May 22-24 Big Hole River

It was great to spend time with my good friend and top rate fishing guide John Herzer of Blackfoot River Outfitters. I spent more than ten years guiding with John and we have stayed very close. He had some of his longest returning clients in town and thought it would be a nice treat for he and I to guide together.

The Big Hole was tough with swelling water and tea colored clarity. But we persevered and caught some nice fish. All told, we landed less than thirty fish between two boats for three days. But we caught some hogs. John is holding a great fish that he guided Jim the one eyed poet into on the first day. We caught six fish over twenty, all under the surface.

The big hole can bee a hoot.

This was such a telling scene. A deer had tried to jump the fence and got caught up. It must have been an excruciating death. The fence had been around for decade. The heavy hand of man in the West was captured in this shot by Jim, the one eyed-poet.

Here is Jim with the last fish of the trip.

May 20 Lower Madison

Today, Nate decided to test drive a new boat. It is a slick new low side from Ro called the Deville. It's not a coup but itis a stylish ride. Nate built his own boat and wants to build another, but until then he needs a new ride. Along for the ride was a friend of ours, John. although Johns family lives along the Boulder River, he has not fished much since he was a kid. He had a great day, even though we only fished about four hours. I landed three fish in about three minutes after we put in. The pace did not continue at that pace, but for a sunny day when most rivers in the state ate high, muddy and unfishable, the lower produced well. Flies: SJ worm, Rubberlegs, J.J. special, lightning bug and King Prince.
This is what John usually looks like. Can you find Nates reflection? Where's Waldo?Is Nate White Knuckling on the shuttle? I would be.

May 9, Paradise Valley

Today was one of those days you dream about. Guides usually refer to it as Yesterday, in the phrase, "you should have been here yesterday. "

I'm not really much of a fish counter. In fact I usually discourage it, because it should not be the end all be all of how good of day on the river you have. But, after limping into port on Friday only fifteen fish to find a Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks surveyor at the take out logging fisherman's catch, I decided to keep count. For other guides, we caught this many fish (see picture below).

We decided to fish a stretch in Paradise Valley. By lunch we had caught 8 fish on nymphs. While we were enjoying some Elk Sausage I had ground and stuffed a few days before, I began to notice drakes starting to come off.

As we pulled across the river after we ate, I noticed a pocket of cutthroats, becoming active. We stowed the nymph rods and broke out the dries. From 1:15 until about 4:30 we fished a single size 10 parachute adams. It is about as perfect of a dry as you can ask for. It's large and easy to see, floats well, and is not so big that fish miss it. Although a few did.

We had an exciting afternoon with many many fish up. At 4:30, Caddis started to pop and we switched to a #14 elk hair caddis. Made from the same hair as the elk we ate for lunch.

More great dry fly fishing and by 6:30, when the wind came up. We decided to ruin a perfect day by fighting with the wind. As I rowed to the take out, I was hoping to see the Surveyor to let her know about our day. Ray asked what our total was.

"Remember we had 8 at Lunch," I said. I counted up the afternoon harvest on my fly patch and announced the total of 44 fish.

Ray said "damn." sort of disappointed.

"What," I protested.

"Had I of known, I would have caught six more for the even Fifty," he said.

We had to live with 44.

May 8 Yellowstone River

Today was a day on the river with my dad, Jeff, pictured above with a nice brown he caught in the morning, and his fishing buddy Dr. Ray. I fish with these two a few times a year and it is always cold snowy and windy. We got all three on Friday plus some sunshine. Fishing was a bit interesting the way that it was toughest in the middle of the day when the bugs were rolling off.

I talked to other guides who had the same luck on the stretch we did. I think the fish have been pounded in the stretches close to Livingston and are reluctant to eat. But we did catch over a dozen fish. Here are photos of a few.

This one seemed to have a knock on his head and had obviously been spawning.

Dr. Ray, who played center for the grizzlies, caught this Rainbow in the late afternoon when the fishing really picked up.

May 4 Yellowstone River

Today I spent the day with two friends of mine on the upper Yellowstone. Tony caught this beautiful Yellowstone cutthroat. What a gorgeous fish. Fishing was okay. We did not see any caddis up high, but we also had the float to ourselves.

Check out Tony's photography at http://tonydemin.com/fish/

May, 2 Yellowstone River

It was an interesting day out on the river with Connie. It started great with this nice brown just a little while into the day. It was sunny and in the afternoon the wind started to blow. Although Connie was able to catch a handful of fish on dries, most of the damage was done under the surface. There was a ton of boat traffic.

The most peculiar thing happened at the end of the day. We were just edging out of a side channel when up ahead we saw a person running down the bank. after sprinting about 20 yards she jumped in the water , in full clothes and started swimming.

Both Connie and I were thinking, What the F*%$&^%. Our questions were answered in a few more strokes when we saw two guys standing on a snag in the middle of the river. As rowed hastily toward the scene it became apparent they had wrapped their drift boat around the snag.

I rowed over to help. Luckily everyone got out okay and the girl was trying to swim after their stuff. Very dangerous in the swift cold water. Fortunately, with the help of Sweetwater Flyshop owner Dave Goff, who was fishing for fun that day. We were able to dislodge the craft and get the three occupants to the takeout without hypothermia setting in. Just goes to show that the river is to be respected, always.

This is what can happen.

May, 1 Yellowstone River

Because the fishing was so good on Thursday with March Browns and Blue Winged Olives everywhere, I decided to fish again on Thursday. It was a bit sunny, but it fished well. Ian, who is a novice fisherman caught quite a few fish as did Nate

April, 30 Yellowstone River

Today I was out scouting locations with a videographer friend Ian Kellett. We were looking for spawning fish on reds to take underwater video and stills for an upcoming piece we are working on.

We were a little late for rainbow spawners but I did pick up a rod and caught seven fish in twenty minutes. here a few shots from Ian.

If you are looking for professional stills or video, especially underwater stuff check out Ian's work at www.iankellett.com

April 28, Yellowstone River

Today, a couple of frinds from Missoula were in town and we decided to fish the Yellowstone. Both are Guides who are in town for the Orvis Rondevous in Bozeman. The Redevous is a gathering of orvis guides, outfitters and yes men who converge on an unsuspecting town to tout their Orvisness and compare tipit size.
The day started well with Jed catching a few nice browns. Just above a bridge pilling he tossed his rubberlegs way up a soft poscked above a bridge pillar. Both he and I thought the Bug was in the gravel when the indicator stopped, but a brown soon rolled and he set the hook. It was a sweet take especially with the boat zooming by. James took a picture with his camera phone...then promptly erased it. Thanks James. The fish was about 18 inches, but the first six inches were head and mouth. I think this fish could eat ducklings.
We caught a few more fish before a storm rolled in and shut down the fishing.
On the same day GTO guide Nate Anderson was fishing upstream and caught these fish early before the storm hit. He was fishing with his friend Steve from Vermont who was also in town for the Rendevous. How come we didn't have any sun down stream?