Mish mosh SW Montana fishing report - Late June

Carp flies now sold at Sportsman's Warehouse in Helena 

The huge variety of fishing options in Southwest Montana makes it much harder to write coherent fishing reports like I could do in Missoula.  I write reports every once in a while so that there is a non-biased, transaction-free source of information out there for anyone who cares.  I also use this blog as a personal fishing log which comes in handy sometimes for my own pursuits.  So here it is:

Big Hole River:
It was huge and the salmonflies have come and gone.  Usually, the fishing sucks for a couple weeks after the hatch.  It's called the "salmonfly hangover" and it can really suck.  I avoided the party this year due to my trip to Florida and the shitty conditions.  The river is dropping in nicely now and summer on the Big Hole should be the best it has been in years.  It would be awesome to be able to fish hoppers in the afternoon this year!

Upper Clark Fork:
As the river drops and clears, the caddis fishing will get insane.  The Upper is a caddis stream through and through.

Silver Bow Creek:
I haven't been out there yet this year but things usually get going right about now.  You'd be surprised by what may eat your larger attractor dry or simple streamer...

Missouri River (Craig reach):
I have to distinguish what area now because my Missouri River Range has grown so much over the last few years.  The dry fly bite is on big-time.  There are pods of snotty MO trout all over the river. You need to bring your A game.  Perfectly placed casts and drag free drifts are crucial.  Fly selection comes second in importance.  They will eat PMD spinners, caddis, and buzzballs like candy if you can present them properly.

Holter Lake Carping: 
I'm embarrassed to say that it was my first time on the boat up at Holter recently.  It is such a beautiful place!  I didn't have much info on carp fishing up there but I knew that they had to be there. They are, and they get big like in Clark Canyon.  The carp were tough and I got my ass handed to me. There is still a bunch that are spawning but I was able to find some over on the rockier eastern shore that were willing to eat.  I even landed one of the largest carp yet to date. I can't wait to get back up there again.  There are also some great trout in Holter!

Three Forks Ponds Carping:
The carping in the Three Forks Ponds is outstanding right now!  There are still some spawners but the ones that aren't are tailing in groups in the flats.  Throw a small black wooly bugger or small leech pattern for all-day action.

Clark Canyon Carping:
I haven't been down there since I've been back but I imagine it is the same as Holter.  They were in full spawn mode before I left and the fishing was hit or miss picking on the wallflowers. The carping should get better and better here by the day.  It's time to start thinking about callabaetis, damsels, and dragonfly nymphs perfectly cast and timed to be in the hot zone of a slowly cruising, golden submarine.

Georgetown Lake:
I will be checking in on Montana's finest brook and rainbow trout lake very soon.  The traveling sedge caddis should be underway as we speak and intensifying over the next few weeks.  Also, callabaetis, damsels, and dragonflies in nymph and adult form will play out as well.  The traveling sedge hatch on G-town is one of the finest of any hatch you will ever encounter.  Big bugs and big willing fish are what it is all about.  Have you ever had a 100+ fish dry fly day?


Thats all I got for now.

Two Weeks

In two weeks, I will regain some semblance of my life back.  It cannot come soon enough.  The boat is done and more beautiful than when it was brand new.  I will post a follow up to the last post soon. I still have to put all the parts back together.  The second maiden voyage will kick-start a new era.

It is truly spring now.  I have seen many osprey and pelicans.  The Oncorhynchus genus are spawning throughout the state now.  The carp are also getting going for real.  I need some good tent/boat time. I may also get some SW Florida time soon.  The chronicles should get a lot more fun in the coming weeks!!

Until then, I'll listen to old Grizzly Bear at my desk.

George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited Banquet 2017

The George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be holding its annual banquet this Friday, March 3 in the same great place as last year, next to Jo-Anne Fabric in the Butte Plaza Mall.  There are a ton of really nice live and silent auction items, a great dinner catered by Casagranda's Steakhouse, a bunch of games and activities for children, beer and wine, and much, much more!

Come on down and help the coolest TU chapter with their main fundraising event.  I'll see you there!!

George Grant Chapter TU meeting/presentation this Thursday!

This Thursday, February, 14, the George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited is hosting its monthly meeting and a series of presentations by MT FWP Fisheries Biologist, Jim Olson.

This meeting will take place at 6:30 pm at the Quarry Brewing, 124 W. Broadway in Uptown Butte (in the old Grand Hotel).  I'm assuming that the meeting will take place upstairs.

FWP Fisheries Biologist Jim Olson will present a report on the Big Hole River fishery post-fungus and also on the discovery of PKD (the disease that closed the Yellowstone last year) in the Big Hole River.  Additionally, Olsen will give up some information on where to find hogs in our mountain lakes!

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."

George Grant Chapter Trout Unlimited Pint Night

Help WestSlope TU and Montana FWP catch fish for science!

