2008 is/was a great year to fish in Montana. and it ain't over yet!
11/19/08-Unseasonably warm temperatures have kept me thinking of fishing. Yesterday, it was over 70 degrees. Today was a different story with a high temp of 40 and bitterly cold east wind blowing. Jeff Copeland joined me for what is most likely my last day of fishing this season. We braved the wind and cold for a very short time on the Madison below Ennis dam. The fishing was good with midge pupa patterns and scuds. No pictures, the camera battery didn't like the cold.
11/9/08-Emma and I fished the Yellowstone River today on our way back from visiting family in the Shields Valley. We were a bit late for the rising, so we used a fly Emma tied for an attractor and dropped a purple lightning bug below it. The fish responded immediately and Emma reeled in 1 cutthroat and 3 rainbows! Fish on!
11/7/08-Mike Copeland invited me to fish the Beaverhead with him. The weather was perfect with overcast skies and 50 degree temps. The fish were rising to midges when we arrived and baetis when we left. Here's Mike with an average sized one. Everytime, I've fished the Beav, I'm amazed at the size and quality of the fish. This river is loaded with fish. The flow was less than 100 cfs, and as we walked around there were fish everywhere! Big wakes in the shallows...fantastic fishing!
10/25/08- Hoshina is in town for a hunting trip. He started out right going 7 for 7 on drake mallards in the morning and nabbing a few nice rainbows in the afternoon. Gunnar Fulsom and his dog Lucy joined us for the duck hunting. Gunnar is a master at calling them in and Lucy brings 'em back.
10/18/08-Nao and I hit Depuy's today. Again a beautiful sunny day with a bit of wind and a decent baetis hatch. There were also a few midges hatching and we had good luck fishing with a floating midge pupa pattern during the baetis hatch. The fish seemed to prefer it and ate it readily.
10/17/08-We hit the river earlier today in hopes of avoiding some wind and testing a few nymph patterns before the hatch. They worked well, then the hatch started. We hid out in a side channel and found some good rising, although the baetis hatch wasn't as good as yesterday. The weather was warm and sunny and we had some fun and challenging rise fishing.
10/16/08- My friend Mochino Nao is here for some baetis fishing. We started the trip on the Missouri. The wind was again a factor, but there were plenty of rising fish and a good hatch. Nao had some good fishing and his flies worked perfectly. Those aren't riffles...They are pods of heads and tails...October fishing at it's finest.
10/13/08- A good day for making snowmen.
10/10/08- Back to Depuys today. The weather is serious! Relentless east wind with snow and high temp for the day 35. It didn't stop Toshi, Yuji or Dr. D. It was nice to have warm fires burning in the Depuy's huts! Again we saw a good baetis hatch and rising for a few hours in the afternoon. Cripple and emerger patterns were very important in the strong wind. Here's Toshi putting one in the net.
10/9/08- Masa headed to Mexico for some salt water fishing and Toshi, Dr. Degawa and Iwauchi stayed on for another couple of days of spring creek fishing. We hit Depuy's today. The weather is changing. It was sunny this morning and was snowing by evening. Cold and windy from the east today. The fishing was good with a strong baetis hatch as well as some midges. Here's Dr. Degawa with a textbook cold hand cutthroat release.
10/8/08- We headed to MZ Ranch today for a change of pace. The wind followed us there and we got another day of practicing our wind casts. The fish were rising in a few spots, but were selective to drift. Finally, the wind died before sunset and we had some nice fishing with baetis. Here's Toshi putting the net on one in the evening light.
10/7/08- We thought it was windy yesterday. Today it was really windy...and bad fishing. Dr. Degawa temped one with a caddis and got plenty of help with it from Masa.
10/6/08-More wind and sun today. We had to really hunt for the risers and stay with them. Our best luck was in shallow riffles and swirl holes. Iwauchi nabbed this one on a caddis.
10/5/08-Dr. Degawa and Mr. Iwauchi joined me, while Masa Katsumata and Toshi Karita were along for a DVD shoot on the Missouri for a few days. More sunny weather only add wind for more difficulty. We had good fishing today in a few spots. Toshi taught us that the hatch was a tiny baetis rather than pseudos. Whatever they are, they are tiny (size 22-24) and the fish are tough to hook on them. Dr. Degawa started his trip off right with a 20 incher.
10/4/08- I did a trip for Sweetwater Travel on the Yellowstone today. We had to fight a steady and strong wind, but the fall colors were beautiful. Here's Dennis Alverson floating in the middle of paradise.
10/2/08-Another fine day on the Missouri, with some fish starting to rise to the tiny baetis in pods. Here's Patrick on the attack.
10/1/08-Patrick Eisenhaur was back in town to fish the Missouri. Again, the weather was warm and sunny. The fishing wasn't easy, but the hatches and rising are increasing each day. Here's Patrick with the last fish of the day. Hard to tell in the dark, but I'm pretty sure he's smiling.
9/30/08-I decided to take Scott and Chris to the Gallatin to lick our wounds from the Yellowstone. It wasn't looking much better about lunch time when we had a handful of whities and a couple of small trout to the boat. Then, the baetis started hatching and the fishing really picked up. Here they are anchored in a hole we got 10 out of.
