Fisheries Biology Presentations on Jefferson and Beaverhead Rivers in Butte

There is a public meeting tomorrow April 12, with presentations by Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks at Butte Brewing Company in Butte, Montana @ 6 pm.

Ron Spoon will give information on the Jefferson and Upper Missouri Rivers.  Matt Yeager will give an update on the Pointdexter Slough restoration project and provide the reasoning behind the new brown trout regulations in the Beaverhead River.

Local fisheries info, good folks, and beer?  Slam dunk!

Public meeting regarding Beaverhead River/ Clark Canyon Reservoir on Feb. 7th

Island Campsite on Clark Canyon Reservior

The following text was taken from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality website:

"The Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and the Bureau of Reclamation began monitoring several parameters in Spring 2016 that may have contributed to severe turbidity and algae blooms in Clark Canyon Reservoir and the Beaverhead River over the past two summers. The river again turned turbid in late July and over the first weeks of August, 2016."

"A public meeting is planned for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 7, 2017 in the USDA Service Center Conference Room, 420 Barrett St. in Dillon. Entry is via the east door. Monitoring results, which are expected to be available at that time, will be discussed."

Beaverhead River Cleanup Today!!

The Lewis and Clark Chapter of Trout Unlimited is hosting a Beaverhead River Cleanup TODAY. For more information, contact Brian Wheeler at 440-812-7798 of Craig Jones at 406-544-9815.

Southwest Montana fishing report - late February 2016

Fiesta Mexicana or "The Taco Bus" in Dillon, MT

If you have never eaten at the Taco Bus in Dillon, MT, you are missing out on the best, most authentic, and unique meal in Montana!  Go there!!

For whatever reason, the fly shops in Southwest Montana don't do fishing reports in the winter. We have 4 awesome tailwaters within an hour and a half drive from Butte that fish all winter long. What's the deal!?

I've been really busy with work, teaching, and school but I've made it out the past few weekends to check in on the trout. Here's what I've found:

The Upper Clark Fork:
The river is carrying a ton of water right now.  We are having a pre-runoff runoff.  Southwest Montana had a decent winter run for a while there, maybe even better than last year which was not good for snow and summer flows. That seems to be over now though as early spring has set in big-time.  Let's hope for more snow and a wet spring or the Hoot Owl will wake up again this year. The fishing in the UCF was the slowest of all the rivers and for the most part, downright sucked. Throwing streamers and nymphing was the game, however,  the push of cold water was not on our side.

The Ruby River:
The Ruby is still running turquois.  Does it ever stop?  The fishing resembled the Clark Fork with a weak streamer bite.  The only real action was on winter-type tailwater nymphs right below the dam but even that was slow.  I saw two or three sporadic rises to midges but nothing really going on that front yet.

The Beaverhead:
The Beav is where all the action is.  It has been windier than a bucket full of assholes in SW Montana for the last couple of weeks and any midges have blown clear to Iowa.  The streamer bite was red-hot 2 weeks ago but a little less so last week.  The Poindexter is undergoing some restoration work (I'm getting restoration fatigue) but still fished pretty good with streamers and winter nymphs.  I saw some spawning behavior in some brown trout which was a bit weird.  Be careful of redds.  The midges will be on the main stem if you can avoid the wind.

The Missouri:
Haven't got to the MO yet this year but will in the next couple of days.  From my experience, the nymphing with winter-type nymphs should be great.  March is one of my favorite times to throw streamers on the MO for the biggest browns of the year and the rainbows which are fattening themselves up for the coming spawn.  I always say that some of the best dry fly action is in the next couple months with the midges and BWOs.  The fish haven't been relentlessly pounded on top for months on end by every dude in the world so, they're much more likely to eat a fly.  We'll see how that goes.  More snow, less wind please!

"Stand up for the Beaverhead" - an op-ed by Wade Fellin of the Upper Missouri River Waterkeeper

Beaverhead River moose

There is a great op-ed in the Missoulian today from Wade Fellin, Program Director for the Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, Inc.  It is a call to action for the Beaverhead River's recent algae issues and is critical of the proposed hydroelectric use of the Clark Canyon Dam.  

