2007 Fishing Reports:

Season Review:

Well, I guess that's about it for the 2007 fishing season. We had a great time here at Renegade Oufitters, thanks to our fantastic and ecclectic clients!

Looking back on it, it was a year of big fish and low water. We had a very hot summer with low water and some fishing restrictions on local waters, but this is not unusual these days. We just have to adjust, I spent alot of time on mountain streams and spring creeks during the heat of July and August and the fishing on these waters was better than ever. As far as big fish, I netted Renegade record fish this year. Wayne from Seattle started the season with a 25 inch Brown on the Missouri. Scott Linkletter from California got my all time record on the Yellowstone in September.. a 28 inch whopper that had us shaking with excitement! The fish throughout our waters seemed to be 1-2 inches bigger and fatter this year with exceptionally large fish on the Missouri and MZ ranch. The lower Madison was fantastic fishing this spring, with constistant dry fly action and the Yellowstone was as good as it gets this fall from late August through early October. 2007 was a great season to be in Montana....I can't wait for 2008!

Fly patch Challenge: Guess the number of flies on my fly patch at the end of the season and get a $50 discount on your next trip.."Price is Right rules: closest guess without going over wins!"

10/30/07- I woke to cloudy weather and a stout north wind today. Marlon, Susan and I floated from the Dam to Craig and it was a cold morning..perfect for the hatch. We had success nymphing in the morning and the baetis and pseudos came off from 1-6. The river was alive with risers and we didn't see another boat. It was a great way to end the Renegade Outfitters season. Susan put on a clinic in pod fishing. Great day.

10/29/07-Marlon Rampy of Wildwest Fly Fishing along with Susan Bohn and Zeke joined me for the last trips of the season. We floated the Missouri below Craig today on an unusually warm fall day. The pseudos hatched in small numbers, but I think it was too warm for the baetis to show in good numbers. We had tough fishing with rising only for a couple of hours, but the weather was spectacular and there were very few other people on the river.

10/23/07-Hoshina and I had to test his new LDE (lucky duck elevator) today. We headed to Smith creek on the MZ and we spent the first 2 hours of daylight listening to ducks and geese talking and flying around on the other side of the property boundary (out of our hunting area). No worries, prime time started about 9 am and we had some fantastic flights of mallards coming in regularly after that. LDE was shining. We spent the afternoon with Jeff Copeland chasing his beautiful dogs around the hills.

10/22/07- Another cast and blast day. Rika, Hoshina and I were joined by Will Lassiter on the Depuy spring creek. We decoy hunted in the morning with a few chances and then......after four years of trying...Rika got her first duck. Not just one but two, she got a double. Here she is with her guide Will.

10/21/07- Hoshina and I went back to the MZ today and had much better luck on the East Gallatin. We had some great decoy action.

10/20/07- Manoa Hoshina joined Rika and I at MZ ranch for some duck hunting this morning. We hunted lower Ben Harts creek and saw alot of ducks moving in big groups. We had poor decoy hunting, but Hoshina found enough for a duck soup dinner which was fantastic.

10/19/07-Rika Kawanishi is in town for a cast and blast trip. We headed out to the Gallatin river today to take care of the casting part. Rika is known as the "snow woman" because it snows every time she comes to town. Today was the exception, it rained. I mean really rained buckets. We had just spotted our first rising fish of the day when it started and it never let up. Good day to be a duck.

10/16/07- Ben Morrill and John Cunningham floated the Yellowstone river with me today. It was another beautiful sunny day with the fall winds blowing. We had tough fishing today. The foam pockets which have been full of rainbows, were mostly full of leaves today. The fish were still in there, but catching them was a challenge. Your fly was usually gunked up with leaves within seconds of landing in the water. The guys managed to find some fish nymphing deep with a zonker, beadhead rig.

10/12/07- I thought we were in for another epic day on the Missouri when Patrick hooked a big one on a streamer right off the bat again this morning. Truth is, it was a good day of fishing, but not like yesterday. We found rising fish again today, but the hatch was not as heavy and the fish were more nervous in the sun. It made for more interesting and challenging fishing. One pod in particular was very selective. They would not touch my oversized flies and we were forced to use an exact hatch matching pseudo in a size 24. The fish ate this one, but it's tough to land big fish on a 24 hook...We got about 1 out of 3.

10/11/07-Patrick Eisenhaur met me on the Missouri for a couple days of fishing. Wow what a day. As we put in at the Wolf Creek bridge, the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was sunny...not exactly what we were hoping for. We tied on a streamer and headed down the river. About 10 minutes later, Patrick was landing his first fat rainbow of the day. After lunch, we were still waiting for the pseudos to hatch and bring the fish to the surface. Patrick threw out a dry dropper rig to fill the time and whacked a rainbow on his first cast on the purple lightning bug dropper, followed by another nice one on the stimulator dry. We had killed enough time, and the fish were rising to pseudos. As Patrick's luck would have it, the clouds moved in and we had fantastic dry fly fishing from 2pm until dark!! It was as good as it gets out there, no crowds, rising fish everywhere and beautiful fall colors.

10/9/07-The Sansui group joined Masa and I at Depuy's spring creek today. The weather was warm and sunny with a bit of Paradise valley wind. Hychoo and Mr. Masuda fished with me. The "candy man" has caught alot of fish this trip and I decided today we would focus on difficult trout in flat water. We started at the pond where fish were cruising and eating midges. After patiently waiting for the fish to come into range, he nailed the cast and hooked a nice rainbow!! A+. Mr. Masuda had also caught alot of fish on the Missouri and we decided to focus on dry flies today. He set up in a riffle and had great sucess during the baetis hatch. There were even a few PMDs hatching and the fish were chasing them down. Unfortuneatly, the hatch was short lived on this sunny day and we only found good rising for a couple of hours, but the weather and views were outstanding.

10/08/07-Gen and Ikko joined me again today. We had some good fishing again on pseudos. The weather was beautiful and it was great day to be alive in Montana!

10/7/07- Hychoo the "candy man" joined me in my boat today. It was a sunny and windy day on the river and we spent most of the day hiding from the wind in a small side channel. The fishing was great. Before the hatch, we caught a fish on deep nymphs, then changed to a streamer and caught one, then to an attractor dry fly with a nymph dropper and caught more. Finally the pseudos hatched and we fished to rising fish from 1- 6 pm. My new fly the " super pseudo" was very effective casting to cruising pods of fish. They ate it the first time they saw it.

