Coming down hard. The past two days have seen some decent snow fall in SW Montana....finally. We didn't get much on the level, but it was sloppy and wet. Up at Big Sky, at the top of Lone Peak, it was thigh deep yesterday afternoon. I received a great email this...
WINDY…..
A good day to tie these..... The trees are bent over today, but the storm that is hitting us right now is not putting down any snow. We got about 2 inches yesterday and one more inch last night. Keep your fingers crossed.
The days of Felt “Souls” are doomed…..
Simms no longer makes these......a good thing in the long run. Slip-sliding away.................. Felt, for most of us around the Madison and Yellowstone, is essential to safe wading and not busting your butt in the river. The upper 9 miles of the Missouri is pretty...
Non-fishing vacations? Really?
Molly and I up the Rescue Crk Trail. YNP. The Missouri River has been calling my name for about a month now, but I have also been wanting/needing to get away and hike in the high country of Yellowstone National Park. Since the snow is light this season, we decided to...
Varney to Burnt Tree
working it deep. We rolled out of West Yellowstone around 10 am and had a beautiful drive through the Madison Valley. Windows down, coffee in hand and drift boat in tow. We saw four eagles, more elk and two large herds of antelope. We showed up to Varney and there...
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Album cover: Four Leaf Clover - The Old 97s's
Days of Old
A time gone by.....brothel, hotel, gambling? Neal and I took a drive yesterday morning through the Madison Valley and took a left at the Iron Angler in Ennis. We got to the Ruby River at Vigilante around 10:30 am and had the river to ourselves. An hour later there...
Spring Angling Bonanza!!!
Do you have cabin fever? Are you tired of watching those fishing shows on TV? Your team not make the Big Dance? Then get off your ass and come to Montana. The fishing has been wonderful throughout the entire state. Trout are rising, eating streamers and nymphs...
Mid-week Angling
Hebgen to Quake
That's a no brainer. After bacon and eggs, I drove down the road and met up with Mickey Wooten yesterday morning. It was actually closer to noon as we headed down to fish below Hebgen Dam, but who really cares. Upon arriving to the Madison, we quickly realized that...
A look into the Future….May & June
Greg Falls and the boys.....on the Mo'. Mid-June 2006. As I have said before, this winter is a bit light on snow. What does that really mean? Well, let me try to break it down. This may get confusing, but it makes sense in my head. Think early season.....If you...
Fulfilling a fix
A winter brown trout.....caught just a few hours ago on a stonefly. I bought my new fishing license and headed out of West Yellowstone. It was cloudy, warm, a little snowy and not too windy. I wadered up at the house and drove around the lake. Slipping into the...
Winter Flows
These taste better in cans...... Over the past couple of months the flows on the Madison River below Hebgen have been running just at or a little over 1000 cfs. The flows dropped yesteday to 841 cfs.....finally. Did you know that PPL was afraid to run the river at...
Bombing through YNP
Wolf on a elk kill. Madison River. I haven't fished for over a 2 weeks now. Sad to say, but a mans got to work. However, driving a bomb through YNP is not a bad way to spend the day. There are trout rising on the Firehole River. I really wish I could sneak the tip...
Puddle Duck Soup
Tomorrow.....lunchtime. Last November, we shot a bunch of mallards on our 14 day bird hunting trip. Most guys I know, dislike eating too many ducks. Why? Too red? I don't know, but I know they love shooting them over their decoys. When I was a kid, my father would...
Winter’s Wildlife
Two bulls on the Madsion. During the winter months, large wildlife such as elk are creatures of habit. They live in the same neck of the woods, not wanting to expend their fat reserves on needless travel in deep snow. Even with the threat of death from wolf...
Going on a guide trip?
G. Falls on the Madison River I often get over loaded with questions when someone has booked a guide trip with Big Sky Anglers and rightly so. Most of the time, these questions revolve around what is included, where will we fish, how long is the day, local lodging,...
$3 and the Valley
$3 Bridge The Madison Valley continues to fish this winter, maybe one of the better angling winters in recent years. With only 25 more days of fishing above McAtee Bridge, you better get down there. I arrived to the river around 12:30 yesterday afternoon and...
A day off and another day on the river.
Mickey W. with a Winter Rainbow. Tomorrow, I head off for a week long trip guiding in Yellowstone National Park. This might have been my last day of angling, for awhile anyway. I guess it is time to get back on that tractor and make some hay. The warmer weather has...
Lynx??
The possible tracks of Lynx canadensis. Only one photo of a lynx exists in Yellowstone National Park and that was taken on the Gibbon River, YNP in winter of 2007. Since 1872, there have been 111 observations in YNP. I was in the Gibbon Canyon on and off that winter...