

Polar Bear Plunge

2008-02-18T15:00:00.010-07:00

The President's Day holiday brings out the fools once a year to raise money for our local charity Reach Inc and the Montana Special Olympics. Reach Inc. is a wonderful program in Bozeman that helps people with disabilities get through life a little easier. They have great programs such as equine therapy, swimming and adult education programs. Groups throughout town such as the Bozeman Ice Dogs Hockey Team, MSU Athletics, Bozeman Police department and many others raise pledges from locals in return for their stupidity and jumping into a frozen pond.

This year there were probably over a 100 participants who took the plunge into the 30 degree water. Fortunately for the swimmers there is a hot tub located about 50 yards from the hole that is cut in the pond. The highlights of this year were characters such as Wayne and Garth look-a-likes, Sea Shell clad bikini's, Bill and Hillary Clinton costumes and plenty of capes and bikini's. The team that raised the most money for the event was the Bozeman Ice Dog hockey team which raised over a thousand smackers for the organization. All of the teams combined raised over twenty thousand dollars for the Special Olympics and Reach. Congratulations to all the participants and thanks for taking the plunge for a worthy cause.

The weather cooperated very nicely with air temps around 35 degrees and the sun shinning down bright and warm. I should have gone fishing today but commercial fly orders were calling and I probably would have just taken a nap on the bank anyways. Tomorrow they are calling for some cloud cover to move in, which will increase the chances of my getting my obsession of the first fish of the year on a dry fly over and done with.

Dupped again by the wind and sun!

2008-02-16T16:40:00.008-07:00

The wind reports this morning showed dead calm flags flying over the weather stations that are near the Lower Madison so my father wanted to head out for some fishing. We met up with Sean and headed out to give it a try. When we arrived at the river the bushes and willows were not moving much and the sun was shining bright. With air temps in the low 40's there was plenty of traffic on the river, a few boat trailers were even parked in the Black's Ford lot. We headed downstream to the Highbank boat launch and there were two cars parked their. We were fortunate that they were only shuttle vehicles so we got geared up and headed down to the deep hole to give it a try.

Sean and I had our rods rigged first and Sean headed to the middle of the rock pile to ply it from the East side of the river. I waded to the West shoreline and moved out to fish the rock pile from the opposite bank. Sean was into a couple of rainbows before I was able to get my weight put on the leader. Both fish gave up a good fight and gave us some confindence in the spot we had choosen. I finally got my weight put on the leader and I sent my new bug, the rubberleg crayfish that came from the bench a few hours earlier, trailed with a red beaded San Juan Worm. After a couple of drifts my indicator dove to the bottom and I set the hook on something that came straight at me. I was only hooked up for a brief second and I brought the flies in to make sure my knots had held. Both flies were in tack and I sent them back out to the middle of the rocks. The flies drifted half way down the drift and the indicator jumped under the surface again. I set the hook and I was hooked up with the first fish of the day. The fish fought hard and deep and I was able to get him in a short time later. It was a nice healthy brown trout that hit the tape around 14 inches.

By this time my father came wading across and he was fishing the shallow tailout just below the two of us. I called him up to the hole and gave him my spot so that he could get off the snide as well. As I waded for the shore I spotted several fish rising in the eddie towards the top of the run. The excitement of seeing rising fish gave me a rush of energy and I promptly headed for a nice seat on the bank to rid the rod of indicators and split shot. The sun was behind a cloud and the wind was calm as I quickly tied on a cripple Thor and fumbled for my floatant. As I rigged the rod with dries Sean hooked into a very nice rainbow which required some assistance to land. I waded down and scouped up a nice fat 17 inch rainbow. After a couple of quick snapshots with Sean's camera I headed back up to give the rising fish a try. My dad hooked up with a nice rainbow just as I got back to my rod and told him to land his own fish, I had risers to cast at.

I finally got my rod and unhooked the fly from the guides. Just as I had the fly in my hand the sun came out from the clouds and the wind instantly picked up. I sat back down on the bank and waited for the sun to hide behind the clouds and the wind to lay down. Looking up towards the sky had promise of a nice cloud bank moving in so I decided to wait and watch.

Trico and I patiently waited for the conditions to become ideal and the fish to rise again. We sat and watched for about and hour but neither the sun or the wind was willing to cooperate. Sean and my dad were consitently hooking into fish but I had it set in my mind that I was going to get my first fish of the year on the surface. The fishing started to slow down for Sean and my father so we decided to head downstream and try another hole. We headed downstream and I took off in search of some more rising fish. As Sean and dad fished the bottom of the island I walked down to a foam eddie for my last good hope of finding a surface feeder. When I arrived there was nothing happening and I decided that my quest would once again go unfinished. I walked back upstream and met up with the other two. We decided it was time to head back to the truck and call it a day.

Even though I didn't conquer a few rising fish I had a great time relaxing on the bank and enjoying the warmer weather. Maybe later this week I will finally fill my itch to get on the board with a fish on top.

Dries on the Horizon!

2008-02-15T09:30:00.005-07:00

The phone rang and it was Jason who needed some help taking a load of trash to the dump before 30 members of his family embark on the lodge for the annual family reunion. He also wanted to go check out the Whispering Winds shooting preserve for possible cast and blast opportunities for the clients this coming fall. Since the preserve is located along the Lower Madison I also suggested we bring along a rod and check out the river to see if the midges are getting strong enough to bring some fish up to the surface.

After dropping Benedickt off at the airport for his flight to Denver I met Jason at Fins and Feathers so that I could drop of my fly invoice and pick up a few spools of thread to finish up the order later this week. I loaded Trico up into the back of the truck and off we set for the trip to the Logan Landfill. After dropping off the pallets in the wood pile and the house hold trash in the main dump area we headed for the Lower. When we got to the Buffalo Jump the wind was calm and I started to get a little excited about the prospects of catching a few fish on a dry. I showed him where the Bird Preserve is and off we set for the river.

There was not much going on at the High Bank headgate so I mentioned driving upstream to check out the one spot that they would be rising in if they were rising at all. We turned off the highway and headed up the dirt road that leads to the trailhead for hiking into the Bear Trap Canyon Wilderness area. We rounded the corner below the old bridge pilon and I spot a fish rise right next to the bank. This really got the juices flowing and as we passed through the rock slide the wind started to gust a bit. We pulled into the "Ice Shelf" hole and before we came to a stop I saw a half dozen noses poking up to sip a midge cluster off the surface.

I am not sure if I was more excited or if Trico was because she knew that she got to get out and run around while we fished. The wind was still gusting a bit but it was only occassionally and I fiqured I could get away with pulling out the 4 wt instead of the 6 wt. We did not need to put on our waders because the fish were close enough to the shore and there is enough casting room behind you to stay on the bank. I rigged the rod with a Griffith's Gnat trailed with a Big Ugly in hopes of catching a few of the fish that were rising in front of us. The rig was set and I turned from the truck and headed down the bank to the ice shelf. Like clock work "old Murphy" showed up and the wind went from gusty to a consistent steady breeze. I made my first few cast without any mishaps and then one huge gust put the flies in the weeds behind me and I broke off the two fly setup. The fish were rising only on occassion now but I was determined to try and get at least one to eat. I tied on another gnat and set my sights on the fish. I watched for about 2 or 3 minutes and there was not a head to be seen. The wind steadily increased and the cold air started to make the prospect of fishing a lot less appetizing. The guides were iced up and my hands were getting cold so we decided to call it quits for the day.

The good news was the midges are starting to hatch strong enough that they are clustering and the dry fly season will be upon us very soon. The bug to go fishing was definetly aroused with seeing a few fish on the surface. I can't wait to get lucky and have a day with no wind, some clouds and rising fish on the lower.

Thursday Outdoor Roundup

2008-02-14T08:16:00.007-07:00

Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

Dave Mckee has another humerous article about the joys of owning dogs. Unfortunately there is no public link to the chronicle but I pulled a short piece from the article that will give you all an idea of how great of a writer Dave is.

"The pointer, a neurotic German shorthair, is a slightly different story. Though she’ll sit, stay, hold a good point and walk on a leash, she also takes food from the counter, kills cats and runs away with regularity. Several months ago, she ate a tub of zinc-oxide baby bottom relief cream followed by an enormous Costco frozen pizza. She too is our pride and joy. "

Billings Gazette: Experts offer tips to endure cold-weather emergencies

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/02/14/features/outdoors/20-outdoorsquiz_z.txt

Stories about winter emergencies and how people have been able to survive some extreme circumstances.

Ravali Republic: Cats and dogs - Mountain lions in the Bitterroot

http://www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2008/02/14/outdoors/0094outdoors.txt

The Missoulian didn't have any articles except for one about a proposal for a new lift at the ski area. So I headed to the Ravali Republic site to see what they had to offer for your reading enjoyment. The article highlights the activity surrounding cat hunting in Montana. No they are not chasing after some old lady's tabby, they are hunting mountain lions. I have been offered the chance to partake in this activity a couple of different times but busting through deep snow for hours to see a cat in a tree have not been of much interest to me. I guess you can call me lazy but I can find plenty of other activities to keep me occupied.

Denver Post: Zelinsky proves critics wrong

http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_8243955

Local ice fishing expert gets fired up about online chat stating that you can't catch small mouth through the ice. He sets out to prove them all wrong. Zelinsky is an ice fishing guide on Chatfield reservoir in Denver and he takes the reporter out to prove the myth wrong, maybe he could join the mythbusters team on the Discovery channel.

Breaking news on the Pebble Mine: Jewelers shun gold from Alaska mine

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8UP4SN00.htm

Several national jewlers have come out in opposition to the proposed gold mine in the heart of Bristol Bay in Alaska. They are against the mine proposal and say that they will not use gold that comes from the mine if the company gets approval to go ahead with operations. This is big news on the controversial issue and hopefully when the company fiqures out that their customers are not going to support the mine they will leave the area alone and find a better place to extract the gold from.

Drunken Fly Fishing Master

2008-02-13T16:22:00.001-07:00

After yesterdays fishing experience I began thinking about why the fish were eating big stonefly nymphs instead of the smaller more available midges. I jumped into several different philosophical questions that led me off on other tangents that had nothing to do with the day of fishing. I concluded that maybe the fish were tired of eating small bugs and when the opportunity to have a large meal presented itself they took advantage of it. Then I sat down and found this video and decided to quite thinking about why and just understand that it happened. This guy needs to lay off the drugs a bit if I do say so myself. God bless his enthusiasm however.

I can't take it anymore!

2008-02-12T16:16:00.001-07:00

After spending the last two days whipping out the last 16 dozen Soft Hackle Copper John's for my commercial orders this spring I had a itch to get outsite and enjoy myself a bit. I jumped on the computer and pulled up the Weather Undergound to check out the wind conditions in the area. It was a bit breezy at the Table Mountain site along the Lower Madison river so I checked out the Karst site in the Gallatin Canyon. The wind gauge was sending back a calm reading so I called up my good friend Chris to see if he was interested in looking for a "Fish Ball" in the canyon. He was just getting his day started when I called but said that he would like to join me in a hour or so. I told him I had a list of chores to complete, which included the unenviable task of cleaning our bathrooms so I would not be heading out for a while anyway.

I arrived at his house around 12:30 and we put on our waders and jumped in the truck. One of our favorite haunts in the winter is the "River Runs Through It Rock" which is where they actually shot the photo for the film poster. The fish stack into the hole throughout the winter and it gets you away from the roar of the traffic on Hwy. 191. We pulled off the highway and made the short drive up the snow covered dirt road to the parking area near the rock. Trico was eager to get out of the truck and head to the river to feed her obsession with all the rocks in the river. Chris and I strung up the rods and slid down the bank and into the river.

Chris was the first to come tight to a fish and he landed a pretty little Gallatin River Rainbow on a small red brassie. I headed up above him and the rock and started my Apricot Egg and Big Ugly on it's desent into the depths. It took me about ten minutes to come tight to a fish and I was starting to wonder if a fly change needed to be made. The fiesty little rainbow faught hard and I was glad to finally get on the board. I caught two more fiesty bows and took a break on the bank so that I could just relax and change up the fly setup to something that might entice a quicker response from the fish. I changed up to a yellow egg trailed with a soft hackle baetis nymph and then headed back into the run. The new flies did not make much of a difference and I managed to bring in another small bow after making 30 to 40 drifts through the deep hole. Chris was catching fish on occassion with his King Prince and Red Brassie setup but both of us were starting to wonder if the "Fish Ball" was sitting in another hole.

I headed back to the bank for one more fly change and after fumbling through my boxes I made a rash decision to put on a # 8 Pat's Rubberleg trailed with a smaller yellow egg. After adjusting the weight and resetting the indicator a bit deeper I stumbled along the rock bottom and got my feet set in a good comfortable position. I sent my first cast into the deep pocket and relized my coat was unzipped with my lanyard hanging out so that if could catch all my excess fly line as I made my next cast. I tucked the lanyard back inside my coat and zipped up the jacket to keep all line catchers at bay. As I was fumbling with my zipper the indicator dove to the bottom and I was onto a nice healthy rainbow that measured between 12 and 14 iches. My next 4 cast produced a rainbow on each cast and both Chris and I were now sure that the "Fish Ball" was fully intact and sitting in the hole. Chris made a quick change to a rubberleg and we spent the next 15 mintues catching and landing various sized rainbows and one record setting whitefish. After we both had caught a couple dozen fish we decided to leave them alone and call it a day. We waded back across the river and scrambled back up the bank to the truck. We only spent about two hours on the river but it sure was a great time, and it definetly beats the monotony of sitting at the fly tying bench whipping out the same fly time and time again.

Thursday Outdoor Roundup

2008-02-07T09:11:00.001-07:00

Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

Unfortunately I can't post a link to any of the Bozeman Comical's outdoor post because they only offer it to subscribers but I have to mention the article that was the lead story in the outdoor section today. Two men were cross country skiing above Hyalite Reservoir last week with their labrador retriever when one of the men triggered an avalanch. Both men were able to hold on to trees as the slide went screaming down the mountain side. Unfortunately the lab was swept away by the slide and they were unable to locate the dog after several hours of digging for him. They returned to the area the next day and were still unable to locate the dogs body in the slide and they assumed the dog was deceased. A few days later the owner of the dog and his wife were getting ready to head over to a friends home for dinner and they recieved a phone call from a number they did not recognize. The gentleman on the other end of the line said that he had found their dog and that it was scarred and ready to return home. The dog miraculously survived and it turned out to be another amazing story of a pets survival after some amazing circumstances. What a great story!

Billings Gazette: What would be your one fly of choice!

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/02/07/features/outdoors/30-krumm.txt

Bob Krumm writes about having just one fly and which would it be. This is an old debate that all fly anglers have ask themselves and their friends many times before. Not much of interest in the gazette this week.

Missoulian: Great Falls in the heart of outdoors fun in Montana!

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/02/07/outdoors/out26.txt

Highlights from the Great Rockies Sport show in Great Falls where the author hosted his radio show and spotlights the abundance of outdoor activities surrounding Great Falls. From a hunting standpoint I agree with him but the limits for the fly angler are a bit far fetched for me. The Mo is a great river but other than that you have to travel a ways to find much else.

Denver Post: Maverick idea spawns success!

http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_8151501

Charlie Meyers reports on findings at the annual Whirling Disease symposium of succesful work on cross breeding a strain of rainbow that is apparently resiliant to the Whirling Disease outbreak that has disrupted rainbow trout populations throughout the west. The news is good with fish that have successfully spawned in the Gunnison river and there may be a bright future for the fish. However there is still a very long road to hall on the issue as Cutthroat trout populations continued to decline because of the disease and there is no bright future for the cross breading of the cutthroats to help them get through this tough disease.

And last but not least the Great Rockies Sport Show hits the Gallatin County fairgrounds this weekend here in Bozeman. The show has been moved this year due to a conflict with the MSU field house where the show has called home since it's inagural year. We will have to see what kind of attendance there will be at the fair grounds but I would expect to see attendance way down for the show due to the lack of the big show feel. Yours truely will be tying bugs on Sunday afternoon so if any of you want to head on down to get some hints and ideas of great tailwater bugs for the Mo or Bighorn stop by the tying theater on Sunday Afternoon.

Lego My Fly

2008-02-04T10:07:00.001-07:00

No Child Left Inside Tax!

2008-02-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

In New Mexico there are several groups lobbying their state lawmakers to propose a tax on Video Games and Televisions to fund programs that encourage outdoor education for kids. They are proposing a 1% tax for all Televisions, Video Games and Video Game accessories that are purchased throughout the state. I personally think this is a wonderful idea and I would like to see the program insituted in New Mexico and other states. Hopefully the idea will move ahead full steam and the powers that be will do something to get kids out of the house and outside running around and staying healthy.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/15101721.html

2008-01-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

Thursday Outdoor Roundup!

Billings Gazette: Billings Cabelas retail outlet put on hold!!

It appears that the unstable retail market and fading economy are keeping Cabela's from opening 5 of their planned retail outlets this year. The Billings store was planed to open this spring but now it has been put on hold. The local flyshops are probably breathing a sigh of relief for the time being.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/31/news/local/17-nocabelas.txt

Missoulian: January is History month for Ice Fishing

Ice fishing is well underway throughout the state and fishing derby's are taking place all around the state. The article wraps up ice fishing derby's and some other ice fishing factoids.

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/31/outdoors/out32.txt

Denver Post: Aurora gives up big fish!

More ice fishing news from Colorado. Aurora reservoir is home to some whopper perch and the article highlights the reservoir along with other prime ice fishing locations throughout the front range.

http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_8112991

Rocky Mountain News: Gentry: More bang for the buck for Lopez!

An amazing mule deer buck was shot by 15 year old Kyle Lopez. The buck was scored at 303 5/8 when it was shot and after the required 60 day drying time that Boone and Crocket requires the offical score grew to 306 3/8. Typically horns shrink after the animal has been killed but the original scorer made some errors and the offical score was actually larger than originally thought. What a great deer either way!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/30/dentry-more-bang-for-the-buck-for-lopez/

DRIFT - BAHAMAS TEASER

2008-01-30T10:30:00.001-07:00

This short trailer is for a film being put together by my buddies at Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures. This spring they headed to the newly reopened Bang Bang Club in the Bahamas and shot footage of the "Godfather" of bonefishing. The film is being produced by the same guys who work on Warren Miller films and the quality of what they have already put together is second to none. My partner in crime for the past 20 years was fortunate enough to go along on the trip and he brought me back a fly that Charlie tied for me because our fly tying benches are mirror images of each other with all the clutter and mess. I am not sure when the film is scheduled for release but I am anxiously awaiting the day it is availble for our viewing pleasure.

Charlies Bonefish Fly

2008-01-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

Charlies Bonefish Fly that he tied for me because his fly bench and mine are mirror images of each other in their clutter and confusion. Thanks guys for thinking about me even though I wasn't there.

I would have added this to the post of the trailer on the film Drift but I could not fiqure out how to get the video and the photo on the same post.

Thursday Outdoor Section Roundup

2008-01-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

Week Two outdoor writers roundup.

Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Hookless Steelhead Fly Fishing
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TRAVEL_OUT_THERE_HOOKLESS_FLY_FISHING_TRVOL?SITE=MTBOZ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Billings Gazette
Winter Images of Yellowstone Park
http://billingsgazette.net/features/outdoors/

Missoulian
Dreaming about that Secret Lake
http://www.missoulian.com/outdoors/

Great Falls Tribune
BLM unlocks Holter Lake Toilets
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=LIFESTYLE05

The Denver Post
Lead program to be highlighted
http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish

The Rocky Mountian News
Another Winter tradition comes to Denver
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/outdoors/

Off to hit the ice and catch some tasty perch. Enjoy the outdoors roundup, even though there isn't to much of interest in the papers this morning.

20 Below, I guess it's time to hit the ice!

2008-01-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, Teach a man to fish and he will sit on the ice and drink beer all day!"

