Fall Again

After about 10 days of temps in the 80's, another front made its way across SW Mt a couple days ago. So, we've had some wind and unsettled weather whihc has made for some less predictable action. Things should be settling down tomorrow though as the system has been here for over 24 hours now. 

I had some good fishing on the lower Ystone the last few days, nothing big but good numbers of 14-16" rainbows and a couple of 19-21 inch browns. I guess we did get a couple of good fish afterall. The whitey bite is on too as I saw more whitefish over the last 3 trips down low than I have seen down there...ever. There are still plenty of Midnight Stones around and the fish seem to prefer them best. Still some Tricos, Red Quills and BWO's too and hoppers but conditions need to be right to get that done.

They seem to have made some progress on Hebgen as the flows are way down coming out of the dam. I'm fishing up there tomorrow so I hope it all goes well. The lower Madison has been tough the last few days with a touch of color making its way through. Olive zonkers were the ticket today...they made the difference between a shit day and an alright day. My client was happy so I guess I was too. I did expect to see some more action though. It could be tough going over there for awhile now as the browns move more into spawn mode.

Gettin' is Gud

Another unusually warm day here in SW Montana, I think it's supposed to be like this for one more day. We had a very good day today on the lower Yellowstone on midnight stones overall. Finally saw some Trico activity and some fish were on them...enough to make it pretty fun for awhile. Then we got into some fish eating hoppers and I mean eating the crap out of them good. After that though, we didn't see many more risers but had plenty of good eats on the stonefly nymphs. We landed one that was 23-24 inches, my biggest on the Yellowstone this year.

Dr. Slick came out with a new hemo for the upcoming season and I think it's the greatest tool ever! It's a split shot tool that essentially is a regular hemo witha raised ridge running he length of one of the jaws. You just put the split shot "seam" in line with the ridge and close the hemos and poof...the split shot pops right open. It really is slicker than snot!

My Hatch reel is pretty amazing too!

September to remember

Things have been going good here around SW Montana the last couple of weeks. We've had some weird weather but it's been very nice the last few days. Fishing continues to pretty solid throughout the region on hoppere, nymphs, and some streamer action. We need some cloudy days again to get the fish chasing sculpins some more though.

Hebgen dam is still broke and I hope that they fix it soon or we could be in for some serious issues next year...unless we get a heap of snow again that is. They are supposedly working on it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things happen soon.

I've been all over the places the last 10 days with my favorites being the Lower Madison and Gallatin. The stone has been good too, but I've been sticking closer to home and avoiding some of the crowds. 

It' still cold

Today started off rainy and cold and it looked like that was going to be a pretty constant theme throughout the day. The sun came out around 2 or 3 and it ended up being pretty nice overall. The fishing was very good with good nymphing on Midnight Stones. The stones are still out, covering the rocks in the morning and making fly selections seems pretty easy. Actually had some dry fly fihsin as well on a good mid-day BWO hatch. There are Yellow Drakes, Pseudos, BWO's a few Tricos, some Caddis and still some hoppers out so anything seems possible...still.

Where did Summer Go?

It's had to believe that September is already here. It's the time of year when bird hunting and football give my interests some "roundedness."

What a crazy year it has been in the world of fishing around SW Montana. Things started off pretty good in March and April but lots of snow pack and a cool spring really kept summer away until maybe the 3rd week of June. Even then, fishing didn't really get going until July and I don't think I fished the Yellowstone until August! Salmonfies were pretty much a waste on the Madison but we had a bout 6 weeks of really good hopper fishing between the Madison and Yellowstone.

The season is still in full swing though so I gues I shouldn't start reflecting yet!Fished the lower the last few days and with some pretty good action finding my way yesterday. The high load of water coming through the dam has made for some interesting conditions. I found that troll was the way to go yesterday. We ended up get enough on the dead drift and a whole bunch on the troll. Cuners and Clousers oh my.

Going donw low on the stone tomorrow in search of a goliath, knowing that the lower is the place to be but we shall see.

It's Cold

The last week has seen some alright fishing, but not as good as hoped for, mostly because of some funky weather systems. I had a great couple days on the Gallatin but then was frustrated by some big winds and unsettled weather on the Madison and Yellowstone. We still got some fish, but mostly smaller ones and they came with some work. 

I say that, but in retrospect...that applies to the Yellowsteone. We actually had a decent bite on the Upper about a week ago and ended up with 10-12 fish in the boat. The angler wasn't real thrilled about that but he hooked about twice that many fish and got whipped by one real nice brown and lost a couple other good fish. The Yellowstone did suck the next day though.

The lower Madison is coming back into fine form and has fished very well the last few days. There is some stuff going on with Hebgen Dam right now which is affecting the entire system so we'll have to see what shakes out over the next few days. I think things should be awesome as teh crayfish bite has been hot, big flows should flush some of the weeds and put a lot of food and oxygen into the lower. So, keep int touch and plan on getting out there in the next few days if the flows come back down out of Ennis.

I went up to Lewistown yesterday to get the Setter out of hunting dog camp. Stopped and fished Big Spring Creek on the way up for a few hours. They were eating hoppers real well. 

Driving up there yesterday just reminded me of how amazing this year has been from a water perspective. Things are still green, small streams, seeps, and springs still have water in them. It's been a much needed reprieve from the drought years of late. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year as things are still fishng great overall. As always weather systems can bring some unpredictable weather and conditions.