The Big Hole River, Montana in the Fall

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!!

Snow geese, sunset, and sunrise madness at Freezout Lake, MT

Fire in the sky on the Rocky Mountain Front, Montana

Wow, Freezout Lake and the Rocky Mountain Front could not be any more beautiful!!

Sunset on the Rocky Mountain Front - Montana

Fire in the sky

Now, for the reason why we were there.  Freezout Lake is on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds.  The lake is a perfectly placed rest stop for birds which have just flown over the Rockies.

Barley Field, Montana

What really makes Freezout the perfect rest stop is the agriculture adjacent to the lake.  Anheuser-Busch contracted farmers grow barley and wheat out here where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains in dramatic fashion.  The snow geese utilize these fields for food while helping clean the fields of the previous years grains.  I bet they help with fertilizing too.

Snow geese at Freezout Lake, montana

While the warm spring had geese numbers lower than usual, it was still mind-blowing!

Snow geese sunrise

Snow geese at Freezout Lake, MT

Geese in the fields

A trip to the Rocky Mountain Front and Freezout Lake is one of those things that everyone needs to do at least once.  It is just absolutely gorgeous out there and the drive is epic.  This is about 60 miles north of Craig, Montana.  Yes, that's the Craig that we all love on the Missouri River.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Get off your ass and explore!  Also, I'd rather take a bullet than live somewhere besides Montana, USA!

Fall on the Missouri River

Christine on the MO

I spent the last couple of days battling the wind over on the MO.  The fall colors over there are outstanding.  The fishing could be better.

Although the wind gave us some extra work during the day, the last hour before dark made up for it big-time because every fish in the river became pissed off and wanted to take it out on my streamer.

Headed up to the mine waste this weekend.  Stay tuned...

Eagle in yellow tree

Fishing California's Truckee River

The Truckee River, California

The Truckee River is a weird, beautiful, awesome stream with some really big trout in it.

The Truckee is the outlet of Lake Tahoe which pours out at Tahoe City and then is fed by a series of reservoirs.  It flows into Nevada and then dead ends at Pyramid Lake.

Earlier this year when I was home in Montana, I read some posts on Chi Wulff about the Truckee and how the epic California drought is affecting the fishery.  I thought to myself how glad I was that MT has had a great water year and assumed that I'd probably never even see the Truckee.  You know what they say about assuming.  Of course, I got sent down here for two months for work and for the past month I've been living, literally, on the banks of the Upper Truckee.

I've been so busy getting my ass kicked by the Sierras for work but earlier this week, I spend two days exploring the Truckee.

Old pulley wheel in the Truckee R.

The drought is really bad here.  This year, even in mid-September, you want to monitor the water temps and fish in areas below where they're letting water out of the reservoirs.  You can get this information online.  Still, the river is extremely low.

With the extreme drought conditions it is always best to:

1. Fish in the morning
2. Use barbless hooks (everywhere and always!)
3. Don't use these fish for photo-ops (So you can catch a fish, good for you.  You don't need a picture.)
4. Always use a net and keep the fish in the water.  You shouldn't even need to touch it.

The Truckee doesn't have the highest fish numbers but when you do find them, they're freaking huge. You cover a lot of water for not so many fish but, when you do move one, it's enough to keep you excited about fishing.

As of last week, the really high population of crayfish were molting and a JJ Special worked just fine for this "hatch."

No trespassing on the Truckee

Being a spoiled Montanan, I'm not used to this bullshit.  God bless Montana's Stream Access Law!!

Message in a bottle

I found this message in a bottle floating in the Truckee.  I was excited to see what the message said, hoping it might even contain a hundy or two.  Nope, it was some creepy bastard's expression of his love for some chick in Las Vegas.  Disappointed!!

Sky crane helicopter fighting the massive King Fire

Smoke from the King Fire kept the water temps down and made for some great pics.