10/6/07- Today is the start of the Sansui group trip. Masa Katsumata is hosting a group of 4 anglers. Yesterday, it snowed all day at my house and when I woke up in the morning, my boat was full of snow! A good day to fish the Missouri river and chase rising fish. Gen and Ikko were in my boat today, while Hychoo rode in Masa's boat and Mr. Masuda rode with Robert Stewart. It was a successful day for all as we found nice rising to pseudos and caddis. Gen hooked this one on about his 3rd cast! Ikko fought a 20 inch rainbow up to her feet and it got off at the last second. Her face tells the story.

10/1/07- It's fall weather here in Montana. As I drove over the Bozeman Pass this morning to meet my customers at Dan Bailey's fly shop, the wind was blowing so hard, it was difficult to keep my truck on the road! High wind warnings were in the forecast as a weather system moves in from the west. The weather service was calling for gusts over 60 mph in the Livingston area. I talked Dave and Dan into driving back over the hill to fish the Gallatin river, hoping for lighter winds. The weather was much better in the Gallatin valley, until the afternoon when it started raining and didn't stop. We had good fishing with nymphs in the morning and about 3pm when it started raining, the Baetis hatch was incredible. There was a near blanket of baetis. The big fish rarely rise on the Gallatin, but today the conditions were perfect and we were able to find some nice rainbows sipping baetis in very shallow water. Fun fishing, cold and wet weather. No photos today....too wet.

9/30/07- I woke up to the wind shaking the windows. Looking outside there were no clouds. It was going to be a different day on the river today. We tried some dry dropper fishing on the banks and had success. Then we fished the hatch in a swirl hole. The fish were rising in only a few places because of the wind. The caddis worked the best today.

9/29/07- Nobuyoshi Yokoi is back in town for another trip to the Missouri river. We saw forest fires his last trip in July. Now there's snow in the mountains and its raining...perfect fishing weather. The river came alive with risers in the afternoon. There was a heavy pseudo hatch and a fair number of caddis, overcast skies, no wind. Great fishing.

9/27/07- Toru tested his skills at MZ ranch today. We were the only people there and the wind did not blow. Needless to say we had a great day. We started on Benhart creek and fished midges at frustration point. Very interesting and tough fishing. Toru landed a couple of nice rainbows and we changed flies about 10 times. After lunch we hit thompsons creek and it proved to be tougher. The pseudo hatch was not very thick and the fish were concentrated in the deep holes. The first cast usually spooked the whole group and sent them to the bottom. Toru did manage a nice brown in flat water. The first cast was critical. Going for the MZ trifecta we fished the east gallatin and found some nice fish rising to pseudos. Toru's last day was a good one

9/26/07- Robert Stewart joined Toru and I on the Yellowstone River today. Robert showed us the good holes and we had a great day on the river. The trees are turning on the river and the Absaroka and Crazy mountains are capped with fresh snow, fantastic scenery and good fishing. One of Robert's foam holes produced 14-18 inch fat rainbows one right after the other for over an hour. Here are the foam hole masters with an average specimen. I've never seen the Yellowstone trout as fat as they are this fall. They are eating alot.

9/25/07- Sunny and windy today on the Missouri. We found a few fish rising to Tricos in the morning, but as the wind blew harder, the fishing got tougher.

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9/24/07- I had planned on taking Toru to the mountains of Wyoming for a few days of creek fishing. Waking up to the first snow, going to the mountains didn't sound like such a good idea. We went to the Missouri instead. It was a fantastic day of fishing on the MO. We arrived to fish rising to tricos, followed by psuedos and baetis in the afternoon. There were also alot of caddis thoughout and the fish were keyed in on them. Toru made some great casts and hooked a bunch of big fish.

9/23/07- My friend Toru Enokida is back in Montana this year for another round of fishing. We started on the Gallatin. Fall is in the air here and the weather was blustery and cool. A good day to fish the Gallatin. We had steady action nymphing, as the swirling winds prevented much dry fly action.

9/21/07- The Linkletters were back for another round on the Yellowstone River. I told them I didn't think we could top the fishing they had last week. It was a beautiful day on the river. The trees are starting to turn color and they were highlighted by fresh snow in the mountains. The fishing was banner again with lots of nice fish being caught throughout....until about 5pm when Scott hooked and landed this 27 1/2inch brown trout. It's the biggest fish I've seen in 13 years of guiding!! unbelievable.This fishes kipe(hook jaw) was as big as my thumb.

9/17/07- Back on the Yellowstone River today working for Dan Bailey's. We were on a 3 boat group with Chris Miller and Josh. I had Brooks and Tom in my boat. It was the first day of flyfishing for everybody in the group. We all had a great time and Brooks ended up the champ of the day landing 9 fish on his first day!

9/16/07- My neighbor from the Howlers Inn Bed and Breakfast Chris Bahn fished with me today on the Gallatin. It was another perfect fall day with Sunshine and comfortable temperatures, eagles, deer and abundant wildlife. Chris can really fish and he landed dozens of fish including this big rainbow in the 21 inch range.

9/15/07- I had the pleasure of floating the Yellowstone with Tom Milesnick and his grandson Kyle today. It's pretty hard to leave the MZ- Ranch to go fishing somewhere else. It was their first float on the Yellowstone and we had a great day. Here's Kyle working hard reeling in a fat rainbow and netting one for Tom.

9/14/07- When I met Chris and Scott Linkletter at Angler's West fly shop, they told me they were not interested in catching small fish. They'd rather target a few big ones. I immediately went to the streamer box and we headed east to fish the Yellowstone River below Livingston. Wow, what a day! These two can fish and we had constant action dead drifting streamers with small nymph droppers. We landed more big fish than I've seen since July. The day was highlighted by a double hookup of Scott's 20 inch rainbow and Chris's big brown. The fish were running everywhere, I was spinning the boat to keep up and the anglers were right on it. Unfortuneatly, Chris's fish got off, but what a ride.

9/13/07- John Roe joined me for a day of learning on the MZ ranch. The trico hatch there continues to amaze me. The fish seem to line up in their feeding lanes everyday at 10 am and wait for the tricos to come into their mouths. We were litrally surrounded by rising fish during the hatch peak! Even with all the risers, the fishing is never easy at MZ. The fly has to be right and the drift and timing are critical. I switched John to a nymph after lunch and he found the fish in the riffles to be more fogiving. Here's a fat rainbow that made the day.

9/12/07- I fished the Yellowstone today with the Russel Rider group from Sweetwater travel. Tom and Joe rode with me while 2 more anglers rode with Don Burkes. The wind was blowing when we put on the river and it never stopped. We had some decent fishing with terrestrial patterns and mostly we fought the wind.