Read it here.

Biologists are puzzled by the cloudy water on the Beaverhead River

Starting in mid-July, we watched as the Beaverhead River became cloudier and murkier by the week. It started out with a glacier-like blue/green silty color.  A couple of weeks later, it was down right blown-out looking,  The fishing really sucked as well.  I had never seen the Beav like that and it turns out, neither had a lot of other people.

State biologists are "stumped" by the condition which showed up for a couple of weeks last year but lasted all summer this year.

There is a great article in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle about it.

The Beav is one of my favorite places to fish.  I hope this can be figured out!

Here is another great link which provides a couple of hypothesis given at the meeting in Dillon on Oct. 27th.

Public meeting on Beaverhead and Big Hole rules this week

Beaverhead River, MT

Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks is hosting two public meetings next week to take comments and questions about the Beaverhead and Big Hole River Recreation Rules.

The meetings are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. @:

Dillon: Wednesday, Oct. 21 at the University of Montana-Western Block Hall #311
Butte: Thursday, Oct. 22 at the Butte Ranger District, 1820 Meadowlark Drive

The moose days of summer - Butte area fishing report

Beaverhead River moose

This has been a very long and hot summer in Southwest Montana and I'm not gonna lie; I'm over it. I used to put together a Missoula area fishing report from time to time and folks seemed to appreciate the unbiased reports.  I'm not affiliated with a fly shop and I'm not a guide so there's no hype. I just have a love for my area's amazing fishing and I hope that the ridiculous time I send on my local rivers can bring others some insight and a few fish.  I have held off on doing a Butte area report until I really felt like I had a solid grip on the area, but I think the time has come.

Beaverhead River:
The Beav is carrying a lot of color and water.  The fishing is a bit slow for my liking, but you'll have the river to yourself.  I've been spending a lot of time down there over the past few weeks and last week I floated from Buffalo to Pipe Organ and did not see another boat.  The best bet is to get out at sunrise and chase the cranefly hatch.  Since I work all week, waking up at 5 on my day off is not something I'm really down with.  In the late morning, there are still some PMDs and every once in a while you can get one to eat a hopper.  The streamer bite is weak even though the conditions seem appropriate.  Your best bet is to fish cranefly larvae under an indicator or pumped right off the banks. Also, going dirtbag and fishing a double worm rig with one of them being a Wire Worm has been effective. Once we move into fall, the Beav will come alive.

Big Hole River:
Check the mandatory closures before you head to the Big Hole as there are a couple of closed sections.  The Big Hole has really suffered from drought and heat this year and is running very low. I've been leaving it alone for the past month (as there are better options) but it is fishable.  Spruce moths, hoppers, and tricos are the fare on the Big Hole this time of year.  Prepare to drag your boat a bit!

Upper Clark Fork:
The Upper is also suffering from a severe lack of water but if your willing to do some walking, you'll find the fish.  They are in the places you'd expect them to be, the deeper riffles and runs.  It's hopper madness up here with some craneflies and tricos in the morning as well.  I had a great time fishing cranefly larvae through deeper holes stacked with brown trout this week.

Georgetown Lake:
The lake is fishing pretty well. The best bet here is to throw a hopper with a longer dropper rig than you'd use on a river.  Surprisingly, using a larger red San Juan Worm as a dropper can be killer even though it really doesn't make much sense.  Just have faith.  Some other good droppers are larger pink scuds and standard chronomid and midge larvae are good too.  There are some PMD/PEDs and still some Calibaetis as well.  In the late evening you can also frustrate yourself to no end with the micro caddis.  I love G-town and have really got to fish the crap out of it this year.  What a treasure!
    
Silver Bow Creek:
This may be the first true fishing report written for Silver Bow but it is not a secret anymore and I'll keep it real.  The work up in the canyon and the nasty, hot weather has made the creek a little bit tougher this year but due to the engineered nature of the channel below Fairmont, the creek is pretty drought tolerant.  Those big deep holes are still over a person's head in many spots.  All you need is a hopper here for some good fun.

