Author: Steve Price

My big float trip on the Great Madison River in Montana with top guides Dan and Marty from Beartooth Flyshop on the Madison showing me the way, Dan’s 86 year old father named "Grandpa" John and author of this report.

We floated from Ruby Creek to Varney Bridge. Dan and Marty fished hoppers and dry flies with good success. Grandpa fished with his favorite shop recommendation, beadhead nymphs, with great success hooking and catching Rainbows, Browns, and Whitefish and also missing some really big fish. All in all it was a really great float hooking and catching all day. Thanks boys!

Grandpa

August 30, 2009

This was our long awaited big day off with my girlfriend, Jeanne Williams who owns Rainbow Valley Lodge and our satellite fly shop called Odell Creek Fly Shop (Jeanne and I affectionately call it that), with our guide du jour, Dave Hall. The weather was great and the bite was on most of the day. Someone had a favorite fly they were a bit too stubborn to change but that fly did catch some nice trout most of the day. Heh, heh, heh! That’s a hint. We had a blast. Thanks Dave.

Saturday August 29, 2009

No Catch n release! Our incredible shop girl, Jennifer Durham, was officially caught n kept by Tryston Reints of Jeffers, MT. He is one lucky fisherman, Jenny is beautiful, sweet, kind, considerate, and full of love n life. She fishes, hunts, is a taxidermist, a champion model builder, and has been a tireless hardworking employee for Beartooth. We want to wish the warmest congratulations to Tryston and Jenn Reints in their life together.

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’Tis the season … for extremes …

Overall, fishing has been really good lately, punctuated by some of the friendliest, most pleasurable clients a guide could ask for. But mixed in with those days of constant calls of “Fish on!,” there have been perplexing days when, despite great conditions, the bites were not nearly as consistent.

Such was the case this past week. Dan and I guided a group on the Big Hole River, with stellar results. That was followed the next day with me and Charlie on the Madison, enjoying some absolutely phenomenal fishing with our clients. The guys were whooping, hollering and laughing when we reached the take-out – what a day! … The next morning, Charlie and I couldn’t wait to get back on the Madison, with the memory of the previous day’s fishing on our minds, and a clear, warm sky beckoning to us; we were chomping at the bit to get on the water! … But it was one of “those” days … The guys caught fish, and had a great time, but the bite was slower, much slower, than the day before. The only difference in conditions was a mild north breeze that produced a very moderate drop in air temperature, but noticeably, there was nearly a complete lack of hopper sounds on the banks. The day before, we were serenaded by a resounding chorus of “clicking” from the tasty morsels flying around all day … Such is fishing … And as the true nature of fishing, a handful of quality fish, and a day on the water in pleasant company on one of the most beautiful rivers in the world was nothing short of a wonderful day filled with great memories.

Hoppers and ants have been the flies of choice. The Morrish Hopper, along with the Delektable Twisted X in tan/brown and olive/gold, produced most of my better fish. The Delektable Cinnamon Ant, along with a variety of small Trude patterns, were also providing quality and quantity.  

Marty the Montajun 

Fishing has been a bit sporadic … some days are really good, some days are more challenging. There have been a bunch of twinks, with better fish mixed in, tight to the banks and in the non-descript middle. Less action has come from the rock slicks lately, at least not ones that are eating hoppers and ants.

The Half Down Hopper has still been one of my “go to” patterns, as well as the Yeager’s 409 in red and the Neversink Trude. The # 10 Royal Trude has been producing nice fish in the morning and the Royal Wulff has been a good “go to” when fishing a single-fly rig. Tight-lining a Natural Zonker to a #14 Prince Nymph has produced some consistent action, although the bigger fish have not been taking it. A hopper pattern that has been somewhat consistent is Morrish’s Hopper, which I’ve been running in tandem with the Half Down Hopper or an ant pattern with good success.

