Steve Price, Author at Beartooth Flyfishing

June 4, 2008

The flow of the Madison is 3,450 cfs. The inflow to Hebgen is 2884 cfs. The Conservation Pool is 87% full. The flow out of Hebgen is 1,984 cfs and has increased steadily over the last four days. This is a different river than it’s been for the last decade.

If you don’t already have plans to fish the Upper Madison this summer or fall, make them now. Once this runoff subsides–probably sometime in June– the fly fishing on the Upper Madison is going to be spectacular–especially the dry fly fishing.

Dan and Marty fished above the West Fork on Saturday afternoon, in the muddy, high flow water. They caught a lot of fish, fishing big nymphs tight to the bank–Delektable Hurless Stone, Delektable Mega Prince, Delektable Braided Flashback Big Red. Marty caught a 20" brown on the Delektable EggHead Midnight Fire:

Wade fishing and fishing from the bank is the way to go now. How many can throw a fly from a boat 4 to 6 inches from the bank–and keep it in there–consistently and accurately? If you’re in a boat, get out to fish this dirt. Fish eat a whole bunch in the dirt. There’s a lot of food coming at them. They’ve been in the winter mode for a long time. They’re hungry. A lot of nutrients are coming at them that they don’t usually see–a lot of worms, with the earthworms being washed from the banks, joining their aquatic cousins–orange, red-banded, brown-banded. It’s a smorgasbord. The stoneflies are active, because they will be hatching pretty soon, so they’re getting dislodged into the current.

So fish the upper Madison from Hebgen to Quake Lake and from Quake Lake to the West Fork, and below. Fish have been eating in dirty water for millions of years. They know how to do it.

Recommended Flies

To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Olive, Gray #6, #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #6, #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #6,#8; Delektable EggHead Midnight Fire #6, Delektable Big Red, Delektable Worm, Red or Brown #8; Red Wire Worm #6, #8

Delektable Hurless Stone Gray

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Delektable Braided Flashback Big Red

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Worth a Try: Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail or Lil’ Spanker in Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Tungsten Beadhead Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Dries (not likely) :

Snowshoe Cripple BWO #18; Q’s Loopy Cripple Stacker BWO #18; Snowshoe Baetis #20; Adam’s Midge Cluster #20; Stalcup’s Hatching Midge #20 (Split Wing Adams #12 ) March Brown Parachute #14; Klinkhammer #14

Streamers:

Delektable Screamer Olive and Yellow, Single and Double, #6:

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Dan, Marty, Nancy, Brad

Upper Madison River Fishing Report (29-May-08)

High Water Years and Low Water Years: Their Effect on Hatches and the Rhythm of the Fly Fishing Season

The snowfall of the 2007-2008 winter was the heaviest in Montana since 1997. This resulted in the first High Water Year that has been experienced by the younger guides and the fly fishers who have taken up the sport in the last decade. In this piece, I will talk about the different seasons that occur in Low Water Years and in High Water Years.

The Madison River has dropped now that the flushing flows are over with. The warmer water temperatures that will come with the warmer weather, will cause increased bug activity–right on into the time the salmonflies and golden stones get started. That’s when the fish really get their feedbags on. There will be some March Browns and some caddis activity—especially the big caddis: size 8, with a very dark brown body and a dark brown spotted wing. The big caddis will be all over the place. They always precede the salmonfly hatch and golden stone hatch and continue through the salmonfly hatch. The smaller caddis—size 14 and 16–will pop all the way through the salmonfly hatch too, and even some small caddis.

These hatches will come off even if the water rises and gets dirty from the runoff, because we’re going to experience still pretty big doses of snowmelt through June and into July. But the bug hatches–they kind of overcede everything–and the fish start to eat hard and they start to look for all sorts of different fly patterns–including streamers.