9/29/08- Scott and Chris were back to the scene of the crime today. Last year Scott landed a 27+ inch Brown on the Yellowstone. Today we fished hard with deep streamer and nymph rigs, but the fishing was slow...Actually, it started off slow and tapered off from there. It was the toughest day of the year for me on the Yellowstone. I guess we had to pay for last year.
9/28/08- My uncle Marshall Dominick and his wife Bettye joined me for a float on the Yellowstone River today. The weather was perfect with fall colors and sunshine. The fish were cooperating also hitting big attractor patterns.
9/26/08- More sun and fun on the Missouri. Today was the toughest by far and we spent 3 hours casting to one group of rising fish. Psuedos are challenging.
9/25/08-Another sunny day on the Missouri and some more technical fishing. Today we found some fish eating tricos in the morning and Koji and Yuki hooked them up on caddis bang. After the tricos, we had tough fishing. There were fish rising to psuedos and the occasional caddis, but they were extremely spooky often spooking on the first cast. The day was highlighted by seeing a black bear on the bank of the river as we floated to the ramp in the evening. Here's Koji reeling one in from the best pod we found.
9/24/08-Koji, Yuki and I headed to the Missouri for a few days of fishing. We found some fish rising to pseudos and caddis and had a good time trying to fool them. Everything has to be perfect to catch the risers on sunny days in the fall. Koji and Yuki were up to the challenge.
9/23/08- Koji and Yuki are back for their 13th year of fishing in Montana. These guys are pros. I took them to the Gallatin today. The bite was slow especially in the morning, but the hopper dropper rig was solid in the afternoon. Koji got this brown on a streamer early.
9/22/08- Back with the Sweetwater crew. This time we hit the Yellowstone. I had Bob and Ramone with me. It was again a bit breezy, but manageable today. The weather was overcast with storms dusting the mountains with fresh snow. There were a bunch of mayflies hatching from psuedos to drakes and the fish were on the dry fly.
9/21/08-I hit Depuys today with a big group from Sweetwater travel. I spent the day with Mark and Bob. It was blowing about 20mph steadily and gusting much higher. It made for some very challenging fly fishing. This crew was up to the task and all 8 of the group landed fish on everything from wooly buggers to #22 baetis.
9/20/08- Richard and Dennis hit the MZ Ranch with me today. The MZ- has been tough fishing most of the year and I haven't seen any rising fish in the East Gallatin...that was until today. These guys hit it just right and we had great fishing. We hit Benharts in the morning and had some luck on trico duns. Then we hit the East Gallatin in the afternoon. Dennis slayed them on nymphs until the psuedo hatch started. Then Richard landed some nice rainbows that were pod feeding. We also had to sit out a rainstorm. Here are the boys under the rainbow.
9/18/08- Back in Bozeman, Toru and I fished the Gallatin today. The fishing was good with hopper dropper rigs and Toru caught some dandy rainbows. Really fat and healthy. Like this one.
9/17/08-Toru and I hit the trail again today in Yellowstone Park and hiked into Pebble Creek. The hiking was spectacular on another beautiful sunny day. The fishing was again good on this tiny creek. There were large groups of hungry cutthroats in each deep hole. There were a few good sized fish in each spot, but it was difficult to catch them because more often than not, a small fish would sneak in and grab the fly before it would could get to the bigger ones. Again, very hungry fish. They would eat any fly as long as you didn't spook them sneaking up to the hole.
9/16/08-Toru and I headed to Wyoming for some canyon fishing today. We fished one of my favorite places and found very hungry rainbows, cutthroats and brookies. Any fly was o.k. This hole is like an aquarium, great sight fishing.
9/15/08- My good friend Toru Enokida is back again this year. We decided to try some mountain stream fishing and hiking this year. There is no better place for this than Yellowstone Park and we started today hiking to Cache creek. On the hike in we passed Buffalo and had an antelope buck run right by us at top speed as he chased a rival buck away from his harem. The fishing on Cache creek was great with the fish highly concentrated in the deeper holes. Drift was important at times, but fly pattern didn't seem to matter much to these cutthroats...they were hungry. We fished until about 5 and then hiked out to the trailhead and fished Soda Butte until dark. There was a fantastic baetis hatch and fish were rising everywhere. In contrast to Cache creek, these fish were highly selective and we had to go to 6X tippett and size 22 baetis patterns to get the fish.
9/14/08-John and Andrea Robbins came back again this year for some fishing in Yellowstone Park and a day at MZ- Ranch with me. The fishing was typically tough at MZ. John plied his trade on Benhart Creek most of the day where the fish were rising to trico duns and spinners. Andrea and I headed to the East Gallatin and found a bunch of fish willing to take nymphs. Here are Andrea and John hooked up!
9/11/08-I fished in Paradise valley today with Deahn. The scenery was spectacular and she caught cutthroats all day long on dry flies. Hard to beat September on the Yellowstone. Snowcapped peaks, green valley, baetis, drakes and rising fish.
9/9/08-Hotchi and I hit MZ Ranch today. We started on Benhart creek and found some nice fish rising to trico duns in the morning. Then, we headed to Thompson's in the afternoon. The fishing was good on pseudos. Here's a good hookup! Check out that rainbow 3 feet out of the water.
9/8/08-Steam and fog this morning broke out into a bright sunny beautiful day. There was a fantastic trico hatch and spinner fall and we found a few pods of good fish eating them. The sun made the fish super spooky and pinpoint casting was essential. Mr. Hotchi was up to the challenge and caught his share.