These conditions should be the norm until the real fall weather starts to show.  I can't wait for that. Die summer die!

George Grant Chapter of TU's Annual Meeting

March Madness on the Poindexter Slough

The Poindexter Slough of the Beaverhead River

The Poindexter Slough in Southwest Montana flows through one of the finest pieces of public land in the entire country.  The Slough is America's spring creek and although it is on public land, the skill and physical fitness level required to fish it keeps the crowds very much at bay.  In fact, I fished just about the entire reach and I saw nobody else all day long.  The only people I did see were two bait fishermen fishing frog water while I was limping back to the truck in the dark.  I was too tired to tell them that fishing bait is still illegal for two more months which turned out okay because they were really nice and told me they hadn't caught a thing.

I, on the other hand, had a 40+ fish day and one of the most fun days bushwhacking and catching large browns and rainbows so far this year!

Brown on the line

The Slough is not the place to bring a beginner.  Your roll cast needs to be in top shape here as the banks are lined with thick willows.  You're also going to want to leave lollygaggers and the timid behind.  If your not getting your ass kicked by the willows and your skin and clothes ripped by the roses and currants, your not getting in deep enough.  Effectively getting to where the big fish are is as close to going guerrilla in a jungle as you can get in MT.

Underwater Brown

  


























The Slough is chock full of very large, very wary brown trout and some big-ass rainbows too.

Brown Trout sucking on the Meat Whistle

I fished streamers downstream all the way down to where the Slough hits the Beaverhead and was absolutely blown away by the number and size of the browns in that small piece of water.  The MeasureNet works on a number line centered on 0.  To get a measurement, you add the value at the head and the tail of the fish.  As you can see here, this guy was pushing 20in. (51cm.)  John Barr's Meat Whistle in green was the ticked to getting some vicious hits from the browns.

Another brown sucking on the Meat Whistle

Once I reached the mouth, I set up a nymph rig and headed back upstream.  I put on the Soft Hackle "Sow Bug" and all of a sudden, started to catch huge pre-spawn rainbows.  Surprise!

Soft Hackle Sow Bug in a big rainbow's kype jaw

I'm talking BIG rainbows!  Check out the kype on this big guy.  He was pissed about getting caught.

Female rainbow release

This large female was never lifted out of the water and released faster than a toupee in a hurricane.

Underwater rainbow

It's getting to be the time of year where you have to start looking out for redds.  More on that soon.  Once irrigation starts in the Beaverhead Valley, half of the water going into the Beaverhead and also the Slough ends up going down ditches.  The weeds grow long in the Slough and the fish become almost un-catchably spooky.  I'll see these guys again in the fall...

Brown Trout Fail

The Release

The Escape

The Beach - Oops!

It was full-on March Madness on the Poindexter Slough of the Beaverhead yesterday.  Stay tuned for a full post on the happenings tomorrow...

Spending V-Day with those you love

Beaverhead Brown Trout

If you love something, set it free...

It was 60 deg. F yesterday in the Dillon, MT area.  The fishing resembled April conditions more than February.  In fact, just like the weather, the fishing was unreal!

The first half of the day was probably some of the most fun I had throwing streamers in some time.  The browns were out in the shallows in force and they were just as pissed about it being Valentines Day as me.  They were doing that thing where they hear the splash of the fly hitting the water, leave their holding spot, and viciously chase it down.  They even wanted a fast strip.  It was unreal!

Then, at about noon, I started to see some consistent rises to the midges that were showing up in good numbers.  It took a while for me to actually cut of my streamer.  I was kind of in denial that the big guys were eating dries.  I figured it was just some dinks eating a sparse hatch in the sun. Nope!  I put on a Buzzball and every fish that got a solid drift, sipped it without a second thought. When I set the hook, they flipped out just as if it ware a summer evening.  They made huge runs and did acrobats galore.  Some did the Jesus tail-walk across the width of the whole stream.

