July 1

What a crazy couple of weeks in terms of the water conditions. Salmonflies never really happened on the Lower Madison, but are now goingon the Upper near Varney and up to Big Sky on the Gallatin. The Yellowstone is still high, but clarity is good enough, so just another week-10 days before we get on there. The lower Galltin is probably a week away as well.

Since last I posted, I've fished the lower Madison a few times, the Gallatin near Greek Creek and floated below Manhattan. Fishing on the lower has been pretty good over the last 4 days or so with dries and a hodge podge of junk flies. That's probably still my first choice. I'm looking to get on the upper on Thursday.

We've got a 10 boat trip tomorrow on the lower which should be fun for all. Big groups are always great because everyone is just out to have a great time.

The lower Gally is one of my favorites and it just needs to come down about 30% and it should be off the hook good. Ben and I fished it yesterday and found the bite to be tough, but I think it had more to do with the high flows than the fish.

I also managed to pick a NASTY case of poison ivy over the last few days. Good stuff.

Almost Time

This year has gotten off to a slow start for sure. It's hard to say of it's the economy or not as we are busy once we get into early July and a little is starting now. Last year was such a prolonged runoff, it's also hard to say if folks decided to wait a little later on average this year to avoid the runoff. Regardless, it seems like it's been quiet on the rivers for everyone this June. I'm looking forward to getting busy soon and I've been enjoying some fishing on my own for a change.

Chris and I hit the Lower Madison last Thursday night in hope of Salmonflies. They weren't out yet, but there were a ton of Caddis, Yellow Sallies, and PMD's. I ended up taking pictures more so than fishing and Chris worked at it pretty hard with dries. He finally worked it out on a PMD para winger after throwing a bunch of different patterns at them.

We saw a nice fish that was tailing in reverse down the river. The only thing we could figure is that it had a sculpin or crayfish that it was trying to get down, heck it could've been a trout too, it's throat and fighting that more so that the current. The other phenom over there right now is the presence of Sea Gulls. The gulls live at the landfill in Manhattan all year, but they usually migrate up the river with the Salmonflies. I assume this is what they're doing as they show up about now and hang out for a few weeks. I've seen several of them over the years at this time of year that look like they are feeding on dead fish of some sort. Not sure exactly what it could be but I've seen this behavior the last few years. This could explain why they get on dead drift sculpins so well around now.

Chris and I also fished on Sat on the UM. Fishing was good, not great. Stonefly nymphs, worms, and small PT's were the best bet for us. PMD's were out and Salmonflies are probably just a few warm days away.

I played with an 11' 5 wt. Helios Switch rod all day. The length was really nice for mending, but overall I thought the rod was heavier than what I'd want to fish with for a day or two of trout fishing. It has some great application for wade fishing larger rivers like the stone or Madison, but I primarily fish out of a boat so that extra reach isn't as important to me. If I did primarily wade fish, I think this would be a great rod to have for fishing in the fall and to have for days on the Yellowstone. A cool rod but definitely a specialty thing.

Salmo Fly Time

Things are starting to catch up with normality. I floated the Lm yesterday with my family and saw a few big bugs down below Blacks Ford. Who cares though?! The fish were eating nymphs really well , the water is perfect for some cozy wet-wading and the forecast is for more warm weather! Looks good.

I floated the Bear Trap from the Powerhouse to Warm Springs on Thursday and that was a great day too. We got a lot of fish in the 14-16" range on nymphs and saw some terrific scenery. I'd never been down through the canyon before and it really was amazing. The white water in there lived up to it's hype though and I think I'll stick to fishing it with Louis before I give it a go on my own. There really is some serious big water in there!

June Cold

We had a cool spell slip into the region over the past weekend which has made for some interesting conditions. The Gallatin is fishable again and the Upper Madison has also cleared up quite a bit. This will all probably change in a week or so, but for the time being...there is some good fishing to be had.

Fishing towards the end of runoff is always really good, especially if you can hit the river within a few days of getting 1-2 feet of visibility. The fish are always on the banks and eat well. One of my favorite things to do is to dead drift or drag a zonker with a stonefly dropper right off the banks. It's productive, you can use 15-20 pound tippet and the fish are usually in great shape after a few weeks of eating everything that's been washed in the current of the high flows.

We should start seeing Salmonflies once we get 3-4 days of warm weather. We'll se them first on the Lower Madison around here, but I'm guessing we'll still be fishing them well into late July on the Upper Madison.

Things are getting good and I can't wait to get back at it.

Back 2 Work

We just wrapped up a few days up on the Missouri with the group from Colton Bay Outfitters in Ann Arbor. This was the 4th year with the group and their first trip to the Mo. We were a little uncertain of things as the river went from 9000cfs to 11500cfs a few days before we headed up there.
The fishing was really good though, despite the high water. Forget about wade fishing for the time being. Fishing from the dam to craig was really good for everyone. The secret was to do the row around in soft water and nymph with 10-12 foot leader and a big split shot. Anything pink seemed to do it just fine. The lower river was tougher just becuase there isn't as much soft water down there, but the fish were stacked on the ledges and edges of anything soft.
There's a lot of water coming down up there right now, but if you're persistant with trying a few rigs out, the fish are hungry and eating. Everyone in the gropu hooked into crazy numbers of fish and everyone landed plenty over 18".
I've been fishing the MO since the mid 90's and this year seems to be showing the most promise in probably 10 years. The average size of fish is up and there are a ton of fish in the river. Not sure what the data is, but FWP was shocking in early May...we should see some number in early 2010!