Well, I've finally made it to Montana! 
Wow, what a cool place. Scenery, quality fishery, eagles, osprey, etc. and really nice people.
We flew into Bozeman late Sunday evening and stayed in town. On the flight, Peter Fonda was in first class. I think he lives out near Livingston.
Overall, the weather this past week was cool and damp. Morning temps were between 38 - 45 deg. Afternoons rarely popped 60 deg, except last Friday when things warmed up. It rained off and on Monday - Thursday. You can usually see the storms coming from miles away and each day had several periods of rain. Friday was the only day I didn't wear my fleece and rain gear.
Monday we drove down rt 191 along the Gallatin River. Fishing from about 10:30am to 5:0pm, we got out at 2 spots - just up stream of Spanish Creek and then again at Squaw Creek. Both spots produced a lot of quality fish, mostly rainbows with some whitefish as well. Action started out underneath but by 2:00pm at Squaw Creek a pretty good baetis hatch started and we were into fish on top for a solid 3 hours. We had to leave to get to our camp on the Madison River.
We stayed right on the West Fork of the Madison River (West Fork Cabin Camp) and got there Monday evening. It was late so we grabbed a bite at a local restaurant (not the Grizzly, but another one which I can't remember the name).
Tuesday was cold in the morning. We suited up and were astream by 9:30am. The Madison is a different piece of water than the Gallatin. I now see why it's called the 50-mile riffle. Wading in some spots was like trying to walk on basketballs. We were supposed to do a float with a guide on Tuesday, but the guide had to change to Wednesday so we waded all day. We did okay on on smaller fish. A few over 13" were brought to hand but mostly dinks. It was a learning day on the river this day. I did start to notice how the fish were taking nymphs and it played an important role by the end of the week.
Wednesday we did our float. The weather was cool / showery (sometimes heavy). As we were prep'ing the boat at the launch up comes none other than the Fonze - Henry Winkler - and his guide. We exchanged hellos, he wished us a good day ("I hope the River Gods treat you well, tight lines gentlemen!") and he was off. He lit a big stogie and started chucking nymps. Didn't see him at all the rest of the day. The Fonze and Peter Fonda - yup - fishin' with the stars!
The float itself produced a good number of quality fish and even more smaller ones. Our guide (Allan - works with Gary Evans) was most knowledgeable about the river where we were floating. He kept us on fish all day, telling us when it's "better on the left side" or "better on the right side."
Most of the action was underneath - dead drifting "big and uglies" with some sort of dropper nympers (hare's ear, pts, etc.) I had 2 rods and switched to dries when I saw rising fish. Landed a few smaller ones and missed a nice one on top.
All in all, the float was a great one. In speaking with others, our boat seemed to fare better than most. Our catches included rainbows, browns, and whitefish. We were back at camp by 6:00pm and I was back on the stream at 6:01 to do some foolin' around.
By now, I was definitely seeing a pattern (I'm a little slow in how the fish were taking the nymphs. Most hookups were on either on the swing or on the lift to retrieve instead of the dead drift. So I put on an old, old royal coachman wet fly and started goofing around. Well, it was the best evening yet. Over a dozen fish in under 2 hours. Most were smaller ones, but a couple of nice onces were mixed in.
Thursday it was off to Ennis and a fly shop. I picked up a bunch of different sized soft / sparsely hackled wet flys. It was all they had. Nothing fancy, olive bodies and a few hackles on different sized hooks. I would've used them right away but we hit another nice Baetis hatch on the Madison around Ennis and were having a good time with some BWO's on top that I didn't get a chance to use them until later. That evening, when I started swinging and lifting the new flies I was into fish until nightfall.
Friday we checked out of the camp. During the week I'd struck a friendship with our neighbor in the cabin next door and left him some steaks that we didn't cook. He returned the favor by parting with a few Royal Trudes he'd tied up.
We drove up past Ennis and fished the lower part of the Madison, putting in at the tail end of Bear Trap Canyon. This part of the river is different than the upper stretches. Wading was easier, the river was wider for somewhat slower water and there were some flatter areas that fished great. The canyon itself is an awesome scene for this eastern boy.
I used the Royal Trudes at first and the fish loved them. I then started swinging and lifting an olive soft hackled nymph / wet fly and wham! the biggest brown yet took it and and took off. This fish was in water that could not have been 3 inches deep! It was a real beaut.
We wrapped up in the canyon at about 5:00pm and headed back to Bozeman, had a great dinner and flew out early Saturday morning.
Overall, it was a great trip for this first timer to Montana. The cool / overcast / damp days give us some nice bug activity but I understand that at this time of year there's usually a decent evening hatch. Didn't see much of that action or hopper action, although we heard reports of hoppers working in some spots. There were a lot of baetis around each day and Friday (the warmest) there were a good number of trico's flying around in the canyon.
In planning for the trip we were hoping to get to see / fish more bodies of water. But given the weather situation we quickly realized we could do a lot worse than 4 days on the Madison. I'm glad we did it that way as we got to know the areas we hit pretty well. Next time out we'll stay somewhere else and try somewhere different, either in the park, or nearby.
From this trip I've also found a new favorite fly. Soft hackled wet flys Andy B and Joe T have talked about them on this board and I'm now a true believer. A simple pattern, easily fished, produced qualify trout - consistently. It took a little getting used to hook setting (I can't count how many misses I had on these things) but once I got a feel for the take, the action was almost non-stop. I can't wait to try this on the upper D system.
Sorry for the long post, but we had a great week!
