November 2nd, 2011
I took my yellow lab pup Sawyer on a road trip after several days of laborious shopping for my wife’s new car. We searched for mallards and big brown trout, both of which we encountered successfully. I also enjoyed a long night with a frozen water dog in a cold single digit tent. After an exciting but icy morning chasing ducks, we enjoyed excellent catching on the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park. Vibrantly colored November browns were common on every odd cast during the warmer hours of the day between noon and 4pm. I was delighted to land six brown and rainbow trout each over 20″ along with plenty of healthy smaller fish. If that wasn’t enough of a treat, elk grazed to the right and bison to the left on a bluebird day in a snowy winterland!
Miles
October 13th, 2011
The storm track recently changed forcing the withdraw of sunny near record high temperatures with cool cloudy conditions perfect for fishing. These recent storms brought snow to the high country and misty weather to the valleys. Over the course of the last ten days, we’ve been seeing great fishing action throughout the area. One aspect anglers should head caution toward are the changing water levels associated with the recent precipitation and more importantly the local farmers discontinuing to draw irrigation water. Several local watersheds saw an approximate 15% increase in volume roughly over three days, which may have a temporary effect on catching. There are plenty of rivers to fish around southwest Montana so check the gauges before you head out.
Big fish have been on the move. Throughout the course of the week, our guides hosted several groups of beginner (never-ever) anglers as well as repeat seasoned anglers who all successfully caught a variety of very nice brown and rainbow trout approaching the 20″ mark on both the Yellowstone and Madison rivers.
On another trip, I was delighted to share McCoy’s Spring Creek near Dillon, MT on a cloudy day with two seasoned anglers. We enjoyed lots of action after lunch including seven notable hookups with fish ranging from 18-23″ on small size 20 dry flies.
Great fishing should continue as big fish aggressively put on weight for winter. Depending on the conditions, anglers currently have prime opportunity to catch big fish with small dries, streamers, or nymph rigs.
Miles
October 3rd, 2011
October is a fantastic time to enjoy Montana fly fishing. Water temps are dropping fast as the days get cooler and the fishing can really turn on as the summer tourists have headed back home and kids are back in school. Tom Jenni and I put on for a three day overnight float on the Lower Yellowstone last weekend and only saw 3 other guide boats in 3 days despite averaging 40 trout per boat per day.
Although the very beginning of October can still produce some decent hopper and ant fishing, autumn fishing is dominated by the baetis hatch and stripping big streamers. Although making any hard and fast rules in the sport of fly fishing is never a good idea, there are two main strategies I use in October: going big and going small.
A Nice Late Season Montana Brown
The baetis (aka: blue winged olive) is the dominate late season hatch on Southern Montana waters. This dependable small mayfly weighs in at a diminutive size 18 or 2o. Despite is small size its dramatic abundance raises the interest level of even large fish. In October we almost always fish some type of baetis imitation when tossing dries or nymphs. When dry fly fishing a parachute adams is a good bet, but the many versions of baetis dries out there will also work. When nymphing trail your top fly with a beatis nymph or emerging baetis pattern.
Browns also become more aggressive in the fall and targeting large pre-spawn migratory fish can produce the largest trout of the season. The best way to catch browns over 20″ is to drag big streamers around. Both stripping with a classic streamer retrieve and dead drifting or “tight lining” bunny fur can produce some very big tugs. Although numbers go down when you up the fly size quality definitely increases.
October fly fishing offers many options, but to maximize enjoyment try tossing small baetis dries for the best surface action and stripping giant streamers when targeting monsters. Go big or go small!
September 29th, 2011
Jerry (a talented angler eager to employ some new casting techniques) and I enjoyed a fun day chasing healthy trout with small flies on Armstrong’s Spring Creek. The fish were cooperative in every run except one. Regardless of the sunny warm weather, we observed small size 24 BWO’s in the morning and some large size 18 BWO’s in the afternoon. A light breeze through the idyllic autumn foliage placed a friendly riffle on the water, which allowed us to sneak in close and tighten the line on numerous wild and energetic fish. They couldn’t refuse a sunken size 22 Baetis Emerger nor a size 18 CDC Baetis Emerger fished dry on 6X. The baetis are popping (even with full sunshine) and the fish are eager… the next cool cloudy day should have Armstrong’s Spring Creek boiling!
