Fishing as of late

Things have been pretty hectic with the arrival of Matthew Vane Swank a little over a week ago now. Nevertheless, I have been guiding some and even got to go fish for myself last night!

Things started off last last Wednesday with a trip to the Yellowstone just after the Mother's Day Caddis Hatch. For whatever reason, it was a tough day. We got some fish on nymps but had to work for them. They weren't coming up, despite the presence of a billion Caddis and March Browns. Oh well, I wasn't alone as I had several reports from other guides thatg they had a tough day as well.

The stone blew out the next day and I ended up doing a trip to the Lower Mad on Friday. Again, just a few days after the Caddis started and tough fishing. We definitley got enough fish and lost a few as well, but overall, it was tough. I tried just about every Caddis pupa pattern in the shop behind a Crayfish and the fish just kept eating the Crays.

Staurday was windy as hell and I had a great client in town visiting the grandbaby and just wanted to get out. We went to Sitzs' to fish their ponds, but it was so windy we only gave it an hour or so before calling it quits. The ponds looked like they were in great shape and they've supposedly been stocked again this year so I'm anxious to get out there on a good day. Probably later this week as the Lower Madison is now the only game in town, except the spring creeks in Paradise Valley and I have 4 more trips this week.

So, Chris and I went out to the Lower last night and had a good time. We got plenty of fish on dries the last 2 hours of so with ELk Hairs and Mother's Day Pupa. It was tougher than it should've been, but we still got some fish. Nymphing was good from 5-7 or so. I felt better about my abilities after last night.

Today, I took a guy on a float from Warm Springs to Black's Ford. The BLM is almost done paving Warm Springs, and you can get in there now without any issues. Not too many folks out today, but fishing was good. Crayfish and worms did the trick very well as we landed 3 fish over 18 inches and a bunch of 12-14 inchers with a few in between as well. I feel like I should've been messing with bugs, but it's hard to take off the worm when it's working so well! Not much on top, but it was pretty sunny for the most part today. The fish seem to be eating very well the last 2 days over there and not too picky (as long as you have a Crayfish and a worm).

I'm doing a half day walk wade trip on the Lower tomorrow as theUpper is officially in pretty bad shape. I gues it was fishable today, but not sure what it will be like tomorrow. I'm guessing that it will be 2-3 weeks before the Upper starts to come back around as there isn't too mcu snow to come down.

Check out the or otter scar on the fish below!

Matthew Vane Swank

I haven't been fishing too much latley as we;ve been awaiting the arrival of our first child. He arrived at 12:51 am on April 20, weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs 10oz and measuring 20 inches. He and mom are both doing well and heading home from the hospital this evening.

As far as fishing goes...the Mother's Day Caddis Hatch has just begun on the Yellowstone, so get the hell over there! Hopefully, we'll have some cold weather come back around to keep the river in good shape for a few weeks.

The Mo Blows

Today was very nasty up on the Missouri. We fished between Mid Canon and Mountain Palace in an attempt to find some shelter from the wind. Well, it sort of worked, but not really. The bite was not on although I did witness one of the most intense midge hatches that I've ever seen. Regardless, the guys had a good attitude and we made the best of the day given the weather and the fact that most of the fish are spanwing up the Dearborn and Prickly Pear for the time being.

We did manage to get a few fish and one 20" brown. Not bad for the guy's first honest attempt at fly-fishing.

Busy Busy

The last couple of weeks has flown by and now it seems that everything is coming to a head. We should be having a baby any day now. I am to give a talk on NZ on Wednesday, provided that Christine isn't in labor that is. I have my first guide trip of the year tomorrow so long as that labor thing doesn't come tonight! There's a ton to do at work, plenty of fish to be caught, and baby diapers to be changed.
There's been a bunch of press around latley on stream access. I went to the hearing on SB 78 this week and was amazed at the process and lack of honest representation in our state legislature. There have been a bunch of folks getting digruntled at our representatives as well as some of the conservation groups. Stream access is a critical issue for us in Montana, please support Public Lands/Water Acces Association, the Wildlife Federation, Montana River Action, as well as your favorite conservation agnecy such as TU, GYC, DU, RMEF, and more. There are a lot of fine people out there fighting to protect Montana's Stream Access for the current and future generations. You should be one too!
The Yellowstone has been great as of late. Cloudy days are bringing out billions of BWO's and midges. The good news is that the fish are up and gobbling doen dries. Lance and I fished around Emigrant on Friday and caught a bizillion fish. Sure, there may or may not have been a whitey or two in the mix, I don't recall exactly. The mix seemed to be about 50:50 whitey to trout, so when you're talking a bizillion, it seems like we caught a gidzillion trout!
The first guide trip of the year for me is tomorrow. I'm taking a couple of guys from town up to the Missouri for the day. Hopefully, I can find some fish that aren't up the Deerborn. The weather should be fantastic and I'm sure we'll be able to find plenty of fish to keep everybody happy for the day!
I'm getting very excited about the baby so keep your fingers crossed for me that he/she shows up on schedule...Thursday!