9/7/08- We woke up to pouring rain early this morning and decided to start at 9:30. By then the rain had stopped, but the clouds stayed. It was perfect weather to fish the MO. We floated from the Wolf Creek bridge to Craig and there were very few other anglers. The trico hatch was thick, but the fish were crashing spent and hatching caddis as they skittered along the surface. Mr. Hotchi had good luck with just about every caddis pattern he tried, especially fishing upstream to fish rising in soft riffles. Great fishing!
9/6/08-I picked up Mr. Hotchi in Helena in the afternoon and we did an evening float on the Missouri. There are a suprising number of caddis out as well as psuedos and tricos. With cloudy weather, we had good fishing using caddis.
9/4/08- Back to the Yellowstone with Marvin and Karen Crow. This time Rosie and Phil were with Robert Stewart the weather was cool and rainy. The day was highlighted by Marvin's first big rainbow on a fly rod.
9/3/08- Gary Hancock is back in town for some fishing. Today we hit the Gallatin. The fishing was good and the weather was perfect. Nice way to start a vacation. We even had some excitement with a rattlesnake sighting.
Here's Gary with one of the big ones.
9/2/08-Rosie and Phil Payne floated with Dave Hall while their friends Marvin and Karen Crow were stuck with me today on the Yellowstone. We went from Pine creek to 9th street and the Paradise valley was spectacular with fresh snow in the mountains and bright blue sky. We even caught some fish. Here's Rosie with a keeper. Not bad for her first day of fly fishing.
9/1/08- Talk about a change in the weather. Yesterday it was almost 90 and it was snowing this morning at my house after a tremendous hail storm last night.... The wind is blowing too. Well, as they say the best time to go fishing is when you can. Today just happened to be my day to go. I could think of only one person that would go with me when the weather is this bad: Tom Harms. Here he is with a nice one. This guy's crazy for fishing!
8/30/08- Bobbi Jo Geise and her sister Susan floated the Gallatin with me today. We had some nice fishing and good times. The fish were mostly interested in nymphs, but we did have a few very aggressive strikes on the hopper as well. They told me their flyfishing experience was limited to an hour or so each, but they were casting like pros by lunchtime.
8/26/08-Theflyfishinglife.com crew tried their skills at the Milesnick Ranch today. In my opinion, there is no better place to test your angling skills than MZ during the trico hatch. We started the morning at frustration point on Benhart creek. Thelma nabbed a nice rainbow on about her 5th cast....these folks can really fish. Russell also hooked a good one in about 5 minutes and 6 year old Mason reeled it in on 7X tippett!! The wind again started blowing by mid morning and we retreated to the East Galltin with the nymph rigs. Michelle put on a clinic there landing about 10 fish in a couple of hours for her first nymphing experience. If you get a chance check out these Canadians adventures at theflyfishinglife.com.
8/25/08-Andy and Drew Lewis from Chattanooga TN hit the Yellowstone with me today. I was hoping for more great hopper fishing and the fish were cooperative in the morning although they mostly took a parachute adams behind a hopper. In the afternoon someone turned on a fan..a big fan. The 20-30mph wind made casting and rowing a challenge and it was tough fishing.
8/24/08- Rick and Thelma Harding along with Michelle, Russell and Mason Webb from theflyfishinglife.com joined me on the Yellowstone river to fish and shoot some video for their web site. It was another great day of hopper fishing and it was a joy to fish with this group of experienced anglers. All I did was row the boat and net fish. Well, I didn't even net them all...Here are Rick and Themlma with a fish of some kind.
8/23/08- I had the pleasure of guiding two of the Missouri river's top guides today. Mark Raisler from Headhunters fly shop and Mike Kunert of Evolution Flyfishing were in town to blow off some steam and punish some unsuspecting cutthroats on the Yellowstone today. They also did some nice work on that bottle of Crown Royal.
8/20/08-I met my parents on the Stillwater river today for some fishing and rafting. The fish were cooperative...mostly hitting hoppers and golden stonefly immitations. Here's Dad with a beautiful brown.
8/18/08-Rika and the Doctor tried out some private water on Baker and Camp Creeks today. The fishing was good and Rika started the day with the first and biggest fish, super fat 18 inch rainbow. The doctor ended the day with this one that crashed a hopper.
8/17/08-Dr. Kamitani and Rika Kawanishi are back again for some spring creek fishing. We hit Depuy's today and found good rising. There was a PMD hatch as well as a spinner fall in the morning. The PMD hatch has been going strong for over 6 weeks now. The fish get more and more selective as the hatch progresses. As Dr. Kamitani says "they are clever fish!". We had to use 7X to get them to bite. Rika might have had the right idea in the afternoon.
8/14/08-Mr. Okayama and Mr. Morishima's last day was on Nelson's Spring creek. The weather was cloudy with a North wind blowing and the fishing was again great. We started with midges, then the PMDs hatched and to top it off there was a great Sulpher hatch from 3-5. A good way to end it. Nelson's has abnormally large fish this year with the average size in the 17 inch range and lots of fish in the 19-20 inch range. Fun fishing again. This Yellowstone cutthroat was a fat 18 inches.