Fish Hook Eye Surgery

2008-01-22T09:59:00.001-07:00

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot. ~Steven Wright

It amazes me the number of clients that show up for trips that do not bring along a pair of sunglasses. I need to keep this video on hand to show them why they need to wear them at all times. I carry a couple of pairs of solar shields for those who forget. The Solar Shields are hideous looking sunglasses that I make clients wear to try and make a point of how important it is to cover your eyes while flies are flying through the air. I wish I had a DVD player in the truck so that I could hammer home my point a little better.

On another subject it has warmed up to -2 this morning and we should actually see temps above zero today. A warming trend is upon us even if it is only in the teens

BRRRRRRRR It's Freezing outside!

2008-01-21T10:40:00.001-07:00

Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths. ~Author Unknown

Not much to do on a day like today. Air temps this morning were -19 when I awoke and they are forecasting highs to reach the mid single digits. I will be mightly impressed if the temps actually make it out from Below Zero today. Ice fishing is even out of the question. In years past I have braved the elements and headed out on the ice in below zero temps but I guess you can say I am growing up because the idea of sitting on ice when the snot in your nose freezes while you breathe has absolutely no appeal to me anymore. Fly tying and some computer time will have to keep my mind occupied today. Hopefully it may warm up enough to get outside by the end of the week.

Liquid dollar signs falling from the sky.

2008-01-18T10:14:00.001-07:00

All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish. ~Harold F. Blaisdell, The Philosophical Fisherman, 1969

I awoke to about 5 inches of fresh snow this morning. The temp is in the high teens and they are forecasting a bit more snow and then some cooooold weather will be moving in. Ice fishing is looking like a better option than getting out and on the river this weekend. We'll see if the Mike Turd's Three degree guarantee actually is on the mark.

Thursday Outdoor Sections Roundup !

2008-01-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Most of our local papers, including a couple in my native state, have outdoors inserts in their paper. I will try and do a Thursday roundup of the local articles I find of interest in each publication. Most of the articles will have a fishing tone, but if I find something more interesting I will have that instead. I hope anyone checking in finds the links useful or at least entertaining.

Tight Lines, Biggie

Billings Gazette

Angler busted twice for taking too many fish!

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/17/features/outdoors/38-overthelimit.txt

Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Dave Mckee Article

There aren't enough days in the duck season!

http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Daily/Skins/BDChronicle/navigator.asp?skin=BDChronicle

Missoulian

Dreaming about expedition to that secret lake

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/17/outdoors/out42.txt

Great Falls Tribune

Boyd Wolverton closing fly shop next month

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/LIFESTYLE05/801170321/1055

Denver Post

Fly Wars: Which did you choose!

http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish

Rocky Mountain News

Fly-rod maker Jeff Hatton finds wealth of possibilities in woods!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/16/dentry-citizen-cane/

Cold January Day

2008-01-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

May the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it. ~Irish Blessing

The painting career has been put on hold again as I wait for another job so that I can occupy my time with something other than the computer or making 15 bean soup. The weather is frigid with a projected high near around 20 today and a slight warming trend with highs in the mid 20's by Friday. Too cold to fish on the rivers right now but the Annual Lions Club Perch Derby is just around the corner and it may require a day of R&D before the tournament. Jason and I may give it a try tomorrow, but we will see if it all works out. Just another day in Paradise!!!

Time to start again!

2008-01-16T12:51:00.002-07:00

Well, Well, I just had not even thought about the whole blogging thing in quiet some time but I have time on my hands and I thought maybe I would start back at it for a bit. Maybe I will even find the motivation to keep at it through the summer. It sure would be nice to have the days written down to check out for this coming season and look back at what conditions and changes took place.

Here is my son with his grandfather on his first run off the snowflake chair last weekend. I guess I am back in the skiing game.

Bob Jacklin's Fish of a Lifetime

2008-01-16T12:51:00.001-07:00

Gilligan and Skipper Part 2!

2007-06-06T10:44:00.000-06:00

Monday June 4th: Lower Madison with Trish, Larry, Boze and Trico. Flows were low at around 1100 C.F.S. and the river is gin clear until you reach Cherry Creek, which was dumping in a good amount of dirty water. The hatch activity was very strong starting about 10 am with Caddis and PMD's. The PMD's were coming off in huge numbers and they were the big bananna's in a # 14 or even a # 12. The caddis are light colored and they were a # 14 and # 16. The Salmonfly hatch took place over the weekend but with the low flows fishing was marginal at best. The Big Bugs are up in the canyon right now and a couple people that I spoke with said the bugs were spotty at best as they came through the trap. Gauvin and Ashby floated it on Sunday and did fair in places.

The plan was to meet Larry and Trish at their house at 7 am because I had to be back in town for a 5:30 pm T-Ball game with my sons team the Tadpoles. Salmonflies were on our mind at the start of the day and when we arrived at the ramp at 7:45 there were a few bugs in the bushes and a rod case on the ramp that someone had left from the day before. For Jeremy it was fortunate that he had his name and phone number on the case so when I got back to town I called him and got his rod back to him. He had floated the Trap on Sunday and they hit the ramp in the dark and he left it behind. We put the rod in the truck and jumped into the boat for a quick run with the Salmonflies down to Cherry Creek. The low flows immediately made me question wether we would turn any fish because the water was not up near the banks and shaking the willows. We stuck with the Big Bugs to the Bridge Pilon and Larry hooked and lost a very nice brown on the rock slide above the pilon. Trish spooked another decent fish on the lower pockets of the slide and after we floated the bank to the lumber yard hole we decided to switch up and try matching the caddis and PMD's that were hatching instead. I tied on a # 12 Royal PMX trailed with a Bunny Dun for Larry and I gave Trish a # 14 Tan Parawulff trailed with a # 14 Copper John. We caught and landed a lot of small fish on both setups all the way to Doc's Channel. We pulled into see what was rising at Doc's and there were a bunch of splashy rises at the top of the channel. We got out of the boat and headed up into Doc's. There were three really nice brown trout rising in the slow water next to the rock pile and Larry made a dozen cast all around the fish until they moved up further towards the riffle. I changed up his bugs to a small # 16 Parachute Caddis and trailed it with a # 16 parachute PMD. Larry missed a couple of the big fish and landed a few smaller bows and a brown. The big fish got wise to us and Larry continued on fishing to the smaller fish rising steadily in the riffle. Larry gave up the rod to Trish and she caught a rainbow within ten minutes of casting. After landing the fish Trish wanted me to fish so I told them I would take a few cast. It took me two cast to land the first fish and after 7 or 8 cast I had two more. Both of them were talking about the amount of time it takes them to catch the same number of fish and that is why they hire me to take them fishing. After an hour or so at Doc's we ate some lunch and moved on downstream. After we ate lunch the Yellow Sallies started to hatch pretty well so I changed Trish up to a # 12 Yellow PMX with a copper john dropper. Larry got a Lime PMX and a parachute adams. I dropped anchor across from the TeePee Island to let Trish run her dropper through the deep slot in the middle of the river. She hooked and landed a couple of fish on the dropper and then Jamie B. came floating by with the new owners of his 18 year old Willie boat he sold them in the parking lot that morning. With 34 one hundred dollar bills in his pocket he was grinning from ear to ear. He had the husband on the oars for his rowing lesson and the guys wife was up front as Jamie fished from the rear. They were running nymph rigs and Jamie pimped a nice brown right from below our boat as they floated past. They floated another 100 yards and had another fish on so I told Trish and Larry we would float to Cherry Creek with our dry fly setups and then head back to the bridge to to a short nymph run back down to Cherry Creek. Trish hooked a few more fish on the Copper John and they both had some fish eat on the dry. Trish had a decent number of looks at the Yellow PMX which was good to see. When we hit the ramp Jamie had sent the new boat owners on their way down the river to Black's Ford and we gave him a ride back to his truck at Warm Springs. He gave me a couple of the #18 Bloomy's that was working well and we set off for another float with nymphs in hopes of catching a few good ones.

Putting a boat in at the bridge is a goat show because the BLM, or as I like to refer to the Bureau of Land Mismanagement had to put in a overpriced ramp that you slide your boat to the water rather than backing the trailer to the water. Some one is going to break their arm or leg using the ramp and I hope they take the BLM to task on the poor choice and design for the ramp. I rigged them both up with nymph setups after we got the boat to the water and the tuber traffic was starting to get a bit heavy. The sights of Bikini's does make for some good sightseeing but you never know where the tubes will end up. I tied on the Bloomy's trailed with a black and tan for Larry and Trish got a # 16 PMD Wonder trailed with a Bloomy's for her setup. I ran them about 6 feet from the balloon with one # 2 Split shot above the flies. Trish hooked a good one in the deep slot across from the old bridge pile that came off after a hard fight. We never saw the fish but it fought like one of the big fish do in the Madison. We floated a bit further and Trish Hooked into the fish of the day just before we hit the campground. It was the best brown I have seen this spring and Trish will be bragging about it and sending photos to her friends and family for a few weeks to come.

After hooking the beast we continued on catching small fish on a very regular basis until we hit the weed beds just above Cherry Creek. Trish hooked another big brown and we had a bit of trouble landing it but with some luck and a quick stab with the net we had it in the boat for her second big fish of the day. We gave Larry a little grief about the size of his fish versus hers and then we set off for the last quarter mile of the float.

Larry finally hooked a good one that gave him a good fight before coming unbuttoned. I was very glad that Larry hooked into a good one because he loves to fish dry flies and getting him to nymph is almost impossible. He has been a little more receptive to a nymph setup as the years go by but it has been a long process. I love to get em on dries whenever possible and nymphing doesn't appeal to me much either but some days you just have to bite the bullet and go under the balloon to get after the bigger fish. We hit the ramp and I headed off for the T-Ball game between the Tadpoles and the Sunbolts.

Floating the Stone on June 2nd!!!

2007-06-06T09:58:00.000-06:00

Saturday June 2nd: Yellowstone river "Bird Float" with Jamie, Madeline, Mason, Shook, Rhiannon, Kylie, Jade, Tater, Reese, Moira, Kylie Lemp, Hailey and Trico. Flows on the Yellowstone were 7850 C.F.S. and there was over two feet of clarity in a greenish tinted water. I have never seen the stone in this shape this early and it is a bit worrisome for the rest of the summer. We will have to wait and see what mother nature brings us in the coming months. The air temp was in the mid 70's and there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

We had been planning on taking all the kids on a float over the weekend and on Friday night we had all made plans to meet at our hometown source of cheap plastic shit, otherwise known as Walmart, at 11 am on Saturday. We packed up the coolers and everyone was ready to go by 11 as we had planned. We left the Shook's car in the parking lot and jumped into my truck and Jamie's and headed for the stone. I arranged the shuttle with Toots on the ride over and we were at the ramp putting in by noon. There were about a dozen other rigs in the parking lot at Grey Owl when we arrived and Jeff and Karen Blatter were getting ready as we pulled up with our own little circus in tow. Jeff and Karen were slightly overwhelmed with all the kids and dogs running around but they have had all of us over at their home for BBQ's in the past so they were used to the ciaos that follows those of us with children around. We launched the boats and secured all the kids life jackets prior to setting off down the river. There were not many plans for fishing, with the exception of slinging some panther martins and blue fox vibrax spinners as we floated down the river. Jamie had several fish on before we hit the first bend and it was apparent that the lure fishing was pretty solid in the high off color water. There were plenty of fly anglers on the water as well and they were all doing pretty well, as long as you got it close to the bank. Ryan Eisfelt and Andy Chu had clients with them and we ran into them at Mill Creek eating lunch. They were doing pretty well fishing buggers and worms under and indicator. We let the older girls try casting the lures on the kids rods and the two twins did very well with watching the lure on the back cast and making a long enough cast to catch a few fish. Both Hailey and Kylie landed a whitefish all on their own at the mouth of the creek and the other kids ran around throwing rocks and sending sticks down the fast moving flows of Mill Creek.

After letting the kids blow off some steam we jumped back into the boats and continued our float on down the river. Moira, Reece, myself and the twins were in the drift boat and the rest of the clan were in Shook's raft. The raft was a great jungle gym and the kids were having a great time jumping off the tubes and using the floor of the raft as a trampoline.

In our boat the kids were a little less rowdy and Kylie was quickly becoming addicted to fishing. She stood in the back of the boat with Trico and kept to task throwing the Yellow Panther Martin towards the bank. She managed to land another 5 whitefish and two small brown trout as we floated towards the take out at Mallards Rest. Reece and Hailey sat on the bow of the boat and had a great time being silly and looking at the birds, deer and other animals that inhabit the banks of the Yellowstone River.

We made one last stop at the Loch Leven picnic area and while Kylie fished Hailey and Reece threw sticks and played with Trico. The other boat caught up with us and they had no interest in stopping. Shook and Jamie told us that they were over stimulated by the kids and were ready to hit the take out. We hit the takeout at around 5 pm and everyone was tired and ready for some dinner. A great time was had by all and we all turned in for an early night when we got home.

Madison Adventure

2007-06-06T09:21:00.001-06:00

Thursday May 31st: Upper Madison River with Paulson and Trico, Valley Garden fishing access site. The weather was warm and calm with temps in the mid 70's and caddis hatching in sporadic numbers. Flows were low at 700 C.F.S at the Kirby Ranch gauging station. Water clarity was very good with a slight tint of green but not much.

Paulson had been back from the Bighorn for a few days and he was already getting stir crazy sitting at home. He called me and wanted to go check on the bugs in the Bear Trap and see what else we might be able to find on the local waters. We met at the Ice Garden to leave one truck and head for the Madison. I ended up driving and we made our first stop at the Warm Springs fishing access site to take a quick peak at the river and see if there were any "big bugs" hanging in the willows at the ramp. It was a perfect day for being outside and when we got to the ramp there were no signs of the bugs, however there were plenty of PMD's and Caddis hitting the surface and the small fish were feeding hard in the riffle above Warm Springs Creek. Paulson suited up and and hit the river with a # 12 Parachute Hares Ear. I was not as organized and my bootfoot waders were leaking so I had to shove my feet into a pair of stocking foots and deal with lacing up boots and securing the line tanglers they call gravel guards. Paulson raised several small guys as I was getting ready and by the time I had my chest pack loaded with the days arsenal Paulson was on his way back deeming the bank "Junk" and wanting to prospect other options for the day. Since we had the dog with us we decided not to hike into the rattlesnake riddled canyon and avoid the poison sumac as well. We jumped in the rig and headed for Ennis to take a peak at the Upper Madison and try and hook up with Barney for either a short float or at least some good entertainment from Barney. We did not have any luck getting in touch with him so we headed for Valley Garden to see what was happening.

When we got to the access there was one other vehicle in the parking lot and we decided to head for some of the channels and try and catch a few fish. There were some sporadic caddis hatching and neither of us were to interested in nymphing for the day so Eric continued on with his Parachute Hares Ear and I tied on a # 12 Royal PMX trailed with a Soft Hackle Mangy on the back. Paulson had several small fish attack his fly on the bank opposite of the access site and after a few minutes we headed for the channels on the west side of the river. The small fish were all over the caddis imitations and I took a few on the bead head nymph that trailed my dry. After taking turns fishing the small runs we headed upstream to fish the big shelf that typically fishes very well. There were a ton of small fish eating our dries in the run and after a little while I was bored and headed for the deeper slot just above the shelf. I finally pulled out a nice rainbow on the bead and it hit the net at around 15 inches long. Paulson keep prospecting up the shelf and into the side channel and I headed upstream in the main channel. The other car that was parked in the lot was an older gentleman and he was nymphing the other side of the run when I got back to the main channel. I took a couple of cast into the tail out and hit two decent brown trout back to back on the PMX. I fished up the run and hooked a half dozen fish before heading to the deep slot next to the old burnt out tree. The run is deep and I added some length to my dropper and tied on a Two Tone Tommy, which can produce some great results in off color water. Paulson came around the bend just as I was getting ready to hit the deep run and he wanted me to move up into the channels above where I was standing. I told him to go ahead and I would catch up with him after I hit the deep run in front of me. I wish I had told him to stay so that he could have snapped a few shots of the next ten minutes of fishing that I had. I threw my flies up into the run and made several good drifts with not takers. I moved up towards the head of the drop and on my second cast into the riffle I hooked into something that had some weight to it. The fish headed for the opposite bank and then made a quick move downstream. Just when I was sure that it was a nice brown that was going to sulk and fight me hard from the bottom the fish headed for the sky and lept two feet out of the water. I could not have been more wrong with my prediction and a solid rainbow was in the air in front of me. I took my time and tried to keep him in the hole and out of the faster current in the main channel of the river. He came close to getting out into the heavy current on two separate occasion, but I stuck the tip of the rod in the water and showed who was boss before he could reach the heavy flows. I got him to hand in a minute or so and it was a perfect specimen of a rainbow that taped out at 21 inches long and it had a belly as large as mine. It was one of the better fish that I have seen this spring and I was kicking myself for telling Paulson to head upstream. I released the beast and through another cast back into the riffle at the head of the run. The very next cast I hooked into another heavy fish and I brought to hand a nice solid 17 inch brown trout that fought like most brown trout do. After releasing the brown I fished for another 15 minutes and landed another 9 small fish on both the worm and the PMX. The angler on the other shore laid witness to the fish catching spree that I went on and he spent a lot of time changing flies as I caught fish. He stuck with his bobber rig and I never saw him turn a fish in the time I was fishing the deep slot by the burnt out tree. I was completely satisfied with my day of fishing and after a couple of dozen fish I was starting to loose interest in fishing much more. I headed upstream to see how Paulson was doing and he was still spanking fish on the Parachute hares ear. He said that he had landed a couple of solid fish and he was also ready to move on. We made it back to the truck and stopped at the Town Pump in Ennis for a few customary corn dogs and few beverages. We headed back to the lower river and went down to High Bank to investigate the willows for any adult Salmonflies before heading back to town. There were not any bugs on the willows nor were there any nymphs on the bank so we took out our frustration on a puddle of water with Paulson new 1o mm glock. I am very comfortable with hand guns and after some prodding from Paulson I emptied one clip into the target and shook my head at the power and destruction that the pistol produced. Paulson is a hard core hunter and he carries the pistol as protection in case he has an encounter with a Griz or a cat. It was an interesting experience and I will not be running to the gun store to pick one up anytime soon.

"A Montana Wedding"

2007-05-30T22:05:00.000-06:00

"Congats to Peter and Lisa Holman"

Saturday May 26th: Gallatin River Hideaway, Peter and Lisa Holman wedding. The weather could not have been better with temps in the low 70's and not a cloud in the sky.

Lisa met Peter when her family came to Big sky for a ski vacation and they were matched up with Peter for a ski lesson. Their love quickly blossomed before Lisa's fathers eye and by the end of the week plans were made to move Lisa to Bozeman and the rest is history. With rain and snow prior to the wedding their was concern that the weather would clear for the day of the wedding. On Friday afternoon the skies broke free of the clouds and the sun shined down on the pavilion, which would be the setting for the joining of two great friends. The rehearsal dinner was thrown by Peter's family and it was in true Montana Fashion. Peter grew up on a cattle ranch and his mother prepared all the food for the dinner. While Peter and his mother were planning the event, Peter's mom mentioned that she would just prepare a "Branding Meal" for the dinner. After several walk throughs of the ceremony we all gathered for a good ole fashion ranch meal. The main course was, as expected, Roast Beef in a wonderful Au Jus. It was matched with a great salad that was paired with what else, Ranch and Thousand Island dressing. There was also a fruit salad, country potatoes, fresh rolls and some great deserts. The evening wound down with Peter grabbing the PA system and Auctioning off every piece of furniture located in the wedding Gazebo that would host the vows the next day. Everyone played along and we laughed and shouted through out Peter's routine. For those of you who have no idea who Peter is, I will just say that he is the friend that keeps everyone laughing at all his crazy antics and use of words you would never have the balls to use around anyone but your closest friends. Hey keeps us all laughing.