Shawn
Wow, what a cool place. Scenery, quality fishery, eagles, osprey, etc. and really nice people.We flew into Bozeman late Sunday evening and stayed in town. On the flight, Peter Fonda was in first class. I think he lives out near Livingston.
Overall, the weather this past week was cool and damp. Morning temps were between 38 - 45 deg. Afternoons rarely popped 60 deg, except last Friday when things warmed up. It rained off and on Monday - Thursday. You can usually see the storms coming from miles away and each day had several periods of rain. Friday was the only day I didn't wear my fleece and rain gear.
Monday we drove down rt 191 along the Gallatin River. Fishing from about 10:30am to 5:0pm, we got out at 2 spots - just up stream of Spanish Creek and then again at Squaw Creek. Both spots produced a lot of quality fish, mostly rainbows with some whitefish as well. Action started out underneath but by 2:00pm at Squaw Creek a pretty good baetis hatch started and we were into fish on top for a solid 3 hours. We had to leave to get to our camp on the Madison River.
We stayed right on the West Fork of the Madison River (West Fork Cabin Camp) and got there Monday evening. It was late so we grabbed a bite at a local restaurant (not the Grizzly, but another one which I can't remember the name).
Tuesday was cold in the morning. We suited up and were astream by 9:30am. The Madison is a different piece of water than the Gallatin. I now see why it's called the 50-mile riffle. Wading in some spots was like trying to walk on basketballs. We were supposed to do a float with a guide on Tuesday, but the guide had to change to Wednesday so we waded all day. We did okay on on smaller fish. A few over 13" were brought to hand but mostly dinks. It was a learning day on the river this day. I did start to notice how the fish were taking nymphs and it played an important role by the end of the week.
Wednesday we did our float. The weather was cool / showery (sometimes heavy). As we were prep'ing the boat at the launch up comes none other than the Fonze - Henry Winkler - and his guide. We exchanged hellos, he wished us a good day ("I hope the River Gods treat you well, tight lines gentlemen!") and he was off. He lit a big stogie and started chucking nymps. Didn't see him at all the rest of the day. The Fonze and Peter Fonda - yup - fishin' with the stars!
The float itself produced a good number of quality fish and even more smaller ones. Our guide (Allan - works with Gary Evans) was most knowledgeable about the river where we were floating. He kept us on fish all day, telling us when it's "better on the left side" or "better on the right side."
Most of the action was underneath - dead drifting "big and uglies" with some sort of dropper nympers (hare's ear, pts, etc.) I had 2 rods and switched to dries when I saw rising fish. Landed a few smaller ones and missed a nice one on top.
All in all, the float was a great one. In speaking with others, our boat seemed to fare better than most. Our catches included rainbows, browns, and whitefish. We were back at camp by 6:00pm and I was back on the stream at 6:01 to do some foolin' around.
By now, I was definitely seeing a pattern (I'm a little slow
in how the fish were taking the nymphs. Most hookups were on either on the swing or on the lift to retrieve instead of the dead drift. So I put on an old, old royal coachman wet fly and started goofing around. Well, it was the best evening yet. Over a dozen fish in under 2 hours. Most were smaller ones, but a couple of nice onces were mixed in.Thursday it was off to Ennis and a fly shop. I picked up a bunch of different sized soft / sparsely hackled wet flys. It was all they had. Nothing fancy, olive bodies and a few hackles on different sized hooks. I would've used them right away but we hit another nice Baetis hatch on the Madison around Ennis and were having a good time with some BWO's on top that I didn't get a chance to use them until later. That evening, when I started swinging and lifting the new flies I was into fish until nightfall.
Friday we checked out of the camp. During the week I'd struck a friendship with our neighbor in the cabin next door and left him some steaks that we didn't cook. He returned the favor by parting with a few Royal Trudes he'd tied up.
We drove up past Ennis and fished the lower part of the Madison, putting in at the tail end of Bear Trap Canyon. This part of the river is different than the upper stretches. Wading was easier, the river was wider for somewhat slower water and there were some flatter areas that fished great. The canyon itself is an awesome scene for this eastern boy.
I used the Royal Trudes at first and the fish loved them. I then started swinging and lifting an olive soft hackled nymph / wet fly and wham! the biggest brown yet took it and and took off. This fish was in water that could not have been 3 inches deep! It was a real beaut.
We wrapped up in the canyon at about 5:00pm and headed back to Bozeman, had a great dinner and flew out early Saturday morning.
Overall, it was a great trip for this first timer to Montana. The cool / overcast / damp days give us some nice bug activity but I understand that at this time of year there's usually a decent evening hatch. Didn't see much of that action or hopper action, although we heard reports of hoppers working in some spots. There were a lot of baetis around each day and Friday (the warmest) there were a good number of trico's flying around in the canyon.
In planning for the trip we were hoping to get to see / fish more bodies of water. But given the weather situation we quickly realized we could do a lot worse than 4 days on the Madison. I'm glad we did it that way as we got to know the areas we hit pretty well. Next time out we'll stay somewhere else and try somewhere different, either in the park, or nearby.
From this trip I've also found a new favorite fly. Soft hackled wet flys
Andy B and Joe T have talked about them on this board and I'm now a true believer. A simple pattern, easily fished, produced qualify trout - consistently. It took a little getting used to hook setting (I can't count how many misses I had on these things) but once I got a feel for the take, the action was almost non-stop. I can't wait to try this on the upper D system. Sorry for the long post, but we had a great week!
Shawn