9/10/07-Greg Falls joined me for a day of research and development/ fishing. We tried some new patterns, fished really hard and caught just a few fish. We were a day late and a dollar short. We floated the Gallatin, the weather was cold and frosty in the morning with bright sun. We had a nice rainstorm yesterday which made the river come up a bit with some color in it. We noticed the fall colors were coming to the river. Here are the colors:

9/8/07-I talked Howard and Gary into another try on the Gallatin. What a difference a day makes. We had good fishing on streamers, nymphs and even a couple of good hits on hoppers. Gary was in the back of the boat and had a difficult time keeping the fish off his line. He caught a bunch of fish. Here's one from a riffle we named after him.

9/7/07-The recent rains have again muddied the Yellowstone river, so Gary Hancock, Howard Sadler and I floated the Gallatin. The water was clear, but had risen a few inches. The fishing was slow. We tried just about everything: nymphing, hoppers, streamers you name it. We had limited success on each method. Luckily it was another beautiful day in MT.

9/6/07- John Hathaway joined me for a nice day on the Gallatin. The weather was cool and cloudy. The fishing was good and the scenery was great. We had two bald eagles watch us float by from their perch on top of some cliffs, then a pair of golden eagles were just around the next corner. Here's John with one he tempted on a purple prince nymph.

9/04/07- I floated the Yellowstone again today with Lonnie, Mitch, Scott and Nancy Davis today. Will Lassiter was the captain of the trip. It was a terrible day of fishing. We boated only about 5 or 6 fish in my boat. Will's boat did about the same, but we all did land some nice ones, mostly browns. Here's one Scott caught and Will expertly netted. I could think of worse places to spend the day.

9/3/07- Back on the Yellowstone with the gang. This time we floated East looking for bigger fish. Sandra and Fred joined me for a nymphing/streamer day. We did not boat large numbers, but all the fish were in the 14-18 inch range and fat as can be. We switched to hoppers for the prime water near the hayfields and Sandra landed a jumping rainbow that hit both of her hoppers on the double hopper rig. First it hit the small hopper, Sandra missed it and threw the flies back and the fish hammered the big hopper. Too bad we couldn't find that action in other areas.

9/2/07-Laurie and Fred Thwaites, Ellen Osgood and Sandra Reid joined Tom Harms and I for a float on the Yellowstone. We floated the upper paradise valley hoping to find cutthroats eating hoppers. The weather was right. It was hot and very windy, but the hopper fishing was slow and very spotty. The w.i.n.d. was a factor all day, and Ellen and Laurie did a great job in my boat. Here are Tom, Sandra and Fred.

9/1/07- I did a trip on the Yellowstone for Dan Bailey's. Scott and Angel rode with me while Sasha and Phillip were with Chris Miller the master of the Yellowstone. It was everybody's first day of fly fishing and they were naturals. Angel caught a 15 inch brown on her 5th cast and then looked at me and said " so that's it? ...That's easy". Everybody caught something and nobody got hurt...sucess.

8/30/07-Back to the Yellowstone with the Pollet brothers. This time we floated east of Livingston. We hit the water hard with dry flies early with very little sucess. Things changed when we went deep with the streamer/beadhead combo. It produced some fat fish. Healthy rainbows mostly with a few browns mixed in. Richard ended the trip with a 16 inch football of a rainbow at the ramp. I'm thinking of backing the Pollet brothers in some gambling venture...they have really good luck. 4 days of good fishing and beautiful weather.

8/28/07- Back to the East Gallatin again this morning with the Pollet brothers. This time we fished on the Skinner ranch. The trico hatch was great again and the fish were lined up to take them. Trico fishing always requires pinpoint casting and this is even more critical in superhatches like the ones we saw the last two days. These fish have the smallest feeding lanes, you have to put it right on them. Allen and Richard did a great job of it. The fishing restrictions throughout southwest montana were lifted today. The water temps are optimum for the trout these days. Of course we didn't hear of the opening until after fishing. We left pods of fish rising to pseudos on the East Gallatin and fished Smith Creek. Allen had good luck on hoppers and Richard found rising fish and got them with a #14 adams. Smith creek rarely gets fished and it was fun to see the fish really attack the flies.

8/27/07- "Have you ever fished a trico hatch?" I asked the Pollet brothers as we approached the MZ ranch. "No" they said. "Well, you're going to see some of them today." That turned out to be an understatement. The tricos were everywhere!! Better yet, the fish were rising to them in pods everywhere in the East Gallatin. I've never seen so many big fish rising there...never. Allen stayed in one pod for 3 hours and hooked big fish after big fish. It was fantastic. We hit Thompson's Creek for an education in the afternoon. The pseudos were hatching and I don't think it gets any tougher than casting those tiny bugs to spooky fish on the flat water of Thompsons. Allen and Richard would agree.

8/26/07- Hard at work tying flies for the east Gallatin.

8/25/07-I floated the Yellowstone again today with Richard and Allen Pollet. It was a hot, windy day in Paridise Valley....perfect for hopper fishing. We had some success early with ants and beatles also, but when the wind really picked up, the hopper was the ticket. It's not easy casting in a steady 25mph wind with gusts to 35mph. These guys are good casters and it made all the difference.

8/24/07- Return to the scene of the crime. Emory, David and I went back to the Lower Gallatin today, hoping to duplicate our good luck there. We got an early start and floated all the way to the headwaters of the Missouri. The fishing was again productive with streamers and the like.

8/23/07- The Yellowstone has cleared up after recent rains, so Emory, David and I hit the river. The fishing restrictions on the Yellowstone have also been lifted. The river is low but in great shape temperature wise and the fish were healthy and strong. It was great fun fishing hoppers in the afternoon, and the fish were taking them aggressively. The highlight was a 20 inch cuttbow that Emory caught inches from the bank. He said "I knew he was big because I could see his jaws when he hit it!"

8/22/07- Emory, David and I floated the Gallatin today. Fishing restrictions are still in place and we had to stop fishing at 2pm. The fish were healthy and strong. David landed this 22 inch brown right out of the gate on a kiwi muddler. We spent the afternoon wade fishing the west gallatin at the Lucky Dog Lodge. Again the fish were willing and strong. The cool weather has made the water temperatures ideal for fish.