On Saturday morning we were greeted with clear skies and promises of a great day ahead. The girls were getting ready at the Tree House and the guys all met at Fry's house for a morning Sporting Clay shoot at Doc Bradfords. It usually takes our crowd a bit to get moving and by 9:45 we were all in our trucks and on our way to Doc's. Fry's roommate Marisa works at a vet clinic in town and she setup the whole event for us with Doc Bradford. Doc Bradford is a retired oral surgeon from Michigan who took up sporting clays in his 50's as he was nearing retirement. He has since jumped in and is a certified shooting instructor, sporting clay course designer and complete junkie for the sporting clay world. He has his own 9 station sporting clay's course on his property as well as a few other shooting stations that were his own spice on the sport. He gave us all a quick rundown of safety and told a few jokes about guides, guns and girls. Marisa joined us for the day and he made sure to keep it clean for the her, even though he believes her name is Martha and not Marisa.

"Doc watches as Martha turns a clay into dust"

We headed down the path and into the cottonwood trees on his property and he had cleared and area that had 4 shooting stations and plenty of evidence of the amount of shooting that takes place on his course.

"A few empty shells"

The warm up area has plenty of different throwers that could keep a group of grown men entertained for hours. We all took some warm up shots and moved onto the course. Doc was a great help and we all came away from the experience better shooters. Martha was about as good as anyone and she even impressed Doc.

"Peter, hours before he becomes another statistic"

After the shoot we all headed for the showers and got prepared for the joining of two of our friends. The wedding started promptly at 4 pm and the weather could not have been better. There were a couple of hundred people in attendance and the ceremony was very personal and sent them into the institution of marriage with some words of wisdom that helps keep all of us together. Once the ceremony was over it was time for the party. The food was catered by the Front Street Market in Butte and it was a good of a spread as any wedding I have attended in awhile. The dancing begun and most of the kids and those who don't need any liquid courage to hit the dance floor started to cut a rug. There were several kids running around and a few of them were looking for sticks, including my son Reece, so I ran to the van and retrieved the T-Ball gear so the kids could have something more constructive to do. It was a big hit and for an hour or so they were all very entertained. Everyone danced the night a way and Dave Bryan took first prize for the guy who let loose and put on the groove on the dance floor. Moira, Reece and I were on our way home around 11 pm and we were very proud to have such great friends and we wish Lisa and Peter all the best in the years to come.

Stream Flow and Weather Update

2007-05-30T21:54:00.000-06:00

Wednesday May 30th: The weather today warmed up and the sun was shining bright most of the day. Temps were in the Mid 60's with the high staying below 70 degrees today. An evening shower moved in about 6 pm and it rained with a small amount of hail for about 5 minutes. Paulson and I fished at Valley Garden and had good fishing with caddis. I used a # 10 Royal PMX with a Brown Soft Hackle Mangy caddis and did well on small fish. I later switched up to a Two Tone Tommy dropper and stuck several large fish with the highlight of the day being a 21 inch buck bow. Paulson stuck with a # 12 Parachute Hares Ear and pummeled the small and medium sized fish. More to come in a later episode. The mountains are all white with a fresh covering of snow which included 7 inches of fresh that greeted the residences of Big Sky on Tuesday Morning.

Bighole: 2300
Upper: 640 Dam 740 Kirby
Lower: 1650 Cherry Creek dirty and High Rest of River Gin Clear
Gallatin: 1750
Smith: 748
Mo: 4180
Deerborne: 585
Yellowstone @ Corwin: 5510
Yellowstone @ Livingston: 7180
Boulder: 1250

Stream Flow and Weather Updates.

2007-05-29T09:33:00.000-06:00

Tuesday May 29th: We woke up to a inch of heavy wet snow on the ground and most of the tree branches are sagging towards the ground with the heavy weight of the white stuff. It was a typical Memorial Day weekend with plenty of rain to keep campers and BBQ's stuck inside most of the weekend. Saturday was the only nice day of the three day weekend and if one day had to be nice I am glad that it was nice for Peter and Lisa's wedding day. Sunday Morning was nice out and Moira, Reece and I ventured out to the Elk Grove Pond to do a little fishing and running around with the Bryan's. Dave and I made quick work of catching a handful of fish in the pond before the dogs turned the shore into a muddy mess and sent most of the fish to the other end of the pond. We came home and spent the rest of the day recovering from the wedding the day before and at around 9 pm the heavens opened up and the rain started to fall. It rained most of the night and we woke to overcast skies on Monday Morning. By noon the heavens opened again and it rained hard until 5 pm last night. The rain totals for the 24 hour period were just over and inch for Bozeman and 1.10 inches for Ennis. A very good spring soak er that will hopefully help ease the pain of low snow packs in the mountains. Flows on most of the rivers have made a drastic drop due to the cold weather and the fact that it has been snowing in the mountains for the past week or so. I am not sure how much snow was put in the mountains but gaining versus loosing snow this time of year is always a bonus. The flows should be coming back up this week with temps reaching back in the high 70's and low 80's by the end of the week.

Current Flows.
Bighole 2870 and rising after hitting a low of around 2400 on the 28th.
Upper Madison: 774 at Kirby 474 coming out of Hebgen
Lower Madison: 1170
Gallatin: 1970 C.F.S. and Rising again
Mo: 4080
Smith 704
Dearborn:674
Lamar 2560
Yellowstone @ Corwin:6720
Yellowstone @ Livingston:7680
Boulder:1760

Scenic Float turns into a great day of Fishing!

2007-05-27T10:54:00.001-06:00

"Julie Nelson with one of her sister's brown trout"

Wednesday May 23rd: Upper Madison with Jen and Julie. Flows were low at around 760 C.F.S. at Kirby Ranch. The Upper just opened the weekend before and the West Fork was running clear from the cold snowy weather during the first part of the week. Clarity was well over three feet with just a slight tint of green. The weather was partly cloudy with a few snow flurries throughout the day and temps in the low 60's.

Julie Nelson contacted me earlier in the spring and she wanted to take a float trip while she was out visiting her sister Jen. Jen lives here in Bozeman and is a good friend of Amy's from Vermont. They both moved here after attending college and after visiting they both decided to stay and call Bozeman home. Julie had driven up the Madison Valley and loved the scenery so she had requested to float the Madison river and see the Valley from a different perspective. I told them that the fishing in Mid May would probably be a questionable option as we would be in our runoff season and most of the rivers would be high and dirty. Julie was not concerned about the fishing and seeing the sights was more important than getting in some fishing. Julie told me that she did not want to fish but her sister may want to learn a little bit about fishing and that catching fish was not important for her or her sister. As luck would have it we had some cold weather that cleared up many of the area rivers and the Madison was in good shape for catching some fish.

I picked them up at Jen's house around 9 am and we headed for the Upper portion of the Madison river, where the scenery is great. We made a quick stop at Dan and Nancy Delekta's Beartooth Fly Shop to get Jen a license and arrange for the shuttle from Lyons to Ruby Creek. Dan and Nancy were in Bozeman for the day but the rest of the friendly staff greeted us and gave us a current report from the previous day. The fishing was really good for a few brave soles that ventured out into the snow and cold on Tuesday and they did very well stripping streamers off the banks. The Upper had just opened on Saturday and the fish were in great shape. We arrived at Lyons by 11 am and there were only a couple of other trailers in the parking lot. I put all the gear into the boat and gave Jen a quick lesson on the finer points of casting a fly rod. After parking the truck we loaded up in the boat and shoved off. I dropped anchor just below the bridge to give Jen a few more instructions about getting a drift and how to present the fly to the fish. Jen was a quick learner and she picked up mending, casting and stripping the line right out of the gate. I had her rigged with a short heavy leader with a Bow river bugger and a Copper John with no additional weight. We started off fishing some of the deeper slots and pockets in the middle of the river and she managed to land one nice willow branch and had one other fish on in the first hour of the float. It was becoming apparent that the fish were not holding in the middle of the river as they do during the heat of the summer and the heavy fishing traffic that forces them off the banks. I made a quick fly change to a Copper Zonker trailed with a Pheasant tail nymph and we moved into the bank to see if the fish were holding on the edges. As we approached the Highway for the first time Jen hooked up with a nice brown and we landed her first fish on a fly rod. She was very excited and we all had a great laugh as the fish came to the net. We continued our float down the river and I pulled the boat into the slot below the Sun Ranch bridge and Jen hooked three nice fish that all took advantage of her inexperience. After spending some time in the slot we pulled up anchor and headed for the island for a bite to each and a break from waving the fly rod around.

"Jen and Julie at the Wolf Creek Bridge"

After lunch we set back out to catch some more fish and we started to see a good number of March Browns on the surface mixed in with some small # 20 Blue Winged Olives. The wind was a bit blustery but I decided to see if we could entice a few fish up to a # 12 Royal Wulff trailed with a # 14 Peacock Anatomay. The breeze was a little bit to stiff for Jen to make a good presentation to the bank and after ten minutes of cast landing upstream of the boat I pulled over and let her take a shot at a deep slot across from the Lodge above Windy Point. Jen had a few really good drifts through the slot and she hooked up with a nice brown trout that put up a strong run and came unbuttoned from her beadhead. I changed up the flies back to a # 8 Copper Zonker and trailed it with a # 14 Peacock Anatomay. I pulled up the Anchor and we made our way to the Wolf Creek Bridge. Jen hooked and landed one very nice Rainbow of about 16 inches and another brown that was close to the same size. Both fish were sitting tight to the bank in a slow slot that was only a foot or so deep.

"Jen with a nice Madison River Rainbow"

With the closure in place the fish had not had any pressure and were very secure sitting tight to the banks. Jen broke off her flies just above the bridge and I dropped anchor downstream of the bridge to take a photo of the girls and retie on her flies. We continued on our float and hooked a couple more nice fish that were a bit more experienced than Jen. We arrived at the Palisades boat ramp and a threatening snow squall was working it's way up the river. Jen hooked and landed another nice brown downstream of the Palisades which was a great way to end the day. With the threat of sitting in snow, wind and cold on the horizon we made a push for the boat ramp at Ruby Creek to get off before the storm hit us on the river. It was a fine day of fishing and we pretty much had the river to ourselves, which is rare for the Upper Madison.

Stream Flow and Weather Updates

2007-05-26T08:40:00.000-06:00

Saturday May 26th: The past week has brought us copius amounts of rain and cold and snowy weather. It all started on Monday evening when a major cold front moved in and by Tuesday morning we woke up to temperatures in the mid 40's and rain in the valley with snow coming down in the mountains. We did have a few snow flurries throughout the day on Tuesday but it mainly just rained. We recieved almost 9 thenths of an inch of rain in Tuesday and the high only reached 49 degrees. On Wednesday the skies broke a bit but we still had scattered showers and the high temp was only 56 degrees. Thursday we awoke to more snow flurries and it rained for a good portion of the day leaving us with another 7 tenths of an inch of moisture at the MSU weather station. The cold wet weather finally started to lift on Friday and we had partly cloudy skies and temps in the low 60's. Today it is bright and sunny with temps expected to reach 70 degrees, which is a great thing since one of my great friends is getting married this evening in the Valley. The cold wet weather really sent the streamflows in a nose dive and miraculously even the Yellowstone is fishable as I write this entry. All the mountains have a fresh white layer of snow and it is going to be a wonderful day for another man to bite the dust.

Streamflows:
Bighole 2930
Upper 760
Lower 1370 (PMD's Just starting to hatch, Salmonflies at Greycliff)
Gallatin 1510
Mo 4160
Yellowstone Corwin 5510
Yellowstone Livingston 6930
Boulder 965

Girlfriends and Snakes invade the Bighorn!

2007-05-24T09:55:00.000-06:00

"Buddies Record breaking Whitefish"

May 17th, 18th and 19th: Bighorn River trips for Matt at the Kingfisher Lodge. Sunny and warm all three days with an afternoon thunderstorm that made us run for the ramp on the 18th. River appears to drop lower each time I journey to the Flea Circus we call the Bighorn.

On Wednesday morning the 16th I was awaken by my cell phone at 7 am. Before I even checked the caller ID I had the thought that Paulson must have arrived back at his home in Gateway after his two month stint on the Bighorn. I was not sure that when he was scheduled to return to the Gallatin Valley, but I knew that he must be back since my phone was once again ringing at 7 am. As I poked around for my glasses on the dresser next to the bed I took a quick glance at the caller ID and it was a Fort Smith number that was ringing me from my slumber. I figured Paulson had not come home yet but he was calling me from his home on the Reservation to shoot the shit and ramble on about artifacts, fishing or the soap opera that takes place in the trailer court on a weekly basis. I answered the phone and to my surprise it was Matt from the Kingfisher Lodge and he had a panic tone in his voice. He asked me if I was busy and if I could come down and fill in for him as he had one of his regular guides double booked and he needed to find a competent guide for the next two days. I told him I did not have anything on the books for the next few days and that I would have to run it by my better half before I could commit to leaving the family for a few days of work. I spoke with my wife about it and she was happy that I could go and make a few extra bucks to help cover our bills for the month. I called Matt back and told him that I would be there that afternoon and would be happy to help him out. I could hear the sigh of relief leave his body as he had the trips covered. I have been in his position many times when I owned my own shop and I knew how good he must have felt to know that he had the days covered. I got Reece dressed and we road our bikes to school, where I gave him a big hug and told him I would miss him while I was gone. Reece is getting old enough to understand that Dad is going to work and sometimes I will be gone for a few days while I am working. He loves me a ton and it is always the hardest part of leaving for a few days. After I got back to the house I loaded up my sleeping bag, some clothes, and my fishing gear and headed for Six Flag's newest amusement park in Fort Smith Montana. If you haven't been to the Bighorn in the past two years than you are missing out on one of the most spectacular trout fisheries in the world. The numbers of fish in the river at this time is almost obnoxious and there are more fish in the river than there are fleas on a stay dog.

I arrived at the Lodge around 6 pm to let Matt know that I was in town and that I would be there bright and early to pick up the clients in the morning. I headed for town to find a place to rest my head for the next few days and my first stop was at Palumbo's since he had a spare room and a bed. When I got to his house he was on the phone with his gal and I sat and read a few articles from the old playboy that he had sitting on the coffee table. Matt had informed him that I was on my way down and he told me to put my stuff in the spare bedroom. He finished off his conversation with is Gal and we shot the shit for a few minutes before Weedmiller and Kieser walked into the house. As usual Dave's house is the local watering hole since there is not a bar within 50 miles of Fort Smith. We all shared a few beers while Dave cooked up a piece of catfish he had purchased from the market. Eric was on his way down to his new girlfriends place and Kiser invited me over for some meat loaf and potatoes. Dave's phone rang again and I headed over to Kisers for a meal and some great conversation with the surely old koot from Lander Wyoming. We talked about wolves, moose and fishing freestone streams throughout the Rockies. After a while I headed back to Dave's and he was still on the phone with his girlfriend so I decided to head to the "Tenders" house to catch up on some missed time from the last trip. Tender was cooking up some of his new goose brats and invited me to join in on the feast. I told him I had just had some of Kisers meatloaf and that I was full from the meal. I partook in a few beers and a couple of shots from the Makers Mark bottle that his client had left him from the past couple of days. The Tender was also into a new girlfriend and soon his phone rang and he was into a conversation with his new girlfriend. I decided to head for bed so that I would not have a hangover for the next day on the water.

I arrived at the lodge and was given the two rookies for the day. I typically get the anglers with the least experience because I enjoy teaching people the sport and with a long list of teachers in the family genes I am pretty good at it as well. I had Bill and Buddy in the boat for the day and we headed for the three mile put in. There were plenty of boats already in the water and a trailer load of the "Devil's Spawn" pulled up and started unloading their kickboats. We jumped in the boat and started down the river. I don't enjoy boat fishing on the Bighorn so we rowed downstream to the Corrals with hopes of getting into the hole. There was a guy who had walked down to the Corrals so I told the guys they could boat fish through the fast water above the club. We hooked a fish immediately and I was impressed that both Bill and Buddy were doing pretty well with their casting. We hooked and landed a dozen or so fish from the boat as we floated to the first good open spot at the Vines. I put Bill on the shelf ledge and waded Buddy up to the top flat to sight fish the larger browns that usually hang on the tan flat above the deeper hole. Bill managed to hook a half dozen small browns from the drop off and Buddy hooked into two very nice browns that managed to school him in a few seconds. The fish were on the flat but they were being very picky about eating our flies. We fished here until around lunch time and then we headed for the boat. Palumbo had floated past us and he was pulled over eating lunch across from Turkey Point, so I pulled in and we ate lunch together. During lunch we got to witness a small argument with one of Mike Craig's friends who was fishing across from the house and a boat with three anglers who had pulled in and were going to try and fish the spawning beds above the house. I am not sure why they tried to pull this stunt because most everyone who fishes the Bighorn regularly would have said something to them about fishing in the largest beds on the river. It is perhaps the biggest no no on the river and everyone frowns upon fishing the reds. The guys loaded back in the boat and headed on downstream after the short conversation with Mike's friend. We pulled out shortly thereafter and headed for the tail end of the flat below the house where there were several good pods of rising fish. I ask Buddy and Bill if they wanted a lesson on fishing dry flies and they were game. I told them we would not have a great numbers day fishing for the rising fish but that they would learn a great deal and get to experience what fly fishing is really all about, seeing a fish eat your dry. I rigged them both up with my Winston rods and gave them a quick lesson on the differences in casting a dry versus lobbing a nymph rig around. Both of them were surprised at how much different the casting was and we set off to try and catch a few fish on the surface. Bill was handling the casting pretty well and I had him setup with a Bailey's CDC baetis that wound up taking three of the smaller brown trout from the slick water in the tail out. Buddy was having a bit more difficulty in trying to cast the dry fly setup and I spent a solid hour working with him on his cast and presentation. He missed several fish that ate his dry fly but never managed to get a hold of one of rising fish. He did make vast strides in his casting and he was very happy that we had taken the time to learn about the art of casting and the frustration of having fish rising in front of you and not being able to catch them. It was nearing 4 pm and we got back in the boat and looked for one last stop before hitting the boat ramp. The left hand side of Little Horn Rapids was open and when I pulled in there were a hundred or more fish surfing just below the surface with some of them rising to adult insects that floated down the river. There were also a good number of caddis starting to pop so I tied on a parachute caddis with a mangy dropper. Both of them were getting tired and their casting was falling apart with each subsequent cast. We did manage to hook several fish and it was time to head for the lodge for dinner. All in all it was a fun day and both Bill and Buddy learned a lot and improved their fly fishing skills.

The next day I was blessed with my first single on the Bighorn. Having one angler in the boat opens up a lot of options and I was excited to get on the river with Gary. Gary was also pretty new to the sport and he had spent a couple of days with Kiser, who gave him plenty of grief about using to much wrist while he was casting. I told Gary that we would work on his casting a bit and that I would show him how to incorporate his wrist into a nice cast. In all the years of teaching the art of casting I have come to realize that everyone is going to do it a bit differently than the next guy and that you can use each individuals strut to help them become a better caster. The long time method of casting where no wrist and using the ten and two approach is an old method that I believe hinders many peoples casting. I prefer to teach them about the mechanics of how a rod flexes and incorporate their own style into making the rod flex in the appropriate manner. Gary and I headed downriver looking for a good spot to pull over. I passed on the Beaverhut, SBA and eventually wound up in the Corrals. There were a few fish rising in the lower end of the bottom bucket and we made a feeble attempt to get them to eat a dry fly. After the fish spooked and moved into the lower bucket we headed for the ledge and ran a few nymphs through the deep part of the hole. The fish were a little skittish in the lower bucket and most of them moved into the middle, which was not obtainable with Gary's cast. I peered upstream to the upper bucket and there were a dozen or so fish rising very steadily on midges just at the top of the rock shelf. We eased our way up to the fish and I tied on a midge cluster that Gary could see. We got to within 20 feet of the rising fish and Gary managed to hook several of the fish and miss a few more. About this time Stretch came floating down the shallow channel and parked in the riffle above the hole. He waded his guys out to the shallow water that does hold some spawners and he began predating on the vulnerable spawners. I was not upset about it but his wading was sending down plenty of muddy water that was washing in on the hole we were fishing. It is not a big deal as it can be helpful at times to have a cloudiness in the water to make the fish feel more secure. We switched over to a nymph rig with a sow bug and Jesse's Midge larvae and on the first cast Gary was into a nice brown trout. We stayed in the hole for another hour or so and Gary caught fish after fish until he was giggling like a little girl. At one point I looked upstream towards Stretch and his two dudes and one of them was doing a rapid Irish jig as he danced around kicking his feet out in front of him. I saw stretch pull out his net and net a rather large Bull snake that was trying to crawl up his clients leg and get out of the frigid water. Stretch took the snake to shore and I walked up to let him know that we would be leaving the hole and to give his client a little grief about joining the Riverdance tour and performing his jig for a larger audience. They all laughed and Gary and I headed for some new scenery and some more fish.