Miles
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September 14th, 2011
September has blessed us with cool nights and warm sunny afternoons. The fish have been responding very opportunistically to the favorable weather, great water levels, and reduced crowds this time of year. Dry fly fishing is excellent right now throughout the region. We’ve been fishing the Yellowstone River the last few days with attractor dries and terrestrials from bell to bell. One seasoned angler coined the phrase “Epic” while grinning ear to ear. Another seasoned angler from Canada simply said “Thank You” after boating a 20″ Madison River brown on a hopper. Streamers are also beginning to heat up for angry fish.
Late summer and early autumn hatches are really cranking. Tricos, small BWO’s, flying ants, autumn caddis, midges and of course hoppers are all tempting big fish right now.
Miles
September 2nd, 2011
September is a transition month in Montana. Fall can arrive early in the Rockies, but warm Indian summers are also possible. Most of the snow from the previous winter has melted out and river flows are low even on a big water year. Nights are becoming longer and temperatures start dropping. Summertime tourists thin out once kids go back to school and many locals set down their fly rods to take when archery season opens.
The beginning of September often feels like an extension of August with terrestrials ruling the day. Montana fishing in September is dominated by hoppers and terrestrials on years with when warm temperatures extend into the fall. Hoppers, ants, beetles and crickets always play an important roll in the early fall, especially on hot days. With the exception of the trico mayfly there are not many aquatic hatches in the bigger rivers. Trout are opportunistic and will often key in on larger subsurface food sources like crayfish and sculpins.
With lower flows don’t expect trout to always be along the banks. On many rivers like the Madison, Gallatin and Yellowstone trout begin moving into the main channels and riffles and are no longer along banks unless they hold swift and deep water. Paying careful attention to subtle depth and current changes can pay big dividends. Depressions in riffles and seams are great places to target trout in the fall.
Some of the first storms of the fall begin moving in during the month of September. These rainy days always produce big fish. They are a great time to strip streamers or toss big ugly nymphs that imitate large food sources. Later in September these cloudy days begin targeting the fall baetis (blue winged olives). The fall baetis can produce terrific dry fly fishing on cloudy and drizzly days.
June 3rd, 2011
When summer finally arrives in Montana there is still plenty of snow in the mountains. Warmer weather melts snow at a rapid rate during spring run off and many rivers become high, dirty and dangerous. Although some favorite rivers like the Yellowstone are toast during run off, there are still many great options that produce outstanding fishing in Montana.
Spring Creeks
Many of our guides feel that Montana spring creeks are at their best in May and June. Spring creeks flow crystal clear year round and are not affected by snow melt. Trout in the technical spring creeks have not been hammered too much this early in the year and they are not as wary as they will be in July and August. Weed beds are also at a minimum and allow for much easier nymph fishing than later in the summer. There are also some great hatches that occur during run off that include the blue winged olives in May and pale morning duns in June.
Tailwaters
Reservoirs allow sediments to settle out allowing rivers to flow clear below dams. Fisheries like the Madison, Willow Creek, Bighorn and Missouri are outstanding in June. Some rivers like the Madison receive some sediment downstream of the dam from some incoming tributaries, but usually if you fish high enough, the fishing is still great even with 6-8″ of visibility. Some sediment mixed in usually improves the chances of hooking the largest fish in the river and we catch some of the biggest trout of the year out of the Madison in June.
Stillwaters
Private lakes on ranches require a rod fee but produce extremely exciting site casting to monstrous trout that are cruising the shallows and are at their peak during June before weedbeds and warming water temperatures slow things down. Most of these trophy fisheries have a great June callibaetis mayfly hatch that gets the large trout roaming and looking for emergers and duns. Spending a day making accurate casts to cruising trout over 20″ is reminiscent of site fishing the flats for bonefish. Larger lakes like Harrison, Ennis and Hebgen also produce awesome fishing for large trout during June.
May 6th, 2011
There is a lot more to Montana fishing than just the catching, but getting a few trout to the net never hurts! Here are a few tips that most of our guides use with our fishing guests to instantly help folks get more hook ups with very little extra effort.
Use foam patterns when fishing dries
We still fish a lot of great traditional patterns like the stimulator and royal wulff when fishing attractor dry flies and fur ants or Dave’s hoppers for terrestrials, but many of our guides have come to rely more and more on foam patterns when guiding. The beauty of foam patterns is that they never sink! By the end of the day this results in your flies spending more time on the water and lest time in the air. Even a high floating hair wing attractor like a parachute madam X can eventually get water logged or pulled under water on a strong mend. When a foam hopper gets pulled under while mending it just floats back to the surface allowing the drift to continue without a new cast. Foam flies simply spend more time on the water and result in more trout to the net by the end of the day.
