More Lower Madison

Alright, I'm getting tired of fishing the lower everyday. So, I'm off to the Missouri tomorrow where the flows have dropped back down to below 10G CFS. 

The lower continues to fish pretty well, folks just have a hard time keeping the fly in the zone with all the high water going through right now. One of the guys today landed a real nice fish that was just over 22". He was basically trolling and the fish hammered the fly. They seem to get on that drag drift some days better than others. I still like a good dead drift best, but it sure seems like a tight line drift can get 'em pretty good somedays. All I had today was my camcorder and the pic quality ain't that good. It was a helluva fish and the biggest that I've had a client land as of yet this year. He ate a 

beadheaded something or other...interesting as I didn't get the crayfish bite today so much but they hammered the crays the day before.

Muddy Bubbling

Well it got warm about a week to 10 days ago and the snow has really started to come down from the mountains. Flows have been really high for awhile now but most things supposedly crested today. The 9th street bridge in Livingston is pretty much toast after 10 days of 22000+ flows. The Gallatin jumped 1000 last night. The lower Madison is at 5000 cfs now. So, the upper is still a choice, but the boat fishing is for the experienced angler only.

Last week saw a lot of time on the Lower Madison with some good fishing at times, but pretty inconsistent overall. The bite was alright, but the flows are making it tough to get the flies in front of too many fish. Nevertheless, we did end up with some good fish everyday. One of my clients lost a huge fish on the lower Yesterday. An easy 23+ inch brown whacked a crayfish. I've been fishing double cray rigs for the most part.

Another Lousy Day in Paradise

The last two days have taken me to the Upper Madison, mostly to avoid the weekend crowds on the lower. The flows are still pretty high on the upper but the water clarity is holding in there and the fish are eating when we've been able to get the fly in the right spot. 

Keeping your rig tight to the bank is critical and hard to do with the high flows pushing up against the banks. I've been getting them on Zonkers with a small nymph dropper like a lightning bug. The bugs don't seem to be so important at this time, it's all about tossing it tight to the bank and mending it just enough to pull it off teh bank a couple feet w

ithout getting sucked out into the heavy water. Keep the tip up and throw a big mend.

On an update of FWP activity...I must say that I've been impressed so far as I've seen someone from FWP driving around everyday. The BLM did a real nice job in improvements to Story Ditch. So far so good.

Game On

The meat of the guide season starts tomorrow for me. I've done about 15-20 days so far this year which is pretty good for me, but starting tomorrow, the schedule is pretty full from here on out. I wish more people would come in April and even May as the fishing is usually pretty good, the crowds are a non-issue, and it's just a great time to be out here. So the lucky few that come out here early get to see a whole different Montana than the bulk of folks that come out in June/July/August/September. I'm glad that those people come out here then though as I'd probably be saying the same for the summer if they all came in the Spring or Fall.

Anyway, I'm fishing with repeat folks for the most part here on out and I'm always excited about that this time of year. After you spend a few days with someone, it's always a real treat to see them again year after year. I get to know them on more than a fishing level and lifelong friendships are built between folks that normally would never even meet one another. The true "joys" of fishing are not in the fish but in the fishing. I'm looking forward to the coming months.

We have a ton of snow yet to come out of the mountains which should mean great water all year long. Heck, we may even fish the lower Madison all summer long! I'm sure FWP will come up with some reason to close it though. 

Christine and I took Matthew fro a walk/fish up above the West Fork today on the Madison. We fished a couple hours got a dozen or so fish without working at it too much and enjoyed the day. Christine got a nice bow with Matty in the backpack...she dropped it when we were trying to tak pics. They were eating Hare and Coppers and San Juans pretty well for us today and the water looked really good with 2 + feet of vis. The West Fork was putting some color into the river, but nothing that was too bad. Unless it really blows, things are looking good up there from here on out. We'll see.

The Season is Upon Us

This has been the wettest year that I've seen here in SW Montana in over 10 years. It reminds me more of the summer of '93 than any other, but it's hard to say for sure. Whatever year it's most like, I'm ready for it to be more like the last few instead. I'm tired of snow every other week and daily rain showers. Sure, it's good for the streams and forests, but I could go for some sun for a few days. Flip flops would be nice.

Most of the rivers have come down quite a bit over the last week due to the cooler weather. The Madison above Ennis Lake is clear and fishing well as is the Lower River. The Yellowstone is on the verge of fishable, but it's still too high to worry about it. The Missouri below Holter is over 14 k which makes for some tough wading, but drift fishing has been fine nevertheless. It's a Sowbug Festival on the MO and Big Horn right now.

The last few weeks have offered some good days, but we've had to work harder than not to find  the right places. The Spring Creeks, Ponds , and Willow Creek have all been booked solid for a couple of weeks now. The Madison, especially the Upper, has been pretty empty though, but I expect that to change in the next few days as more and more touristas begin to show up.

I'm not too sure what the conditions will be like when things start to warm up again, but hopefully, the Salmoflis will finaly show themselves on the lower and the dry fly fishing will be on.