"This will make anyone do the Riverdance"

Our next stop was at the Vines again and the fish were up on the shelf as they were the day before. This was a golden opportunity for Gary to learn the roll cast and he picked it up very quickly with the extra wrist that he uses in his cast. One very nice brown had moved into the seam just off the drop and Gary was able to see the fish that I told him to cast to. After several good drifts the fish finally made a move for the flies and both Gary and I witnessed the fish move over and take the fly that Gary had presented to him. Gary set the hook like a seasoned pro and the fish came out of the water right in front of us. It was a very nice brown and it headed for the faster and deeper water. Gary did a great job of turning the fish and soon the fish was back in his control and coming in for me to net. Just as the fish came near it came unbuttoned and we were both disappointed that we did not get to fondle the great fish that was so much fun to try and catch. Gary picked up the roll cast technique and he had an uncanny ability to see the fish laying on the shelf. It was one of the first times that a client really saw the fish that I was pointing out and he even pointed a couple out to me that I missed. We fished at the vines for another hour or so and Gary hooked, landed and lost another dozen or so fish. We jumped in the boat and headed on downstream to fish one more spot before we called it a day. We arrived at the bottom end of the Bay of Pigs channel and when I pulled the boat in at the bottom end I accidentally rowed onto a small spawning pit that had 4 nice fish on the bed. I slid the boat below the spawners and we headed up to the deep run above the small spawning bed. I put Gary in the spot and told him exactly where to cast and his flies stuck hard and strong to something on the bottom. The flies broke off in our attempt to rescue them and I brought up the leader to replace the lost bugs. Just as I had the bugs tied on a fierce cloud packed with lightning, thunder and buckets of rain started to move in on top of us. I told Gary to make a few more cast and then we would head for the ramp and try and beat the storm that was approaching fast. Just as he made his first cast back into the seam, a horrific sound of the approaching storm raged in on us. You could here the wind for a solid 30 seconds before it even hit us and I told Gary to reel up because we needed to haul ass. He quickly reeled in and we jumped in the boat and I turned us around and rowed as hard and as fast as I could. Fortunately the wind was blowing directly downstream and at one point I looked back and I could have easily been towing a wake boarder from the bow of the boat. We hit the ramp just as the first major drops of rain started to fall and I had Gary jump in the truck as I backed down the ramp. Gary was inside the truck as I loaded it on the trailer and got all the gear stowed away and ready to travel on the highway back to the lodge. I got soaked by the rain but I was glad that we were not still on the river in the lightning and rain that was pouring down from the heavens.

When we got back to the lodge the storm broke and all of the other guides were back at the lodge within a few minutes of us. The clients went into their rooms to get ready for dinner and all of the guides sat around the boat drinking a few cold beers and telling stories. Kiser showed up and he was most impressed with the "Boat Lean" and commented about how he hadn't seen one this big in a while. Matt's two boys were running around amongst the mix of guides and clients and his youngest son Cash decided he did not want to have on any pants anymore. He jumped in the boat and he hung out with all the boys and had a great time. Matt's older son Cade was hanging off my boat and climbing around most of the time and he wanted to know if I was going to bring my son Reece over in the morning to play with him. I told him we would come back down in the fall and they could all run around and have a great time in his tree fort out back behind the lodge. He was excited about it and I promised him we would come back down and hang out with him. I had plans on traveling back home to Bozeman that night but Paulson talked me into staying the night and taking a short drive in the morning up to the lake. Since I had several beers on board I figured it was best that I stay the night and I could get home by mid morning to see the family and spend the weekend with them.

"Yellowtail Zig Zags"

That night we ate some dinner with Thor and Blatter and had a few more beers before we all retired for the evening. In the morning we got up and Paulson and I picked up a box of donuts and some milk and headed up the Grapevine road for a tour of the reservation. We wound up on top of the reservoir and we made it up past the main body of the lake and where the lake enters into the zig zags of the canyon. It was one of the most amazing places that I have been in the state and even though it was more than a quick drive I was glad that I got to see the sights that we saw. It is an amazing piece of land that the Crows have and I am glad that it will stay as it is for many more years. I am looking forward to taking the Lund up the lake and seeing the zig zag portion of the lake from lake level.

Canyon Ferry Walleye

2007-05-23T22:35:00.000-06:00

Tuesday May 15th: Canyon Ferry Reservoir walleye fishing with the Bendeduchie. The weather was bright and sunny with temps in the high 70's and no sunscreen. Dead calm on the lake most of the day with a very slight breeze in the morning.

Every now and again a die hard fly fisherman has to go back to their roots and hit the big water with a stinky 2 stroke engine, several heavy spinning rods, a good ole fashioned tackle box full of treble hooks and a cooler packed with beer, ice, night crawlers and leeches. We both dropped the kids off at school as early as the preschools opened and we were on the road and out of town by 7:30 am. We made a quick stop at the Town Pump in Townsend to top of the gas tank on the boat and pick up a Nascar sponsored 18 pack of cheap beer for consumption on the lake. Next stop was the Silo's Store for a sandwich, some additional tackle and the bait. Forty bucks later we were at the boat ramp and filling the air with blue smoke from the 90 horse Johnson on the back of the Lund Tyvee boat.

"The Duche and his boat!"

We raced across the 3 miles of the southern end of the lake and then we sent a few leeches and a couple of crawlers into the bottom of the 8 feet of water we had success in the year before. Most of the boat traffic was a mile North of us along the shoreline and we formulated a plan to slow troll over towards the other boats. However we first had to give the productive spot from the year before a quick try. The lake was a few feet shallower than it was in 2006 so we made a move towards the bulk of the boat traffic, figuring the old men of the lake probably had the fish marked on their fish finders and had been pounding on them for several days. As we approached the duck hunting boat ramp my rod with the shimano counter reel on it bent tight and I was fast into a hefty pull on the rod. I struck hard and fast and at first I was positive that I had set the hook on a large log or an old Christmas tree and was pulling it off the bottom of the lake. After a few seconds the so called tree started to move sideways from the boat and we both got excited thinking we may have hooked into a large brown trout that lurks in one of the deep holes in the Missouri River, just above the lake. After 5 minutes of pulling up and reeling back down on the fish we had our first glimpse of the behemoth and the glow of Gold that flashed reminded us that there are a gazillion carp in the lake and I had hooked one slow trolling a bottom bouncer with a worm harness with a blue blade. I had squarely hooked the fish in the Dorsal fin and it was like dragging in a fish twice the size as the 12 pound carp that was now in the net.

"Carp on a bottom Bouncer"

We worked our way into the edge of the boat traffic and as soon as we hit the Osprey tower both of us had a bent rod and Jamie reeled in a pounder Walleye that he swung into the boat just like a seasoned veteran of the BASS circuit. My fish was a good bit larger and Jamie netted the 4 pound Walleye for my. We were excited to be on the board. Jamie's fish came on a Pink Jig head with a olive and pink wiggle tail tipped with a leech. My fish fell prey to the bottom bouncer with a pink blade and a crawler on the end. We were on the fringe of the bulk of the boat traffic and another guy in a small lund boat with a tiller motor was fast trolling crank baits just outside of us. He came fast to a small fish at the same time as we had and the decision was made to run back and forth through the location that had been so productive. We trolled another 200 yards and made the circle to head back over the honey hole. As we made the turn Jamie hit another pounder and we now had three fish in the live well, almost enough for a meal that evening. We spent the rest of the day running back and forth over the honey hole and we finished the day off at the spot with 10 in the live well and a full fledged fish fry for family and friends. There were several other boats that fished the spot with us during the day but we managed to keep most of the predators away it never got extremely crowded with boats in our spot. There was one big Lund boat that was killing them in the same spot and we could only tell that they were fishing bottom bouncers.

One very refreshing aspect of Walleye fishing is that even when the area is crowded with boats, everyone lets bygones be bygones and shouting and yelling about spots is absent from the day. We even saw one boat cut between us and another couple and hook a fish from under the other couples boat.

"On this weeks episode of Pimp My Fish"

When it comes to Walleye fishing everyone finds the honey hole and everyone takes their turn dragging leeches and worms past the school of fish. We hit the ramp at around 4 pm and called Shook and the kids so that they could share in our feast from the lake. Frying fish in oil always makes for a great meal but I did find a great recipe for a breading that I will use for a second time. It is very simple and it made an incredible light coating with lots of great flavor.

The Worlds Best Breaded Fish:
Honey Twist Pretzels
Instant Mash Potatoes
Tastefully Simple Sun dried Tomato and Garlic Pesto Mix
Egg
Flour.

Grind up the Potatoes, Pretzels and Pesto mix in a food processor to make a crumbly powder. Beat up an egg or two in a separate dish and put a couple of cups of flour in a third container. Dip the fish in the Flour and then in the egg mixture. Then dip in the crumbs and drop in the oil. Walla your done. Good Eatin!!

Gilligan and the Skipper!

2007-05-14T09:58:00.000-06:00

Friday May 11th. Hyalite Reservoir with Trish, Larry and the Dogs. Weather was warm and partly cloudy with temps in the mid 70's and afternoon showers. The Cutts have left the Building.

Larry had to take Boze to Petsmart for a grooming at 9 am so we would not be able to head out to the lake until he was done at the groomers. We finally met up with Trish and picked up some lunch at Berries and Beans around noon. I had high expectations for the day since I had such good success only ten days earlier on the lake. When we got to the dam the water was all the way up to full pool and my hopes quickly dwindled as the lake had come up some 16 to 18 feet in the past ten days. Knowing that the lake filling up signals the cutts to head for the creeks and leaves only a few stragglers who do not want to partake in the spawning festivities and the grayling which spawn in the fall. We finally got to the ramp and loaded all of our gear into the boat for the ten minute row over to the inlet where most of the fish congregate in the spring. There were a couple of motorboats slowly trolling around the lake and two other guys on pontoon boats that had come in from the small sliver of state ground where hand launching a craft is possible. It does save a lot of rowing by putting in at the state land but with a drift boat you have to get lucky and not have anyone in the parking area. It is always a gamble that I usually do not take because the pot holes in the road are big and it takes nearly as long to bounce down the road as it does to row across the lake.

When we arrived in the southern end of the lake the island was two feet underwater and I told both Larry and Trish that I did not expect to catch a boat load of fish as most of them had probably made their way into the creek or they were stacked right at the creek mouth which is closed to fishing. The pontoon boats were fishing between the island and the western shore so we headed to the creek channel to try and get a shot at any fish that were getting ready to head up the creek. I anchored the boat a couple of hundred yards from the guys who were wade fishing across from the FW&P sign that tells you the fishing is closed behind the sign. I put on the Hyalite two fly rig that works well most of the year and we proceeded to sink the bugs in the channel that is now 10 feet below the surface. Ten days earlier the channel was clearly visible and the fish were stacked in it like cord wood. After 20 minutes of going fish less I started to reel in my flies and I had a take from a smaller 10 inch cutthroat. I landed it and let it go so that the fish could be caught again when he put on some additional inches and a pound or so in weight. Shortly after I let the small fish go Trish hooked into a larger fish and as it came to the surface it was a brightly colored Grayling.

"Trish with a Hyalite Reservoir Grayling"

It was Trish's first Grayling and she was very excited to catch one. I decided it was probably going to be a better day for drinking beer than it was for catching lots of fish so I reeled in my flies and cracked open a cold Busch Light that had been sitting on ice. Larry and Trish continued to fish for a while and then I decided to try and move further into the lake where the channel makes a bend and heads for the submerged island. We dropped anchor on the bend in the channel and I had them send their flies into the depths of the hole. Larry came tight to a nice 18 inch cutthroat right away and it hit while he was turned around responding to Trish and I giving him shit about his Gilligan hat that he likes to wear when we are fishing. Murphy did poke his head into our day with the fish taking the fly when we were not paying attention. Larry landed the cutthroat and we were happy that we had all caught at least one fish. Larry continued to make cast after cast into the channel and he came tight to another fish about 15 minutes after the first one. It was another nice Grayling and he was excited to get on the Grayling Board as well.

After Larry had two fish to Trish and my one he chided in every ten minutes or so about that he had caught two and we had only got one. The dogs were getting eager to get out of the boat so I pulled up anchor and we headed to the shore to fish between the island and see if we could pull in a few more grayling. We fished at the island for a half hour and then decided to give the other creek mouth a try on our way back to the truck. Trish jumped on the oars and rowed us over to the creek mouth where our luck consisted of catching a few sticks that had come out of the creek with the higher water. We decided to call it a day and Trish rowed us all the way back to the boat ramp and the waiting truck. It was a great day to be outside and our decision to leave turned out to be a good one as a big thunder storm moved into the area for the evening and it would have been a cold and wet row back to the truck had we stayed another hour or so on the lake.

Stream Flow Updates

2007-05-10T20:47:00.000-06:00

Today was mild and overcast with a few heavy thunderstorms that dumped some good rain in the Southern Mountains and a little rain here in town. The storms came in from the south over the Spanish Peaks and they had some very loud thunder that woke up both Mason and Reece from their naps at school. I had to pick up Mason and Madeline from school because Jamie was guiding and Tina was in in Seattle for work. All three of them told me about the loud Thunder. Today was also the first day of T-Ball practice for Reece and it went very well. His team consist of Brooks Talbot, Katherine Larson, Aiden, Kyler, Amber, Abby, Nicholis and Derrick. There are two more that did not make it to practice that will be with us next week. We gave them all a talk about safety and not picking up bats unless they are handed to them by one of the coaches. Then we practiced Nose, Toes and Throws so that they all could understand how to throw the ball. After that we learned how to field a ground ball by putting thier pinkies together and bending down to field the ball. After that we practiced running around the bases and ended the practice with each of them hitting the ball. Everyone had a great time and I was amazed at how well they all listened and behaved. It should be really fun coaching the kids and seeing them grow.

River Flows:
Upper Madison @ Kirby 1080 @ Hebgen 663
Lower 1630
Gallatin 1830
Lamar 4440
Yellowstone @ Corwin 7330 @ Livingston 8540
Boulder 1300

A Golden Day on the Lower Madison

2007-05-10T11:47:00.000-06:00

"The Rip Rap Bank where the Magic got started"

Wednesday May 9th: Lower Madison with the dogs and Larry. Flows were 1800 C.F.S. and the clarity was a solid three feet in a greenish colored water. Weather started out with clear blue skies and 70 degrees with clouds and wind blowing in around noon and lasting most of the day.

I was debating whether to float the Slower Murderson or try and squeeze in a float on the Gallatin from Shed's to Cameron when I woke up. After picking up lunch from Mama Mac's and crossing over the Gallatin my decision was made easy as the Gallatin had started to get a brown color to it when I crossed over. The 80 degree temperature had sent down a good bit more water and with it more sediment. Larry was ready when I arrived at his house atop the Dairy Farm and we jumped in our trucks and took the short drive to the Lower. We parked Larry's truck at Black's Ford and headed for the put in at Warm Springs. When we arrived Grossenbackers had a group of 5 boats getting ready and there was another raft getting ready to float as well. We loaded our gear in the boat and launched the boat. I started Larry off with a Trude and a caddis dropper to fish the pockets in between the weed beds and let the group trip float on by us. I knew that they were all throwing indicator rigs with a crayfish and a bead so they would pass by quickly and we would not have to deal with them the rest of the day. As we got to the top of the weed beds I had Larry running cast into the pockets between the weeds with the dry dropper rig. There were some March Browns, Caddis and some small mayflies that I believe were psuedo cleons coming off the water. We fished the top end of the weed beds near the island on river right and then I pulled the boat back across to the top of the weed beds so that we could run a few quick nymphs through the edge of the weed beds on the left side of the river. I gave Larry a nymph rig with a copper zonker and a # 16 peacock anatomay dropper. He ran the nymph rig all the way down the weed beds to the end of the island and we had no success at all. I did make several fly changes as we walked down the beds but none of them produced results as well. I tried a lite brite caddis, brown Mangy caddis, two tone tommy worm and a prince. As we hit the second weed bed I changed him back to the dry dropper rig and we stung a small fish out of one of the deep buckets. The Group trip came by us and it took them longer than expected to get out of site and out of ear shout from us. They had a group full of rookies and tangles and instruction were on the slate for the guides. They did appear to be having a good time as they were plenty loud as they passed us. We proceeded to make our way down the weed beds and then we headed to the right hand side of the river to see if any fish were rising in the willow lined bank ahead of the "ice shelf" island. With no success up to this point I jumped back in the boat and we changed back to the nymph rig. I switched the nymph rig up to a natural zonker trailed with a pheasant tail and we dropped anchor and ran some drifts through the rock garden on the first corner. It was starting off to be another one of "those days" on the Slower Murderson. We pulled up anchor and the wind started to blow as we floated by the "rock slide", when a big fish ate the strike indicator on the shallow riffle in the middle of the river. Of course Larry got all excited and he wanted to fish a dry fly immediately. I gave him the same tired speech about fishing eating indicators and we continued to float on down the river. As we floated I started to notice a couple of different size Golden stones flying around and when we got to the bridge piling we pulled in and I rigged up a new dry fly setup. The rip rap bank below the piling is most effectively fished using a dry dropper setup as you can get it in closer to the bank and keep a good drift going so we made a plan to hit it hard. The water was up so I was not sure if I would be able to walk the boat down the bank but I cinched up my waders as high as they would go and got ready to walk the boat down the bank. In years past I have done well fishing a Lime PMX when the stones were out so I rigged Larry with a # 10 Delektable Lime PMX and a # 12 Rubberleg Legal dropper. As we set off down the bank the wind was gusting and a good bank of clouds had set over us. We made it about 50 yards down the bank and Larry was into a small bow on the legal. I pulled the boat to shore and threw the anchor in the rocks so I could net the fish for him. We set back out and we pulled five fish off the rest of the rip rap bank with a nice 17 inch bow being the highlight of the short run. The big rainbow first swiped at his dry twice and then we hooked him on the legal after a couple of more cast. As the wind picked up I pulled the boat all the way over to the opposite bank and we had a bite to eat. The dogs love lunch time because Larry loves to throw them food as we eat. They were in dog heaven with all the excess bread on the Mama Mac's Sandwich's.

"Doggy Heaven, Lunch Time with Larry"

As we ate the wind continued to gust and there were a lot of the stones flying in the air. There were two sizes of the goldens flying around. There was a smaller # 14 stone and a larger # 8 of # 10 size as well. The change over to the dry dropper setup was finally producing some results. I took a few cast as we were stopped with a spin rod rigged with a Panther Martin and caught two very small browns and had on another fairly nice sized brown as well. I know that fishing with a spin rod is looked down on by a lot of fly addicts, but they need to get over themselves and remember that fishing is supposed to be fun and no matter what method of fishing you are doing it is a great time. Some of the best fishing this year has been with my son at the Bozeman ponds drowning worms. Sorry to get off subject but I had to put in my little rant.