Use less weight nymph fishing
During most of the late spring, summer and early fall the metabolism of trout is in high gear and they are willing to move a bit for your subsurface presentations. Many anglers make the mistake of fishing too much weight on their nymph rigs with the idea that they need to be scraping the bottom with their flies. Nymphs do not always need to be right on the bottom since trout will frequently move up in the water column to intercept them. If your flies spend less time on the bottom they also get snagged less resulting in more fishing time. Removing some weight also results in less tangles while casting which also effectively increases the amount of time that you are actually “fishing” during the course of a day. Finally, strikes are easier to detect since you are spending less time trying to decipher the difference between a tick on the bottom and a take. When you are constantly bumping bottom you either false set which ends a drift, or assume that some takes are rocks and don’t set the hook at all.
Using a Light Nymph Rig To Pull Fish Out of Riffles
Make less false casts
Most guides hate to see good water float by while their clients are making false casts. Many fly fisherman get into a rhythm when casting and often make many more false casts than needed between their presentations to the trout. False casts should only be made when a dry fly needs to be aired out or the effective length of the cast needs to be changed. Often a simple up and down cast is all that is needed to reposition the flies. By consciously focusing to reduce your false casting as much as possible your flies will spend a higher percentage of the day in the “trout zone” and result in more hook ups.
Raise your rod height
Once your flies are on the water try lifting your rod hand and extending it towards the flies. The rod should almost be parallel to the water (tilting the rod up can pull the flies toward you unless it is a very short cast). By lifting the rod higher of off the water and extending your arm you will be reducing the amount of line on the water that is susceptible to drag and get a better presentation during your drift. A higher rod position also makes mending easier. This easy modification to the rod geometry will result in a more natural presentation and hopefully draw a few more strikes from willing trout.
May 1st, 2011
May has arrived and with it comes some of the most exciting and diverse fly fishing of the season. May can produce the most intense hatches of the season as well as some of the most unpredictable weather and water conditions. It is also a month of significant change; river levels, weather patterns and insect hatches can change quickly from one day to the next. May is probably my favorite month of the year to fish local Montana rivers. I really enjoy the diversity of options available and the need to play the chess match of following water levels and hatch cycles. As water temperatures warm quickly the trout really start putting on their feed bags and the fishing can be downright explosive at times.
Montana Rainbow Caught in May
May Hatches
Baetis – Mayflies of the baetis genus hatch throughout the month of May. These small grey and olive mayflies are generally best imitated with a size 18 hook. Hatches usually occur just after lunch and can extend for hours on a good day. The intensity of the hatch varies and is much stronger on cloudy and overcast days. On foul weather days these “blue winged olives” can blanket the water and bring trout up steadily for many hours. The small size of the insect helps keep the trout from filling up too quickly resulting in long sustained surface activity. A good baetis hatch can produce some of the best match the hatch fishing imaginable.
March Browns – March Browns are a large size 12-10 brownish gray mayfly that hatches sporadically during May. Like the baetis mayflies, March Browns prefer cloudy days. Although the baetis often greatly outnumber these bigger insects, the larger trout often prefer the larger mayfly. One of the biggest browns I have seen eat a dry was a 25″ fish that was furiously gulping these down in a side channel of the Madison a few years ago.
Midges – Midge hatches become strong in February and the tail end of the hatch extends into early May. It is often easy to overlook midges when other larger insects are on the water, but midges are still very important in the late spring. Tailwaters and spring creeks generally have much stronger midge hatches than freestone rivers like the Yellowstone.