THE MEETING PLACE HAS CHANGED TO THE MISSOULA PUBLIC LIBRARY @ 10am!

WestSlope Chapter of Trout Unlimited's Website
Join Trout Unlimited

Fish pics

Brown trout skin

Here's a short photo collection of some of my favorite shots from the last couple of months.

Juvenile arctic grayling

Bowl full of browns

Cutthroat hiding with grayling in foreground

Gigantic hatchery rainbow

Raceway cutts

Study finds evidence that stream flow is more important than temperature for trout

Low flows on the Big Hole River 2015

A Montana-based study by Kovack et al. utilized data from around the world and found evidence that stream flow trumps water temps for trout survival in many cases.  These findings provide some hope that our trout friends have a chance in facing a warming climate because stream flows are usually controlled by people (ie. dams, irrigation, water use).

Read the paper here

Clark Fork Coalition hosting Modesty Creek restoration presentation in Missoula (updated)

Photo from clarkfork.org

Next Tuesday at 12:00 pm, the Clark Fork Coalition will be having a presentation about the recently restored/reconnected Modesty Creek as part of their "Walks and Talks" series.  The presentation will be at their office in Missoula at 140 S. 4th St. W.  The  restoration site is upstream from the town of Deer Lodge.  Modesty Creek is a tributary to the Upper Clark Fork and has been diverted and disconnected from the Clark Fork for a long time.

Visit the Clark Fork Coalition's website for more information on the project and the field trip.

Montana Fly Fishing Magazine - Summer 2015

In this issue:

“Chasing Tugs and Slinging Bugs” photography by George Kalantzes

“Artist Spotlight: A.D. Maddox” by Ehren Wells

“Destination: Cuba” by Jon Covich

“A Trout Bum’s Guide to Montana Craft Beer” by Jesse Bussard*

“Halford’s Ghost” written by Sandy Pittendrigh, illustrated by James Hays

“Let Float Smart Be Your Guide” by T. E. Lewis

“Gear Reviews”

Don’t forget to tell your friends about our magazine, and that it’s absolutely free!

Sincerely,

Montana Fly Fishing Magazine

A day at the Montana Fly Fishing Museum (part 1)

I've been looking forward to this post for some time now.  However, a research proposal and statistics exam delayed it a bit.  In the Butte, Montana Visitor Center, there is an awesome display of flies from the icons of Western US fly fishing.  George Grant, Franz Pott, Don Martinez, Norman Means, and Bill Blackstone all have flies on display.

George Grant Flies:

George Grant soft hackle stonefly

George Grant was a Butte area resident and his feather bodies wrapped with various materials are well known classic wet flies.  The bodies were wrapped with different brands of monofiliment line and v-rib.  The hackles are all woven.

Grant's Soft Hackle Stonefly

Black Creeper with woven hair body

The Banded Featherback Nymph

A display of just the bodies

Woven body flies

The original Muddler Minnow with a woven body 

Woven body salmonflies

Split wing salmonflies

The Bloody Butcher streamer

The Big Hole Demon

Grant squirrel body and collar - white and red streamer

Monofilament-bodied Hairtail Minnows 

God, those are sexy!

Fanz Pott Flies:

This guy was supposedly a wig maker which makes a lot of sense.

Pott Woven Body Soft Hackle

The hairs Pott used

Woven body hair fly patent

Woven body wet ant flies

This is the first installment of two for my trip to the Fly Fishing Museum Display at the visitor center in Butte, Montana.

Next time you drive through Montana on I-90 on your way to a fishing destination, stop in Butte, get some lunch, check out this amazing town with incredibly history.  Then, go to the visitor center and check out this great display! 

Happy Haloween

My favorite pumpkins from when my pup was alive

Have a safe and happy Haloween.

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. 

The spawn is on!

The rainbow and cutthroat trout of Montana are on the spawn.  Last week, I witnessed the massive trout orgy that takes place near Holter Dam on the Missouri.  There, the trout make dinner table-sized, community redds.  I can sit there and watch them for hours.  The big colored male and the female getting it on while three smaller males wait in formation for the opportunity to sneak in there when the big guy is distracted chasing away other males.  I was surprised to see that the other people around were oblivious to the redds.  People were fishing them (I honestly don't think they knew they were there) and dropping anchors and parking boats over them.  It was hard to watch.

Yesterday, I took a walk along the banks of Rattlesnake Creek in a local park here in Missoula. Rattlesnake Creek is a major spawning tributary for the fish in the Clark Fork around Missoula.  It is a beautiful creek that comes out of the Rattlesnake Wilderness.  It mostly gets ignored by fisherpeople but it is a fine trout stream all year long. Right now, the Rattlesnake is lousy with spawning fish.  They are everywhere!  