8/13/08-Depuy's today. We experienced a great PMD hatch. The morning was good with midges and the PMDs came off about 11-2. Great fishing. Here's Mr. Okayama with one of his many browns in the net.
8/12/08- These guys are spring creek specialists. They spend a lot of time on the Oshino spring creek in Japan and it shows...They know how to handle spring creek fish. We hit MZ ranch today where we found more tricos and a good pseudo hatch. We spent most of the day stalking risers on Thompson creek and had a great day. Definitely scared..
8/11/08-We started early today, but the wind did too. The tricos were blown out this morning and we spent out time searching the banks for fish sipping spent caddis. We found a couple of dimple rises right off the bat at 7am and they both turned out to be 20 inch browns. We cast to rising fish most of the day, but they were tough. We did exact some revenge with hoppers and 3X tippet as we floated out to the ramp in the afternoon.Here's Morishima with one of the Browns. Is he happy or scared?
8/10/08-Mr. Okayama and Mr. Morishima flew in yesterday for 5 days of fishing. We started on the Missouri this morning in a fog of hatching and mating tricos. They were everywhere....emphasis on were as the dreaded morning wind blew a good number of the tricos away from the river. We did have some exciting fishing before noon. There were enough tricos to get the fish up and there were a variety of other insects out as well. Spent caddis worked the best for us, but we also had fish eat rusty spinners, ants and tricos. We pounded the banks with hoppers in the afternoon with a few violent strikes, but relatively slow hopper fishing. How buggy does this look? I'm glad tricos don't bite.
8/8/08- It was my day off today. Emma and I hit Jackson Creek to check out the local hopper action. We threw in a couple of live hoppers first to get the fish ready. Then we dropped in our fly. Emma reeled in 2 brookies and a rainbow in about 5 minutes and we called it a day.
8/7/08- Bob Rider, Bruce Keene and I headed to the Boulder today for what will likely be my last Boulder float of the season. It has been an unprecidented season on the Boulder due to good snowpack. The river is typically too low to float by mid July, but will make it to Aug 10 this year. It saved the best for last. Bruce and Bob absolutely slayed the fish today. We estimated about 50 in the net before lunch. After lunch it slowed down, they only landed 20-30. It was catching today...not fishing. Here's Bruce looking like Brad Pitt in " A River Runs Through It" and another picture of Bob holding a nice fish.
8/6/08- Jason and Ros Lipsey joined me. While Alice, Kaz and John rode in Robert Stewart's boat. We hit the Yellowstone and it was fantastic. The fish are really looking up now and the hoppers are all over the banks. It was the best day of hopper fishing I've seen in at least 8 years. We rolled fish 5 minutes into the trip and John was taking pictures of a big Cutthroat at the ramp. It was non stop action. We fished single hopper patterns and found that the fish ate every fly we tried. The trick was getting it on the banks. In most cases the fish were within 12 inches of the bank. Classic and exciting hopper action! This is going to be an August to remember on the Yellowstone. There's Ros with a rainbow, Jason with a Brown and John (in the shadows) with a huge cuttbow with proud family looking on.
8/5/08-Back to the Yellowstone today with Bob Rider, his wife Blythe, Bruce Keene and Scott Withrow. Will Lassiter and I guided them on the upper Yellowstone. What a difference a couple of days has made. The river has dropped and cleared significantly and looks perfect. We had solid dry fly fishing. The morning was especially good casting to the banks with double dry rigs. Here's Scott enjoying his first day fly fishing with a 19inch Rainbow. This stuff isn't that hard.
8/4/08- After yesterday, we had to try it again. We all hit the Boulder again. This time there was a steady north wind blowing and the fishing was just really good instead of as good as it gets. The whitewater was fun as always.
8/3/08- The Finne's joined Dave Hall and I for one to remember on the Boulder today. The fishing really couldn't have been better with the fish feeding like crazy. There were Tricos, and PMD spinners all over the water when we arrived, but we mostly got them on stonefly immitations. The nocturnal flightless stones are hatching in big numbers right now and they must look like a Big Mac to the fish. They were whacking them. The weather was perfect as well. I fished with Erik and Sam and they wore the fish out on dry dropper rigs while Claire and Anne fished single dries with Dave. I swear they had a fish on every time we passed them. Claire has one on right there.
8/1/08-The Finne family (Sam, Claire, Erik and Anne) joined the Bittners (Mike, Pam, Will and Sam) for a fishing trip on the Yellowstone. Lyn Dawson, Robert Stewart and I took care of most of the rowing (Pam did step in for a bit) and we enjoyed the day in Paridise Valley. The nymph fishing was solid and all signs point to good dry fly fishing on the horizon. There were good numbers of caddis and PMDs. Here's Robert (lilly dipping on the oars) with Erik and Claire.
7/31/08- Bob Rider Jr., John Lucas and Bob Rider Sr. joined Robert Stewart and I on the Yellowstone again today. The wind was calm and I spent the morning with both Bobs and Monty the dog. We had a productive float with nymphs. The fish were keying in on dead drifted streamers and flashy nymphs. We did find one group of fish rising steadily to PMD spinners. John hooked several of them, but that was the extent of the dry fly fishing...although the river seems poised to really turn on with drys. Here's Bob Jr., Monty and ....a brown trout's tail!
