New Season is Upon Us

It's hard to believe that the holidays are over and it's already time to start thinking about fishing again. But then again, I guess there's never truly a time to stop thinking about fishing. The year started with a bang at Nelson's Spring Creek. Given a picture perfect winter day, Lee Smith (holding the rainbow) and her mother Lela took a day off from skiing and were treated to some spectacular fish. They weren't easy to come by that day due to bright sun and little midge activity but those we caught, on scuds, sowbugs and midge larva, were real specimens.

In the days since, I've hit the Madison and found some good midge fishing. The Gallatin has also produced well with the old golden stone/prince nymph combo but then again, it seems that river fishes more consistently in the winter than at any other time of year. If wind stays down, we should experience a bunch of surface activity with midges in the month ahead.

As we approach the season, we all wonder what lies in store in terms of snowpack and water levels, weather, hatches and all the rest. Though snowpack percentages were slightly below average last time I checked, it's snowed a few times since which keeps me optimistic. Seems the pattern in the last few years is for good snow early, not much in January and early February and then the heavy stuff starts coming. We'll see how it shakes out this year but as of now, I think it's looking good.

Well, it's back to tying Epeorus Emergers and Longhorn Beetles, I will be fishing over the next few days and will report back soon.

Prime Fall Fishing

After a pleasant but unusually summerlike September, fall weather has arrived. 75 degrees yesterday up on the Missouri, 38 degrees and snowing today on the Yellowstone. Fishing has been good and will likely get great as the cooler, overcast days settle in. Baetis and midges are prolific on the Yellowstone right now - today the baetis emerged right at 2pm and gave us some good dry fly fishing for the remainder of the afternoon. Prior to that, Black zebra midges, soft hackle PTs, lightning bugs and shop vacs were all good fished just 3 feet under an indicator. The lower Madison is low right now but fishing has been good - small flies and light leaders have been the ticket. Should be some good baetis fishing out there with the overcast skies. Have spent a lot of time on the Missouri lately - though the floating weeds have been a nuisance, the action has been good - though surface activity has been spotty. Crayfish patterns, black zebra midges, flashback hare's ears and the purple lightning bug all seemed to do the trick. Might try throwing some streamers in the weeks ahead as well - it's getting to be that time.

August 18, 2009

Cool weather and somewhat consistent rainfall have created some of the most ideal river conditions we've seen in recent history. As a result, we're often finding ourselves in places we typically avoid during the month of August. Ther lower Madison, the Jefferson, the Boulder are are still fishing well and as long as the weather pattern remains the same they'll likely stay that way right into September. The hopper fishing on the Yellowstone has been second to none - though better on the warmer days, we've had many ramp to ramp outings using just a single fly on 3X. Color choice seems to be the challenge of the day - pink, purple, red, yellow and good old tan have all done the trick. The Chaos hopper from Blue Ribbon Flies has been my top bug though the Chubby Chernobyl and the Chernobyl Hopper have certainly earned their keep. Have also heard good reports from the Upper Madison, Gallatin, Big Hole and Stillwater - the only problem right now is deciding where to go!

Wednesday July 29

Just 68 degrees today - hard to beleive this is July after the hot summers we experienced a few years back. Needless to say, cool weather and excellent river flows have created ideal fishing conditions. With weather changing from day to day, we've been all over the map with techinques. Yesterday was hoppers for nice rainbows on the Madison, today was buggers and some big browns on the Yellowstone. Prior to cooler weather and rain, the hopper/attractor fishing was starting to pick up on the Yellowstone and as soon as it dries out and heats back up I suspect it will be back - August is going to be an excellent month. Caddis and a variety of mayflies have also created some surface activity. Best bugs have been the Chubby Chernobyl, PMX, Goddard Caddis, PMD Para Wulff, Improved Rubberlegs, Soft Hackle Hare's Ear and a variety of Epeorus emergers. Have also heard some good dry fly reports from the Lower Madison. Chased the carp last week and found them hungry - best fly was the little known skunk bugger - a new invention that met the approval of a few 10 pounders .

It's shaping up to be another great summer on the river. As we speak, just about everything is getting into prime condition and fishing has been excellent virtually everywhere. The Yellowstone has been fishable for several days and while the clarity is off, fishing has been good throughout Paradise Valley. Salmonflies are present on the stretches above Emigrant and a variety of other stoneflies, caddis and mayflies have been hatching in big numbers as well. Yesterday was a classic post runoff day on the Yellowstone - Black Crystal Buggers were the ticket in the morning while Chubby Chernobyls and the good old PMX were the hot ticket in the afternoon. As the river drops, conditions around Livingston and downstream will get much better. The upper Madison has continued to produce great attractor dry/dropper fishing. Stimulators, PMXs, Trudes and the Chubby Chernobyl have all been good - best droppers have been soft hackle Copper Johns and large soft hackle Hare's Ears. The Lower Madison is also in good shape and as of the last week or so, the larger browns have gone on the feed. McCunes Sculpin and Clouser Crayfish trailed by lightning bugs and small soft hackles have been the ticket. Just today, we fished Burns Lake north of Big Timber - the afternoon produced some terrific hopper fishing - let's hope that's a sign of things to come througohut the rest of the summer. If the hopper fishing doesn't come to fruition, we'll always have the carp - we hit the Missouri earlier in the week for the first time and while the water was high the carp we're still there and hadn't lost their appetite - the Bow River Bugger was the bug of choice.

Though river conditions have been back and forth over the past few weeks, it seems as if everything is starting to settle down and come in to prime shape. Fished the Upper Madison today - though wind hampered our efforts one fish did fall victim to an adult salmonfly.. the rest were caught on caddis pupa and a #6 Mega Prince. The salmonflies are just getting started and should be in full swing in the next few days. The Lower Madison has also been good with crayfish, caddis and PMDs being the main attractions... those looking for dry fly fishing might consider the Lower in the last few hours of the day as the caddis have been thick.
The Missouri continues to be red hot - this spring was one of the best I've seen up there in some time which could be the result of the big flush the river received last year.
The Yellowstone is currently flowing around 13000 cfs ...once it gets to 12,000 we should be in good shape to hit some of the floats in the Paradise Valley. Hope to be back on there by July 4.

Back in town after a week on the Missouri below the Holter Dam. Fishing has been nothing short of spectacular up there and througout the week flows dropped substantially - the river is pristine condition and pressure was light. Though most of our success came from nymphing with a variety of caddis pupa imitations such as the Iris Caddis, Soft Hackle Hare's Ear and Tan Sparkle Emerger, we did find occasional fish feeding on the surface. One of the highlights of the trip was a 24" brown caught on a #18 caddis pupa on 5X. Seems like there are probably a bunch of those fish in that river though that's the biggest one I've managed to run across yet.

Flows have dropped on the rivers around Bozeman as well - the Madison is looking good and one has to wonder how long it will be before we're back on the Yellowstone and Gallatin. Another great option is Depuy's Spring Creek - spent a day out there last week and experienced solid numbers of fish and a steady PMD hatch which proved to be an excellent combination.

Though we were expecting a runoff like that of '08 it appears as if things are going to clear up a bit faster this year - we'll just have to wait and see in the weeks ahead.

Just this morning my 2.5 year old son Jack caught 3 suckers in a local pond - nightcrawlers were the hot ticket.