July 2nd

I finally had the chance to fish myself today with fellow guide Bo. It was a day that will not soon be forgotten. The salmon flies were out in droves on the upper Madison. We rolled 20 + fish before a storm came in over head, after which the fishing went dry. Tomorrow should be another good day for the salmon flies so as they say, " GO BIG or go home.

Weekly fishing report July 1st. 2009

The Salmon Flies have made the leap over Ennis Lake and are making their way up stream on the upper Madison. This week our guides found the giant stoneflies in large numbers between Varney Bridge and Ennis. If you plan on chasing the big bugs this weekend, give us a call and we’ll let you know where they are and what pattern their eating.

Constant changes in water levels this week has made the lower Madison a difficult piece of water to fish. Look for a couple of days of level water conditions if you want to find fish in the eating mood. We should be seeing the last of the spring run off, so the river should be a little more predictable soon. Golden stoneflies, PMD’s, and little brown Caddis are still on the menu, but now that the Salmon Flies have moved on, the big boys will begin to look for craw dads and sculpin again.

Though the Yellowstone River is still high and mighty, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The water has cleared to about 1’-1 ½’ of visibility and is slowly beginning to drop. It may be a couple of week before it’s where we like to see it, but we’re getting there.

The Gallatin River has dropped and cleared just in time for the arrival of the Salmon Flies. The big bugs have been spotted in the lower end of the canyon and will make their way to Big Sky in just a few days. The river is still a little high, so stay close to the banks and fish the soft pockets at the rivers edge. This is a great place to avoid the crowds of Salmon Fly crazed anglers on the Madison and still get a shot at this famous hatch.

Water levels on the big lazy Missouri River are through the roof, but some how the fish are still coming up and feeding on PMD’s and Caddis. Look for the water to drop over the next couple of weeks and watch this river come alive. So don’t let the high water scare you off and take advantage of Montana’s best dry fly fishery.

Salmon Fly's

Fished the Upper Madison today with John (father) and Chris (son). What a great day we had hooking fish. The Salmon fly's are on and these to fisherman hooked quite a few. They had some break the line, some were fought a little to hard and came off. In the end they fought 16 fish. The next week or so should be some of the funnest fishing of the year if you can find the hatch. Today there was not on certain salmon pattern the fish were taking, whatever pattern was on the line the fish ate.

Upper Madison Salmon Flies, Big Hole Excursions, Missouri River Giants

Hello all, being my first post of the 2009 guide season let me first just say how happy I am to be back fishing at home after a spring full of global travel. There's really nothing like Montana!
I've been all over the place this month chasing trout. I've spent a lot of time on the Big Hole which has fished great this June. Some of my better days on the Big Hole were taken this month. Last week a few buddies of mine came up from Colorado for a few days and we ventured with Ty to do an overnight on the Big Hole. We had a great first day between Divide and Melrose on streamers and dries. They're eating the golden stones pretty good through there. The second day we floated higher up from East Bank and had it a little slower. Though I was not there for it, the salmon lies on the Big Hole were great this year. This river is still fishing quite well...
I spent a few days fishing the MO before the big spike and had a sweet time throwing dries at big lips. The PMDs have been prolific and the fish are eager to go for a caddis as well. Right now the river is running hard from the recent spike and long nymph rigs is pretty much the only way to find em. As it comes down though, dry fly fishing will return for July.
This week I have been on the Upper Madison looking at plenty of salmon flies! Yes, its happening people. On Monday I saw them popping in between Varney and town. Fish were rising to them, although not in a hay day. The fish we caught had bulging bellies full of salmon fly nymphs. Fishing has continued to be good on the hatch as it moves upstream. This is a great time to fish this river. Book a guide and we can show you how awesome upper Madison salmon flies can really be! There's some real hogs eating up there.We'll see you out there,
Daniel

June 25th fishing report

Weekly fishing report, June 25, 2009

It feels a lot like summer out there…….Finally. With temperatures in the 80’s and maybe 90’s for the rest of the week, a good portion of the remaining mountain snow should come down. If that is the case, by next week we should start to see more consistent water levels.

Currently the Yellowstone River is running at 15,000cfs and is still too high to fish. We saw the river turn a little green a couple of days ago giving us a little glimpse of things soon to come, but it was short lived and is now back to brown. Don’t get your hopes up for a fishable Salmon Fly hatch. It may happen before the river will allow us to get a boat on it.

The Gallatin River is at 2900cfs, down from 4000cfs just four days ago. Though it’s still not gin clear and knee deep wading yet, you should be able to bouncing big rubber leg Salmon Fly patterns through those soft pockets and pools close to the rivers edge. Keep your eye on this river, it won’t be long.

We had great fishing on the lower Madison River last week thanks to the consistent water levels. Tuesday the river took a 600cfs jump and as usual shut the fishing down, but since then the river has dropped a little every day and is getting the fish back in to the eating mood, for now. The USGS web site shows the upper Madison is coming back up, and that means the lower will do the same in a couple of days or so. The Salmon Flies have made their way well into the Bear Trap canyon and should jump Ennis Lake next week. Below the canyon the Golden Stones are now the star of the show, so arm yourself with some dry fly patterns like the Mystery Meat Golden Stone and King’s Yellow Sally for top water action. If you go deep, a yellow and black Pat’s rubber Leg or Iron Sally will do the trick. But, don’t forget the Lower Madison’s staple fly selection, craw fish, sculpin, and San Juans.

The upper Madison is on the rise duo to the rain this past week, but should level out soon. The Salmon Flies are a few days off but guides are coming back with reports of the big stonefly nymphs crawling around the banks in large numbers. So bust out those big rubber leg patterns and beat the banks. Also, look for caddis hatches in the afternoon and evenings for some late day dry fly fishing. So be sure to have a hand full of caddis pupa and adult patterns.

Back to the Big Hole

We headed back to the big hole this past Friday to see if we could sucker some fish into eat'n a Salmon fly pattern. We fished up stream of Wise river to avoid playing bumper boats with the crowds down stream. But, I think we went a little too far up stream. Though we saw few boats, we also saw very few bugs. The fish we did manage to bring to the boat came on streamers and nymphs. Next week, the Missouri Rive for some early day PMD action.

Lower Madison

Fished the Lower with new friends Steve and his son Kellem. We did a half day float from Black to Grey Cliff starting with Rubber legs and beadheads pounding the banks. Not much was on the bite. We finally found some fish on the San Juan and a big prince nymphs.