8/21/07- Emory and David tested their skills at the MZ ranch today. The trico hatch was just so so today on the East Gallatin. The bugs were there early, but an untimely wind blew away most of them as they were in their mating swarms. No worries the fish were still hungry and we had good luck with the hopper dropper rig. We spent the afternoon on Thompsons creek fighting the wind and fishing the tiny pseudos...not easy, but rewarding.

8/20/07- Emory Clark and David Churchill started their vacation on the Upper Madison with me today. We had hoped to have some good hopper fishing with high winds predicted on the Madison, but the weather was cool and the hoppers seemed to be sleeping. Most of the fish we landed, came on small bead heads....better luck next year.

8/17/07-Rika and Dr. Kamitani returned from the Henry's Fork to fish Armstrong's spring creek today. The weather was cool and cloudy with a bit of wind and rain. I thought it would be perfect for spring creek fishing. We spent the morning searching for rising fish to no avail. We did raise some nice fish near the big spring on beatles, but the hatch was slow in coming. After lunch the PMD hatch came on with a vengance and there were fish rising everywhere from about 1-4. These fish are educated and we had some very interesting fishing. Again the most selective fish were chosing PMD duns that fluttered.

8/16/07- Koji and Yuki spent their last day on the MZ ranch testing their skills. The trico fishing was again good, but the fish were extremely spooky today with bright sunshine. They would often spook on the first cast...the ultimate test. We found some very large trout in the east gallatin in the morning the boys landed a few, broke off a few more and spooked a ton...normal fishing.

8/15/07-We hiked into the Clark's Fork canyon today. The fishing was stellar with rainbows, brookies and cutthroats chasing hoppers. The fish here don't have much experience with artifical flies. I hooked one fish and fought it for about 10 seconds and it got off, then it swam around searching for the hopper again. I threw my fly back in and the fish slammed it.. it was out to teach that hopper a lesson.

8/14/07-We toured the Beartooth mountains today fishing Beartooth Lake, Little Bear Creek, Long Lake and the Clark's Fork River. Again the fish were hungry at every stop. There were small brookies in all the waters and some rainbows and cutthroats added in on the Clark's Fork. The scenery here is unbelievable.

8/13/07- Koji and Yuki have fished alot of the rivers of Montana so we headed to Wyoming to fish my home waters. We hiked up Dead Indian creek today and found some willing rainbows and cutthroats. We hiked in about an hour and the fish were hungry. They ate every fly we tried. On the way home Koji wanted to catch a brooke trout, so we hit a tiny spring creek for an hour of fishing. The brookies were rising and it was fun trying to cast into such a small creek. It requires the same pin point casting of trico fishing...only the brookies are only 6 inches long.

8/12/07-My good friends Koji Otani and Yukio Aoike are back in Montana for another year. We fished Skinner Ranch today and had good trico fishing again on the East Gallatin. The trico hatch was not as heavy as it was yesterday at MZ, but there were plenty of bugs to bring the fish up. As the trico spinner fall tapered off, a good psuedo hatch came on about noon and kept the fish rising until we left at 2. Here's Yuki netting a nice rainbow and Koji hooking one up. After fishing we headed to Cooke City Montana, our base for Wyoming fishing.

8/11/07- Rika and Dr. Kamitani have good timing this year. They hit the peak of the trico hatch at MZ ranch today. I've never seen the hatch so thick on the east Gallatin. We fished there in the morning and had some pseudo fishing in the afternoon on Benharts creek. Rika tried a double nymph rig in frustration point after the fish stopped rising. She hooked 2 fish at once and after a bit of a rodeo ended up landing a nice rainbow while the other fish escaped! No frustration for Rika.

8/10/07- Rika Kawanishi and Dr. Kamitani fished Depuy's spring creek today. It was good fishing with fish rising to a suprisingly good pmd hatch in the morning. The fish were selecting emergers or fluttering duns and were extremely selective as well as cruising. In the afternoon Dr. Kamitani was the master of the pond. This is tough fishing with midges, but he had great success.

8/9/07- Robert and I were hard at it again this morning for guide/outfitter training. We worked on some of the finer points at MZ Ranch. Good trico fishing! Robert also showed nice technique pulling a fly out of my finger at "frustration point".

8/8/07-It was a day of research and development with Robert Stewart today. Or in other words, we went fishing. That guy really has a way of putting me in the fish. This one was 22+. Looks like he's got a pretty good bend in that Sott E2 rod.

8/07/07- Jeff Hiss and I were met with bad news at 6:15 this morning when we heard that the Yellowstone River was dirty. We decided to drive east and check the Lower River hoping to get ahead of the mud. It was clear at the 89 bridge so we did Springdale to Greybear. The fishing was o.k. mostly with small nymphs behind drys or girdle bugs. The highlight of the day was seeing a big black bear swim across the river!! It was awesome. Here's a pic of him shaking off.

8/6/07-The Bittner family was back again this year with Mike and Will taking the early shift on the river and Pam and Sam hitting the afternoon. Another beautiful morning on the Yellowstone. The boys did some fantastic casting and reeled a few in too! Pam showed off her rowing skills and I fished with Sam for a while. Not a bad day at the office.

8/5/07-After a night of camping on the river. Emma was ready for some early morning dancing with her cousin Perrin.

8/3/07- Another day on the Yellowstone. The river has been dirty for the last week due to some heavy rains in Yellowstone Park, but it was in great shape today. Lee and Amy had steady action on the double dry rig. Most of the fish were in the 12 inch range with a few 16 inchers here and there, but they all took the dry flies with athority not much short striking going on today.

8/2/07- I drug my friend Rich Myklbust on an exploratory mission on the Gallatin River. Everything was going great...no big trees across the river or anything. Well except that big diversion dam with the gnarly hydrolic below...oops. Anyway we made it and even caught a few trout.

7/30/07- I fished the MZ today with Mike Bittner. It was another hot and sunny day...perfect for trico fishing. The fishing was outstanding. We hit the East Gallatin until 2pm. I haven't seen that many rising fish on the East in at least 2 years. There were pods rising in every pool. The fishing is really technical. The fish are spooky and due to the heavy spinner fall, their feeding lanes were tiny. Pin point casting is a must for trico fishing! We spent the afternoon on Benhart creek. The fish were again rising in groups especially in the frustration point area. This time they were eating pseudos. I immediately went to 7X tippet and my #24 pseudo CDC cripple. Mike managed to hook a bunch of the frustration fish and landed a beautiful brown on his last cast.

