Getting There

The rivers are dropping swiftly now and everything, including the Yellowstone should be fishable within a week-10 days. The Madison is in fine shape now in terms of flows and clarity, and it sounds like Salmonflies are just starting to show up around Ennis. This is one of my favorite times of year in SW Montana as everyday is one day closer to THE day.

We've still been getting some evening rain which has caused the Gallatin to get pretty dirty but that should change here pretty quickly. In the meantime, it seems like every boat and wade fisherman in the state has been between warm springs and black's ford on the Madison. Getting out early is probably the best bet on the lower right now and who the hell knows about the upper!

I fished the UM twice this week and was disappointed both times. The water was in great shape but we had a hard time getting many fish out of any place in particular. Just one or two here and there and I saw 0 sign of stonefly nymphs on the banks. The best fishing was actually with two small nymphs which is fine, but not really what we were hoping for. Now they are lowering the flows which is going to clear up the water pretty quickly and should make for some spooky fish on the banks in about an hour or two! It is what it is and I could be wrong but I bet it sucks up there all summer!

The good news is that everything should be getting really good very soon which will help spread some of the traffic out and take some of the pressure off the lm fish. 

I fished the lower today with Christine and Matty. Beautiful weather, great company, tiny fish, and a sleepy baby! It was a great day on the river.

The Worm and Me

3 more days on the Mo just came to an end and I'll hopefully be spending the rest of the summer around Bozeman. Provided that the rivers clear up eventually. The Missouri was running at 18-19,000 cfs while we were up there. 1997 was the last time that flows got that high and I was there then too. The differences are that the fish prefer worms to sowbugs, wire to vernille, and red to orange.

I've long been a fan of the worm, I think the first time I fished it was probably on the Doloros River in SW Colorado around 1992. My family and I were fishing with a couple of guides from Telluride...John something and Frank Smithers (of the rooster fish movie a few years ago). The river was dirty, high, and looked pretty crappy to me at the time. I caught several nice fish that day, but 2 really good fish...one on a disco midge and one on worm.

Is it aquatic worms, earthworms, or just something red that makes the fish want to eat? I don't know and I guess I shouldn't go on as this will end up being a very long rant on finding meaning in life and a river through a worm.

Waters around here are still high and dirty, but I'm hitting the Madison the rest of the week and betting on some favorable water conditions, improving throughout the week. It's going to take  a few rain free days to get things to drop, but I guess we still have plenty of time as it's not even July yet.

The guys we were with on the Mo have been fishing with us for several years now and were great. I think I said something about being lucky to have such great clients a few weeks ago but I'll say it again as I really am lucky. The people and places in life are what makes it all so great...worms too.

Homeward Bound

Sitting in the BA airport right now, getting ready to head home. Seems like I've been gone for a month, which I guess I have been...more or less. Looking forward to seeing Christine, the boys, and the dogs.

The trip to Los Ombues was terrific. Great duck hunting and dove shooting. Shot some Perdiz and caught a few small dorado. Very busy days with great food and hospitality in between activities. Hope to do it again as the duck hunting was really amazing. The power of corn is unmistakeable.

Back on the river mid week with MB and the clan, hopefully we have some cleaner water and some the fish are still hungry. Who knows where we'll end up but I'm sure the fishing will be great either way.

EL CARNAGE

Swanny would be proud of the avian carnage that I have been both a participant and witness to the last 24 hours. We dove hunt in the afternoons, ducks in the am, caught some dorado mid-day today.

Done on the Mo

Wrapped up my spring fishing on the Missouri on Saturday with the Colton Bay Outfitters group. I should throw them some love as they bring out a couple of groups a year from Ann Arbor. John Davis is the man with the plan there and always seems to get a great group of folks to bring to Montana. Colton Bay is a fly shop in Ann Arbor and they also do some guided fishing around Ann Arbor, the PM, and NE Ohio among other places. Look 'em up if you're ever in the area.

Fishing on the Mo has been very good pretty much straight on through. I think the toughest day I had was actually the one day that I had to fish with some friends of mine last week. We still managed to probably boat over 20 fish, but that was after a lot of rowing around in circles and trying to break away from the crowds. Even got a 12" brookie below Stickney one day.

One thing I definitely picked up on up there this year is that the browns come out and eat when that water is a little dirty. It's hard to get motivated to go fish that dirty water when there is still 20 some odd miles of clean water upstream. Worms worms and more worms. The water was clearing on Saturday and the flows were slowly starting to come up out of the dam. Higher flows should just make everything better as it will mix up the distribution of the fish a bit and maybe give them a little relief, especially the ones in the Dam to Craig section.

I'm in Buenos Aires today, heading up north to go duck and dive hunting this week! Back to work next Monday and hopefully some clearing water. My wife is the coolest wife in the world!

Mo God Times

My days on the Mos are numbered, just have 3 more days to go and then it's back to the best fishing in the western US...Bozeman, Mt. The Mo is a phenomenal fishery, especially in May. As the season progresses, however, so do the crowds and weed growth. As this happens I like turning my attention back to sw Montana and getting on the Madison, Gallatin, and Yellowstone...this is where it really is.

My May trips to the Mo are more for the angler looking to catch a lot of big fish everyday, using whatever techniques we need to use. I really highly recommend thinking about this for next year as I've really got dialed in with regard to how where and when. It;s not the trip tp make instead of coming out in July-August but in addition. It's really a different experience altogether and is worth making your pans for now. Anytime from May 1 - Memorial Day Weekend is money. It gets crowded on the weekend and even mid week from there on. Anyway, put it on your bucket list because it is one of the few fly fishing sure things!

d

Lots of folks starting to show up here so it's time to try some new tactics. Get on the water early and do long floats just pushing ahead of all the crowds and cherry picking the Sweet spots. Same rigs...wire worms with Green Machines and Hare and Coppers...just a different approach.

So anyway, 3 more days which should be fantastic