Where am I?

Spartina grass redfish flat?

Is this a spartina grass flat filled with redfish in some tidal channel in South Carolina?

Carp flats of Clark Canyon, Montana 

Nope!  It's the carp flats of Clark Canyon, Montana.  I walked for miles and found no carp in the flats at Clark Canyon, yet.  Still hard to beat a long walk with the dog and some taco bus on the way home!

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."

Save a trout [ride a carp]

Many of Montana's trout are having a crappy year. Most of our drainages had below average snowpack last winter, we lost said snowpack early, and we've had another dry, hot summer. These conditions have led to low flows, high water temperatures, restrictions, river closures, and most recently, a gnarly disease outbreak and fishkill in the Yellowstone River. There isn't much else I can say besides, this sucks!

However, you don't need to quit fishing. In fact, you can fish harder and become a better fisherperson while you are at it. God bless the carp.  Southwest Montana is a carp fisher's paradise. We have great flyfishing for carp in both still and moving water.

Last week we loaded up the boat with camping gear and headed out on Clark Canyon Reservoir to claim Armstead Island for ourselves.

The reservoir is low and the Beaverhead is nasty again but the carp fishing was great.  Water clarity has been getting worse over the past few weeks but it is certainly clear enough to sight fish all day.

McTage's Trouser Worm

Fly fishing for carp has also led me to tie a bunch of new fly patterns.  Carp eat a lot of the same things as trout but sometimes you need specially designed flies to match the carp's feeding behaviors.

Montana's Hybrid

I've been having so much fun exploring this great fish and the flies and techniques to catch them.  I'm sure that the stressed trout in my area are rejoicing at my absence.

Fiesta Mexicana

Carp + Dillon's taco bus = paradise!

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.

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

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.