The flows are back down below 1,000 cfs, so long, downstream drifts are a big help to fool wary, late-summer trout. The low flow has also made 4x the standard tippet with the dries, and I have been seeing a lot of spools labeled with a 5 on ‘em; I hate to drop that low but when the situation dictates …

Whether they want to look up or not, it’s finally sunny and warm, so GO Fishing!!

Charles P.

The Jan and Ken group was back in town for some Madison River therapy.

Four days in a row of sun, wind, rain, clouds, hail, cold, warm; a healthy dose of Montana was had by all. The group was great, catching trout, making new friends, enjoying the Madison River Valley. The smiles, handshakes, and conversations tell the story. Flyfishing takes you to some of the most beautiful places on the planet. I refer to it as soul food and highly recommend a good dose. Take 4 days in a row and let us know how you are feeling in a couple of weeks. Review the gallery of photos. You be the judge; priceless!

Dan
   

Bunny Fur and Hoppers…that’s about as good as it gets…The last week has been good…Really Good. Bright bunny fur has been working well in the morning (6-10:30 A.M.). Natural Zonkers, JR’s CH Streamer in Olive/White, and the Delektable™ Badger Screamer tight lined through the middle and in the deep Trenches next to the big rocks have been deadly. Try dropping some sz.18-20 mayfly emerger’s off the back of the bunnies to replicate the Trico’s, Psuedo’s, PED’s and other small mayfly’s we have been seeing up by the shop lately. The Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail and the Micro Mayfly have been my trailer’s of choice in the morning’s.

Once you start hearing hopper’s buzz the around the bank, tie on a flesh colored Three Decker, a Rainy’s Grand, a Red Slammer, a Tan Carnage Hopper, or your favorite hopper pattern and HOLD ON! Keep ‘em a couple feet off the bank or on the small shelf’s created by gravel bars in the middle and never judge a fish by the size of the strike. The biggest fish will move the smallest amount of water sometimes when eating hoppers, not to say that some big fish won’t give the classic takes, but a lot of the time they don’t even break the surface…they just suck ‘em down; never judge a book by it’s cover kinda deal. Other dries that have been working well in the afternoon include: the Delektable Flying Ant in cinnamon or black, the purple Twisted X in an eight, Half Downed Hoppers in a 12, gold Turks Tarantula’s in 12’s and 14’s and the rose Twisted X in a 16 have all been good second’s in a two fly rig. However, if I can find a single fly that is getting a good amount of attention, I will usually keep it at just the one…We had a good amount of rain and colder temps coming about in the later afternoons, and when that happened I went back to the bunny.

The lighter colored streamers weren’t producing like they were in the mornings but the darker colored ones were moving some large fish under the clouds. Olive and Black were the colors of choice during the late afternoons (4-7). The Olive MCCune’s, the Black Christmas Tree, and Shiela’s Sculpin (which isn’t olive or black, I know) have all been good producers later in the day. The small mayfly trailer’s I previously mentioned have still been working in the afternoon, but so have Prince Nymphs, Lightning Bugs, and a range of Caddis emergers. Tight to the bank or short stripped through the middle, these combo’s have been deadly under a little bit of cloud cover. So whether you’re a dry guy, a streamer guy or a nympho, you’re gonna be happy, so GO FISHING!!!

Charles P. 

Photos from that week added by Nancy 

We are very busy having lots of fun fishing with many wonderful people and are just catching up…sorry for the delay in our reports.

The Indiana Angler group was ready for their first float…and so was the wind. The forecasted rain and lightning never showed up, which was nice, but the winds were HOWLING! We floated Ruby Creek to Varney Bridge and fished nymphs all day. Big fish were hooked right out of the shoots on a green and white streamer but that quickly died around ten. After that, we found a good amount of fish in the trenches next to rocks and about two feet off the bank-nothing in the middle. Girdle bugs and sz.14 prince nymphs were the go to bugs for the morning. Lots of 8-12 inch trout, a few 12-14’s, a handful of whitey’s all came to the boat but we also a hooked couple big fish that we didn’t see. Then we got one of the prettiest 19 in. slab rainbows I’ve seen all year, which ate a sz.6 black girdle bug next to a rock-just a gorgeous fish.