7/30/08-Finally. The Yellowstone has turned a nice shade of green and is down to a reasonable level to fish. Emory and Tom were back for their last day of fishing. The river looked good, but the wind was howling! We fought the wind all day and managed to land some nice fish on dry dropper rigs. The fish were not looking up much though and most of the fish caught ate the beadhead nymph dropper. Here's Tom with a dandy. Big water, Big fish.
7/29/08-Bob Rider and John Lucas are back in town. These guys like to have a little competition on the river. We tried the Boulder. I've been trying to estimate fish counts for the past several days, but never could keep track. We counted today and Bob won 34 to John's 24. That's not a bad day of fishing.
7/28/08- We decided to try some new water on the Stillwater River today. Emory, Tom and I explored the upper river starting in Nye. The water levels were perfect for the float. This stretch of the river has a lot of boulders and some class 3 rapids. It also has stunning scenery and voracious fish. There were grasshoppers on the banks at infestation levels and some golden stoneflies in the air as we bounced down the river. For a stretch in the afternoon, it seemed there was a fish behind every rock...might be my new favorite float! Even Emory looks relatively happy.
7/27/08- Emory and Tom encouraged me to try the Stillwater today. Again, the fishing was stellar with single dry flies, crystal clear water and willing fish.
7/26/08- Back on the Boulder today with Emory Clark and Thomas Charlton. It's not every day you get 2 Olympic gold medalists in the boat. Tom won in '56 as captain of the 8 man crew. Emory followed in his footsteps in '64. We had another banner day with golden stonefly immitations. Non stop action. Here's Tom, reeling in another one.
7/25/08- Let the rafting begin. The waters are still running high here in southwest Montana and the Yellowstone is just becoming fishable. It's a great year to take advantage of floatable flows on the Boulder and Stillwater. I hit the Boulder today with Rupert and Joe Colmore. It was fantastic and the Colmore brothers put on a clinic.
7/23/08-What a difference a day makes. We hit the water at 6:30 this morning and had good fishing for about an hour. Then, the wind started and the sun came up. Morning wind is the kiss of death for spinner falls and we had to look in some tough spots to find rising fish. They were there, but they were spooky! The fish would not tollerate any bad casts and would often spook on the first cast. Nobu managed to net his share, but he earned them today.
7/22/08-We woke to an unusually warm and calm morning on the Missouri. The fish were rising like crazy right off the bat. There were tricos, pmd spinners, and spent caddis all over the water. By mid morning, the clouds rolled in and the fishing could not get better. Large rising trout, no wind few crowds and Nobu took advantage of it by catching fish after fish. We got em on a #14 rusty spinner in the morning and switched to my bubble back caddis in the afternoon. We were finally run off the river by a thunderstorm at 6pm after 10 hours of constant rising.
7/21/08- Nobuyoshi Yokio started his annual fishing trip with me today at Depuys spring creek. It was a classic summer day with hot temps and lots of sunshine. The PMD hatch continues to be great at Depuys. The numbers of insects are dropping a bit, but there are still plenty of bugs to bring the fish to the surface. We fished the top section in the morning and had mixed results. The fish were ultra selective to drift and fly. Nobu had the best luck with a Haarop rusty spinner. In the afternoon we moved to the middle creek and had great action through the hatch peak. The Haarop PMD no hackle was the fly of choice and the fish were moving to eat it! At about 4 the wind picked up and a thunderstorm rolled through. We picked up and drove to the Missouri where we hoped to hit the evening caddis frenzy. We were there, but the late evening caddis fishing was not good. The warm weather has slowed down the late night fishing on the MO and we're hitting the mid summer season there with lots of tricos and morning action.
7/20/08- I couldn't resist returning to the Boulder on my day off. Tom Harms and I switched off on the oars and had a fantastic day of floating and fishing...guides day off.
7/19/08-Brian and Stan Ullom hit the Boulder with me today. The fishing was good again and we enjoyed a fast paced float down the raging river. Stan I lost your email. If you see this send it to me for some pictures.
7/18/08-I met up with Doug and Bill on the Boulder. Wow was it good. Too many to count and most were on the big dry...awesome stuff! They don't look any worse for wear after a week of fishing do they?..well at least they look happy.
7/14/08- Wind blew the PMD spinners away today and we had tougher fishing because of it as well as another drop in flows to 6000cfs. We had our chances on dries, but it wasn't the same river we fished yesterday.
7/13/08- Just when you think the fishing couldn't get any better, it does. Doug Albright and Bill Bush set the bar for Missouri fishing today. The fishing was nothing short of spectacular on PMD spinners and caddis. These guys put on a clinic and my net arm got tired by the last fish. Here's a shot of some caddis. Follow that truck!
7/12/08- My good friend Yuichi Araki is back on his Montana/Idaho fishing tour and we hit the Mighty Mo today. The flow was still 7800cfs and the fishing was off the charts good. We had good PMD spinner fall and spent caddis in the morning followed by an impressive caddis hatch late in the evening. Yuichi found some great browns sipping in the slack water.
7/11/08-Mike Bittner, John Wilkinson and I chased the salmonflies on the Upper Madison today. We floated Palisades to Story Ditch and the bugs couldn't of been thicker. There were adult salmonflies all over the banks. Unfortuneatly, there was also a stoubt north wind which seemed to keep a lot of the bugs from hitting the water. We did have some impressive hoover like hits from big brown trout, but as is always true of the salmonflies it was inconsistant and the fish seemed gorged and not too hungry.