Dry fly fishing midges in February on the Beaverhead

   
























That is a crappy trout picture but I wanted to post some evidence of the dry fly goodness.

The Dillon area is absolutely gorgeous, just like this horse.  And again, I already can't wait to go back.

Valentine's Day Sucks! I'll be fishing.

To be honest, I think of Valentine's day as the start of midge season here in Montana.  Even when I had a girlfriend, I would come home late on V-day because I'd be fishing the first solid midge hatch on the Bitterroot River.  This year, I'll be fishing the Beaverhead River in Montana in 60 degree weather with no one around.

A report from the Beaverhead

Beaverhead Brown

Yesterday, I put work and school aside and went fishing.  I had never fished the Beav in the winter and that needed to come to an end.  Boy did it!

The Beaverhead is one of my favorite streams in the world and now I can honestly say that it is one of my favorite wintertime fisheries.  I had an outstanding couple of hours (20+ fish in the net) on streamers and nymphs and I had miles of stream all to myself.  In fact, the only people I saw were a couple young kids who never left the sight of their rig in the FAS.  I went deep.

The flow in the Beav is really low right now allowing you to wade wherever you want.

I fished the area near the mouth of Grasshopper Cr. because I just needed to get on the water.

Have a good day Mr. Trutta!

I had a lot of fun throwing smaller sized streamers.  The browns were really in the mood to give chase and I had a lot of exciting chase downs.  I could get about 3 or so per run.  Later in the day though, I wanted to get some bang for my buck so I set up a winter nymph rig.  I had a Ray Charles with a Soft Hackle Sow Bug dropper.  As always, the Soft Hackle Sow out-fished everything else, even after all the orange paint came off the bead.

I already can't wait to go back...

Beaverhead River Teaser from Trout TV

The Beaverhead and Big Hole Rivers are probably two of the coolest trout streams on the planet.  I've been fishing them for some years now and recently, they became my home waters.  Trout TV is a show that plays here in Montana, usually after sporting events end, on over the air TV.  I don't know if you can beat a show about a drop dead gorgeous woman fly fishing all over the northwest.  I'll take that over football any day!  Anyway, here is a teaser for their next episode highlighting the best of south central Montana.

A cool place to stay in Butte

The next time you find yourself in Butte, America after a long day of chasing the area's huge trout, do yourself a favor and stay at the historic Finlen Hotel.

Finlen Hotel Ballroom

I had some family in town and we went to Butte.  We stayed at the Finlen and it was pretty freaking awesome.  For the same room price as the chain motels in the area, you can stay in this really cool, super kept-up, beautiful old hotel on the hill in uptown butte.

Hotel Finlen Lobby

I should have took this picture at night when the lobby was all lit up by those chandeliers.

1/2 of the two room "double bed"

The rooms were clean and pretty fancy.  When you get 2 beds, you get two rooms, each with there own desk and TV.

The Butte area has great fly fishing.

Blacktail Creek:
You may not guess by looking at it but Blacktail Creek, which runs out of the Highlands and right through town, is full of nice brook trout.  There is a trail along most of the urban stretches with all the access you could want.  I've walked the length of that stream from the mouth all the way up to the top in the Highlands, and I can tell you that there is 5-12" brook trout with the occasional cutthroat in every hole, even under Harrison Ave.

Figure It Out Yourself Creek:
You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway and I'm not going to be responsible for letting the word out. Spend some time talking to locals or ask around at the local fly shop.  There is a very unassuming creek right under your nose with some unbelievable fishing.  Literally, sniff out the smell of urinal.  That's all the clues I'm giving.

Warm Springs Creek:
This small stream, like the rest, has gone through hell and somehow is still an amazing fishery.  This stream is hard to get on but a day spent exploring this creek can be fun.

Warm Springs Settling Ponds:
These large man made ponds were built to allow metals from Silver Bow Creek to settle out before it is released from the outlet as the Clark Fork.  The ponds grow gigantic freaking fish in this nutrient rich environment.  The fishing here can be epic at times.