Mother’s Day Caddis – The Mother’s Day Caddis is the most intense hatch of the year on legendary rivers like the Madison and Yellowstone. The timing of the hatch varies from year to year, but it is generally just getting started in early May. Once water temperatures consistently top out at 52 degrees the hatch begins. Generally the Yellowstone is the first river to produce fishable conditions followed by the Lower and then Upper Madison. On rivers like the Yellowstone the good fishing often runs into the beginning of run off so paying close attention to water levels is critical. Tailwaters below dams like the Madison are much more predictable and great fishing extends well into the month even when other rivers rise and become dirty. The Mother’s Day Caddis can become so intense that large rafts of caddis actually blanket the water and can cover several square feet of water in back eddies. When the hatch is cuaght at its peak it can bring up every trout in the river producing a feeding frenzy that is
April 18th, 2011
Several of our guides have been out on a variety of different waters lately and the last few days have produced some outstanding fishing. Midges continue to produce good dry fly fishing on the Gallatin and Lower Madison. We had a very good report from the lower end of Bear Trap canyon that produced good nymph fishing on standards like a copper john followed by fish working the midge hatch on the surface. The Gallatin continues to fish well both in the canyon and below with great nymphing on worms, eggs, rubber legs and small baetis nymphs. Midge hatches mid day on the Gallatin can produce good fishing on the surface if you can find some slower water (they just don’t want to work too hard right now). We had some guides on the Boulder and they had banner days but didn’t see any of the larger Yellowstone River fish that can work their way up the river this time of year. Rubber legs and baetis nymphs were the ticket. The guys also had some nice dry fly hatch over one of the strongest baetis hatches of the year to date….it looks like the blue winged olives have finally arrived!
Montana fly fishing during the next few weeks should produce terrific action as the baetis hatch continues to grow in strength. March Browns will become more important soon. These large mayflies can bring up some very large trout. The Mother’s Day Caddis is still about 2 weeks a way but some of the first caddis of the year were out on the Lower Madison over the weekend.
April 10th, 2011
I’ve been hoping to run into a good midge hatch one of these days. It seems like everyone I talked to was reporting a nice run in with rising fish over the midge hatch the last few weeks. On friday I met up with seasoned guide Sean Blaine and Ryan Castle to do some fishing behind the Gallatin River Lodge. GRL is one of the areas best Montana fishing lodges and we were fortunate to enjoy their two miles of private access that they have behind the lodge. Ryan was a former student and is now a junior at Bozeman High with aspirations of becoming a fishing and hunting outfitter some day.
Spring Midge Hatch on the Gallatin
Despite some scattered snow flurries and cooler temps the day was a nice one with zero wind. The water behind the lodge is gorgeous with lots of great slower runs where the trout are stacked up this time of year. We hiked down river for a while where Ryan and I settled into a nice slow slot and managed to hit about a dozen trout within an hour with two doubles. Ryan was throwing a rubber legs with a copper john trailer and I was picking them up on an egg trailed by an RS2. Sean was hitting fish on a small floss worm so it didn’t seem to matter too much as long as you were in the right water. After satisfying the need to feel a few wiggles on the edge of the line we started hiking up the river to look for some rising trout as the midge hatch started. Sean quickly found a nice pod of fish rising where the main current met with a back water slough. About six fish were working the slough and we all had a blast taking turns casting to the risers.
It felt great to get some of the first solid dry fly fishing in of the year. The rivers feel like a powder keg ready to explode right now and the next few weeks will produce some of the most exciting hatches of the season. Spring fishing is defined by rapid change, turbulent weather and rapidly changing water levels. Hatches change day by day and rivers come up and down with rising and cooling temperatures. When conditions are just right many of the hatches like the blue winged olive and mothers day caddis explode off the water in astounding numbers producing a feeding frenzy that is a spectacle not soon to be forgotten.
March 31st, 2011
It looks like House Bill SB230 was effectively killed off so there will not be a ban on felt wading boots in Montana for the foreseeable future. Apparently one of the legislatures had an affinity for the traction they produce and withdrew the bill as more pressing matters presented themselves. The boot industry is moving away from felt and several manufactures have followed the lead of Simms (based here in Bozeman!) and are no longer producing them. In the meantime please consider upgrading to the newer boots. Felt soles should be fine if properly disinfected with a 10% bleach solution. This is especially important for anglers visiting from out of state in order to preserve the quality of our world class Montana fishing.
March 27th, 2011
I had a few friends in town from Colorado so we went and fished the Ruby yesterday. I’ve had some good midge action in the past this time of year on the Ruby so we went in hopes of seeing some heads but the hatch never materialized. Fortunately the nypmh fishing was great and the water flows ideal. A few other guys had the same idea and we saw to or three other rigs at the access but with a little walking found some great water all to ourselves. As is the case on all of our Montana rivers this time of year, the fish were concentrated in the slow deep runs just after riffles. Nothing fancy on the fly selection…eggs and worms ruled the day with midge larva also producing some trout. Dan Rick also joined us and recently reported some dynamite dry fly action over midges just a few days ago. Fishing should only get better as the weather continues its march towards mild temps and we will soon be seeing a great progression of spring hatches!
