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| Maiden Rock Bridge |
The Big Hole is arguably one of the most beautiful rivers anywhere. In the Autumn, it is really out of control. This river is predominantly a brown trout stream, making Fall even more mystic and exciting! This is my first Autumn in Butte and the closest large river is the Big Hole. I have a lifetime of exploring to do here and I'm really happy about it.
Yesterday, the fishing was great. I'd rather have been in my raft all day but this was a quick after-work fix. The streamer bite is on!! Yellow bunny streamers and darker Skiddish Smolts were the ticket. The fish were in faster knee-deep riffles and absolutely pounded the fly. It felt like I'd hit a boulder and then there'd be that brown trout, throbbing head-shake.
I had the place to myself with the exception of this guy who fished for a little while in one spot. He had brought his wife and kids who waited stream-side in their truck. Poor bastard!!
It was mostly cloudy but when the sun would break through, the Fall colors were outstanding. I saw some really slappy rises from big fish here and there and figured there must be some remaining October caddis. I put on an appropriate foamy and skated it over a shallow riffle and Boom, rainbow trout!
There were some signs that the spawn is getting going. I caught a couple rainbows on egg-type stuff and a guy came by and told me that he saw some browns sitting on redds in the upper river by Wisdom. He also mentioned that the fishing was slow up there and that is was really weedy. He was from out-of-state so it may just have been him.
The Fall has really just begun here in Southwest Montana. I can't wait to float the Jefferson for the first time, hit the awesome streamer maddness on the MO as always, the Yellowstone beacons as does the Madison, and there's huge brook trout on the spawn in Georgetown Lake. Not to mention the Upper Clark Fork and the brookies in Silver Bow.
Too much awesomeness, too little time!!
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