Go check them out and show the kids but do not mess with them.  The creek is closed to fishing for two more weeks to allow the spawn to take place.  It is a great way to see the WILD,  amazing, huge, and beautiful trout that live in the Clark Fork and watch real world biology in action!  Real fish porn.        

large male rainbow on redd

mating pair of rainbows on redd

Betula occidentalis - western water birch blossoms

CSI Montana

I came across this crime scene on my walk home from fishing downtown yesterday.  I suspect this trout was dropped by an osprey due to a lack of any other logical explanation as to why there was a rainbow trout in the middle of 3rd Street.  The missing head provides further evidence, as trout heads are a known osprey delicacy.

Looking west on 3rd St. in Misosula

Rainbow trout crime scene

Just imagine if it fell on your windshield - or shoulder. Ha!

Beer Fish Eye

Close-up of the beer fish's eye.

How to fish the "numora" stonefly

Learning to recognize when trout are keying in on secondary hatches is vital for catching them in certain situations.  A classic example of a secondary hatch, which can either make you snap your rod over your knee or give you a case of the shit-eating-grin, will start to show over the next couple of weeks here in MT.

The "numora" stonefly

The reason I keep using quotations around numora is because, although Numora is a genus of stonefly which is found around these parts, it is the wrong name for the genus of the fly we are actually talking about.  I learned this in an aquatic invertebrate ecology class w/ lab at the University of Montana.  Fly fishers have called it "numora" for so long that the name has stuck.  Now it is just a common name, so I don't capitalize it and I use the quotes.  I dangle somewhere in-between scientist and trout bum so I try and keep it real in both worlds.

You'll notice this small stonefly on warmer afternoons, especially on those sunny spring days.  They will flutter to the water in decent numbers to oviposit their eggs under the surface film.  They will sometimes skate around the surface resulting in aggressive, splashy, attacks from the trout.

The thing about this hatch, is that it happens when BWO's, March browns, grey drakes, and skwalas are everywhere.  You'll have had weeks of great fishing with the skwala/dropper or mayflies. Then, the day will come along and you'll still see fish rising (some splashy too) but generally, the fish will start caring less about those flies you've been using with such great results.

Then, you'll notice something.  You'll see one little "numora" leave the bank-side vegetation, flutter to the water surface, skate along and get crushed by a 16" cutbow.  Then, you'll look closer.  You'll see that 20+" rainbow in the scum line gracefully sip one while letting that march brown float on by.

So, you'll go home and put together some delicate, little, natural looking fly.  It may even work.  Or, you'll go buy some Chinese bullshit from the fly shops which may also work.  However, there is one simple secret that will make you look forward to this hatch like no other...

A couple of years ago, I found myself in the exact situation as described above.  I went to the Kingfisher Flyshop in Missoula to get some inspiration for my own "numora" fly.  When I asked the guy about it, he gave me one of the best little secrets ever.  He said simply, "We just use the Goddard Caddis."  I was kind of taken back.  I hardly even use them for caddis.  They float great and work fine for caddis on streams where there is little fishing pressure.  But they are not delicate like the "numora" and I'd bet whoever Goddard is, he didn't have stoneflies in mind when he developed the fly.  I was a bit skeptical.

Goddard caddis pic from West-fly-fishing

Of course, I wouldn't have written all this if the fly didn't work to a level beyond my greatest expectations. The trout's reaction was unreal.  I have caught so many great trout fishing the Goddard for a "numora."  The great thing about it, is that it floats well enough to put a dropper off the end of it and you can also see the fly from a mile away.  I'll usually have a Goddard trailing off of my skwala in a double dry setup.  Later in the hatch, and more often than not, the Goddard gets the eat.  Because the fish are really keyed into this hatch even though there area other bugs around, you'll actually get a bunch of surprise takes.  This fly likes to get eaten in strange places where you wouldn't expect it.  I've gotten a lot of eats from great fish while I was taking a sip of beer or untying a knot.  I hope this tip will help you out as much as it has for me.  Thank you Kingfisher!        

One more thing, cut the hackle flat on the bottom so it rides low in the film.  Do whatever you want with the antennae, "numoras" have them too.

  

CDC Guide Fly - The Hanging Midge

CDC Hanging Midge

• Size 22-18 1XL Dry Fly Hook
• 8/0 Black Thread
• Black Antron Dubbing 
• Olive CDC Oiler Puffs

This fly works great for the larger midges found on the lower reaches of the Bitterroot and Clark Fork.  It is a million times more effective than some more complicated flies.  You can tie up a dozen of these before you even finish a beer.  They also work for emerging baetis.  Since those two hatches overlap and happen in both the spring and the fall, this fly is a real asset to have in your box!  My first fish on the dry of 2014 fell to this guy yesterday in a scum line near Lolo.  That is a solid month later than when this normally happens.  We usually are fishing midge dries by Valentines Day.