March 2010
Went out yesterday with fishing buddy Brian Koenig to hike on the upper madison for a change of pace and scenery, even though the lower is holding its consitentcy of good fishing i was curious to see what the trout were doing on the other side of the hill. There was intermittent 15mph wind gusts most of the day and fairly chilly air temps which was a cold reminder that it is definately spring in Montana, although it did get very comfortable at times as well. Just pack in layers...
Spent this past weekend camping/fishing up in the Beartrap Canyon with my friend Fix and managed to have some more good luck. We hiked in Saturday morning and set up camp about three and a half miles in before starting to fish some of the windiest conditions I’ve had this year. It wasn’t that there were hurricane force winds, rather a constant 15-20 mph...
This week we have legendary fly fisherman and fly tier Bob Jacklin in the shop to share his favorite patterns, tying techniques, and fishing stories. Once again we will have cookies and coffee for your enjoyment.
...
I’m not sure if it was the green long underwear or the Guinness I packed in, but something gave me some good luck this St. Patrick’s day. I headed to the Upper Madison and had a bluebird day full of descent sized rainbows. Right from the get go I tied on a size 10 bead head prince nymph trailed by a size 16 pink delekta sex fly and stuck with the combo all...
The fishing on the Lower Madison over the last month and a half has been lights out. We were finding fish in the shallow flats, in the deep pools, and in runs below the riffles. But, we also had consistant water conditions. This week the water levels have spiked or dropped a couple hundred CFS every other day and this has slowed the fishing down considerably. The fish are still eating crayfish, San Juans, and eggs, but not quite as eagerly as the week before. One thing you can count on...
Took a nice hike into Bear Trap Canyon on sunday after a saturday afternoon report from Sam Bergman that he had gone up that way and fished midge dries all day long. That was all i needed in making my decision on where to fish. I didn't find too many fish rising when i started the day so i threw nymphs at first. As with usual madison activity the trout just hammered pink sex flies and pink scuds (both size 14 and 16). I also tried olive and copper...
Friday i had the good fortune of fishing the missouri river, a truly amazing piece of big water with big fish close enough to bozeman to be able to get in the water after a 45 minute drive, depending on were you access. First i tried the go to Delekta sex fly in size 14(killer bug all over right now) trailed by midge pupas(red and grey twinkles size 18 and zebra midge size 18). A fairly standard pattern for the missouri which produced a couple decent...
Last thursday i woke up with the burning desire to hike and find different spots in the gallatin canyon. I spent the first thirty minutes of the day just moving my feet to get away from the usual spots. My efforts were generously awarded with first stumbling upon a pod of trout in slow gin clear water occasionally rising to midges. After landing about ten gorgeous 10"-14" rainbows on orange blood worms (size 14) and olive, black, or brown rubberlegs (size 6-10) i felt...
So, the fishing on the Lower Madison has been so good, I can't stay away from it. I went back again today and found that the fish didn't want anything but crayfish patterns and midge nymphs. I even threw a San Juan Worm and an egg for a bit, and not even a nibble.....Fine with me.
TY