After the slab we continued to find a few smaller trout and then just before lunch we poked a beautiful 17 in. rainbow on the prince just below an irrigation diversion. After lunch we saw a lot of 10-14 inch fish again, a few medium sized fish, including a nice brown pulled out of the middle and a few more whitey’s, all on nymphs. When the girdle bug died off, caddis nymphs started to pick up (olive Hares Ear, Lime Juice, Nymphicator’s etc…) when tight lined through the middle, until we got to the Cottonwoods.

Once in the trees we started fishing stoneflies in the shallows banks and about halfway between the cottonwoods and Varney we found a very large brown that ate our sz. 8 Delektable™ Mega Prince. As soon as the fish ate, it ran so fast that I immediately jumped out of the boat to stop moving. Even at a full stop, the fish ran until we could see our backing knot, almost surfaced itself on the bank 90 ft. upstream, turned sideways and ran for a stick and then came right back at us. I jumped back into the boat, pulled anchor and started chasing the fish. We got it to the boat and I couldn’t stop shaking for about 10 minutes…big fish get me all sorts of excited. We taped it at a true 20. If that doesn’t sound big to you, look at the picture and try measuring the next fish you assume is 20 inches. All in all it was a great day, even with wind. GO FISHING!!! Charles P.

Wednesday and Thursday were very different days. Wednesday was cold, stormy and windy, while Thursday was warm, sunny and calm. So, we fished according to the conditions…Olive streamers and small mayfly nymphs on Wednesday and hoppers, moths, ants and caddis on Thursday. The temperature Wednesday morning was below 40, the skies were dark gray and the fish were aggressive.

Olive streamers with a small sz.18 or 20 mayfly dropper (Shop Vac, Hogan’s Red Headed Step Child, B.H. Tungsten P.T. Flash Bug, Amber Studly Nymph, etc…) tight lined with occasional strips, during the storms brought a lot of nice fish to the boat. We were fishing an 8 ft. leader with a sz. b split and would throw just slightly upstream, give two big mends to let the line sink and then bring the line tight and slowly strip in. We fished everything-off the bank, through the middle, next to rocks, etc…and didn’t seem to find the fish too concentrated in any one spot, they were spread out fairly well. And, while most of the fish took the small bead trailer, a few good fish took the streamer and I’m sure most of the fish which ate the bead were drawn in by the bigger streamer. Since we fished sub-surface all day Wednesday and I’d heard the weather for Thursday was supposed to be good, I told my clients that we’d try and work the dry the following day.

Thursday started out with a bang, we had two strikes on the flying ant before the anchor was even up, and that’s how the morning continued. Big, darker bodied hoppers and Royal Trudes as lead flies, with the Delektable™ Olive Sparkle Bug or Cinnamon Delektable Flying Ant as a trailer, brought fish up consistently all morning and early afternoon until a 1 o’clock lunch. Early morning fishing was hottest on the banks, the fish were looking for nocturnals and we were one of the first boats down-before the fish had seen a million flies cast to the bank. However, by mid morning we started to notice the fish moving to the shallows and rock slicks. We started getting less strikes on the big flies and we switched the hoppers and Trudes to orange Turk’s and small Half Downed hoppers, imitating the Spruce moths we started seeing on the river. After lunch, we started getting less strikes but were moving bigger fish. A sz.8 cream colored Slammer trailing either the Cinnamon flying ant or the Olive Delektable CDC Holographic caddis in a 14 moved some big fish. We either dead drifted the rig in the middle or were skittering the flies above rocks and which also moved a couple large fish. The day ended with a 20+ inch fish that ate the holographic caddis in the middle, ran for every rock in the river, and came to the boat twice…only to come unbuttoned just above the storey ditch takeout. That’s fishing, right? Go Fishing, Charles P.