7/10/08- Renegade Outfitters had a gang in town from the Trout and King travel agency of Japan. Ebi and his guests fished with me, Robert Stewart and Greg Falls. We hit Depuy's and Armstrongs and the fishing was great on PMDs. I had the privilage of fishing with Ms. Mari Kitigawa and Ebi. Mari was traveling with 5 men and had showed them how to catch fish at every stop. Depuy's was no exception. She nailed a bunch of fish, all on her beautifully tied flies.
7/9/08-Back to the Shields with Mom and Dad. The fishing wasn't quite as good today, but we had a good time portaging around snags and the like. I think they are wondering why I can't just take them where I take everyone else...always scouting.
7/8/08- My parents John and Lynn Dominick braved a few obstacles while scouting new water with me today. We even caught a few fish. Thank god Dad had the bow line when I lost control of the boat trying to lower it over this diversion dam. It would have been a long walk out.
7/6/08- Fumiko and Tadashi Matsunaga joined me for another great day at Depuy's. The spinner fall was not as good today, but the fishing was fantastic.
7/5/08- The Pescador gang has good luck. They hit the best PMD hatch I've ever seen at Depuy's spring creek today and absolutely slayed the fish! The spinners were falling when we arrived at 9am and the action was non stop.
7/4/08-Greg Falls joined in the Pescador group today while Masa left us. We had good fishing again today and I fished with Mr. Fukiage. He boated some great fish and we came up with a nickname for Yamma-chan and Mr. Taniwa..."The Budweiser Brothers". These guys fit right in with the 4 th of July scene. You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning. Greg couldn't even show his face.
7/3/08-Another day with the Pescador group. Hot and sunny with some tough, but interesting fishing. The fish were quite spooky in the sun and many didn't allow more than one cast before bolting to the safety of the deep water. We did cast to rising fish all day though.
7/2/08- Tadashi Fukiage from Pescador fly shop joined Masa Katsumata and I for a Missouri trip. Yamma-chan and Mr. Taniwa rounded out the group and boy did they hit it just right for rising fish. The weather was calm and cloudy a sure recipe for good hatches. We saw great numbers of PMDs with good spinner falls throughout the day and caddis in the afternoon. These guys put a lot of big fish in the net on mostly spinner patterns. I believe the PMD hatch is the best time of year to get the big browns on dries and this year is no exception. The highlight was pulling 3 browns over 20 inches out of one pod of fish...unbelievable. The river is still at 12000cfs and the fish are in very interesting water.
7/1/08- I hit MZ ranch today with John and Rod Mckenna. It was perfect weather with overcast and calm. The PMD hatch was great, but we couldn't find any rising fish on Benharts. Thompsons was good though with some real bruisers rising here and there.
6/29/08- More great fishing on the Missouri. The water level is a steady 11,000cfs which is really high. Wade fishing chances are few and far between, but the fish are eating on the surface if you know where to look. Generally, if you're swatting mosquitos, you're in the right place...side channels and backwater sloughs are full of fish right now and the best place to find them sipping.
6/28/08-It's game on for the Missouri. Take your pick of bugs. Osamu Komiyama and I had a fun time on the lower river fishing untraditional hatches. We found PMD's, caddis, golden stones, yellow sallies and most exciting of all...brown drakes at dark. Here's Osamu jumping another "ho hum" 18inch rainbow.
6/24/08- Tom, Cindy and I floated the Dearborn river today hoping to hit the ellusive salmonfly hatch. We saw lots of golden stones and yellow sallies, but no big bugs. The fishing was slow in the morning, good for a couple of hours mid day with dry dropper rigs and slow again in the afternoon. After we hit the Missouri on the way to Mid Cannon, Tom got a half dozen nice ones on the crayfish combo.
6/23/08-Tom and Cindy Lachance joined me on the Missouri today. The weather and fishing were great. There were alot of PMDs hatching and a fair number of caddis. The fish started to rise today and there were a fair number of chances to catch fish with dry flies. Tom got most of his on the nymph rig with Phesant tails and crayfish.
6/21/08- Back to Depuy's. Today I fished with Barney and Cooper from California. These guys can really fish and I spend the day pointing out rising fish, then netting them. Again, the PMD hatch was just strong enough to get the fish looking at the surface. When we found a fish rising to PMDs, they ate every pattern we threw at them. The fish in the pond on the other hand were keyed into midges and were selective. We had the best luck with floating pupas. Good stuff!
6/20/08- Mr. Susa hit Depuy's spring creek with me today. We had great action on midges in the morning. Then, the PMDs started hatching. The hatch is getting stronger everyday and the fish are really responding to them. There are not a ton of bugs on the water, but when you see a rising fish...you can catch them.
6/19/08-Dan, Pat and I floated the Mighty Missouri today. The river has dropped down to 9800cfs and we saw increasing numbers of caddis and PMDs, but it's still a bit high for dry fly action. It should happen soon. In the meantime, we deep nymphed with an assortment of worms, caddis pupa and pmd nymphs. Here's the Spite boat ramp. Yah, that's a lot of water!