I walked the boat back over to the highway side of the river after lunch and Larry immediately hooked a nice rainbow on the PMX. The fish fought hard and broke off the dropper sometime during the battle so I had to re juice the fly and add another dropper. We continued on down the bank and had another fish come up to the PMX in the small rock garden before it breaks into "Gaper Flats". I walked the boat back across the river to hit the rocks on the other side and Larry missed a nice 15 or 16 inch brown off the shore below the rock piles. I jumped back in the boat and floated down the middle of the river till we hit the camping site and then I jumped back out to walk the boat down to the "Head Gate Hole". We had no luck on the bank so I got back into the boat and rowed over to the middle slot to fish the edges of the weed beds. I dropped anchor in the slot across from the head gate and Larry caught 4 smaller fish all on the PMX. We proceeded down the weed beds and Larry missed a couple on the dropper and landed a couple of more small fish on the dry fly. By the time we hit the bridge we had a pretty decent day going. The weather had been breezy but the cloud cover definitely helped out with the fishing.

After we went under the bridge we had a slow period until we hit Red Mountain Campground and where Larry hooked three fish on consecutive cast just before hitting "Doc's Channel". All of the fish came up to the PMX, so I decided to switch up to two dry flies. Larry was very excited and made the comment that he was finally fishing like a man again. I giggled and praised him for doing so well with the nymphs and responded to his comment about how he would rather catch 6 fish on a dry than twelve on a nymph. I ask him if he would rather catch 25 on a nymph and he said that might be O.K. too. We continued on the float and we caught another dozen fish on our way to the take out at Blacks Ford. The fish ate the # 14 Parawulff Adams about half the time and the PMX the other. It turned out to be a great day and we both were satisfied with the fishing we had for the past two days.

A break in the runoff!

2007-05-10T11:05:00.000-06:00

Tuesday May 8th: Upper Madison River with Larry. Flows were 945 C.F.S. and the weather was warm and sunny with a high around 80 Degrees. The weather prior to this date had been cool with some rain and snow storms that locked up the runoff for a few days and cleared the area rivers for some more fishing. The Yellowstone was even fishable but it had come up about 1500 C.F.S. overnight and I made the decision to head to the upper rather than risk driving over to the Yellowstone and getting blown out.

I arrived at Larry's rental house and picked him up around 9 am. We loaded up both Trico and Bozeman and headed for Ennis to see what trouble we could stir up for the day. I was considering floating from McAtte to Varney and fishing a dry dropper rig but we decided on doing a shorter float from 8 Mile to Ennis and then heading below the Ennis Dam to see if the caddis activity would be strong in the evening. The water clarity was decent when we got to Ennis and the river had a green tint to it with about two and half feet of visibility. When we arrived at the boat ramp there were two other boats putting in and Dave Mckee was already in the water below us. I rigged two nymph rods and a dry fly rod with a dropper in case we got lucky and saw a few rising fish. On one nymph rod I tied on a San Juan Worm trailed with a PT and on the other I rigged a Oil Can Bugger with a soft mangy caddis olive on the other. We started off with the lighter nymph rig and caught a small rainbow right out of the gate. I floated down the side channel and ran into Dave and his client who were rigging up a rod. We had a quick chat about Walleye fishing and how we both got the invite from Benedickt but we were both obviously guiding instead of heading to Canyon Ferry with the Deuce. I jumped out and walked Larry down the river as he plied the deeper buckets for fish. The San Juan was taking a few whitefish and an occasional trout. As we continued walking the boat down the river there were a considerable amount of March Browns hatching along with some sporadic caddis. I switched Larry's setup to a Black Conehead Bugger trailed with a # 12 Peacock Anatomay to imitate the March Brown nymphs. The Black Conehead has produced well for me as well in the greenish water on the Upper. Right off the bat Larry started hooking up on the Anatomay and he landed several more fish before we hit the Burnt Tree access. I kept my eye out for rising fish and we did not see a single head poke up all day long. As we approached the deep hole below Burnt Tree I told Larry to get ready and he placed a perfect cast in between the submerged rocks on the left hand side of the river and came tight to a very nice trout that ran out into the deeper part of the run. I pulled over and the fish popped off of Larry's fly. We were both disappointed and I decided to walk the boat back up to the top of the run for Larry to run a few more cast through. He hooked and landed a nice whitefish on the first good drift and then he hooked another nice brown trout that we got almost up to the boat before he came unbuttoned.

We ate some lunch and then headed back down the river fishing nymphs all the way to the Rapids below the Happy Angler house. We moved a few more fish on the nymphs but the fishing slowed as the sun rose higher in the sky. Larry loves to fish dry flies so I tied on a trude and a lite brite caddis dropper so that he could fish it out to the take out. He did hook two small fish on the trude before we hit the ramp and we loaded up the boat and headed for the dam. The fishing was fair for the day and it appears the post spawn rainbows we caught 10 days earlier had started to spread back out and the fish were not in the deeper buckets like they had been. All in all the fishing was pretty good and I got Larry to nymph fish for most of the day. He actually did better nymphing than he does with a dry because he was not so excited all the time and he concentrated on his surroundings more than he does with a dry fly.

"Bear Trap Canyon Put In"

We headed below the dam with hopes of seeing swarms of caddis and rising fish but when we pulled up to the dam there were only a few caddis out and the prospects of finding rising fish faded fast. Lawerence Stumke was packing away his gear when we got to the first walking bridge and they had been there all day fishing. They had some decent fishing with nymph rigs and they caught one very rewarding rainbow on a caddis that was sitting just under the surface feeding when they switched over and caught him. The sun was starting to set in the canyon and the caddis were starting to hatch a bit stronger but it was not shaping up to be an all out blizzard hatch and we had already put in a full day. We drove down to the put in and saw a couple fish rise across the river but there were not enough to get us motivated to go after them. We decide to drive back down to the Lower to see if the bugs were hatching any better and if not we would call it a day. As we drove along the lake there were a good number of the large midges hatching and there were some fish rising fairly regularly in river arm of the lake. As we got around to the Koshiaby Beach access there was a huge pod of Chubs rising to the midges and I jokingly ask Larry if he wanted to fish for them. He looked at me like I was a dumb ass and we headed for the Lower. When we arrived at the Lower there were not many bugs and we decided to head home and get some rest for the next day of fishing. I was pretty tired when I got home but not as tired as Larry was. He told me the next day that he fell asleep on the couch when he got home and woke up three hours later with all his fishing clothes still on. It was a fun day and I am glad that we did not have to trek to the Bighorn to fish while he is here.

Sunday Flow Update

2007-05-06T16:14:00.000-06:00

Jamie and I had plans to go to Canyon Ferry and fish for some walleyes but we opted instead to take the boys out for some golf and a swim at the Hot Springs. It was cool this morning as it has been for the past few days and most of the area rivers have dropped considerably and have given us a window to fish again for the next couple of days before the warm weather starts the runoff in full gear again.

Flows
Gallatin 1470 down from around 2500 on Thursday.
Madison 994 down from around 1300 on Thursday.
Bighole 3100 stable since Friday.
Yellowstone 6930 down from around 12000 on Thursday.

We should have some decent water to fish for a day or two before the rivers go back up. The Gallatin had about three feet of clarity at Shed's bridge this afternoon.

Mighty Mo

2007-05-05T19:27:00.000-06:00

April 3rd and 4th: Steve Schelhammer and friends. Mighty Mo flows 3800 C.F.S. Weather was rainy and cool on day one with bright sunny skies by mid day and light breeze. Day two was bright and sunny with heavy winds blowing 20 to 30 mph.

The warm weather during the past couple of days brought most of the waters throughout Southwestern Montana up drastically and sent them all into runoff like conditions so we had to take Steve and his group of college friends up to the Mighty Mo for a couple of days on the water. I spent Wednesday at home getting 5 dozen flies tied for the trip and attending my nephew Coopers First Birthday bash at his house in the evening. Dave a Peter headed up and pre fished the river while I remained home. They called me around 5 pm to let me know that the baetis were coming off strong and that they were head hunting rising fish while they were speaking to me on the phone. Dave also needed me to pick up some lettuce and tomatoes since he had forgotten them in his refrigerator at home. I was glad the fishing was good and I told them I would be there in the morning to meet the group. Dave told me to get there early so that we could grab some breakfast before meeting the guys at 9 am. I said that I would probably be there just before the clients since I had to drive the 2 hours and 15 minutes from Bozeman in the morning. As it turned out I had a tough time sleeping, not because I was excited about going to the Mo, and I was awake by 4 am. I took a quick shower and packed the last of my things into the truck and was knocking on their door at MRO by 7 am. They were both sound asleep and hung over from the night before. They were the sole patrons at the Frenchman and Me while they watched the Redwings game and drank a couple to many. I roosted them from their beds and they grabbed a quick shower before we headed over to the Frenchman for breakfast. Steve arrived at the MRO shop just before 9 am and the introductions were made. I would be fishing with Bill and Tom while Dave had Steve and his college buddy "Punch" and Peter would be with Rick all by himself. It was raining pretty hard and we got everyone a room and dressed for the cold rainy day ahead of us. We got to the Wolf Creek put in by 9:15 and we were the only ones at the ramp. A guy from Dixon Outfitters pulled up as we had the boats in the water and we were off. Peter and Dave rowed up to fish the pylons of the bridge and I headed for the hole on the bend. I pulled in on the right side of the river and gave Tom and Bill the rundown on fishing the hole. Bill headed directly to the top of the hole and started in on the fast water in the middle. I waded Tom out to the slow water at the bottom and put him in the drop. Bill was fast to several fish which kicked his ass and broke off. Tom landed a couple of nice bows and then Bill landed one of the strangest rainbows I have ever seen. We named him the Dorado because the head of the fish was rounded off just like a Dorado or Maui Maui.

"Elusive Dorado Rainbow from the Missouri"

We caught several more fish from the hole while Peter and Dave stationed themselves in front of the Trussle and caught fish above us. We headed on down the river stripping a streamer in the front and nymphing out of the back. The wind had picked up and the rain let up as we approached California island. I pulled in on the back side of the island and we were pretty well protected from the weather. Bill headed to the top of the run and Tom fished the bottom end. Dave was doing the row around on the other side of the river and having great success. Bill started to hook up with fish fast and furiously and I went back and forth between setting up the table for lunch and netting his fish. He had tied on a fly from his box that was tied on a # 20 200 R hook and it was a fat Black body with Brassie copper ribbing a white antron wing 3/4 of the way up and a black dubbed head. It must have been a good imitation for a baetis emerger and he was into the fish. Peter came down the river and I motioned him over to the protected area so we could have some lunch. Dave also joined us and as the two other boats arrived Bill hooked and landed a beautiful 18 inch Brown Trout

"Great Mo Brown Trout"

We ate some lunch and it was three pm as we pushed off and headed down the river with a full blown baetis hatch coming off the water. The sun came out and we did not see a single fish come to the surface the rest of the day. We stopped and fished a couple of more spots before making a final group stop opposite the cliff that Tyler jumped off of into the arm pit deep water. All of the group except for Bill sat on the bank talking about property, women and fishing. Bill hasn't gotten out to fish much and he was going to fish as much as he could before having to head home. He had also caught a supposed 24 inch bow out of the hole on a prior trip and he was madly attempting to repeat the hook up again. The sun was high and bright and we headed for the ramp. At the ramp there was a wafting order of burgers and steaks coming from the hood at Isacc's and we all ready for a good meal. We hit the rooms and got out of our fishing gear and headed to the Holter Lake Lodge to see if they were open for dinner. They were not open for the year yet so we headed to Issac's for a meal. When we got there Greg and Rusty were having dinner with another of there friends and Brooks Montgomery was eating with the Trout Shop guys just behind us. We also ran into Brant Oswald who was guiding on the river as well. We had a great dinner and the clients headed back to the rooms to get some rest. We stayed and watched the Bar Tender perform some great magic tricks and I had a few double Pendelton's on the rocks and shot the shit with Brooks. He told me about a must see place in Great Falls called the Sip and Dip which was located in the Ohare Motor Inn in downtown Great Falls. The bar is on the upper floor of the hotel and it is a tiki bar motif with a 70 something year old women with Marge Simpson hair playing Jimmy Buffet songs on the Keyboard. The real draw to the Sip and Dip is the plate glass aquarium window located behind the bar that is actually a pool with a live mermaid swimming in the pool on Friday nights. The mermaid used to swim topless but now she has a top on. Brooks said it is a must see while in Great Falls. I will have to make a point of it if I am ever going to see it.

We woke up the next morning to sunshine and elk grazing on the timbered hill side across the interstate from the hotel. The group got dressed and we hit the Frenchman for breakfast at 7:30 am. We got back to the room packed our bags and put on our waders. We checked out at the flyshop and settled up our bill. I will recommend MRO to anyone after they payed for all three of our shuttles for bringing the clients into the store and staying at the hotel. That is the the fly and guide business is supposed to be about. Pete and Dave were headed for the dam with everyone else and Bill and I headed to Craig and floated to Mid Canon. The wind was fairly brisk right off the bat and we hooked three fish on the first bank before hitting Hemingways house. We then headed down river and ran into a couple of more fish off the big rock eddie. We wade fished in the islands and caught a couple of more fish and then the wind really started to blow hard. I held the boat back as much as possible and we hooked some fish on a Crayfish and Baetis nymph rig on the rip rap banks between the tunnel cliff and the Dearborn. The wind was howling most of the day and we made a final stop in the shelf at the top of the Mid Canon islands. The wind was not as bad in the channel and Bill hooked and missed a dozen fish in the hole before it was time to call it a day. We all met back up at MRO around 6 pm and we all headed for home. I took a bit of a detour on the way home because the sun was setting and a nice alpenglow was coming off on the Jefferson. I wanted to get a few pictures of the old metal bridges since they are becoming part of Montana's past history at an alarming rate.

These old steel bridges were built in the early 1900's and many of them are still structurally sound. We have already lost several of these great bridges to their predecessors made of concrete and re bar. Some of the bridges already lost are the Craig Bridge over the Missouri, Gallatin Gateway Bridges, Cameron Bridge, Sappington Bridge, Ennis Bridge, Salmon Fly Bridge on the Bighole along with others that have been replaced. Soon we will be loosing the bridge at Axtell Ancency and at Swamp Road on the East. The bridges were built by skilled craftsman who built them strong and they have served the public for 100 years or more. The bridges also have character that makes the river a greater place. The new cement bridges are uninspiring and I bet they will not be around in 50 years, much less making to 100 like many of the inspiring bridges that have been lost.

Weather and Flow Updates

2007-05-02T17:04:00.000-06:00

Wednesday May 2nd:
Weather bright and sunny with temps in the mid 70's.
Flows
Bighole @ Melrose 2190 C.F.S.
Gallatin 1180 C.F.S.
Yellowstone @ Livingston 11,300 C.F.S.
Missouri 3800 C.F.S.

What about Bob!

2007-05-01T16:20:00.000-06:00

Monday April 30th: Hyalite Reservoir with Bob Gagne and my dad. Yellowstone blew out on Friday the 27th and the Upper blew out today. Flows for each were 10,500 for the stone and 1800 for the Madison. Still caddis out on the Lower with a foot or more of clarity and fish feeding on the surface.

I had to get back to my fly orders as well as tie up some staples for the trip on the Mo later in the week so I told my dad and Bob that I could only sneak out for a few hours. Hyalite was prime a couple of days ago and we planned on hitting the lake in the mid day before the college kids could get out of school and hit the lake. We got to the lake at about noon and there were two guys and their three year old son in a canoe on the back side of the island. A chunk of rotten ice was stuck in the gap between the parking area and the island so wading out to the island and fishing was not an option. We hiked around to the point on the North side of the channel and rigged the rods with a Mo Special and a Hyalite special with an indicator about 6 feet up from the flies and no weight. The fish were up closer to the bank as they usually are and I had one on my first cast. It was a small cutthroat and I quickly released him. My second cast came taught to one of the nice cruisers that was putting on his tuxedo for the ladies up the creek.

"Yellowstone Native"

I released him back into the lake and caught a fish on my next 7 cast going 9 for 9 to start the day. The two old guys finally had their rigs tied up on my 9th fish and I gave Bob the honey hole, sent my dad up the channel and I moved further down into the lake. Bob was into them fast and I continued to hook a fish every 3 to 7 cast. After I had 25 to 30 of the cutthroats at hand I finally hooked up with a nice 16 inch Grayling. I admired him and showed him to Bob who was mightily impressed with the fish. I turned him loose and hailed my father who had caught a couple but was not into them like Bob or I were. My hands were also cold from having them in the water so much while releasing the fish. Dad took two cast and was onto a nice fish while Bob continued to catch one after another. Bob finally needed a break from the cold as well and I jumped into his spot at the bush. It was fish on the first cast and I continued to hook them at a record pace for another 45 minutes in the same spot. Bob had headed up to where my dad started and he was getting fish on a regular basis as well. My dad had to make a few more cast than Bob or I were making but he had a bent rod as well. The after school and work crowd started to arrive and we had another angler who had been there the day before walk right in between Bob and I and start fishing. I guess that he was used to fishing close to other anglers that he did not really know. I was a little amazed at his brazen move for a spot to fish but I was the one who had the last laugh when he hooked his first fish and Trico headed over to inspect his fish and tangle her feet in his line while stepping on his rod that he had laid on the ground. He ask me to call her away but I told him that if he wanted to fish where he was that he was going to have to deal with the dog as she was their first. I had a quick giggle inside and came tight to another very nice Grayling.

"Hyalite Grayling"

I was pretty much had my fix for the day and I called it quits on the Grayling. My dad stepped into the bush spot and hooked 7 or 8 more fish and we decided we had plenty of fish on our 4 hour tour. We headed back to the truck and passed a few more anglers who were there for the evening madness. Bob had a wonderful time and there plans of heading to the Lower for the evening caddis bight was put on the shelf because they had both satisfied and they needed a break from fishing after the episode at the lake.

Taters First Float

2007-05-01T16:15:00.000-06:00

Saturday April 28th: Jefferson River with Shook, Rhianon, Reece and Tater. Sappington to Willow Creek Bridge, flows 1580 C.F.S. Water clarity was about a foot in Tea Stained water.

Shook called me earlier in the week and wanted to go for a float over the weekend if the caddis were popping. I called him on Friday and told him that the Yellowstone was blown out and that the Lower was going to be a zoo with the Yellowstone blown out and the 15 boats full of wading women on the annual Caddis Fly Float trip that I had started 5 years earlier. I told him that my dad and his good friend Bob also wanted to float something because they were kicked out of the house since my mom was throwing Melissa a baby shower at 6pm on Saturday evening. I also was in charge of watching Reece during the shower so he would be with us on the float as well. I said that maybe we should do something out of the box and float the Jefferson for a change of pace and lack of crowds. So on Saturday morning I called shook and my dad and we all met at the house around 1 pm. We headed for the Jefferson and when we got to the bridge there was a couple of feet visibility in the tea stained water. We put the boats in the water and ran the shuttle. We loaded up the dogs and the kid and made fast to a fish right out of the gate. Rhiannon had a small brown and a whitefish within sight of the rednecks using a pistol to shoot a dead carcass in the river underneath the bridge. We continued on down the river and my dad hooked and landed a nice 18 inch bow where the spring dumps in below the cliff jumping diversion. Shook took over on the oars and I pulled out a fly rod and ran a streamer and a worm in the dirty water. I turned a really nice fish in the fast water above the William's Bridge access and then I lost a couple of fly setups and switched to a very short heavy leader and on Motor Oil Bugger. After that I hooked three really nice healthy browns by either dead drifting it in the big eddies or by dragging and stopping it off the root wads and collapsed banks. The fish that I caught were all very strong and healthy and Reece enjoyed reeling them in and tossing them back for the release. The fish were all bigger than Reece and it took both his arms and his chest to heave them over the side of the boat.

