flyI4
Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!
Just got back from a nice trip out west with my dad, fishing was so- so but still a great trip out there. I'll give you guys the breakdown of what we did in case anyone else is heading out there this year, and if not atleast you get to see some fishporn.
We flew into bozeman and started in that area. Mark (skipper on NEFF) was the man and offered to float us down the yellowstone on saturday and we took him up on it. Hopper fishing was pretty solid and we also caught some big brownies on streamers at first light. We floated the yellowstone the next two days and it didn't fish as consistently as it did the first day. Reports from the area echoed the same sort of thing with fishing being day to day and certainly not "on" when it came to the hoppers. Still, it was my first time floating the yellowstone and was a great way to see the river and we took some really nice brownies.
We then took a drive over to the missouri river to hit an evening hatch and float the next day. The evening hatch was so so with the caddis hatch starting to wane but there were still some targets and we got into some bows up to 18''. The next day was a complete disaster floating the river. It was crowded as expected, the trico hatch was pretty weak, and the river looked like a lake it was so low and flat. I've fished this river a good deal before, and this was the worst I've ever seen it in terms of people and conditions, and the bug action was pathetic too which usually isn't the case out there. We decided to power row down and head straight to the beaverhead.
Once we got to the beaverhead area fishing really turned for the better. We rented a raft for 3 days and it was great dry fly fishing with caddis, pmds, and Crane flys which are pretty cool to fish as you basically just skate a size 4 dry fly and watch the fish fly out of the water to get it. Fishing this river was really unique from a boat since its basically a narrow spring creek on steroids with a strong flow and a ton of fish of all sizes. We did well here boating 15-20 fish each a day. Kinda got bored of it after a little bit though and did some wondering to fish some spring creeks after a few days.
The last few days were spent on some epic spring creeks we found. The ranchers out there were super nice which kind of surprised me since you always think of western land owners as being pretty nuts when it comes property rights. We got access at 5-6 different locations on various spring creeks that provided great hopper/dropper action with browns up to 25'' long. Sick fishing and definitely something I will try more next trip out.
Overall, the fishing was pretty good, but not great and we had to travel alot and cover different water to find the bigger fish. When we did find big fish we got into them in numbers, but we drove 2500 miles in 9 days and did a lot of walking/floating. Back at school today, feeling pretty brain dead. We didn't take that many pics since the fishing was so fast pace with the hoppers, but we got a few pics of the scenery and fish.
We flew into bozeman and started in that area. Mark (skipper on NEFF) was the man and offered to float us down the yellowstone on saturday and we took him up on it. Hopper fishing was pretty solid and we also caught some big brownies on streamers at first light. We floated the yellowstone the next two days and it didn't fish as consistently as it did the first day. Reports from the area echoed the same sort of thing with fishing being day to day and certainly not "on" when it came to the hoppers. Still, it was my first time floating the yellowstone and was a great way to see the river and we took some really nice brownies.
We then took a drive over to the missouri river to hit an evening hatch and float the next day. The evening hatch was so so with the caddis hatch starting to wane but there were still some targets and we got into some bows up to 18''. The next day was a complete disaster floating the river. It was crowded as expected, the trico hatch was pretty weak, and the river looked like a lake it was so low and flat. I've fished this river a good deal before, and this was the worst I've ever seen it in terms of people and conditions, and the bug action was pathetic too which usually isn't the case out there. We decided to power row down and head straight to the beaverhead.
Once we got to the beaverhead area fishing really turned for the better. We rented a raft for 3 days and it was great dry fly fishing with caddis, pmds, and Crane flys which are pretty cool to fish as you basically just skate a size 4 dry fly and watch the fish fly out of the water to get it. Fishing this river was really unique from a boat since its basically a narrow spring creek on steroids with a strong flow and a ton of fish of all sizes. We did well here boating 15-20 fish each a day. Kinda got bored of it after a little bit though and did some wondering to fish some spring creeks after a few days.
The last few days were spent on some epic spring creeks we found. The ranchers out there were super nice which kind of surprised me since you always think of western land owners as being pretty nuts when it comes property rights. We got access at 5-6 different locations on various spring creeks that provided great hopper/dropper action with browns up to 25'' long. Sick fishing and definitely something I will try more next trip out.
Overall, the fishing was pretty good, but not great and we had to travel alot and cover different water to find the bigger fish. When we did find big fish we got into them in numbers, but we drove 2500 miles in 9 days and did a lot of walking/floating. Back at school today, feeling pretty brain dead. We didn't take that many pics since the fishing was so fast pace with the hoppers, but we got a few pics of the scenery and fish.
Great fish and report JC !! Looks like you and your dad had a great time nice report and some sweet fish you guy's got into.. Got's to drag the boat out next year for a few days.. Thanks for posting a refreshing report!