Smokey fall foliage on the Truckee River, California

Hanging in there

I do not belong in California.  I have been hanging out and working with some great people but feel like the proverbial fish out of water (all drought puns intended).  I've been all over the freaking place and I think I've now seen more of California than most Californians.

I'm in the Tahoe area for one more day and then it's off to the Wilderness area of Yosemite to work way the hell up at the top of the Sierra's.  I checked my map and asked some other crew members but got a quick - "there's lakes but we won't be around one and the stream is almost dry."  AHHHHH, I'm freaking dying.

They say absence makes the heart grow stronger.  I'm not going to leave Montana again for a long time - unless it is specifically to go on a fishing trip.

I think John Stienbeck said it best.

“I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.”

- J. Stienbeck 

Here's some views from Lake Tahoe:

Cops at the beach writing tickets

Beach bike

Too many people

South shore of Lake Tahoe

Forest fires are beautiful and important

I know we've all been water boarded with Smokey Bear Kool-Aid but in reality, forest fires are crucial, important, and beautiful.  In the big picture, our management of forests and the streams that run through them has been far more destructive than even the most brutal forest fire.  Nowadays, everyone wants to build a McMansion in the middle of western forests, many which can't even reproduce without fire.  The 24 hour news cycle has made everything a million times worse by framing them as natural disasters rather than a natural and important ecological function.

I don't mean to be preachy but I'm awfully sick of assholes building their houses on the banks of meandering streams and/or in the timbers with no regard to the natural functions while the rest of us bail them out with big-time taxpayer dollars to protect their private land.

The world is not a cartoon, it's complicated!  Anyway, here's some pretty pictures of the Moonlight Fire in the Plumas National Forest, CA.  There may not be any fish, fly, or boat pictures but fire on the landscape and wild, native trout go hand in hand.  Nuff said.  If you want to talk fire science, leave a comment.

Ceonothus cordulatus - California white thorn is not your friend!

Finally getting settled into my temporary home

The past week has been insane!  I made it to a very remote part of northern California.  I'm currently stationed at an abandoned Forest Service camp and only get power and a shitty internet connection when the generator is on in the evening.  So, thanks for your patience as I worked everything out.

Although I'd WAY rather be in Montana right now throwing hoppers and getting worked up about the tricos, I'm in an extremely beautiful part of the country, working and hanging with some awesome folks, and there are some trout to be caught.

Here's some pics from my super-remote and breathtaking drive, as well as some shots from the reservoir I'm working/living next to for the next couple of weeks.

Smokey Salmon River near the 7 Devils

The lower Salmon River in Idaho is amazing!

Eastern Oregon road sign

Eastern Oregon is almost as remote as eastern Montana.  There was some really sexy high elevation streams that I'm going to hit on my way back.

Huge dry lake with no outlet

I walked out onto this dry lake.  It smelled funny, had really cool geology, and was like a giant, quicksand filled valley.

This is the shoreline of the reservoir I'm stationed by.  There are some nice stocker rainbows and a million smaller sized small mouth bass.  I found a fly shop in the area and got some info on places to explore this weekend.  Stay tuned for some northern California fishing adventures. 

Wow, the North Fork of the Flathead!

Of the three opportunities for adventure I listed in the previous post, fate dealt me "wilderness stream."  I had never floated the North Fork of the Flathead River which forms the western boundary for Glacier National Park and I'm so glad that I did.

Here are some good pictures to waste some time at work wishing you were in Montana, or at least not at work...

Stunning views of Glacier National Park

Green and blue hued crystal clear water

Sunny days on the North Fork

The Northern Lights Saloon in Polebridge, MT

Lots of bears

Flathead Lake sunset

The fishing up there is really fun for small cutthroat.  It is a great place to take a beginner who needs some confidence building and practice with actually catching fish all day.  There are a bunch of bull trout in there but it is illegal to fish for them.  Look down in those deep holes though because you'll see them.  Look for the leading white edge on their fins to tell them apart from the big native suckers. 

Go explore, I'll be in some mine waste this week.  Mmmmmmm.