The Dam. Driving up to the Missouri last Wednesday, I thought about all the different rivers and streams that I have fished this season. Trying to come up with The List, the list of places that are dear to me, it became difficult to place just one river at the #1...
Fall – The Best is yet to come.
Sunset on Horse Butte - the view from our front porch! When I looked at the old fishing report, before writing the new one, I was amazed that I had not written one since August 31st.........busy is the word that comes to mind. There have been countless days spent on...
Terrestrials…..yes he ate it!
Aspens are turning.....elk are bugling. Trout love terrestrials and by this time of the year hopper, ants and beetles are a mainstay of their diet. Both rainbows and browns will eat these flies, but they are tricky....sneeky, very sneeky. I know from experience...
observe
Sunset Watching a trout, perched high above the Madison on Reynold's Bridge, is a pasttime of mine and many other fishing bums who call the area home. The vistas from Reynolds both up and down stream are unmatched. I have been there at sunrise and sunet for more...
A few days off…..much needed.
Dad, fishing dries on Grayling Creek. As we quickly cruise through the month of August, the Madison has continued to fish really well up and down the entire river. Although I haven't been below Story Ditch in a while, I have heard decent reports of quality hopper...
Gunwales, Gulpers and Goodbyes
The Gunwale Bar...coming soon to town near you. After 11 weeks of constant guiding, fishing and relatives most fishing guides will sit back, take a drink or two, and fish Hebgen.....or float the Madison and actually stand in the front of the boat. After all it is...
Dry flies anyone?
Molly and a surface feeding Rainbow. Okay, first off, we all know that throughout the first 3 weeks of July the Madison was.....well....unreliable. We have the hatches, consistent water flows and temps, but the trout would not cooperate on a day to day basis. Yes...
Three rules to live by…….
Molly and her new Simms waders......so hot. When on a guided fishing trip there are three rules to live by. 1. Listen to your guide. 2. The guide is always right. 3. Refer to rule #1. It is amazing when clients acutally listen to what a guide has to say and then take...
Big bugs
Twenty-one I hit the Madison this afternoon at 5pm. Upon a river crossing, I began fishing Golden Stones on a down stream drift to the undercut banks. There was a guide just upstream about to finish his day so I didn't think he would mind me fishing the run a 100...
Wind & Rain….and a few trout on dries
Todd N. and a nice Madison Brown fooled with a Golden. The last few days on the upper Madison have been a windy SOB. When the mayflies and caddis emerged today, they were picked off the surface and blown to Bozeman. There has been rain in the valley somewhere...
9050 and dropping…thick caddis and stupid trout
Is there a finer river? I have been on the Missouri for the past two days and have three more to go. Both today and yesterday were lights out nymphing and today the fish seemed more willing to take a dry. At the boat ramp this morning the river was running a...
June is flying by…sort of like my driftboat on our big rivers.
JT with a Mo River Brown...a standard 20 incher This past week was spent guiding on the Missouri for 3 days and then the Madison for 3 days. Both rivers are flowing huge and I am beat. Back up to the Missouri tomorrow for 6 days.....and some dry fly fishing. ...
Salmonflies….in Beartrap Canyon.
Crawling up..... The big bugs are finally here. They are actually right on time, but with all the anticipation, it makes it seems like they'll never show up. The weather in SW Montana has been rainy and cloudy, not exactly salmonfly weather. This rain is a...
We’re Trout Fishing…..what are you doing?
G. Falls and Kevin with a 21 inch Mo River Bow The past three weeks have been filled with countless hours of fly fishing. The Madison, the Missouri and the Henry's Fork are all fishing very well with nymphs, streamers and dry flies. The dry fly fishing on the...
The Sweet Month of June
June in Montana is highlight of my angling season. Snow in the hills, green grass, big puffy clouds, blue sky and large trout on the Missouri River. I left home about 10 days ago and arrived on the Missouri in Craig to 11500 cfs........big flows. Not a surprise, as...
The Lake.
Spring run off has made Hebgen pretty dirty around the lake's arms. Grayling Bay and the Madison Arm are brown. Infact, the mud line extends from Grayling bay, past the narrrows to the pipe on the north shore. The entire Madison Arm is blown until you get to the...
BLOWN……..
Yes it is true.....the Madison below the Slide is blown out. Cabin and Beaver Creeks are cruising with mud. The West Fork is pumping a ton of chocolate milk into the river. The Gallatin, Gibbon, Firehole and Madison in YNP are high and muddy and in places seem...
The Opener on the Madison
With the flows on the Madison out of Hebgen Dam at 1400 cfs and the clarity of the river at perfection, the Madison fished pretty darn well throughout the valley. Molly and I got down to the river around 9 am to find it pretty empty......below Lyons Bridge that...
Gallatin is clear and nymphing well.
The Gallatin is fishing really well in the Canyon right now and the clarity is hanging in there. 2 days ago, I fished dries for a while without a rise and then put on nymphs and got'em. The stonefly pictured above was my number one fly and below it I had a purple...
Mother’s Day Caddis…..here comes the Mud
Two days ago I hung out with my buddy Busch over in Paradise Valley. We drove around looking for heads, although not opposed to fishing nymphs, we both wanted to fish it dry. There were a few more Caddis around below town, but we didn't see much rise. The...