7/27/07-Nobu rode with me while Tatsu rode with Masa today. We floated from Craig to Spite and found some very interesting fishing in the islands. Again there was a good trico hatch and we worked the soft riffles. The fish were cruising alot and tough to catch. After they stopped rising in one side channel we could see them eating under the surface. Nobu used a sunken trico that my friend Greg Falls designed with a tungsten bead and the fish hammered it. Then we went to the hopper. There are tons of hoppers on the banks of the Missouri this year and the fish are looking for them. Nobu had some great hopper action highlighted by a 20 inch brown that inhaled the hopper with a dimple rise.

7/26/07- Masa Katsumata took his new boat out on the Missouri with me today. I floated with "Tatsu" and "Nobu" was brave enough to ride with Masa. We hit the river early in the morning hoping to find the trico risers and avoid the afternoon heat. There was a good trico hatch and spinner fall, but you had to really look hard to find fish rising to them. It was a bright sunny day so the fish were too nervous to be rising in the flat water. Tatsu and I found some big ones rising in soft, shallow riffles where they were extremely hard to see. After lunch we found some fish eating caddis in another riffle and Tatsu quickly netted 3 of them on my bubbleback caddis. Here he is. We stayed at Holter Lake Lodge and had a great view of a forest fire burning in a wilderness area. Here's a shot from last night and a shot of Tatsu with a camera shy fish.

7/25/07- Will Lassiter and I guided the Tom Bray gang today. I had Tom, Chip and Chris in my boat and Will had Collin and Charlie. We floated the Yellowstone River again and the fishing was steady. Chris (age 12) was a great bowman and got alot of action on his goldenstone when it started to skate. One big rainbow hit it so hard it almost pulled the rod out of his hand and istantly broke the 3X florocarbon tippet. It was a blast fishing with Bray gang.

7/23/07- I had the pleasure of taking George Pertuit and Andy Knight on their first trout flyfishing trip today. We floated the Yellowstone River and these guys were quick studies. The fishing was good and we had steady action on dry flies. There is a nocturnal stonefly hatching in good numbers on the river. I rarely see the adults...they are hiding under rocks during the day. You know they are hatching when you see their nymph shucks on the rocks on the water's edge. The fish really hit the rouge river golden stonefly most of the day. We fished PMD spinners as droppers off the golden stonefly in the morning and changed to ants in the afternoon.

7/22/07- I floated the Upper Madison today with Doyle Hill and his grandson Tom. We boated from Lyons bridge to Ruby creek and the flows were high. It was nice to see so much water in the river and the fishing was steady. We saw alot of spruce moths on the water in the morning especially in the wooded areas just below Lyons. There were a couple of flats where the fish were keyed into them. There were also good numbers of PMD spinners, caddis and asorted mayflies. We had some good fishing after lunch with a girdle bug/ bead head combo. Most of the fish were taking the small beadhead, but the bigger fish were eating the girdle bug.

7/19/07- The hot temperatures continue here in Montana. We were over 100 again today. It is taking it's toll on the fishing. The river levels are low and the water temperatures are high. This is prompting the Montana fish Wildlife and Parks to close some areas to fishing while restricting fishing from 2pm until midnight on many waters. Here is a link to check the latest list of river closures:

http://fwp.mt.gov/fishing/guide/waterclosure.aspx

Meanwhile, I was on the Yellowstone River today with Jooachin Bode and Peter Mahoney. We found some fish in the morning, but the fishing after lunch was really slow. We tried everything from double drys to deep nymphing with the same results.

I'll be starting at 6am and getting off the water by 2pm on the Yellowstone until the weather cools down.

7/18/07- I took Masako and Jun to MZ Ranch today to test their skills. The MZ 's fish act totally different than the fish at Depuy's. The MZ fish are extremely spooky especially on a sunny day, but they are not nearly as selective as the fish at Depuy's. We started the day on the East Gallatin where there was a great trico spinner fall. The big fish were on the edges of the pods in slow water. They would not tolerate any bad casts, line spray or false casting over them. One mistake and they were gone to the deep water...no more rising. To me, this is trout hunting at it's best. Walking to find the fish, stalking them to get into position and then putting your first cast into their feeding lane. It's not a game you're going to run up the numbers on, but the fish you catch are rewarding. This was a new experience for Masako and Jun. They figured it out quickly. We spent the afternoon on Thompson's spring creek where the fish were rising to hatching pseudocloens (size 22 yellow mayflies). There weren't many fish rising, but there were a few very large ones sipping in the shadows of the banks.

7/17/07- Back to Depuy's spring creek today with some new customers Masako Akasaka and Jun Saito. Masako is a professional fly tier and her flies are works of art. Jun is a self decribed "fishing bum". Sounds like an easy day for a guide. The PMDs were hatching nicely again today despite another hot and sunny day. Before the main hatch we started with midges on the pond and had some very interesting fishing for large cruising trout. These are some of the toughest fish on the creek, but Jun landed a couple of bruisers on floating pupa's and 7X tippett. During the hatch peak, we moved to the lower creek and enjoyed extremely selective trout fishing. The fish were not very spooky and we could easily see them. Each time we changed flies, they would slowly follow the fly and give it thorough inspection before eating it or deciding to let it go. We threw alot of different PMD patterns at them with the most success on a CDC emerger, but it really depended on the fish, each fish was a little different. All in all another great day at Depuy's.

7/16/07- My good friend Yuichi Araki joined me for a day of flat water fishing on the Skinner Ranch. The day was again hot and sunny with a high over 100. This is bad for most kinds of fishing, but not tricos. Those tiny bugs love the hot sunny weather. As long as there is no wind in the morning the spinner falls are heavy. This was the case on the Skinner ranch. There were pods of small fish rising with some medium (12-16 inch) fish mixed in with them. To find the big fish we had to do alot of walking and searching the prime rising spots. Yuichi landed a 18-20 inch rainbow that was sipping inches from an overhanging branch. He's a sharpshooter.

7/14/07-Depuy's today with Dr. Degawa and Yuji. Again we had good to great fishing. The PMD hatch started about 10 and the rising was good until about 2. The fish are getting more and more selective and fly pattern is critical. The fish are really keying into emergers. Dr. Degawa had the best luck today using Rene Harrop patterns with the transitional dun and poptop emergers being the best. After the PMD hatch ended, we headed down to the pond and found lots of fish rising to midges. Yuji proved to be the pond master...he landed 3 nice fish in a short time using his griffin's gnat. Here's Yuji netting a big brown in the pond and Dr. Degawa with one of his 18 fish for the day!