The Upper Clark Fork:
This is one of my favorite places to fish.  From the outlet of the settling ponds all the way down to Jens will keep you busy for years.  There is so much to explore.  Brown trout rule supreme in the upper Clark Fork and there are miles and miles of undercut banks and deep holes to mine for copper and gold (all puns intended).  There are also some great tributaries to the Clark Fork up here which can make for good day trips.  Racetrack Cr. and the Little Blackfoot are great options.

The Big Hole:
The Big Hole River is amazing.  From the brook trout and grayling in headwaters in the Big Hole Valley all the way down to the hallowed brown trout water of the lower river, the Big Hole is a must for anyone who's ever dreamed of the Montana experience.

The Beaverhead:
This is a bit down the road, but in Montana, it's not really that far.  The Beav is a small, high elevation tailwater stream.  It is another one of my favorite places to fish.  It's very similar to fishing the upper Clark Fork but with more trout per mile.  There's also more people per trout per mile.  That's a ratio which should always be considered.

The Green Weeny Matuka

The Green Weeny Matuka

Thread:  6/0 whatever color
Hook:  Size 10-6 2XL streamer hook
Tail/wing:  Olive died grizzly soft hackle
Body:  Your favorite dubbing mix.  I use a little flash on some and a lot on others for varying conditions.
Ribbing:  Wire in copper, black, or red
Collar:  Olive died grizzly soft hackle


The Green Weeny Matuka is just plain killer.  In green, it works as a small rainbow trout.  Using other color combinations will cover any baitfish you'll encounter.  I've even caught ditch pickles bass on Matukas.

Yellow grizzly with a brown collar makes a great brown trout fry
Yellow grizzly with yellow grizzly collar makes a great small perch fly
Red grizzly with green or brown collar makes brook trout fry

Beaverhead brown eats brown trout Matuka

Western Montana - high water - fishing report

The large freestone rivers in western Montana are experiencing a nice, steady runoff.  It's looking like we are going to have a great summer and fall with full streams and fat fish.  The cool thing about Montana, especially now that true fishing season has started, is that there is always a place to fish, even during run-off.

Highway 434

You can drive over to the Missouri River which is fishing great.  You can also now fish the tribs here, there, and everywhere.

View of Craig, MT from the Craig Cemetery

RBM Chronicles thanks the people of ALL faiths, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and styles of fishing who have served our country on this Memorial Day.


Flint Creek below Phillipsburg is another great high water option.  Most of the flow comes out of a reservoir from the next drainage over (crazy!) so it has a tailwater aspect to it.  It is loaded with medium sized brown trout and the occasional rainbow and there are plenty of larger fish mixed in.  

Flint Creek in Six Mile Canyon with Pintler Mountains

Flint creek fished ok with small streamers in the sun last week.  They are brown trout though, so early morning or clouds are good to have on your side.  Nymphing with worms and stoneflies was productive lower on the creek where it carries more water and color.


Further up the drainage, Georgetown Lake is an amazing fish factory and will begin to fish like the Dickens soon.  The rainbows are in full on spawn mode which has slowed the fishing at the moment.  They will be done soon though and if you saw the pics of the east shore and Emily Spring from earlier this week, you know there are more than enough huge trout in this lake to make anyone happy.

Rare afternoon glass on Georgetown Lake

Georgetown fished best with egg and worms thrown to trout cruising the shoreline and rainbow trout or brook trout looking streamers fished the same way.


The Beaverhead River is a small tailwater in SW Montana.  It is one of my favorite streams to fish on the planet.

Christine on the Beav

Beaverhead Brown

Tailwater nymphs work here but that's not what I like.  The Beaverhead is one of my favorite places to fish streamers.  This last trip was no exeption.  We were lucky enough to get afternoon clouds and thunderstorms which made sweeping little Matukas through untouched side channels into something I have't stopped thinking about for the last three days.  I had mega chase-downs by mean browns and my fly had the effect of an electro-fishing wand where I could at least move, what seemed like, every fish in the river.  God, I love that stream.

The Beaverhead Mountains of SW Montana

Happy Memorial Day and happy spring fishing!