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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

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!

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Drop Jaw Flies

Picture
Photo from dropjawflies.com 
























I met the guys from Drop Jaw Flies the other night at the film tour in Butte.  They make a cool product which caught my eye, these beautiful, hand-painted streamer heads.

I talked to them for a bit and they told me the process of creating, painting, and putting a tough finish on them.  I thought they looked great and imagined how they would look on some of my own streamer patterns.  These are the kind of thing that catch fisherpeople and can make tying more fun. However, you know how effective having eyeballs on flies can be.  It has been shown that predator fish are attracted to, and many times attack the eye of baitfish.

I noticed that the Drop Jaw guys were selling raffle tickets and that the revenue would be going to our local George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited.  So, of course, I bought some.

Turns out, for the first time ever, I actually won the raffle.  I won a two-pack and can't wait to tie with them and fish them.  I'm thinking some Southwest Montana browns are going to drop their jaws in the next couple weeks when they see whatever creation I put behind one of these heads swim through their run.

Here is a really pretty fly tied by "@rbtek1." That's freaking gorgeous!!

Photo from Drop Jaw Flies via Instagram

Friday, February 12, 2016

2016 Chinese New Year Parade






Butte's Chinese New Year Parade is tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm.  The Mai Wah Museum has a brand new dragon this year.  This is a really fun and unique event that should not be missed.  Here are some pics from last years parade:





Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Fly Fishing Film Tour in Butte this Thursday!!




The 2016 Fly Fishing Film Tour rolls through Butte, America this Thursday, Feb. 11!  The show is at the Motherlode Theater.  Doors open at 6 pm and the show starts at 7 pm.

Raffle tickets for the $7000 NRS raft w/ frame that will be given away at the George Grant TU banquet will be sold in the lobby.

The show is being sponserd by the Stonefly Fly Shop.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Bugs of the Big Hole



Michael Bias PhD. will be giving a presentation on the aquatic macroinvertebrates of the Big Hole River next Monday in Butte, Montana.  The Big Hole is a magical mystery and one of the finest trout streams anywhere.

Dr. Bias has been studied aquatic entomology, wetland restoration ecology, wildlife population and habitat ecology, for many years.  He is also a fishing guide.

Dr. Bias' presentation is on Monday, February 8th at 7 pm in Butte, Montana.  The event will be held in the Butte Local Development Center, 305 W Mercury (the old Boys Central Scool), on the second floor.

See you there!!

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Montana Tech Restoration Ecology Seminar Presents: Amy Sacry of Geum Environmental Consulting

Milltown soil lifts and bank armor (photo taken from Geum's website)


























Tomorrow, February 3, 2016, the Montana Tech Ecological Restoration Seminar presents Amy Sacry of Geum Environmental Consultants.  She will be discussing "Revegetation Theory and Practice." 

Geum and Amy have their hands in restoration projects all over Montana.  Most notably, they did the revegetation of the Miltown floodplain after the removal of the Milltown Dam and they are now working on the massive Upper Clark Fork Restoration Project. Amy is everywhere all the time and I've run into her at many different Trout Unlimited restoration projects as well.

This is not one to be missed!!  The seminar is on the Montana Tech campus, in Butte, Montana in the Chemistry and Biology Building (room 102) @ 4 pm.  This seminar is open to the public!

I'll see you there!
   

Monday, February 1, 2016

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