March 21st, 2011
March is still winter in Montana but it is close enough to spring that sun craved Montanans break out into shorts when temps hit 40 degrees. This intense craving for “fishing weather” sometimes replaces the rational with the irrational. Such was the case for Dan Rick, Tom Reed and myself on a recent excursion to DePuy Spring Creek near Livingston 2 weeks ago. With mild days becoming more and more common and fishing reports from friends coming in with glowing results on the local spring creeks, the Gallatin and Lower Mad it was time to get out. The fly fishing in Montana in March can often be rewarding. With busy schedules to juggle we picked a day that would work for everyone and started daydreaming with high expectations. When the planned day finally arrived the mild weather quickly vanished and was replaced with freezing temperatures. None of us could stand the thought of not hitting the water on our highly anticipated outing so we pushed forward with lingering high hopes that the wind would cooperate and the fishing would still be productive.
No sooner did we pull up to the old Plantation house to check in did the wind begin blowing small livestock through the air approaching gusts near 50 mph. We quickly headed to Eva’s hut to start a fire in the old wood stove and sip on some coffee hoping the wind would die down. After consuming some sandwiches and exhausting our best stories our stalling tactics did not appear to have any influence on the cold North gale. My pickup was slowly becoming buried in a newly formed snow drift. Despite the inclement weather we decided that we would at least try wetting a line so we commenced to rig up in the warming hut. When we exited the shelter we each looked like the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man in our multiple layers of warm clothing.
Despite the harsh wind we set up on a few good winter runs and managed to pull out a few trout. Dan Rick was king of the day hooking up on three impressive trout before we finally threw in the towel an hour later (which never hit the water and is probably still descending from its wind fueled flight into the stratosphere).
It is days like these when I remind myself that fishing is a lot more than catching and despite the harsh conditions we all had a grand time. Some of my most memorable fishing trips over the years seam to have occurred in march trying to push our luck and will spring upon us with the results often ending in blizzard like conditions. Of course the next day one of my good friends hustled over to tell me how great the fishing was on the Yellowstone the day before (before the front arrived)…oh well – should have been there yesterday!
March 6th, 2011
Spring is fast approaching and everyone is itching to get out and wet a line. Although winter fishing is great…things really begin to get exciting when water temperatures begin rising in the spring. One of the great attractions of fly fishing in Montana is the terrific variety that anglers can experience on the vast array of rivers, spring creeks, ponds and lakes the state has to offer. Fishing technique and aquatic hatches are also diverse and across the state and change from month to month. April is arguably the most diverse month of the fishing season in regards to fishing techniques and hatches.
Spring weather in Montana is notoriously fickle and can produce both balmy warm days and blizzard like winter weather. April is a major transition month for weather with a tumultuous blend of cold winter storms and mild spring temperatures. Fishing in early April across Montana often produces winter like fishing conditions with a few exceptions. Water temperatures are still cold and trout are concentrated in slow deep runs in order to conserve energy. Prime feeding times coincide with the warmest part of the day which is generally from about noon until 4pm. The most productive fishing techniques during the early part of the month is generally nymph fishing just off of the bottom. Rainbows are spawning this time of year and egg patterns can often be deadly along with the standard stonefly, small mayfly and midge patterns.
Early April does offer some decent dry fly fishing in some locations. Montana fishing guides from around the state converge on the skwala stonefly that begins hatching in late March and continues into April on many of the larger rivers in Western Montana. The trout see enough of these relatively large insects to be enticed to the surface. Early April also produces some outstanding dry fly fishing over midge hatches. The best midge fishing tends to be on some of the tailwaters below dams such as the Missouri, Ruby and Bighorn.
As water temperatures continue to rise the baetis mayflies (aka blue winged olives) begin hatching in earnest by the middle of April on most Montana rivers. This smaller mayfly often produces intense hatches on cloudy days that can entice nearly every trout in the river to the surface some days. Because of the smaller size of this insect trout are not quickly filled up when feeding on baeits resulting in a long and sustained feeding window.
Late April produces an explosion of hatches and fish activity across the state. Midges and baetis continue to hatch but are also joined by the large march brown mayflies and prolific brachycentrus caddis (also known as the Mother’s Day hatch). Warming temperatures have also triggered trout to begin migrating out of their winter lies and they begin spreading into more traditional lies across the rivers. Streamer fishing can be very good in April and many of the largest trout of the season succumb to the massive streamers that many obsessed Montana fly fishing guides prefer to throw on their days off.
