Our snowpack is finally melting. Cabin Creek was dirty yesterday afternoon and while I did not see Beaver Creek, I would assume it was muddy too. The yard around the house melted out and bison have been using the much needed bare ground for browsing. A year ago,...
Missouri River in April
Last Chance
After watching the weather and making a few calls down to the Trouthunter in Last Chance, Jonathon Heames and myself hopped in the truck and went for it. It was cold, windy and not quite the conditions we were looking for, but none the less, we needed to get out of...
Spring is coming.
Pictured above is the new boat ramp below Reynolds Pass Bridge. It is still under a bit of snow, but will be open by the 21st of May - Opening Day. I took a walk yesterday afternoon, upstream from here, and checked out this section of the river. There were trout...
White it is
Just when I thought it might be safe to flip the driftboat and drag out the trailer......wham.....it dumped........West Yellowstone called 8 to 10, Bozeman got 3. One could double that up in the mountains. Hard spring to be an elk or bison. How will the elk fare...
Heavy & Wet
At this rate, the Madison will never even get muddy....we might even be able to skip summer all together and go straight into winter 2011. We are 5 days from May with 3 feet on the ground.....maybe more. If this storm keeps up all night, we will have 2 more feet on...
Madison River Fishing Report
McAtee to 8 Mile was the float. While that is a long ways, the Madison is flowing 1290 cfs and that is plenty of water to get through Cameron Flats. We started out slow stripping streamers on a Rio Outbound Short and moved a few nice trout off the deeper, rocky...
Bison Calves
This morning's cold temperatures, 5 degrees, would make it a tough time to be a bison calf. These little ungulates can be up and walking with in 2 hours of birth. Rumor has it that this little calf was born on the road. I saw another calf at Old Faithful and...
Snow it goes
A blizzard just rolled through on Horse Butte, coated everything in a thick, heavy layer of white wetness. We are slated for more weather tonight....up goes the snowpack. The angling has been pretty good, but the lower elevations have been hammered with wind,...
Boat Trailer Emerges……..part II
Here is another shot of the boat trailer, three days later. If need be, I could yank it out with the Land Cruiser at any point now. Actually digging it out would have been pointless and tiresome. West Yellowstone has lost almost a foot of snow due to wind,...
Classic quote
When fishing in June, one needs to be flexible - ready to do what ever it takes to catch a trout. June is just too unpredictable to rely on a specific technique to fool trout. If you want something predictable, the you should try bowling. There are tweleve pins,...
Electrofishing…..
This explanation of Electrofishing is straight from Montana FWP. For years, myself and many others, have been against electrofishing and after sitting through detailed lectures given by biologists I still feel the same way. Do we really need it? Does the public...
YNP is Open.
Molly and I took a drive to Old Faithful yesterday evening, arriving just in time for a 6 pm eruption. Lots of locals in YNP today....finally a place to go for an evening drive, close to town. The Madison is runnning clear and looks very fishy, I would bet there...
Madison River Fishing Report – Varney to 8
The parking lot at Varney Bridge was almost empty, except for a couple trailers from upstream which pulled in as we rigged the boat. Once Drew and I slid under the bridge, there wasn't another boat in sight all day long. Not one. Ofcourse it was a Wednesday and if...
Varney to 8
With the help of a good friend, I get to fish today. He says he'll row the boat the entire day, but I wouldn't mind rowing a bit. Last time I wet a line? January 18th. Ya, that is a long time for someone who lives so close to world class fly fishing. ...
Madison River Flows Below Hebgen - 1050 cfs Varney Bridge (Cameron Gauge) - 1260 cfs The urge to get out of the house and away from the snow was too strong yesterday. While actually fishing is still a ways out for me, I just had to go and sit by the...
More white stuff
For 30 miles to north, south, east and west of Horse Butte, there is 4 feet of snow on the ground.....and it is still snowing. Dumping is a better word for it.......5 new inches of the wet and heavy on the level. Some folks in these parts say there is 6 feet...
The Golden Stonefly
The biot body stonefly might be the only other stonefly nymph I fish, although the prince nymph is hard to beat.....I cannot lie, so add that to the list.....3 patterns to imitate these insects. The first biot stoneflies I saw were tied by Mike Mercer, his...
Rubber Legs
Stoneflies are a large part of a fishes' diet year around. A Rubber Leg Stone Fly Nymph just might be one of the most fished flies on all the freestone rivers in SW Montana. A versatile pattern, which can be swung off the banks with 2x, bobbered up - deep in the...
16 days
We arrived home last night after a great week in Cody, Wyoming. While I would love to tell you stories filled with huge trout caught on dry flies and streamers, I cannot. At the bowling alley cracking beers with the locals, I was brough up to speed on exactly how...