Lots o Water

Though we still haven't seen a ton in the way of super warm temps, spring has slowly come on the scene - grass is greening up, leaves are starting to poke out and snow storms have been replaced by rain showers (at least below 7000 ft). Runoff is certainly underway and while the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Jefferson, Big Hole and numerous smaller tribs are blown out, there are still some great options holding out.

The Madison, both upper and lower, has been fishing fine and while the water has been open the rise, the climb has been slow and the fish have pretty much stayed on the bite. Some good caddis fishing has occured on the lower during the evenings - been pretty much nymphing program during the day. The upper has been a most cooperative with nymphs as well - had some exotics out of there a week ago - a grayling, a brook trout and a fine sucker. Last grayling I saw in there was 12 years ago - cool to see one again.

The Missouri, now 15,000cfs is huge but fishing has been great if you can your bugs down the fish. Long rigs with wire worms and fire bead scuds are a huge part of the deal, putting them in the soft spots where the fish are congregated is the other. Will be spending a lot of time up there in the next few weeks giving the waterds around here a chance to settle down.

Its going to be a long runoff this year - might not get on that Yellowstone until mid July - once we do get on there my guess is that we'll see some of the best fishing we've seen in a while. The fish are loving all this water. With a few good years of it now, we're really looking good for the future.

Terrific April Fishing

Though I'd like to title this entry "spring fishing" or something along those lines, it still feels a bit like winter around these parts. Just this week we've had two significant snowfalls in Bozeman - can't imagine what the mountains received. Haven't checked the stats, all I know is that there is a ton of the white stuff up there. And while we've been dealing with cold temps and lots of snow and a lack of comfort the benefit is good water. We're going to have lots of it this summer which is going to make for ideal conditions from mid July throughout the rest of summer and fall.

In spite of the more March-like conditions, fishing has been terrific. We've had some great baetis and midge fishing on the Yellowstone, Madison and the Spring Creeks and, just this past week, experienced the wonders of skwala fishing on the Big Hole. It was cold, maybe 25, and windy but those fish were on that early season stonefly - kind of like hopper fishing in April. Nymphing, as it most often is, has been solid most everywhere and as water temps warm slowly but surely, the streamer fishing has picked up. So it's hard to figure what we'll do or where we'll be headed from one day to the next - we're lookng at wind, at water temps, air temps, flow trends, clouds, sun and all the rest. With all the options around here, there's always something fishing well - we just have to find it!

Spring Fishing in Full Swing

Though conditions have leaned a bit more towards winter than spring lately, with 2 good snows and temps only getting into the 40s in the past week, the fish have made it clear that they have entered into spring feeding mode regardless of the conditions. Without a doubt, the rainbow spawn, which has just started around here, is a driving force of some of this hot action. Pre spawn rainbows are chowing down before their annual rite of spring while the post spawners are doing the same in effort to refuel. Browns and smaller rainbows are taking advantage of the entire routine, simply gorging on the eggs that find their way off the redds and into the current. Aside from the spawn, midge hatches are enormously prolific right now and blue winged olives are just starting to make a presence. There is more to eat out there now there than has for a while, the days are getting longer, the water starting to warm and the fish are simply starting to take advantage of all of it.

My anglers from last week had to put up with some tricky conditions, mainly wind, but were rewarded with solid fishing on the Yellowstone, a superb day on Depuys Spring Creek and several excellent days on the Madison. Conditions look excellent for the next few days and into the weekend. We'll cross our fingers and hope for calm conditions which could provide us with some great dry fly opportunities.

Winter Fishing

With the mild weather we've had as of late, the fishing has picked up markedly on the East and West Gallatin, Madison and Yellowstone (when the Livingston winds are at bay). Fishing on the Livingston Spring Creeks has been good but will only get better as rainbows start to move into the creeks from the Yellowstone later in February. Though most action has been subsurface with SJ Worms, Golden Stones, Prince and Hare's Ear Nymphs as well as midge larva and pink patterns such as the Shrimp Cocktail, there have been moments of surface activity with midges. Midge hatches will get stronger and more prolific throughout February and into March providing us with one of the best dry fly opportunities of the season. With the midge fishing game, calm days are the key. Tired of skiing? Give us a call and we'll get you on some spectacular mid winter fishing action.

October Fishing

Though it's mid October, it still feels much like summer - haven't dusted off the neoprenes yet nor the fingerless gloves. Have had an unbelievable spell of bluebird days and warmth - not typical of October but we'll take it... I guess. While the weather had been comfortable, the bright days have found us working hard for our fish - they've been there but we've had to pull out some tricks to make it happen. One day it's been streamers, the next nymphs, the next hoppers. We've fished midges, baetis, psuedos and caddis as well. All in all, we've found good fishing from the Missouri to the Madison and Yellowstone but it's been random and unpredictable as have been the fish we've seen. Just last week we landed a large westslope Cutthroat from an unlikely spot as well as a walleye that ended up in the skillet. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Needless to say, given the weather pattern we've had, I have to think that some of our best fall fishing is still to come.

Fall Fishing

Though we're still getting glimpses of summer, the leaves are starting to change and the blue winged olives are starting to outproduce the hoppers on many if not most days. Hard to believe but fall is in the air which seems impossible after what amounted to a short summer. Needless to say, fishing is good these days though entirely weather dependent. Hot sunny days have been followed but cool rainy ones and with the inconsistent weather comes unpredictable trout. One day it's a pink Morrish Hopper that's getting the job done, the next it's a parachute Adams, the next it's a tan Sculpin stripped slowly off the banks. So they're keeping us on our toes out there which, honestly, is the way it probably should be.

Options are widespread right now and water conditions are primo - in fact many of the area rivers have come up in the past few weeks with the frequent rain. Spent two days on the Missouri last week. Action has picked up there and depsite the nuisance of floating weeds, the fishing was terrific with both nymphs and dries. The Yellowstone has been better on cloudy, rainy days ( which tend to produce the best hatches) but I've still run into some good hopper fishing when the sun is out. Have also had some good fishing on the Gallatin and Madison lately as well as in a few other random places not fit to publish online.

This is shaping up to be a great fall on the water - crowds have been thin and with the rivers in the shape they're in, those who managed to find their way out here are likely going to be in for some great fishing.

Hopper Fishing is Prime

Though it took awhile to get here and it's hard to say how long it wil last, summer conditions are absolutely primo as we speak. River levels and temps are ideal and with the settled, stable sunny days we've been getting the fish are looking up consistently. Morning fishing has been unpredictable (sometimes great right out of the ramp, other times slow) but the afternoon action has been consistently good - typical August fishing on the Yellowstone. Today they were on the hoppers by 10:30. Yesterday they wouldn't touch a hopper until 2 but would move across the river for a spruce moth all morning long. Might be nothing tomorrow, could be the day of the season. It's this type of fishing that gets us excited to be out there each morning - one never knows exacty what to expect - where will the fish be, what fly will they want? I've devised at least a dozen new hopper patterns this summer and whike none of them have worked i'm pretty sure that tonights epiphony will spell trouble for those fish tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.