Mr. Yoshinari is in Montana to celebrate the "Golden Week" Japanese holiday. It's typically a good time to hit the caddis hatch on the Yellowstone, but today the water was high and dirty so we headed to Burns lake in the foothills of the Crazy moutains.
The weather and fishing were great. Here are a couple pictures:
4/24/18- Welcome to spring in Montana, snow yesterday, warm and sunny today. Patrick and Linda joined me in the boat, while Robert Stewart rowed Natasha and Steve down the Lower Madison today.
We enjoyed the weather, but had some tough fishing. Natasha and Steve had more luck and Natasha proved, you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.
It was a blast spending the day with this crew!
4/23/18- Patrick Eisenhaur is in town for his annual spring trip. This time he brought some family; wife Linda, nephew Steve Jones and his wife Natasha. Steve and Natasha fished the Upper Madison with Robert Stewart yesterday and put on a clinic.
We woke up to a strong East wind, a couple inches of snow on the ground and blizzard conditions today. It was slow going over Bozeman pass with full on winter driving.
Depuy's was the right place to be. Owner Daryl Smith does a great job of stocking their warming huts with firewood and we were grateful for it.
The fishing was good with a variety of methods. The wind made it difficult to see many insects on the water, but the fish were rising for a few hours mid day. Midges were the main hatch with a few baetis mixed in.
Mike and Susannah Bush made the trip up to Bozeman from Billings. We were hoping to get on the Yellowstone before the recent snowmelt muddied the water, but we were a day late.
Burns Lake in the foothills of the Crazy Mountains, turned out to be a perfect place to spend the day. The fishing started out as hot as it could be with several doubles in the first hour. It slowed down a bit during the day and then Mike and Susannah finished strong.
Susannah landed the only Brook Trout of the day. The rest were rainbows.
Well, the gang was back in town for some April fishing on the Missouri. Guide legend and owner of Anglers West Fly Shop, Matson Rogers rowed the other boat.
Scotty, Joe, Rich and new kid on the block, Bob; did the fishing. We had two perfect weather days with outstanding nymph fishing followed by one windy day which made for more challenging conditions.
I spent the last two days on the Missouri guiding for Montana legend, Dave McKee.
We were joined by Bill and Elise End and their friends Joe and Spot Lawler.
Day one was not for the average angler. Temps in the 40s, steady rain and a refreshing and relentless North wind made for good clothing testing. The fishing was really good though.
Day two, the rain stopped, but the wind really picked up making for more challenging fishing.
Doug Albright, Bill Bush and Ed Engle are in town for some spring creek fishing. These guys are as hardy as they come.
It's that time of year in Montana where the weather is a roll of the dice. Spring is trying to muscle out winter, but lately winter isn't going to let go without a fight. I was doing avalanche control at Bridger Bowl yesterday morning where the temp was -1F and the East wind was blowing 30mph...
Meanwhile, Doug, Bill and Ed were fishing at Nelson's Spring Creek.
Today, we went to Depuy's Spring Creek and found good to great midge fishing in the morning, followed by some sporatic baetis action in the afternoon. I've been fishing with Bill and Doug for a long time now and it's always great spending the day with these guys. Today, I was excited to meet Ed Engle. Ed spent a long time guiding on the South Platte in Colorado and has written some great books about technical fly fishing:
www.edengleflyfishing.com
Ed caught the first fish he aimed at on his "secret fly".
The air temp never got above freezing today and there was some wind to contend with, but the boys never complained about it. I think the rising fish kept us warm today.
It's been an incredible winter here in Montana with lots of snow and cold weather. I'm getting excited about Spring. It's my favorite time of year. If the weather is right you can ski a few runs in the morning and then chase rising fish in the afternoon. Carve and Cast. It doesn't get any better than that! Here's my buddy Brad Moore taking advantage of the deep snow in Northwest Passage.