This early season stuff is going to be huge—just monstrous—all these hatches. What’s going to happen with the multiple days of temperatures into the seventies and eighties in the valley is that the hatches will start to come off as the water warms and then the warmer temperatures will start the snow melting and the cold water coming into the river will lower the water temperature again and slow down the hatches. So the hatches in this High Water Year won’t be as prolific and won’t last as long during the day as they do in the Low Water Years. There’s going to be a sprinkling of hatches throughout this season. It’s not going to be one huge emergence, because the water temperature won’t allow it.

There’s going to be a smattering of bugs every day, which is every fly fisher’s dream. It’s going to be like somebody is chummin’ the fish up for you, but they’re not feedin’ them. They’re just getting them interested. But the fish are not going to be able to gorge themselves. The water temperature and the smaller number of bugs that are hatching just won’t allow it. They’re just getting the fish interested, but there aren’t enough insects for the fish to gorge themselves.

Fish are like dogs. A dog will eat until he’s gorged—sometimes until he throws up. Well, fish are no different. If they can eat and gorge, they will. But because of mother nature, what’s going to happen with the snowmelt and the insects, it’s going to be a smattering of a whole bunch of different flies throughout the early season that will last throughout the summer. That’s gonna be the thing that’s gonna bring the fish to the surface a lot. They’ll eat and be very opportunistic from the stuff that’s first emerging out of the rocks and the vegetation to stuff that’s caught in the film to stuff that’s layin’ eggs. This will result in them hitting all the patterns. That’s what goes on in a typical High Water Year.

In a Low Water Year, the water temperatures reach critical mass extremely quick and they don’t drop. All the hatches come off and then there’s no hatches left when we get to the end of July or the first part of August. But when you get colder water temperatures, that doesn’t happen. So a High Water Year is so much better for the insects, so much better for the fish, I think.

May 29, 2008

The net inflow to Hebgen is approximately 10,000 cfs, with the Conservation Pool 87% full. The flow out of Hebgen is 1,774 cfs and has increased steadily over the last three days. The flow near Cameron is 2,430 cfs and rising.

Dan wade fished on Sunday below McAtee, near Palisades, and near the Sun West Ranch–in the very muddy water. He hooked over 20 fish and landed over 10, in about 5 hours of fishing–with only 6 to 8 inches of visibility. They were taking Delektable Flashback Hurless Stones and Mega Princes, #6 and #8′, and that was all they were taking.

Fish real tight to the bank. Dan spooked a bunch of fish wading up the banks, where they were under the banks and they couldn’t be reached with casting. The fish were actually underneath the banks, which is actually very common in these high water conditions. Dan saw some BWOs and March Browns come off, but he didn’t fish any dries.

With Quake Lake being pretty dirty right now, 8 inches of visibility is still plenty from Quake Lake down.

Wade fishing is the way to go now. How many can throw a fly from a boat 4 to 6 inches from the bank–and keep it in there–consistently and accurately? If you’re in a boat, get out to fish this dirt. Fish eat a whole bunch in the dirt. There’s a lot of food coming at them. They’ve been in the winter mode for a long time. They’re hungry. A lot of nutrients are coming at them that they don’t usually see–a lot of worms, with the earthworms being washed from the banks, joining their aquatic cousins–orange, red-banded, brown-banded. It’s a smorgasbord. The stoneflies are active, because they will be hatching pretty soon, so they’re getting dislodged into the current.

So fish the upper Madison from Hebgen to Quake Lake and from Quake Lake to the West Fork, and below. Fish have been eating in dirty water for millions of years. They know how to do it.

Recommended Flies

To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Olive, Gray #6, #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince#6, #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #6,#8; Delektable Worm, Red or Brown #8; Red Wire Worm #6, #8

Delektable Hurless Stone Gray

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Delektable Worm Red

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Dries (possibly) :

Streamers:

Delektable Screamer Olive and Yellow, Single and Double, #6:

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Dan, Marty, Nancy, Brad

May 21, 2008

The Upper Madison from Windy Point down is blown out. The flow near Cameron is 1,940 cfs. The release from Hebgen is stable at 972 and the net inflow to the reservoir is around 1500.

