August 2011
The fish are looking up all over for big terrestrial meals in Southwest Montana right now from small crystal clear mountain streams to the Glacial blue waters on the Yellowstone. The patterns and colors vary depending on where you are but the tan or yellow belly foam hoppers are the first choice amongst most fishermen. The trout seem less hesitant on deer hair patterns especially in high traffic areas and a double dry rig with an attractor or beetle/ant is a great setup. ...
The Yellowstone was fishing just how i like it today with cutthroats slamming hoppers and attractor patterns in the morning and tons of whiteys and big trout on nymphs/streamers in the afternoon. The glacial green color is turning a nice blue and later in the day some of the bigger fish have moved to the middle of the river seams. Still had good action against the real deep water banks all day long. A lot of browns and rainbows are getting a little savvy to the foam hopper...
Spent the last two days exploring some small creeks in the Paradise valley. Sight fishing the clearest water to small rising fish was the name of the game. Spruce moths and hoppers were the killer flies but they ate those so good i rarely had to switch up. We are in the short window for comfortable alpine creeks and lakes fishing right now so as hard as it can be to pull yourself away from the awesome hopper fishing on the Yellowstone the relaxation of small water is...
Went to the stone today for a big bachelor party floatilla and was rewarded with another day of beautiful sunshine and good fishing. We stuck a few browns on the beadheads and sculpins in the morning. By 2pm there was a nice breeze blowing some hoppers into the river. The stone still has a deep glacial green color to it and is dropping about 300cfs per day so i can't wait to see it by next week. The hopper bite on the Yellowstone may be just epic this year for late...
Had a big five boat trip today on the Yellowstone and things fished pretty good in the morning with some nice trout taken on small beadheads. The second half of the day cooled down with some quick rain squalls and turned things on for a while with a lot of whiteys and a few good browns and bows. Not a lot of heads coming up aside from little fry near the bank but in the middle of the day some nice fish have bean rising to attractor patterns and the hopper. I don't care if...
Floated the Upper Madison today and had some interesting fishing with a ton of small trout on dries and a few big toads on subsurface imitations. A real thick PMD hatch in the early morning brought some nice fish to the surface . The water is gin clear and flowing nice but getting a little warm in the skinny riffles come afternoon. Also had the pleasure of having angler Lee in the front of the boat who shares a love of new zealand and big trout so he decided to catch a nice...