7/13/07- Off to the Milesnick Ranch today with Dr. Degawa and Yuji Iwauchi. It was a hot sunny july day....and the fishing was good...really good. Of course at Milesnick's even when the fishing is good it is technical and tough. Luckily, Dr. Degawa and Yuji are expert casters. They made the most of their opportunities. We fished Thompson's creek in the morning and found some nice fish rising to trico spinners. This was classic spring creek fishing with the big fish feeding by themselves in shallow water. These fish are spooky, but they moved to the fly when properly presented. We spent the afternoon walking the East Gallatin. The river has just cleared and the the fishing was good. We found some fish rising to Pseudocloens and leftover trico spinners. We walked over a mile of water and I didn't see another human track...we were some of the first anglers on this stretch of the river this year...again, we found spooky fish, but they were not at all selective. Here's the Doctor with a big one and Yuji setting the hook on one of those tough singles...this one got away.

7/12/07-Dr. Degawa and Yuji Iwauchi fished with me on the Lower Gallatin today. The fishing was slow there so we headed to the Lucky Dog Lodge to find some cooler water on the West Gallatin. The fish were more cooperative there and we had some good action fishing small stimulators in the pocket water.

7/9/07- I was on the Yellowstone again today with Bob Rider and his friend Ed. We got an early start and floated Mayors to 89. The fishing was slow with not too many chances. We did find some nice fish rising to PMD spinners from about 10-12. It was a beautiful day to be on the river with not too much traffic and little wind.

7/8/07- What a difference a day makes. Marcus, Randy and John floated the Boulder today. Aaron Hansen and I rowed the boats and these guys couldn't keep the fish off their hooks! The fishing "could not have been better". Unbelievable! Marcus was fishing a stimulator with a dropper nymph and actually had two fish on at once. He fought the double for a long time but they eventually pulled eachother off. The highlights for Randy were breaking the tip off his rod and finding the only whitefish of the day.

7/7/07- After yesterday on the Boulder, I decided to go right back with my friends Randy and Marcus Acker and my parents John and Lynn joined us with Chris Miller guiding. I was more than sad when we crossed the West Boulder River to find that a thunderstorm had made the water dirty...We moved to plan B which was the lower Yellowstone river. The morning produced some nice rainbows and we even found a pod of big fish rising to trico and rusty spinners. Marcus picked a big one off and that was about our last chance for fish. We didn't turn a fish after lunch, I think it was just too hot today.

7/6/07-Boulder River rafting today with Bob Rider. He caught these sipping PMD spinners lined up in the shallow water 3 feet apart. So it was rainbow, brown, rainbow, rainbow, brown,etc.etc. I tried to count fish after lunch, but it was useless. The river was alive with feeding fish and Bob took advantage of it!

7/5/07-Depuy's today with Mr. Matsunaga and his mother Fumiko. The PMD hatch was great again today with the spinners coming down throughout the hatch. The bugs were the thickest from 10-2. Fumiko completed the grand slam with cutthroat, rainbow and browns.

7/3-4/07-Camping and guide training for two days on the Blackfoot River. Emma's ready to go on the oars or fishing. Leslie does most of the rowing. This is a beautiful river with great westslope cutthroat trout.

7/2/07-Another day on the Missouri and another insect hatching to add to the mix. There were good numbers of Trico's today and the fish were eating them. The morning spinner fall of tricos and pmds was impressive with fantastic and aggressive rising throughout the morning. We had really good luck on the Reneball pattern in a size 12 during the heaviest time of the spinner fall, the fish were looking for clusters.

7/1/07-Doug Albright and Bill Bush hit the fishing just right on the Missouri today. We had grood PMD spinner fall and hatch in the morning and then...there were caddis, lots and lots of caddis in the afternoon and evening. The fish were really on the caddis despite the huge amount of insects on the water: pseudos, pmds, calibaetis. We found some tough fish that were eating the caddis only when they were moving on the surface..We used a bubbleback emerger in the suface film to get most of the fish.

6/30/07-I headed up to the Missouri in time to fish the evening rise. I was doing a little research. I fished a small slow side channel hoping to find some big fish. I blew my first 2 chances with errant casts to fish in skinny water. The second fish blew up like a bonefish and I was certain the whole channel would be spooked. Fortuneatly the PMDs were hatching so well that the other fish were undisturbed. I finally settled down and landed a hefty rainbow. Then the hole was ruined. I moved down to water that is so slow and deep that it holds alot of carp. It also holds big browns that cruise and sip. I watched this one for 30 minutes and finally got a cast in front of it's cruising route..

6/29/07-I went to Depuy spring creek today with the group of Greg, John, Andrea and Susan. The boys stayed near the upper hut all day and had some great PMD fishing. I took the ladies downstream and we also had good fishing. The PMD hatch was heavy enough to get the fish rising, but it was not so heavy that they could be selective about what they ate. Andrea never changed from a cdc cripple. Here she and Susan are.

6/28/07-MZ today with Greg and John. The day was 95 and sunny with no wind....sounds a bit like torture. The risers were scarce and very spooky, often allowing only one cast. We fished Thompsons in the afternoon and there was a decent psuedo hatch which brought some nice fish up as well as alot of small fish. John worked one fish for 1 hour and over 8 flies before landing it. He went to 7X and the fish ate it right away. Meanwhile, Greg and I were watching a sizeable brown which was launching in the air to take mating damselflies which were hovering over the water. Greg tried a damsel, but the fish didn't eat it floating in the water. Got a hovering cast?

6/26/07-I had another great day with my Mom and Dad. This time we went rafting on the Boulder River. The water is still a bit high, but we had good fishing especially in the afternoon when the PMDs and Yellow Sallies hatched. Again we found some nice fish sipping in the shallow edges of this freestone river. We were the only boat on the water and didn't see another angler all day. The fish were not selective, but they were very spooky..they are not used to seeing people or fly lines! Here's Mom after reeling in the Brown trout of the day.

6/25/07- I guided my parents John and Lynn today on the Yellowstone River. We had to contend with the dreaded wind, but found some good fishing...especially in the slow side channels where we found some nice rainbows and cutthroats sipping on PMDs spinners....on the Yellowstone no less. We tested my new spinner pattern the "Reneball". Part renegade and part buzzball. Ugly does not adequately describe this fly, but it has the two most important fly features: you can see it and the fish will eat it.

6/24/07- What a difference a day makes. The wind did not blow today and the fish were rising consistantly all day long. They were enjoying the PMD's and spinners and we were enjoying casting to fish that didn't spook on the first cast. Here are John and Greg with a good old fashioned double...brown and rainbow.