6/18/08-I had the treat of floating a new river today. Patrick Eisenhaur and Dan Goble joined me on the Dearborn river. The fishing was slow, but it didn't matter much. The scenery is absolutely incredible! We had a day to remember. I look forward to fishing this gem in the future and can only dream of what it would be like on a day with a good hatch.
6/13/08- Another peaceful day on the Mo. We actually had sunshine on the river although we had to fight a pretty stoubt wind most of the day. We ventured down in the canyon and I felt like the fishing was a bit better on the upper river. Again, had to fish deep with nymphs to get them although Carl did tempt a nice brown on streamer fishing with a "root beer float". The Dearborn was kicking a bit of mud in the river and we had some luck with crayfish patterns in the turbid water around mid cannon. I also, saw a fair number of caddis hatching and a few random splashy rises. I think the good dry fly fishing will be just around the corner. Traditionally, it happens when the river drops to about 9000cfs...maybe another week or so. The good news is that July and August should provide ample flows for the river and good fishing!
6/12/08- Carl Westphal and Bill Hlavanchick joined me on the Missouri for a couple days of fishing. The weather in Montana has been incredibly wet and cool. It snowed yesterday and I opted to ski at Bridger Bowl rather than get soaked on the river. Today, it rained steadily all morning before easing off in the afternoon. The flows on the mighty Mo are 13800 and it's great to see so much water! However, it does make the fishing a bit more challenging as well as rowing the boat. We had to go deep..really deep with nymphs to get the fish. We fished 12-14 foot leaders with heavy weight to get the flies down to the fat and healthy rainbows and browns. There was a decent hatch of baetis, but the water is just too high for the fish to be interested in the surface.
5/27/08-I fished the MZ Ranch today with Wye Yoshida from the Anglers Roost fly shop of Montreal Canada. After 3 days of rain and small stream flooding, today the weather cleared, although the East Gallatin was running over the banks and into the fields around the picnic shelter. There was even a bit of color to the spring creeks, but they were plenty fishable. Tom Milesnick has been working on a restoration project on Benhart creek and it looks great! He has vastly improved the holding habitat for the trout and the bugs were already hatching. We saw good numbers of PMD's. The fish were not keyed into the surface and we saw very few rises. The nymph fishing was good on blood midges. We hit Thompson creek in the afternoon and had similar results nymphing.
5/20/08-The Yellowstone has really come up with the 80 degree days. Here's the Highway 89 Bridge with 21,000cfs of water,mud and trees coming down.
5/19/08- Robert Stewart and I spent the day researching the Sitz lakes today. Bob Sitz was kind enough to show us a couple of lakes his family just opened on their ranch this year. The rod fee is $75 and there are 6 lakes to choose from on this spectacular property. We started on the middle lakes which I used to fish alot in the late 90s. We quickly abandoned the boat and walked the banks, sight fishing for cruisers. The fish in these lakes are big! The brown was over 24 inches and most of the rainbows we caught were in the 17-20 inch range and abnormally fat. We had the best luck on a zebra midge until a calibaetis hatch came off and we had an hour of super exciting dry fly fishing. After that we checked out the 2 new lakes. They are small and perfectly suited to shore fishing. They both have brookies and we had good luck stripping black streamers deep.
5/18/08-I had Joe and Rich in the boat today from their rental house to Pelican Point. After two great days of fishing and weather, the wind started to blow today. It blew hard. We were limited to deep nymphing and Joe again put on a clinic with the crayfish. The trout were hammering it. Meanwhile Rich caught most of his fish on the lightning bug behind the crayfish. All in all a great 3 days of fishing the Missouri.
5/17/08-We floated the Canyon stretch of the Missouri today. It was again hot and sunny today and the rise fishing was limited to a few spots from about 2-4pm. The caddis were not as thick today and there was just enough wind to blow them off. The nymph fishing was solid with an assortment of small nymphs in the morning and Joe nailed them on the crayfish after the hatch ended. The highlight of the day was fishing a slough with Joe, Wayne, Rich and Scott all casting within 100 yards of eachother....and catching fish like crazy they had several triple hookups and doubles were commonplace. The fish were charging around eating midge pupa. We fished a Zebra midge about 2 feet below a dry fly. Good fun.
5/16/08- Matson Rogers hosted a trip to the Missouri with Rich, Joe, Wayne and Scott. The weather was hot and sunny (80). I had Rich and Wayne with me and the caddis fishing turned out to be stellar! We fished to rising trout for about 7 hours. The fish seemed willing enough. We used 5X tippett and cast upstream to them. They hit the bloom's parachute caddis well and walloped the arimaki caddis. Here's Rich with his first fish of the trip and Wayne fighting one.
5/8/08- Patrick and I headed to Depuy's today. It was another cool cloudy day and I had hoped to see some baetis. They were few and far between, but we did have very good midge fishing. I brought my boat and we spent a few hours fishing Dicks pond. It was exciting action, sightfishing to aggressively cruising fish. Then, we spent the afternoon on the lower creek. The sun came out and it was beautiful, with good numbers of caddis bouncing around. Here's Patrick, "Damn those midges are hard to see."
5/7/08-Patrick Eisenhaur joined me on the Lower Madison today on a cold rainy day. The baetis hatch was thick and there were also good numbers of march browns. The dry fishing was good and we had a number of good hits on an elk hair caddis. The fish seem as eager as the anglers for the caddis to hatch.