"Reece Put-em' back"

After hooking the three fish Shook wanted to give it a try and I jumped back on the oars. Tater was great during the float and slept most of the way, but when I got on the oars he got a little feisty and began to wander around the boat and test the waters a bit. He became curious about the oars and before Rhiannon could grab him he had three feet on the oar and the attempt at getting all four on caused him to slip off into the water. He did a very graceful dive and went under water a few feet before resurfacing and realizing he was in the water. We plucked him out of the water and he had taken his first swim.

"Tater after the swim, 9 weeks old"

The day was a huge success and I was even more happy with the fact that we caught some nice fish, saw nobody on the river and had very little wind. The reports from the Lower were that the fishing was fair and the wind blew hard all day long making for a long and tiresome day. I made a great call and finally saw a decent day of fishing on the Jefferson.

Bad Caddis on the Stone.

2007-05-01T16:02:00.000-06:00

April 24, 25 and 26: "Lord Henry, Rod and Soppe" Vietnam Vets.
Day One: Yellowstone Float. Flows were 2670 C.F.S on day one float from Mayor's to Sheep. Hwy 89 ramp still not completed by the FW& P guys.
Flies: Caddis were out a bit as well as Baetis and March Browns very sporadic. Air Temps in the 60's with bright sunshine. Royal Wulff # 12, Royal Trude # 12, BH Mangy Caddis # 14, BH Softy Caddis Brown # 14, Black Lite Brite Caddis # 14, BH FB PT # 16.
Day Two: Yellowstone Flows were 3140 C.F.S. on float from Mallard's to Carters. Clarity was well over three feet with a brownish tint to the water on both days.
Flies: Olive CH Bugger # 6, Lite Brite Caddis # 14, BH PT # 16, Royal Wulff # 12. Caddis never really showed up until the sun went behind the clouds. This was the best night of the hatch this year and the fish came up in the evening after we left.
Day Three: Upper Madison Float with flows at 848 C.F.S. 8 Mile to town float.
Flies: Orange San Juan #12, Two Tone Tommy Orange Bead head, BH PT Standard # 18, Idly BH Baetis # 18. Saw a few baetis and a couple of caddis near the Ennis boat Ramp.

Overall the trip was fair and the fishing was slow probably because of the skills of our anglers. They did want to keep a couple of the fish on the trip and we had two rainbows and a brown that were hooked deep and bleeding that I kept for them to eat. Sometimes you can learn something special by checking the contents of a trouts digestive system and keeping these fish may have me trying something new next year during this same time. The only question will be how to fish the fly and how to tie the bug to imitate the interesting contents in the stomachs of the three fish I had to vacuum seal. Should it be stripped with a little bit of movement or are they eating them deadrifted in the current. I hope that remember to check this post next year during and prior to the caddis hatch so that I might be able to unlock an unbelievable seceret that no one would ever figure out without checking the contents of a few trouts diet during an obvious amazing hatch. The fish all had 15 to 30 of this small aquatic species in their system and very little else, especially not caddis. All three fish were taken from different areas of the river and each of them had been eating this bug on a very regular basis. The bug must be hatching it's young during this time period because as far as I could conclude from some Internet research the insect in question is visibly larger than the ones in the contents of the fishes diets. I am still a little belittled by the "Beetle and Bailey" situation that this has created for me and I hope that I can come to a conclusion next year.

Mike's Short Skirt!

2007-04-15T15:15:00.000-06:00

April 12th,13th & 14th: Bighorn River

After spending a few days with Reece and my wife I was off for another three days on the Bighorn. I packed up the old trusty steed with all the gear I would need to survive three days in the small travel trailer named "Foxxy" at Cottonwood Camp. The bags were packed and I headed out of town on Wednesday at around 9 am. I made one quick stop at Dan Baileys to pick up a few CDC baetis emergers and another stop at Walmart, the home of cheap plastic shit, in Hill Billings Montuckey. I arrived in Ft. Fun at around 2 pm and headed for the trailer park to see who had the day off. I first pulled by Thors house to see if Paulson was around and his rig was a no show so I figured he must be on the water with some clients. I pulled up to Tres Trailers and found Reithmiller dealing with Wilcox's hounds, which were fighting to get under the tender's trailer for a quick escape and journey around the trailer park. Reithmiller had been tying up some bugs for the coming days and after a quick discussion about how the fishing had been we headed over to see how Palumbo was doing. He had just returned from his errands and we sat and discussed music and the fishing for a couple of hours. Kieser poked his head in and we partook in a few busch beers. Once I started to feel the affects of the Busch's I decided I had better go get my camp setup at the "Foxxy" When I arrived at Cottonwood no one was around so I decided to go check out the river. As I pulled out of Cottonwood Alvin was on the ditch road concocting some old tractor parts to drag behind the truck to loosen the hard gravel road in the camp. He told me to go find Doug to see if he had setup the trailer for our stay. Doug was getting the water hooked up in the newer showers and he had not gotten the trailer ready for my stay when I found him. We headed down to Foxxy and with a quick plug in of an extension cord we at least had power to the trailer. I told him that water was not a big deal and that I could care less to blow my self up in the pre 70's era trailer with the propane for the stove and fridge. He concluded with me that propane in the trailers was a scary proposition and that neither of us wanted our obituary to read that we were taken from this earth in a 14 foot travel trailer that blew up when the propane leak ignited. I had my grill, Coleman stove and a cooler full of block ice that would suffice just fine for the three nights and four days of my stay at Cottonwood. I began unpacking my bags and getting the gear setup in the trailer. First and foremost was setting up the fly tying station to pump out the necessary weapons for the next three days. I was running short on Big Uglies, Jess's Pupae, Cripple Thors, Baetis Comparaduns and the four hours in the truck gave me a couple of ideas for a few new bugs that I would use on my clients rod for the next few days. Once all my gear was inside and the place was setup, Peter pulled up and we unpacked his gear and got the trailer ready for our stint at the Disneyland of the flyfishing world.

Day one brought introductions of the clients and guides and I was paired with Mike and Marshal. They were both fairly new to the art of the fly, Marshal had done a decent bit of back country fishing and Mike was very new to the sport. Mike did have some idea about the casting and Marshal was accomplished enough to make the cast he needed to. We put in at the after bay and were in for the long haul all the way to Bighorn. Our first stop was in the Meat hole where I showed them the rig and how it was setup. Then we headed out into the riffle to introducing them to the finer points of nymph fishing, primarily how to mend. Mike was into his first fish after several cast and I landed his small brown and headed up to put Marshal in the spot. Marshal caught several fish right off the bat and I went walking to the head of the hole to see if there were any fish rising. There was a huge bow on a redd at the top of the riffle and I watched the pair move off and on the redd for several minutes. I'm not some pervert, however I do enjoy watching fish complete the reproductive cycle and I figured it would be a great time to give a lesson on etiquette to the clients. I did check out the small side channel and there were about 75 fish rising in the scum and trickle of current coming in from the channel. I rigged up a dry dropper rig and had both Mike and Marshal come to the top to watch the spawners as well as fish to some rising fish. They both enjoyed seeing the spawners and then Marshal took a half hour casting to the rising fish in the scum eddy. He hooked and landed a couple of fish and we headed for the boat to make a journey downstream. We did very well in the meat hole and we could have just stayed there most of the day. Our next stop was not until we hit Carl's and we only stayed there long enough for Marshal to land 4 or 5 fish and then we headed on down the river. We did a little boat fishing on the way and we had to row all the way to the vines for our next stop. The Baetis started pouring off around 1 pm and we could not find a good stop to make for fishing dries. Dave was in the Pipe and there were fish going crazy on the surface. We stopped for a quick bite with his clients and then we headed down to the Vines. I knew that when a good hatch comes off that you can do really well in the vines fishing a drowned dry pattern as they get washed under from the fast water in the Bighorn Rapids. I put Marshal out on the ledge at the bottom and he proceeded to hook and land 30 or more fish most of them were smaller fish but the numbers were very good for Marshal. Mike and I headed up on the shelf and the sun was just right so that you could see all the fish sitting on the rock just off the edge. Mike hooked several large brown trout before he was able to land the big fish of the day, a skinny 21 inch brown. The Fish moved right into the ledge and we could see about 20 of them jockeying for position. We were able to hook another 10 fish swinging a CDC spinner with two split shot under an indicator into the fish. Both of them were very happy with the fishing and we headed for the slot below the Bay of Pigs for one last stop before heading for the lodge. We took a couple of more fish and they were ready for cocktails and a good meal.

Day Two we put in at 3 mile and floated down to the pipe to camp out for the day. Dave had done well there on dries the day before and both Mike and Marshal wanted to give some dry flies a try. We nymphed most of the morning and I had mike try and new fly that came after several Beam and Soda's and about 8 beers. During the course of the morning Mike and I were talking about how great of a day it was already and the only way it could get better would to see a boat full of short skirts and bikini tops go floating by. That is when the new fly was labeled as "Mike's Short Skirt". We stayed in the "Pipe" until around 3 pm waiting for the baetis to hatch but the sun was high all day and the bugs never really got going and the fish never looked up. So we headed on down river and made another stop at the Vines to see if we could hook Marshal up with a few of the large browns that Mike tied into the day before. Mike was on the ledge at the bottom and he hooked and landed plenty of fish to satisfy his day. Marshal and I headed for the upper end of the shelf and Marshal did finally hook and land a nice 17 inch brown that gave him a run for his money before coming to the net. Marshal managed to hook several more large fish and break them off before we decided to head for the lodge.

Day Three: Oh the dreaded Saturday crowds were on tap for the day and the key to fishing the Bighorn is getting lucky with managing the crowds. When I pulled up to the ramp there were already 14 trailers in the lot and another 8 kick boats getting ready to put in. I was a bit concerned and I told both Mike and Marshal that finding a spot could be a challenge. We pushed off from the 3 mile ramp and I had plans on stopping early and trying to fish for some fish sipping on risers either below the snag hole or on the flat below Crow Beach. As we launched two boats pulled over into the Gravel pit and it put a total of 12 boats ahead of us and possibly stationed in the good holes downriver. The kick boats pushed off about the same time and fortunately they were more interested in fishing from the Kick boats than getting to a hole to wade fish, thus they were out of the crowd management picture as well. I put the boat in full gear forward and we ran into two more boats in the first on the right, 10 boats ahead it's looking better. As we spit out the bottom of the channel there were 5 more boats parked in various places around the snag hole. At this point I told the boys that we were going to take a gamble and head for the 3 rivers area of the river and setup camp in either Holly's Hole or across from Mikes. We were in for an hour boat ride and if the other boats had the same plan we might have to row out and go float the upper three in the afternoon. As we hit the car bodies another boat was pulled over wade fishing the slick above the Beaver hut. I rounded the corner and two more boats were pulled in at the Duck Blind and I got very excited because there were only two more boats ahead of us and we would certainly get one of the holes at Three Rivers. When we got to the Club the old guys who had been there for the past two days were parked and fishing. That left one boat which was right in front of us and they pulled into the pipe. I gave Matt and wave and kept front rowing with a smirk on my face. We pulled into 3 rivers and we pulled in across from Mikes house and setup camp for the day. I got the boys rigged with flies set them in their spots where they immediately started catching fish. For the next hour I went back and forth between setting up the table, chairs and camp in between netting fish. We nymphed fished all morning and then we sat to eat some lunch. After lunch they headed back out and I took a scan of the upper end of the hole to look for risers. The fish were starting to eat midge clusters pretty strong and when Marshal needed a break to warm up I rigged a dry fly rod for them to fish to the rising fish. By the time Marshal warmed back up there were a solid 30 fish rising in the hole. We waded out and I put Marshal to work on catching fish that he could see holding just below the surface and lazily sticking their heads up to pluck the clusters off the surface. Mike was back at it hooking fish every 5 to 10 drifts on the nymphs below. Marshal hooked several fish on the cluster and then a few baetis started to trickle in with the midges. Several more fish had moved in as the baetis started to drift and soon we had too many targets to cast to. Each fish was picking off both baetis and midges so I switched up to a biot comparadun # 18 and trailed it with a red miracle midge off the back. The miracle midge did take the majority of the fish but the comparadun was easy to see and a quarter of the time the fish choose it instead of the midge. After Marshal landed several nice rainbows and a couple of browns it was Mike's turn to take his shot at and become thoroughly addicted to fly fishing. Dry flies are the presuppose for why most anglers become addicts for using a fly rod, nymphs catch fish but to witness the event unfolding at this time is what causes the addiction. Mike took a few cast with the dry fly stick and it took him a few tangles and a bit of instruction in how to cast a slower shorter rod without the weight and strike indicator that he had on his stiff nymph rod. Once he worked out the kinks he started to see wherein the addiction lies. After catching several fish and missing a lot more his feet got cold and we sat back at our camp and watched as the parade of boats came floating down at the end of the day. We packed up the gear and they both finished the day off with a few more fish while I loaded up the boat and then we headed for the takeout and a wonderful day of turning rookies into fly addicts. It was a great trip and both of them made a ton of progress in the three days of being on the Bighorn.

Winter Like Conditions invade Armstrong's Spring Creek

2007-04-05T23:22:00.000-06:00

Thursday April 5th.

As the snow fell last night I was wondering if I was going to have another early spring trip cancel due to the weather. I was confirmed for a full day wade/float trip through the Yellowstone Angler and I was sure that the Bozeman Pass would be a hair raising experience with the new snow on the ground. As it is in the spring the pass was slushy and trecherous due to semi drivers that drive to fast and act like assholes. The pass was slushy and one semi did pull a dipshit manuever passing several of us on slushy roads doing well over 75 mph in a full size semi. I stopped at the store and picked up the makings of the Hot Lunch that the clients would enjoy half way through their day. The clients were Jack and John and they were from Maine and Massachutes. Jack runs a non profit in Maine and John oversees a large bank in the Boston area. They were both experienced anglers who could handle themselves on the creeks just fine, but they enjoyed getting a guide once in a while to get a few pointers and pickup a few new tricks. We headed to Armstrongs with a selection of Baetis nymphs and dry patterns with hopes of having a good baetis hatch later in the day. When we arrived at the creek Peter was there with his two clients and they were heading into the diagonal riffle to give it a try. We suited up every piece of warm weather gear we had and headed for the holes upstream of Peter and his husband and wife team from New Mexico. The air temperature at 9 am on the creek was hovering around 28 degrees and the wind was blowing at a fairly consistent pace of 5 to 10 miles per hour, it was a little on the chilly side. Jack is 63 years old and he has had a few knee surgeries that require him to use a wading staff and a little patience in getting from spot to spot. I scurried John down the hill in the riffle above Peter and gave him his fly setup, which consisted of a Solitude Baetis nymph # 16 trailed with a # 18 Johnny Cash and a # 2 Split shot ahead of the two flies. Off he went to fish the deeper water and I headed Jack up to a spot where we could get down the bank. We got in the creek 50 yards above John and waded across to fish the Big Rock run. The stream work they did a month ago has helped concentrate the fish a bit since there is some deeper water that the fish can congregate in. There were about 9 fish in the lower end of the run and most of them appeared to be rainbows that were close to getting their game on. They were not sitting close to any reds but they most likely were either on the shallow water 25 yards below or heading to some above the long run. As I suspected Jack hooked into one on the third or fourth drift and it was a 14 inch bow that was turning black and getting ready for some romance. Jack had on a # 16 Sawyer trailed with a # 20 Red Heathen about 4 feet below a pinch on. The first fish took the heathen and put up a good fight. The next two fish that Jack hooked were close to the mouth but a little short of the corner of the mouth. Since I had Jack into a few fish I gave him some suggestions about how the proceed up the run and headed down to try and get John into a few fish to start off the day. He was fast to move up to the very head of the riffle and I arrived to him fishing in very shallow and fast water that the fish like in July. I moved him back down to the heart of the run and had him run some cast in the slower water. His fly setup was not producing from and area that I know has some fish in it. I changed up the Johnny cash for a # 18 pinkie and had him swing it down through the gut. On his second cast through the hole he hooked up to a smaller rainbow that we were able to land. After another ten minutes of going fishless we reeled up and headed for the run above Jack. I stopped by on the way to help Jack move up in the run a bit and sent John up the creek with my suggestions on where to stand. Jack hooked another fish and then I moved up to get John in the right postion. John made many good drifts through the deepest part of the hole and came up with one nice brown trout around 17 inches. He had changed up or lost the back fly and replaced it with a grey midge larvae. I showed him the inside of the seam, which he was not fishing and on his first cast he was onto another fish. After two more fish on the small fly he tied on the fly had been turned in little more than a hook with black thread. I changed him out to a # 20 Grey WD-50 and he took a fish on the first cast. I headed back down to Jack to change him up to a Grey Larvae and when I arrived at the head of the run there were some fish starting to sip something on the back side of the rock. We ran a couple of more nymphs through the hole and Jack hooked one nice rainbow that jumped and broke off. By then there were a couple of fish rising consistently enough to justify taking apart the nymph rig and putting on a dry. I put on a Black # 20 Cripple Thor and we decided to leave on the pinch on to help jack see the fly. His second or third cast had a take and he landed a nice rainbow on the dry. He was excited to get a fish on the surface and it helped to keep the cold wind and steam from making us ask ourselves what are we doing out here in the first place. It appeared the fish were eating midges but we were also getting close to the time that the baetis had been getting started on the creek for the past week. After several more misses and landing another fish the fish slowed to the offering of the Cripple Thor. I switched up to one of Zach's CDC emergers and we had a couple of takes right off the bat. During this dry fly frenzy John was steadily pulling in fish from the run above. Jack landed another fish and we decided it was time for some hot lunch. It was 1:30 when we hit the shack for Lunch and Peter was in the clients vehicle eating lunch and trying to warm up from the balmy 31 degree temperature at 1 pm. I got the hot Ham and Cheese on Sourdough going along with the soup that would help warm some cold feet, faces and hands. We ate a quick bite and John and Jack retired to the car for some time with the heater. After I got cleaned up and the gear packed in the truck I headed up to see if anyone was fishing the very upper end of the creek. When I got to the colvert there was a guy fishing from the new island and I headed back to fish below the hut on the lower end of the creek. As we headed for the lower end the sun burst from behind the clouds. I put John in the first run and headed Jack for the deep corner by the house. When we arrived there was a nice brown feeding on the surface between the downed tree and the bush near the middle of the hole. Jack had a # 20 Harrop Sparkle dun on and I had him through it at the fish. The baetis were starting to trickle down the creek and the fish was steadfastly feeding on the surface. It was a difficult down and across presentation that required a very accurate cast into the gap between the dead branches on the fallen tree and the bush. The cast was made tougher by a gust breeze that ranged between 5 and 15 mph. As the baetis started to pop I head for John so that I could have him fish the lower end of the run. Jack shouted out as he hooked and had a quick schooling from the brown under the bush. I rerigged John with a Comparadun and set him in place just above the fast water in the run below. There were 5 different fish feeding on the surface and I worked with John on the finer points of making a Winston IM6 perform a better more accurate cast. He managed to get several eats but was not able to put the steel to any of the fish. The hatch lasted for about an hour and then as soon as they started they were done. I gave them both new nymph rigs and put on Balloons for their indicators. They both liked them but we quickly began making bubba bass comments in regards to the silliness of using a balloon for an indicator. Jack hooked into the fish of the day in the deep hole and it was a nice rainbow that bull dogged Jack in the bottom of the hole for several minutes. Finally the fish turned down out of the hole and headed for Depuy's. I thought we were in business when the fish finally turned from the deep water but the fish went straight downstream and soon was far enough out that I was certain it was going to come unbuttoned. Sure enough it did and plenty of heckling came from John, especially when I was looking at Jack's setup and John hooked a fish that he joked was the one that Jack lost. The sawyer PT was the fly of the hour in the deep water for the next 45 minutes and then we decided to try and fish the upper end of the creek to finish off the day. I put jack in the new hole that comes off the log on the island and waded John across at the bottom of the island to fish the top end. John landed a couple of fish from the top of the island and Jack got bored and moved into the slough and stripped a bugger. The bugger took 4 fish from the slough and Jack was pretty wiped out for the day. John and I waded out into the muck below the island to run a spring creek scud and a Midge through the new dug out that bends back toward the culvert. The wading is mucky but it paid off with the biggest fish of the day comming on the scud. A nice 19 inch brown took fast and we had a couple of other smaller rainbows come to hand before the sun started to get low and the air temps dropped fast. It was a great day on the creek even with the artic weather.