6/23/07- Back on the Missouri with Greg and John from Chicago today. There better halves spent the day in Greg Falls's boat catching fish while we spent the day chasing rising fish. The morning PMD hatch provided some willing targets, but after lunch the wind picked up and the risers became more scarce and very spooky! The fish and anglers were waiting for the PMD spinner fall which has been fantastic, but the wind blew the bugs away and we were left waiting for the caddis to hatch in the evening. Here's one Greg found sipping in a tiny side channel.

6/22/07- Dan, Patrick and I floated the Upper Yellowstone today chasing the elusive salmonflies. Of course we were a day or two late, but we did see alot of insects....Salmonflies, Golden Stones, caddis, PMDs. The fish were well fed and our dry fly fishing was just fair. Here's Pat with a Yellowstone cuttroat and a salmonfly.

6/20/07- We hit the Missouri again today. The fishing was fantastic. Rising all day. It was bright and sunny and the fish were shy about showing their heads, but they were stacked in the soft riffles where they felt more comfortable. Because we targeted the riffles, we didn't spook nearly as many fish as we did yesterday...and Dan and Pat were putting the flies right where they needed to be. I can't remember seeing this many big fish on dries on the Missouri. The big ones really seem to love eating PMDs. These guys landed a couple of fish in the 16" range, but everything else was bigger.

6/19/07-Back to the Missouri with my good friends Pat Eisenhaur and Dan Goble. The fishing is getting a bit tougher now. The rising fish are a bit more selective and much more spooky in the sun. They are rising nicely though and we had a great spinner fall in the afternoon that got those fish eating more recklessly. Here's Pat with a good one and Dan with a 22" brown tempted on a PMD cripple.

6/18/07-I've been getting reports from Robert everyday for the last 2 weeks. The fishing on the Yellowstone has been so good he couldn't stay away. He also couldn't help letting me know what I've been missing. We hit the river with Doug and Darcy East as well as Darcy's mother Darlene, sister Sue and brother in law Jerry. We floated in the valley and it was everything Robert had told me. We were upstream of the salmonfly hatch but the nymphs were everywhere. Doug and Jerry hit the fishing hard in my boat and we lost count early on. Darla was the only angler in Robert's boat and they fished the honey holes on the way down. I did hear her say something like "it was every cast" at lunch.

6/15/07- More of the same...only today there wasn't as much wind. The PMD hatch was heavier and without the wind the spinner fall was really thick! Carl and Davonne tested a new nymph pattern for me...We named it the "purple urple". Judging by the results, I tied another two dozen last night. Here's Carl with the look of a man who just released a 20 inch rainbow.

6/14/07- Back to the Rivers of Montana. Here's the summary of what's happening here:

The Salmonfly hatch has started on the Yellowstone and Gallatin, the fishing by all accounts is fantastic mostly with nymphs, but the big bugs are starting to attract suface action which will only get better over the next week.

The Madison is low and clear with good numbers of PMD's, Caddis, Yellow Sallies, Golden Stones etc. The Salmonflies should hit the Upper Madison any day now.

The spring creeks are seeing the beginning of the PMD hatch. This is the best hatch on the creeks and a good time to temp the biggest fish to eat dry flies.

Meanwhile, I was fishing the Missouri with Carl Westphal and his wife Davonne. The fishing there has been incredible as well. The PMD's are hatching in large numbers and the caddis hatch is increasing daily...There just isn't a better time to be fishing the MO. Here's the sunset on spite rock.

6/13/07- Well sorry for the lapse in reports. I went on a family vacation to the 7D ranch in Cody Wyoming. We enjoyed a week of riding, hiking and mountain biking. I even made it out on the river that tought me how to fish-Sunlight Creek. I love that stream! The water was high, but clean enough to see the little brooke trout attack my fly. Here's Leslie and Emma on her horse Sam.

5/31/07- The Madison has been fishing so well this year that I had to try it for myself. Will Lassiter joined me and my buddy John Kurtz for a half day on the Lower. The fishing was good again!! This fishery is in fantastic shape with fish in all sizes. During the PMD hatch, it was cloudy and there were fish rising all over the place...I only wish we had more time to fish.

5/30/07- I spent the morning cleaning snow out of my boat. There was alot of slush in it from the 6 inches of snow that fell at my house yesterday. Then it was off to the Lower Madison with Jim and Kay Downs. It was a beautiful spring day on the river. We had some good dry fly action in the morning with spent caddis followed by a great PMD hatch. The rising diminished in the afternoon, but Jim is an experienced angler and he had steady action on the nymph rig with some sizable trout.

5/26/07- I headed to the Stillwater river today for some raft fishing. Cameron and Trinity were stuck in the boat with me. It was another beautiful day on the water with sunshine and willing trout. Here's Chris Miller and his crew working the water.

5/25/07-After a night of steady rain, we woke up to see that the rain had turned to snow...you talk about wet and cold! We decided to wait until mid-morning to start our float at Mountain Palace. The clouds broke off and the sun came out. There was fresh snow all over the mountains, there were waterfalls pouring off the cliffs...I don't think I've ever seen the river so beautiful!! The fishing was not stellar, we got some fish on nymphs, but I was hoping to get them on dry flies. You can't have it all.

5/24/07-Still on the Missouri. We floated Stickney to Mountain Palace. The morning was sunny and beautiful, then we got hammered by a thunderstorm. It was a real soaker. The bright side was that it stopped raining about 4:30 and a great hatch of blue wing olives came off. The fish were rising in the shallow slick water...interesting fishing.

5/23/07-I floated the Missouri from the Dam to Craig today. Matson Rogers was the outfitter and the group of Craig, Jim, Allen and Dave were fun to fish with. We did some deep nymphing and had some fair to good fishing with tiny nymphs.

Meanwhile at the MZ Ranch, Robert Stewart guided Bob Rider and Bruce Keene. The fishing had opened just a few days before and they had an "awesome day!". Here's Bob with another Brown. This one was 22".

5/21/07- Bob Rider and Bruce Keene floated the Lower Madison with me today. There was heavy rain in the morning and we put on late. The fishing was stellar with cloudy weather all day and two skilled anglers. There were lots of bugs hatching: baetis, PMDs, caddis and yellow sallies. Bruce caught one as his backcast hit the water about 30minutes into the trip and we knew it was going to be one of those days on the Lower Madison. Here are the boys with some browns.

