Gilligan and Skipper Part 2!

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!!!

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

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"

"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

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.

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!

"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

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!

"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

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!

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

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

"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!

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

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

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.