5/4/08- The caddis started hatching on the Yellowstone today in good numbers. Emma and I snuck out for a few casts about 4pm and saw a nice hatch of caddis. Not a blanket hatch, but plenty just the same. The river is rising. Hopefully, we'll get some cold nights to clear it up.
5/3/08- Mr. Tsuji and I drove over to Livingston this morning to check Yellowstone river. The Yellowstone has been rising and a bit muddy the last few days, but should come into shape for the next few days. We didn't see many caddis at Carters Bridge and decided to try Depuys. The midge fishing was great and Mr. Tsuji is a fantastic caster. The fish were cruising and eating midges the whole morning. Great fishing and scenery on this warm sunny day.
5/2/08- We all headed back to the Lower Madison for some more fun today. The morning was snowy with a couple of inches in the boat this morning, then the afternoon the sun came out and it was bright. The baetis once again hatched nicely, but the wind was blowing hard enough to put most of the fish down. We chased them deep with a crayfish pattern.
5/1/08- Mr. Ogura and I floated the Madison. The weather was once again cold with snow flurries. The fishing was good with a nice baetis hatch. We found a few nice risers and the nymphing was solid. Mr. Tsuji and Robert had similar results.
4/30/08- We woke up to 3 inches of fresh snow this morning and headed to Nelson's Spring creek. Mr. Ogura and I were joined by Robert Stewart and Kazumasa Tsuji. It was absolutely beautiful in Paradise Valley today and the morning snow gave way to afternoon sun. There was a decent midge hatch in the morning which kept the fish rising in flat water. After lunch there was a great baetis hatch although it was very short in duration. For an hour or so there were fish rising all over the creek, then the sun came out and the rising really slowed down.
4/29/08- Tetsu Ogura flew in to Bozeman today and we headed straight for the Yellowstone River. To say it was windy would be an understatement. It was howling wind and the River had come up about 3 inches. We saw more caddis, but the wind was blowing them to Big Timber!
4/28/09- Rika and I floated the Yellowstone again today hunting for caddis. We did see a couple of the bugs, but not enough to get the fish too excited on this bright sunny day. Rika did make a fantastic Ramen lunch and we enjoyed the weather and caught a few fish on nymphs. Great day for a picnic as they say.
4/27/08-Beautiful sunny weather today. Rika and I floated the Lower Yellowstone today. Here's the rainbow that completed her grand slam. Overall, the fishing was slow today and the hatches were light. I think there was too much sun for the baetis and it's still not caddis time yet...
4/26/08-Today started with a boat full of snow just like yesterday. Rika Kawanishi is here for some early season fishing. We fished the Yellowstone river and it was absolutely beautiful with nice clear water in the river and fresh snow in the mountains. The fish responded well to a heavy baetis hatch and we saw a bunch of march browns...no caddis yet. Rika has fished Montana every spring for the last several years and she has the foam hole fishing mastered! She landed bunches of nice fat rainbows and cutthroats.
4/25/08- It still feels like winter here in Montana. I skied at Bridger Bowl this moringing in a foot of new snow and spent the afternoon on the Yellowstone River with my good friend Tom Harms. The skiing was great. The fishing was also very good with a thick hatch of midges and baetis. Most of the rising fish were in foam holes and the water clarity was perfect! We did get hit by a snowstorm though. Here's Tom wearing a little and some blue wings on the water. We also saw a few march browns and the famed mother's day caddis hatch should be next on the menu.
3/25/08- A carve and cast day today. I started the day on the ridge of Bridger Bowl skiing 4 inches of new snow, then Emma and I headed to the Yellowstone River for the afternoon hatch. The fishing was great with a heavy midge hatch. We even saw a few Baetis! The spring Baetis hatch brings some of the best fishing of the season to the Yellowstone. When the weather cooperates (cloudy and relatively warm), there will be fantastic fishing for the next month. Here's Emma fighting a rainbow. Proving she can chew gum and fish at the same time.
3/17/08- Tom Mountain from Great Britan celebrated St. Patricks day with me on the Yellowstone River. It was snowing and blowing like crazy at my house all morning and I wasn't sure what to expect on the river. Luckily, the snow let up as we launched the boat in the afternoon. We found some really good fishing from 2-5pm with fat and willing rainbows and a few cutthroats. There was still a stoubt wind, but Tom had little trouble with it. We even had some nice dry fly fishing during the midge hatch. It did cool off considerably as the sun sank down on the horizon, it was time to find some green beer.
2/19/08- Emma and I headed out to the Lower Madison this afternoon to enjoy a brilliant Montana day. Not a cloud in the sky and temps in the 40's . Emma used her barbie rod and had great luck (of course her rod came with the fish attached, which may be the Renegade Outfitters idea of the year!). My Scott rod on the other hand did not come with a fish attached and I never got one hooked up. We couldn't have cared less and had a blast with the dogs, played on the ice and saw about 200 elk.
2/15/08- Jeff Hiss is in town to kick off the year again. Jeff started the day skiing at Bridger Bowl, then we headed out to the Madison River to complete the carve and cast day. It was a beautiful sunny day with air temps reaching the 40's while the water was in the mid thirties. The fishing was great. We started and ended with a nymph rig, but had some fantastic dry fly fishing with midges from 4-5pm. The dry fly fishing was highlighted by Jeff going "four for four". He caught four fish in four casts....awsome.