5/20/07- I enjoyed fun filled day out on "no tell 'em" creek with Will Lassiter. This guy has some tricks up his sleeve. First he assured me there was plenty of room for a raft...Then later admitted "I don't remember any of this, it's been over ten years since I was here". We spent the day testing his new streamer pattern. A root beer colored bugger that we dubbed the A & W. The fish were voracious and we had some of the best streamer fishing I've had in years! The fish were attacking the A &W with recless abandon, sometimes coming out of the water for it. If the fish or angler missed a strike, more often than not, they would come right back after it on the next cast.

5/10/07-I was lucky enough to be guided by Renegade outfitters top guides Robert Stewart and Will Lassiter. It took them most of the day to whip me into shape and catch a fish, but it was a dandy! Of course, Will blindfolded me and I don't know what river we were on.

5/05/07-This was the weather we signed up for: sunny warm and no wind. What a difference it made. We had great nymphing running from Stickney to Mountain palace. There were also good numbers of caddis hatching. The dry fly fishing should turn on any day now. Here's a nice one Scott landed on a CDC caddis as he floated up to the porch of the house.

5/04/07- The wind blew all day and made for some difficult fishing. We floated from the Dam to Craig and caught some nice healthy fish, but the highlight of the day was getting out of the wind and into Joe's bar! The boys had so much fun, they decided to try some night fishing in front of the Mountain Palace cabin..The diehards cast for about an hour in the 38 degree air and nobody got hurt...not even a trout.

5/03/07- I traveled up to the Missouri to fish with my old friends Joe Goodrich and Rich Rorrem and their friends Wayne and Scott. Matson Rogers was the other guide and we had a good time on the mighty Mo. It was cold, rainy and windy today as we floated from Mountain Palace to Pelican point. We had solid fishing with nymphs, but the wind prevented us from capitalizing on a great march brown hatch. As we stopped at the last riffle, Wayne asked to use my streamer rod. One cast later he had the biggest fish I've ever netted on the Mo. I'm guessing it was 24-25 inches and heavy!

5/02/07- Rika Kawanishi and Hiro Obana joined me again for a fun filled day in the Crazy Mountains. We fished a private lake. The callibaetis and drake hatch was the best I've ever seen there and with calm winds, we had some exciting dry fly fishing for cruising rainbows. It couldn't be much better than a spring day in Montana surrounded by snow capped peaks, rising fish and not another person in sight.

5/1/07- Dr. Komiyama and I fished Depuy's Spring creek today. It was a beautiful sunny day in paridise valley. We were able to find some fish rising to midges in the morning from about 9 to 1. There were also a fair number of caddis that hatched in the Yellowstone river and were in the spring creek laying eggs. Osamu's flies are excellent and he caught some nice fish on floating midge pupa imitations.

4/30/07- Our options are getting limited with more rivers getting dirty everyday. I had planned a trip to the Stillwater river today for some rafting and fishing, but the warm weather has made the water levels rise and get dirty. It's back to the lower Madison today. We were also joined by Robert Stewart who is guiding Mr. Ogura and Dr. Degawa and Masa Katsumata rode along with them. The fish were rising when we arrived at the river about 11am and continued to rise most of the day. It was partly cloudy today and every time a cloud came over the river the fish rose like crazy....then when it was sunny the rises were very sporatic. We had a difficult time catching big fish..it seemed every time we found a big one rising, the sun would come out before we could catch it. Dr. Komiyama did land alot of medium sized healthy rainbows!

4/29/07- More caddis fishing on the Lower Madison today with Osamu Komiyama. We had some good fishing during the emergance which was from about 1-3 pm. Then the wind picked up and blew hard from 4-7 pm making it very hard to find any rises. We decided to wait it out and hope for the wind to die enough for the egg laying caddis to return to the river and stimulate some rising...Our patience paid off and Osamu had 30 minutes of great spent caddis fishing after sunset. This rainbow was cruising in the slow water sipping caddis. A nice ending to a great day!

4/28/07- Rika Kawanishi and Hiro Obana floated the Lower Madison with me today. The caddis hatch was heavy and we found some rising fish here and there with some big fish showing there heads sporatically. There was a stoubt West wind and sunshine, which didn't help our effort. Why is Rika wearing a mask? Look at the caddis!! She calls it "Masking the hatch".

4/26/07- It rained most of last night with snow in the mountains. I did a sunrise ski run again in the Bridger mountains where it felt like winter with heavy snow coming down. The afternoon felt more like summer. I'm afraid the Yellowstone has gotten muddy from the recent rain and warm weather. Jeff Copeland and I went to fish the Lower Madison and look for an evening rise. There were lots of caddis in the air when we arrived at 6:30pm, but the temperature quickly cooled and the bugs went to the bushes for the night...no evening rise for us. We did catch a few blind fishing with caddis pupas.

4/25/07- I wade fished the Yellowstone again this afternoon. The caddis numbers are increasing and the fish are chasing the caddis drys.

4/23/07- I heard reports of good numbers of caddis on the Yellowstone on 4/22 so I ran over to fish a couple of hours. It was cold and raining today...a good baetis day. I did not see any caddis hatching, but the fish were rising to baetis. I used a large elk hair caddis and the fish chased it like it was a big mac. The big hatch will start any day now!!

4/21/06-My old friend George Goble always booked 4/21 to catch the caddis hatch on the Yellowstone river. George knew more about catching fish and hatches than just about anyone I've ever met. I thought it would be a good idea to fish today. My friends Robert Stewart and Tom E. Boy joined me on the Yellowstone. The fishing was great!! We saw a few caddis, but the main attraction was a heavy baetis hatch with good numbers of March Browns. The fish really seem to love those beautiful spring drakes (march browns). They fish were methodically sipping baetis with narrow feeding lanes, but would move a good distance to eat the march browns coming down the river.

4/20/07-Another carve and cast day. I enjoyed a sunrise hike/ski in the Bridger mountains with a foot of new snow. Then Jeff Copeland showed me how to catch fish in the Gallatin river.

4/1/07- I enjoyed a great day of fishing on the Yellowstone River with Dewitt who pulled of the impressive "carve and cast day". Skiing fresh snow in the morning at Bridger Bowl and fishing the baetis hatch in the afternoon.

3/23/07- I fished Nelson's spring creek with my cousins Dewitt and Buck and their sons Garrett and Josh. The wind was howling even by Livingston standards, but it didn't keep Buck or Josh from pounding the water and landing a few nice trout.

1/29/07- Well it's a whole new season out there. I fished the Lower Madison with winter fishing expert Jeff Hiss. The temp at my house in the morning was 9 F. It warmed to a balmy 24 at mid day. No worries for Jeff, he landed 20 plus fish for the first guide trip of the season.