Beth's Bows on the Gallatin

2007-04-05T23:19:00.000-06:00

Wednesday April 4th. I had met Beth through a friend of ours who decorated the interior of her Mountain Home at Moonlight Basin. She had contacted me through Dana and we were scheduled to do two half day trips while she was out on a ski vacation with her kids. Our first day was supposed to be Monday the 2nd but we awoke to several inches of new snow and blizzard like conditions. I spoke with Beth in the morning and told her that there was no way that I was going to risk life and limb to get to Big Sky and go fishing. She was not excited about the prospect of standing in a river during a snow storm either so we made the call to put off the trip and give it another try on Wednesday. The weather was much nicer on Wednesday and I met her at the Hungry Moose Market at 10 am. When I left Bozeman the air temp was a whopping 27 degrees and I was concerned that it may be a short day with the cold weather. When I got to Big Sky the inversion was in place and it was a balmy 38 degrees with a bit of sunshine poking through the clouds. We stopped at Super Dave's Mad Wolf sports and picked up a license for the day ahead.

The first stop was a quick walk into the hole at the bottom of the Porcupine Wildlife area and we hooked a few decent rainbows and one beautiful cutthroat. After a couple of hours of fishing the run we walked back to the truck and headed back down the river to find a new spot to fish for the rest of the day. Guiding on the Gallatin poses some interesting challenges as the Forest Circus owns much of the land and with evil people in charge such as Becky Heath the ability for any new blood to get commercial Forest permits has become impossible. Thus creativity and some understanding of Emminent Domain can gain you access to the river via highway easements. We got into the Hog Hole by using the Highway and as we got to the river I gave Beth the rundown about what we were fishing for and why they were there. Once we waded to the other side of the river Beth made her first few cast with a Idlywilde Bead Head stone # 10 trailed by the Fluery Ugly egg. I had to adjust the weight and she was fast into her first hog hole fish. It was a nice fat healthy rainbow with no color that went a solid 19 inches. I managed to get a hand on the fish but my tippet lanyard caught the point fly and the fish made a quick escape before we could capture it's digital image. She hooked a couple of more fish and then she was fast to another Hog Hole Bow and we managed to get our hands on it and bring it to the hand for a quick photo before sending it back to the bottom of the Gallatin. The baetis started to come off around 2 pm and fish were really feeding on the opposite bank. We did try a few cast with a dry and we realized that we had better get back to her vehicle so she could be at the house when the kids got done skiing.

We had a wonderful time catching fish and we also shared some great conversation since we both have similiar views on what is going on in the world.

Scouting Day!!

2007-04-02T10:19:00.000-06:00

Sunday began far to early with a 4:30 am wake up from the alarm clock and a trip to the airport to drop off my wife and son. We arrived at the airport at 5:15 for their 6 am flight and it was a mix of rain and snow. I dropped them off and hit the Truck Stop for some early morning grub. The Ham and Cheese omelet hit the spot and greasy hash browns were as good as they get, even though I would pay the price later in the day with all the grease and butter sitting in my stomach on top of the rest of the contents of my digestive tract. After eating breakfast I headed home and hit the bed to catch up on some more sleep. I finally got out of bed around 9 am and hit the fly tying vise to tie up some # 18 Soft Hackle copper johns and a few # 20 tungsten soft hackles for a day of fishing on the Gallatin. I was scheduled to take a trip on the Gallatin on Monday and I wanted to get out and fish it a bit before guiding on it the next day. My dad and Peter Penefold arrived at the house around 10:30 and we jumped in my dads truck with all our gear and my faithful fishing companion Trico the Spring Spaniel. We drove up the Gallatin Canyon all the way to Big Sky to check out the conditions of the river and to see how much it still looked and felt like winter in the Big Sky area. I had not been up the canyon most of the winter and I was surprised to see that most of the snow was gone from the banks of the river. When we got to Moose Creek it started to snow and the big wet heavy flakes were coming down at a moderate pace. We drove up to the top of the porcupine wildlife management area and turned around. There was a guy in the " Hog hole", which I wanted to stop and give a try so we continued on down the road to Deer Creek to check on the pod of risers that typically inhabit this deep hole. When we got to Deer Creek there was a mother and her two sons there who were from New Zealands North Island. They were visiting the area and her sons were attending school in Breckenridge Colorado for snowboarding. The one son had his fly rod rigged and was trying to fish in a pair of skater tennis shoes and a pair of shorts, all while it was snowing out. He did manage to catch a fish at the run above the bridge and we rigged up a dry fly rod for peter to go after the large pod of rising fish on the highway side, just above the bridge. There was conservatively 50 fish actively feeding on the surface, most of which were under 10 inches long. There were a couple of larger fish at the head of the pool but even these fish were not much larger than 12 or 13 inches. Peter headed down to the water and placed his first cast into the spruce tree behind him. After retrieving his fly from the tree he managed to hook several of the small fish on my light colored pullover midge # 20. After the fish stopped rising we jumped back in the truck and headed for Squaw Creek to fish a run or two and show them both the back road that gives you good access to the Gallatin away from Hwy 191. We ended up fishing the River Runs Through It rock and Peter and I did the death wade to the other side. It started off a bit slow as I had on a Idlywilde Goldenstone # 10 with a # 20 Tungsten Soft hackle on the rear. I hooked three fish from below the rock on the Stonefly nymph and peter hooked one rainbow above the rock on # 18 Soft Hackle Red Copper John trailed 2 feet off the back of a # 12 Royal Parwulff. I put on the Parawulff because I saw a large March Brown adult on the surface as I was crossing over to the other bank. Unfortunately there were not enough March Browns out to bring the fish to the surface but it will be very soon that we can get them to come up to a Wulff pattern. My dad nymphed up the road side of the run and he managed to hook one rainbow from the pocket water above the main run. Peter also headed upstream and I stayed in the deep run knowing full well that there was a ball of fish somewhere in the deeper water and all that I had to do was unlock their exact location and find the right fly setup. I moved above the Rock and changed my setup to a Brown and Yellow Rubberleg trailed with one of Fluery's half eggs that we did well on a month earlier on a trip at the Lodge. The Rubberleg was a # 10 and the Egg was a Mc Cheese Egg on a # 14 scud hook. I put on one # 4 split shot and bang the first cast I stuck a nice 12 inch bow on the rubberlegs. My second cast came tight to a 13 inch brown trout that ate the egg. I them proceeded to haul in a dozen fish in about 20 minutes with all most all of the fish falling to the egg pattern. Peter had returned from his jaunt upstream and I gave him my rod and the spot where he caught a couple of decent rainbows. We fished it for another 15 minutes and I think we sore mouthed most of the fish in the hole. We waded back across the river and jumped back into the truck. We made one last stop at the Kleinschmidt diversion dam where I stuck another dozen fish and called it a day. The bows on the Gallatin are starting to put on some color and they are definitely all over the eggs. One thing that I have come to the conclusion on is that a poorly tied fly generally works better than a archival quality one. The Fluery egg out fishes my perfectly round version much better and I have had to retie most of my egg patterns. The Fluery egg is your basic egg pattern that most tiers first tie up and it needs to come out looking like half an egg rather than a full round one. It is very quick and easy to tie, which is a huge plus when it comes to egg patterns. I sat down last night and whipped out 5 dozen of them in less than an hour and a half.
After scouting all day on Sunday I awoke to 4 inches of fresh snow and more flakes falling as I write. Beth did not want to venture out in the weather and I am pretty sure I do not want to drive to Big Sky in it either, so I guess I will spend the day tying up my commercial orders instead of guiding on the Gallatin. We will make it up on Wednesday and I can't wait to get back out on the Gallatin.

Bitteroot to the Bighorn !!!

2007-03-28T17:23:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday morning the 20th we awoke to low level clouds, high winds and forecast of rain and snow for the Bitteroot Valley. The winds were gusting to well over 30 miles per hour in the morning and we made the decision to head back west and get closer to home in case the predicted snow storm amounted to a spring time Blizzard. We loaded all the gear into the truck and headed back towards the Madison to hopefully salvage a few hours of fishing in the afternoon. By the time we arrived in Norris the wind had picked up to about 40 MPH and we decided that it was just not our day to hit the water. We stopped along the Lower Madison and followed the Fish and Game guys as they ran their recapture of trout on the Lower Madison. I was interested to see what the electricity would pull out from the best section of the Lower for catching Big Fish. They netted a few nice browns in the short time we watched and all that Larry and my father could talk about was how hard of work it looked like to shock fish. If you have ever gotten the privileged to help out on a shocking crew you would be amazed at the effort and muscle strength that you will exert in a day, not to mention what happens when you fall in and the probes give you a bit of a jolt. I appreciate the effort of our fish and game officials and thank god we have them to keep track of the health of our waters.
I dropped Larry and my dad off at the airport to pick up Larry's truck and headed home for some reorganization and to spend a quality evening with my 4 year old son Reece. Reece and I had a stimulating game of baseball in the front yard and we spent the evening drawing pictures and working on his letters. I read him several books and off to bed he went. I unpacked my bags from the previous trip and repacked it with some nice shirts, more underwear, new fleece pants and reloaded my tying bag with materials for midges and scuds. My wife and I had a nice evening and we drifted off to sleep with the hum of the Television in the background.
The next morning I woke up and read the Bozeman daily comicle to see what had happened in the short time while I was away and when I finished the paper I fed Reece his breakfast and got him ready to head to preschool. I dropped him off and packed up the truck with my sleeping bag, grill, driftboat essentials and a few extra items to make the next 4 days on the Bighorn manageable. I was on the road by 10 am and headed 200 miles in the opposite direction from the previous days of guiding. There were a couple of stops that still needed to be made which included a stop for gas, food and or course beer for the Bighorn. I arrived in Ft. Fun at around 3 pm and headed to the park service office to pick up yet another permit for the years guiding. For some reason all of the different agencies are finally getting their poop in a group and setting up commercial use rules for their lands. I have no problems paying the fees and I am glad that they have finally come up with concrete rules and regulations in regards to my profession. It took about 30 minutes for me to find a ranger who could help me and he sold me my $80 National Parks pass and I was legal and ready to hit the river. I headed down to Cottonwood to see if Thor or any of the others were in the small cabin yet and Jamie was still in Hardin dropping off his son with his grandfather. Thor was no where to be found and I had a date with Peter to meet him at the 3 mile access to give him a ride back to his rig. I arrived at the river and put the boat, a 30 pack of Busch, my rod and my midge box in the boat. I launched the boat and rowed over to the Gravel Pit for an evening of fishing. Within ten minutes Peter came twirling down the river trying to fish and row at the same time. He pulled into the Gravel Pit and I quickly offered him up a beer. I quizzed him about the fishing on the Upper Three and he said that it was the same old game as the Bighorn has been for the past three years. There was a nice pod of fish rising in the middle seam and I pulled out my Winston 8 1/2 foot 4 weight, which already had a crippled thor tied to the end from fishing midges on the Lower a few weeks earlier. I took several cast and blew it on three consecutive fish so I handed the rod over to Peter and let him give it a try. He had several eats and broke off the fly just as Paulson and Weedmiller pulled up to the pit to BS and drink a few beers. We spent an hour or so in the hot evening sun and then headed to the boat ramp to load up the boats and get a bite to eat. Just as we hit the ramp, Jamie showed up and he gave peter a ride up to get his truck. We got all the boats out of the water and headed to the cabin to cook up some deer burgers and partake in a few more beers.
After getting settled into the cabin we ate our burgers and headed to the town of Ft Fun for a little bit of guide revelry and to spend some time with our good friends that call Ft Smith home. As usual most of the town stopped by Dave's trailer to share in a beverage or talk about the river. I have many great friends on the Bighorn and it was good to catch up with all of them and tell stories about how they passed their time during the winter. At around 10 pm it was time to head back to the cabin and whip up a few bugs and hit the hay. I for one was enjoying the beer and being back on the Horn so I stayed up a little to late tying up Pink Sow Bugs and Big Uglies while sampling one too many beers. I did have to make a few minor adjustments to the table in the room to get the vise to fit but that is a whole different story which I will post at a later date.
The alarm woke me from a dead sleep at 6 am and there was a heavy pounding in my head that came from the mountains of Busch beer that I drank the night before. I pounded down a couple of advils with a glass of OJ and headed for the shower to wash off the night of sleep. I felt pretty good after the shower and jumped back into my bag to warm up after the luke warm shower. As I laid in bead warming up my stomach began to feel a bit queasy and I headed out the door to the back of the cabin to relieve the sour mixture of OJ, Advil and beer. Once the evil demons left my body I felt much better and was ready for a toothbrush and a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles. I finished up the cereal and readied my equipment for the first of three days with the group from Southern and Central California. I put some ice in the cooler and took the short drive to the Kingfisher Lodge where the guest were eager to get on the river. Collett and the rest of the kitchen staff gave us our instructions for the days lunch menu of Buffalo Chili in bread bowls and I packed in a red bull and plenty of water for the day ahead. Brian introduced me to my two clients for the next three days and we packed their gear in the truck and headed for the Three mile boat ramp.
Typically I get the anglers who are less experienced, which I prefer because it is much more fun to watch an anglers skills grow before you than it is to try and teach an old dog new tricks. Andre and Rich would be with me for the next three days and I was excited to have one angler who had never done much fishing before. Andre would be my project for the next few days and his childhood friend Rich would have to fend for himself a bit as Andre needed some help with the basics of fly fishing. Rich was very competent and I gave him some bugs and a run down of the types of water to look for and he was off. Andre had taken some casting lessons and he had a cast that could get the job done enough to catch some fish. We put in on the first day at the 3 Mile access and floated to the Bighorn access, ten miles downstream. I let the guys do some boat fishing and Andre was the first to hook up with nice 18 inch rainbow on the bank opposite of the car bodies. It was his first trout on a fly and what a nice fish to start out your fishing career with. We landed the bow and took a few pictures for Andre and set the fish free to continue his feeding ways. As we rounded the corner the SBA hole was open so I pulled in and we spent an hour or so catching small rainbows and browns out the hole. The fly of choice was a # 16 pink soft hackle sow bug trailed with a #20 Silver and Black as well as a Big Ugly. After catching a handful of fish we jumped back in the Boat and headed down river. We did not have much luck finding a good open spot until we hit the Greycliffs shelf. We pulled over and I put Andre in the meat of the hole and sent Rich to the head to try and pull out a few browns out of the fast water at the head of the riffle. Ed Waddell and his high school friend John had mentioned they were doing well with worm trailed with a soft hackle fished in the fast shallow riffles. As is so often the case with anglers who fish the Greycliff shelf, Rich marched right up through the good riffle water and headed for the deeper drop off in the middle of the river. For some reason I never do very well out in the middle of the deeper water and Rich proved my theory of the fish not being in the deeper water. Andre did manage to hook up a couple of times and it was probably because some fish had moved in below Riches eddy to feed on the scraps that were being kicked up by Rich as he moved around. I do not condone the "San Juan Shuffle" but sometimes there is no avoiding being in the slip stream of your fellow angler as he wades upstream of you. We left the Greycliff shelf and were fortunate enough to get a crack at the vines hole just around the corner. We met up with Palumbo and Jamie at the Vines for a quick lunch and then Jamie and I shared the hole with out four guest. The fishing in the Vines was hot and heavy for a couple of hours with all four of the guys hooking fish one after another. The hot fly for the vines was the Big Ugly, primarily because the afternoon saw the fish really keyed in on the pupal stage of the midges. The vines made up for a lack luster morning of fishing. After putting the numbers on the board we headed on downstream and made another stop at the bottom of the "Bay of Pigs" and I put Andre in the honey spot and sent Rich up the channel to prospect for some fish in the skinny water. Andre did well fishing convergence and Rich pulled out a couple of very healthy rainbows in middle of the channel. We caught several more fish and headed for the take out since it was nearing 6 pm and the dinner bell. We made one last ditch effort on the back channel at the take out and Andre hooked and landed one small brown before we called it a day.
For the second day float I decided I did not want to deal with the race that takes place for the good holes on the 3 to B float so I put in at the afterbay to take my long and slowed float to hit the entire 13 miles of river. I like to do this float because it puts me on the good water near the 3 rivers area later in the day and usually I have better luck at getting into some of the great spots later in the day. We did get first crack at the Hot Dog hole which produced a dozen or so fish for us in a couple of hours of fishing. We also stopped at Karls hole and Andre hooked a couple of fish and landed a nice rainbow. Jamie and Peter floated by and we decided to eat some lunch at the Gravel pit. We all rendezvoused for some lunch and made the journey on downstream. Peter got the spot across from the Club and I pulled into the hole in front of the club. The other side was definitely hot and we watched as Jamie and Peters guys hooked fish after fish, while we managed to hook a couple here and there. After watching their assault on the fish, with flies that I had tied up for them the night before, we headed on downstream to find our own piece of angling nirvana. We lucked out and got into Holly's hole just as one a group of two were leaving. It was good fortune to because they had been up in Sniders channel fishing dry flies and Holly's was pretty much untouched for a few hours. I put Andre in the middle of the hole and sent Rich to the top. We were not having much luck with the Sow Bug, Big Ugly combo so I switched it up with the small black and white wire zebra midge and we immediately started pounding fish, the only problem was that Karl was on the island side and his guys were catching them a little bit faster than we were. Karl packed up and instantly Rich wanted to head to the other side and fish where Karl was at. I gave a little protest and mentioned that it was generally a bad idea to leave fish to find fish, but at the same time wading around in the meth mud in Holly's is not a lot of fun and the other side had a nice hard bottom. So we jumped in the boat and rowed to the other side. Rich new exactly where he wanted to be from watching Karls anglers and he headed to the head of the run to start the onslaught. Andre took up the bottom end and kept up a consistent pace as well, mostly doing it on his own. After making up for lost time earlier in the day we all jumped back in the boat and headed for another stop before calling it a day. It was already 6 pm and the guys had to be back at the lodge for the 8 pm dinner bell. Both Rich and Andre wanted to stop at the Bay of Pigs Channel again so when it was open I pulled in for one last stop. Andre jumped into his spot and Rich headed back up the channel just as we had done the day before. Andre was instantly onto a hard fighting Rainbow and it uped his fish count by one. In the hole prior to this Andre gave Rich some grief about catching almost as many fish as he had, until Rich put on a show and distanced the gap by double digits. It was now Andres time in the sun and he made quick progress in closing the fish count gap between the two of them. Andre was starting to feel the force of the angling addiction as he got closer to the fish count that Rich had been keeping tabs on. Rich hooked some fish in the head of the hole but Andre was hooking them on consecutive cast and his smiles and jabs started coming faster and faster as he approached the seasoned veterans tallied numbers. As the gap closed Rich started his assault on Andres spot. First he drifted his flies from above Andre trying to poached a fish from above, then he would reposition himself below Andre and poach a cast into the small bucket from below. He did manage to gank a couple fish from under Andre's indicator but Andre was still hooking up on a regular basis. It really made the trip for me to watch the addiciton start to afflict Andre and see him start to gain confidence and an understanding of why he was fast into the fish. We finished up at around 7:45 with Rich still in the lead by a half dozen fish, but Andre was a glow in his showing for the "Rookies" on this fine evening stop. I turned the boat around and made a power row for the ramp to try and get back for dinner. We hurried out of the water and I had them back at the lodge ten minutes late for dinner. Being late for dinner and staying out late was well worth it since I got to witness Andre's fall into the fly fishing addiction.
The last day of the trip was on a Saturday and I watched as Cottonwood filled with anglers on Friday night. I knew that it was going to be a busy day on the river for the last day and Rich was not excited about the number of anglers we saw in the previous days of fishing so I was concerned about floating the upper 13 miles again. Rich mentioned that he would pay money to try somewhere else and get away from the Bighorn but he also understood that there were geographical limits to traveling to another river. We did get lucky in the fact that the weeds were not bad this year on the river and Soap creek was running fairly clean leaving us the option of floating from Bighorn to Mallards and getting away from some of the crowds. Andre also wanted to get over to Custer to see the battle field so it worked out well to drop their vehicle at the St. X bridge so that Andre could leave after lunch. I picked them up at the lodge in the morning and we headed to drop the vehicle for Andre. When we returned to the ramp there was one other boat at the ramp and I knew that we would have some relative peace and quiet on the lower portion of the river. We started off with a couple of fish from the boat in the first run and the conditions could not have been better. As we approached the first section of faster water we came upon a nice seam on the bank and Rich placed the perfect cast into the seam and came fast to a really nice brown trout, pictured above. It was just what Rich was looking for in that I called out the spot, he made the cast and the fish was there just like it was supposed to be. We landed the beauty and put a tape to it for a real accurate reading of the size. Ed had told us a couple of days earlier that they landed a 27 inch brown and I had told Andre and Rich that most guys just guess and that estimations were usually way off from the real size of the fish. The Brown taped out at exactly 21 inches and I mentioned that this was a fish many would call 24 or 25 inches long. Rich has been around the block and he knew just what I was talking about. The fish made the trip for Rich because he is used to fishing the Madison and having to place cast into good looking spots that you can anticipate a fish laying in feeding. It was much more fun for him than pulling over and fishing a run full of fish. I am in total agreement with Rich on this aspect of fishing and I will take a good ole fashioned freestone river where the fish have to survive over a man made tailwater where the fish just have to exist. After catching this fish we pulled over at the bottom of the braids and did some wade fishing. I put Andre in the money spot and he hooked one fish after another for a couple of hours. He landed 8 fish out of the spot and lost another 6 or 8 from the same spot. One of them was a huge rainbow that he played for several minutes before it came unbuttoned. We did get a good look at the fish and it was probably around the 20 inch mark, but it was very fat and would have been a great fish to fondle and get a grip and grin shot of. We arrived at the St. X Bridge around lunch time and had a bite to eat and let Andre off to go for the tour to the Battle field. The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful with a few fish being caugth here and there but nothing was memorable, except for the rednecks in their jetboats. The one problem with floating the lower section of the river is that you do have to contend with the motorhead crowd, which is not a real big issue and on this day they were out in force. I am not sure what Rich thought of the big boats but it did take away from his experience a bit. Everyone does deserve to be able to use the river and I knew going into the day that we may have to deal with a few jetboats to get away from the fly crowd on the upper river. It was a good day all and all and I hope that Rich and Andre enjoyed getting to see another side of the Bighorn River. I know that Rich prefers other waters in Montana, just as I do and I hope that we get to fish some of the Freestone rivers in the Southwestern part of the state in the near future.
The Bighorn is a great place to catch fish and I do enjoy getting down there from time to time, however a big part of going to the Bighorn is also comming home. The Bighorn gives me even more appreciation for rivers like the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Madison, Boulder and Stillwater. Stroking your ego on the Bighorn can be good entertainment but getting schooled by fish on a Freestone gets my blood flowing even more than catching lots of nice fish on the Bighorn. I hope to see Rich and Andre again someday and hopefully we can give Andre the experience he deserves on a free flowing river in the Southwestern portion of the state.

Bitteroot With Mr. Rodgers

2007-03-19T22:13:00.000-06:00

Today was the official kick off of the 2007 season with Larry and my dad. We drove over on Sunday morning, taking the longer scenic route up the Bighole Valley and over the top of Lost Trail pass. We arrived in Hamilton at just after 3 pm and checked into our room at the Bitteroot River Inn. Larry had yet to purchase his season fishing license so after check in we headed out to get him his license and try and sneak in a few hours of wade fishing. We stopped at Fishaus tackle first, which has become part of our annul Skwala hatch ritual. Bill was closed for the day so we headed down the street to Bob Mart to get the license, but on our way we saw new fly shop called " The Flyfishing Center" and low and behold they were open after4 pm on a Sunday. As we walked into the shop there were several people hanging out shooting the breeze. Larry purchased his license and a toilet paper roll holder made out of fake whitetail deer sheds for his rental house this summer. Of course Larry got into a conversation with all the guys in the shop and we had to discuss Florida snook fishing along with Elk Hunting, women and steelhead. We met a funny older "Bitterooter" whose flies were featured as the local seceret weapons. His name was Ted and he was fast after the steelhead addiction and was proud to share some smoked Steelhead that his buddy caught last week, they already had an 8 X 10 glossy picture of the fish and the dude who caught and smoked it up on the shop wall. We picked up a few of Ted's Skwala dries and headed out to check out the River. The flows were coming up and the river was still in great shape but fishing a rising river prove to offer up some slow fishing. We checked out several of the public access points on the river and decided we did not need to spend a couple of hours on the water and instead we opted to drive 30 miles to Guy's Lolo Steak House instead. Guys 5000 square foot log restaurant was built by guy and his family and they have turned it into a well know stop for Montana Beef. After the steak house we headed back up the road to the Inn and I tied up variety of Skwala dries to try out the next day.
We woke up fairly late and had breakfast at the Inn, which is a contenintal style breakfast with some mediocre omlets, Biscuts and Gravy, assorted danishes, ceral, coffee and juice. We finally got the raft ready and the gear in the car and we headed for the river at around 10 am. We stoped by the Fishaus to get a shuttle and check on the fishing reports and Bill told us that the river was up another 400 CFS and that the fishing on Sunday was very slow. Larry commented about the poor reports and we headed to the Anglers Roost putin because we were here and we were going to fish dries or catch nothing at all. We got on the water at around 10:45 am and by 1 pm we had finally seen our first fish come to net. Now typically you don't need to get started to early in the morning for Skwalas because the fish don't get active on the bugs until mid day but this was later than usual and I was worried the day was going to be very slow. My dad did some nymphing from the boat and we pulled over in one run and gave the nymphs a try as well with no success. He also gave a zonker, JJ's and bunny fly a run but we never even got a chase. By the time we got near the town park I switched Larry from a Foust Chernobly with a parachute Skwala to one of Ted's Skwala's trailed with a # 10 Royal PMX. Our luck slowly but surely started to change and most of the fish we saw come up to the surface came after either the royal or a peacock PMX. We did have a half dozen fish eat the Skwala dry but the other dozen ate the PMX's. We hit the Woodside boat ramp at ten to six and the days tally was a dozen fish for Larry and 5 for my dad. The fishing was not red hot but we did manage to squeak out a reasonable day from one that looked like it might be fishless at lunch time. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully the weather will be cooler than 70 degrees and the flows will have crested and started to drop. Rising flows on the Bighole and Bitteroot do make for tougher fishing conditions.
Flows on the root were 1010 C.F.S. at Darby and 2900 C.F.S. near Missoula.

Buck Blaine: Wishin' he was Fishin'

2007-02-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Time for a reel job!

2007-01-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

After several months of commercial fly tying and being a stay at home father, it is finally time to find a job that will bring a paycheck into the household. Bozeman is full of construction jobs that pay well but require a death ride up Hwy 191 to Big Sky every morning. There are also lots of service jobs that pay a few bucks for mearly showing up and putting a smile on your face for the public. The big deli ma arises in only needing a job for a couple of months before the guiding season gets hot and heavy again. I guess that I may have to put back on the painting outfit and head back into the shop to work as a painter for a little while. Soon the midges will be buzzing and the baetis will hit the water for the great anglers who visit each year to fish the rivers of Southwestern Montana.

First Fish of 2007!

2007-01-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

January has been cold in Montana and we finally have had a few days of warm weather. The warmer weather cleared some of the pack and slush ice from the Gallatin and the Lower Madison. I got a chance to get out for a few hours on Thursday and managed to dredge up a few rainbows on a Natural Zonker trailed with a pink soft hackle sow bug. The photo above is the first fish of the year. I was thankful that it was a rainbow and not a whitefish, which is a common fish on a soft hackle in the winter months.

Anglers spend over $422 million per year in Montana!

2007-01-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

A great article in the Great Falls Tribune - www.greatfallstribune.com - Great Falls, MT lays out the economics behind Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife activities in the state of Montana. There are some staggering statistics in the article such as anglers spending 1.6 million dollars on ice and over 2.6 million dollars on bait.

Mount Everest of Inebriation!

2007-01-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

As a young kid I grew up watching "Andre the Giant" tangle with Hulk Hogan for the WWF championship of the world. As I watched the matches I never had any idea that the Massive beast of a man on the TV had consumed a case of plum wine prior to entering the ring. Modern Drunkard Magazine ran an article on their website about "The Giants" insatiable appetite for all forms of alcohol is something to behold and I was amazed while reading the article. In the article the author speaks of Andre drinking 119 beers in the span of 6 hours. That works out to one beer every three minutes. I personally like drinking a few beers of having a few Pendelton's on the rocks but this article is simply unbelievable.

January in Montana!

2007-01-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Public Spring Creek in the Gallatin Valley!

Lower Madison River, BRRRRRRRRR!

People always want to know how cold it is in Montana in the middle of the winter and I always tell them about the rivers filling with slush ice and people staying indoors for days if not weeks on end. Last week we saw one of the artic cold snaps that visit the area a few times each year. Our high temps last week were well below zero most days and at night we saw temperatures that ranged from -47 below zero in West Yellowstone to -26 here in Bozeman. After a week of this cold weather there is little in the way of fishable water right now but we are fortunate to have a couple of psuedo tailwaters in the area and numerous spring creeks that keep open water no matter how cold it gets. Yesterday a couple of my good friends headed out with the dogs to check out the ice flows and maybe wet a line in one of the spring creeks that has public access. The wind was blowing a bit and none of us could muster up the motivation to dawn our waders and rig a rod to fish the creek. We finally jumped back in the truck and spent the afternoon galavanting around the Valley with a twelve pack of beer looking for elk and deer on some of the backroads around the valley.

Think before you build!

2007-01-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning update: Flood warnings for a stretch of the Yellowstone south of Livingston remain in effect until 10 this morning, but there are signs the ice jam responsible for backing up the river is starting to break.

Park County officials had not reported changes in conditions early Thursday morning, but the river gauge at Livingston showed a “sharp increase” in flows overnight, a NWS statement said.

More free-flowing water could mean that the ice jam is clearing, but there has been no visual confirmation yet.

The banks of the Yellowstone River in the Paradise Valley have changed drastically in the past ten years. Trophy homes off all different styles have been thrown up along the banks of one of the more popular sections of the river without any forethought or respect for what Mother Nature can unleash when she is angry. In 1996 and again in 1997 the Yellowstone River saw concurrent 100 year flood events which gave us a glimpse of the power of water and what it can do to property that is adjacent to it's fearsome flows. We as humans are not very good at learning from our mistakes and in the years since well over 20 homes have built near the Yellowstones banks with no recollection of what had taken place only a short time ago. People have the right to use their property as they see fit, however I also do not sympathize or agonize when they use poor judgement just to hear the water rushing by or because they want a particular view of our natural enviornment. I hope that the couple whose home is being threatened by the icy flows of the river can make it through without losing everything but maybe they will think twice about where they built and understand that they could see their dreams disappear at the hands of the river they wanted to live so near.

Winter Time Fishing

2007-01-17T10:12:00.001-07:00

Winter time is one of my favorite seasons to fish for many different reasons. The first and foremost is that it is the best way to get a river all to yourself and not have competition from other anglers. Second you can run into the unexpected and see some amazing sites and sounds. There is a good article in the Denver Post which relates some of the reasons why serious anglers get out and enjoy the rivers during times of the year that others think are too cold and snowy for fishing. The brown trout in the photo above was caught in the Bear Trap Canyon in celebration of the New Year, by my good friend and fellow guide Eric Reithmiller.

God Bless Golf !

2007-01-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

"I am not against golf, since I cannot but suspect it keeps armies of the unworthy from discovering trout." -Paul O'Neil-

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle Police Reports!!!

2007-01-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle is a decent paper with plenty of bad editing and some great wording in the police reports. A couple of weeks ago this ran in the police reports section. A deputy spoke to two ice fisherman at Hyalite reservoir, the fisherman told the officer that there were a couple of cutthroats with some sore lips! Only the comical would run something like this in the paper.

Fly-Fishing for Taimen in Mongolia

2007-01-16T14:19:00.001-07:00


The worlds largest salmonoid. It needs no further introduction. This video slideshow is from our local Taimen experts who are some of the american pioneers in Mongolia. The trip looks like it would be spectacular and maybe someday I can save up $7500 to get myself over to Mongolia.

12 Below Zero and Getting Colder!

2007-01-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

Bozeman, Montana (59718) Conditions & Forecast : Weather Underground As of this writting the mercury is falling and it is already well below Zero. An artic cold front has moved into the area and left many around Bozeman wishing they lived in Miami right about now. Personally I say bring it on, Cold weather is great, it sure beats the heat in the summer.

Woman Finally Goes Postal over Walleye!

2007-01-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

Kate Bahr was tied to her job at the United States Post Office and was not able to make the annual ice fishing trips each year with her husband and son. But 2007 was the year that she had enough senority to take the dates off and join the Boys on Fort Peck reservoir. It turned out to be a great trip and she pulled this 16.2 pound monster through the hole in the middle of the trip. The story has been in several of the Montana newspapers and the story is very good. Congratulations Kate and way to bring one through the ice that we can all admire and hope to see on the end of our own line one day.

Screwed by Bush

2007-01-10T12:09:00.001-07:00

What a Shot!

2007-01-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

A conservation officer from Des Moines Iowa used his markmanship skills to free an Eagle from a tree branch high up on a cliff. The article tells an amazing tale of how the officer made the shot into a tree limb to attempt to free the Eagle which became stuck in a knot hole in the tree branch and the bird was hanging upside down from the branch high on a cliff, which left all other options of rescue impossible. The best quote came from one of the officers co workers who state "i expected to see a poof of feathers". Rather than the poof of feathers the officer made a miraculous shot and freed the bird from it's trap and it flew away into the sunset no worse for the wear.

WTF!! Women arrested for mailing herself Pot.

2007-01-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

A recent article from El Paso Texas in which a women was arrested for sending herself 78 pounds of pot from El Paso to Amarillo. She was charged with illegal use of a communications facility for sending the pot via mail. This would certainly qualify her for the Darwin Arwards that are given out to people of uncommon stupidity. Natural selection let one slip through the cracks once again.

Drug Related Spiders

2007-01-06T17:39:00.001-07:00

Good news for Missouri River Rainbows!

2007-01-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

Fisheries biologist have compiled fish study numbers for the Missouri River this past summer and the news was much better than expected. After discovering Whirling Disease in the Dearborne River, the largest spawning tributary of the Missouri, fisheries experts expected to see a dramatic decrease in first year age class rainbows. There data did show a slight decrease in rainbows but populations were still about 80 percent of the average. This slight drop in numbers could also be attributed to the drought conditions we have had in Montana as well as the factors of Whirling Disease. This is much better than expected news for the river and I feel that it shows how "wild fish" can make adaptations to ensure survival of their species. Montana is a gleaming example of how wild fishery management is a much better system than put and take fisheries of the past and present.

Three Months of holding our breath

2007-01-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

Every two years our elected officials meet in Helena while the whole state sits on the edge of their seats to see how and when special interest will affect and influence the way we do business, use our recreation facilities and how we live in general. Concerned citizens need to keep abreast of the issues at hand and use their voice to make sure that your representatives hear your message, because god knows they are listening to others who choose to limit your freedoms and ability to make a living. It is basically three months of hell that hopefully will see most of the special interest bills tabled and removed from further discussion. Unfortunately our elected representatives don't tackle the serious issues such as health care, public education funding and social programs for the poor. Elected officials from both parties typically listen to the money instead of the interest of the public. The Billings Gazette has a list of a few of the first bills written by legislatures that will hit the floor this coming week. There will be plenty more to come and all concerned citizens should take the time to check out and keep tabs on the many different bills that will come before the legislature this session. Lets pray that more good is done than bad, but experience tells me that a select few will get bills passed that will influence the rest of us in a negative way.

Congatulations Boise State !!

2007-01-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

Former Big Sky Conference foe Boise State pulled off one of the greatest games in football history. I sat in awe as the final quarter and the overtime period unfolded in front of me. This is a game that will go down in the history books as one of the best ever. Congratulations Boise State!!!! You won one for all the little guys.

Evil Snakeheads!

2006-12-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post has a video about the Northern Snake head which has become part of the Potomac River ecosystem. The biologist that they interview in the video plays them off as a species that will be able to coexist with the other fish species in the ecosystem. I am not sure that he is exactly being honest with his calculations of what this evil fish species can do. A fellow guide and friend of mine travels to Thailand every year to help his girlfriend purchase silk for their store here in Bozeman and he has spent a lot of time fishing for snake heads, which are native species in Thailand. These creatures are evil and the horror stories from the Thai locals are legendary. Greg has pictures to prove the strength and vigor in which these fish can chase down and eat it's prey. The method to catch these fish on a fly requires the angler to put the rod under your arm and strip extremely fast. The fish hit so hard that Greg had bruises on his arm and side that look like he got run over by a car. Once the fish are brought to the boat the real danger begins. The snake heads will lock down on anything that gets in their mouth and will not let go, even when the fish is dead. Greg's Thai friends have seen anglers that have gotten their hands to close and had to take a trip to the clinic to get the dead fish head surgically removed. These fish are certainly evil and hopefully the illegal bucket biology will end in the Potomac.

Tie Your Own, I$ it le$$ expen$ive ?

2006-12-29T18:15:00.001-07:00

The West Virgina Gazette ran an article on tying your own flies. In the article the author is explaining how much cheaper it is to tie your own flies, rather than purchase them from your local fly merchant. The much favored fly to tie for tiers is the beloved woolly bugger. Apparently the author has taken the time to do the math and come up with the cost for tying one bugger. He does later include that the cost of labor and tools could bring the fly up to around 80 cents so he still feels it is a great deal compared to purchasing flies at a store. He is very correct if you are willing just to stick with the basic patterns and tie only flies that you plan on fishing with. Over my 15 years in the fly shop business and a very avid fly tier I can safely estimate that most of my flies probably cost me between 5 to 7 dollars a piece when I factor in all the variables. Most fly tiers get started for the same reason that the article states, to save a bunch of money on their fly bill. However you must be very careful with the power of the art of fly tying! The addiction of tying the perfect fly and crafting a new pattern that works like no other is a dangerous balance. If you stick with the necessity of tying the basics you can keep the P&L of fly buying in balance, but if you go the rout of the serious tyer you will send the budget through the roof, much like our current administration. I spend as much if not more on my passion for tying flies than I do on the equipment that I fish with each and every day. My tackle bag is worth more than my truck and boat combined. Fly tying will eventually haunt you and your passion for fishing will be determined on weather you have a new bug to test out or not. I hope that everyone gives tying a try and I just want to warn those who read this post that be careful what you wish for because you could soon be trying to talk the wife into a an addition on the home to house your tying materials.

Time to hit the ice!

2006-12-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Winter finally arrived in Montana for good and we took the kids out for some Holidy Ice fishing the day after Christmas. The local pond provided and easy outing and we managed to bring a couple of small fish through the holes for the kids to fondle and argue about who got to return them back down the hole. I think Madeline may have been the first person to hit the ice in a pair of silver tipped, red cowgirl boots. She did manage to stay upright all day long in the boots which was an amazing feet. Both kids had a wonderful time and I am sure that we will be on the ice again soon, except now there is 10 inches of snow on top of the ice from the winter storm that hit the other night.

These Guys are Nuts!!

2006-12-27T16:05:00.001-07:00

Some whitewater rafting action from Canada. I guess that is why we call them crazy canucks.