Some hardy souls are floating from Lyons Bridge to Windy Point and fishing the right bank, for the five or six miles before the muddy water from the West Fork discolors the entire river, but Dan did not think that would be worth it, so didn’t take his Dad out on Opening Day–the first Opening Day he has missed in many years. Those who fished on Opening Day above the West Fork had a good day.

It is time to fish the upper Madison from Hebgen to Quake Lake and from Quake Lake to the West Fork. This water will remain fishable regardless of the runoff and even if the release from the dam increases. Quake Lake may become slightly discolored, but not enough to affect the fishing down to the West Fork.

The good news about this rapid melt is that a substantial amount of the snowpack has melted and the chances are good that the fishing will be good by the middle of June. Indian Creek didn’t even start flowing hard until yesterday. It took all those days of heat to get the melt really started and a lot of the lower elevation stuff has come down. The high water is not a problem. The Madison fishes well in conditions of high flow, as long as the clarity is reasonable.

Recommended Flies

To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Olive, Gray #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail or Lil’ Spanker in Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Tungsten Beadhead Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Delektable Hurless Stone Gray:

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Dries:

Streamers:

Delektable Screamer Olive and Yellow, Single and Double, #6:

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Or:

Your favorite big or medium stonefly nymphs, BWO nymphs or dries, midge nymphs or dries, or your favorite streamers.

Dan, Marty, Nancy, Brad

May 14, 2008

The Upper Madison from Quake Lake to McAtee bridge will open this Saturday. This will be a welcome event for both anglers and fish, especially the fish from Varney down, who have seen an enormous amount of pressure the last several weeks. It would certainly be good if the FWP would leave Lyons to Town open all year. This would have little, if any, effect on the spawning conditions for the Rainbows and would relieve some of the pressure from Varney down during the early Spring–a great time to fish the Upper Madison River.

The flow on the Upper Madison is around 1000 cfs and stable. Water clarity is very good. This should make for excellent conditions for Opening Day. The warm weather predicted for this weekend will probably change that soon, as the high snow begins to melt. As the melt increases and the West Fork discolors the river, the river will still remain clear down to the West Fork.

The vagaries of the lower elevation snow melt have affected the fishing recently. It’s been pretty slow up at the Beartooth Fly Shop, because of the closure of the "Upper Upper". So we have taken advantage of the opportunity to get out and do some fishing, before all the activity of the regular season begins. Sunday (the 4th) Dan, Marty, and Brad took an afternoon float from McAtee to Varney. We had some great action on nymphs–large stoneflies and small Lil’ Spankers and Dan caught one fish on a dead drifted Delektable Christmas Tree streamer. But Dan gave up fishing the streamer after awhile and went back to nymphing. The "Fly of the Day" was a Lil’ Spanker-red-#18.

On Tuesday (the 6th) the boys went out again and had a very slow day. The warm days on Sunday and Monday had increased the melt, put some cold water into the river, decreasing the temperature and slightly increasing the flow, and this made both the insects and the fish lethargic. Starting off, we had absolutely no action on nymphs, so we switched to streamers. We had some slow action on streamers, but got several very nice size fish. We didn’t catch a fish on a nymph until late in the afternoon, when Dan caught a nice brown on one of his Delektables in Development–a brown stonefly pattern, which he had tied that morning and will be available next season. Here it is:

Below Varney it was almost all streamer action, with the Delektable Double Screamer–Olive and Yellow–catching the most fish. There was a moderate baetis and midge hatch late in the afternoon and one fish was caught on the surface on a #20 Adams Cluster. Things had definitely improved by the next day , when Gunnar went from Storey to 8 Mile and his clients boated over 20 fish (from 12" to 20"), on the same Olive and Yellow Delektable Screamers.

Recommended Flies

Delektable Flies can be viewed in the Delektable Flies Gallery under the

Beartooth Products tab

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Gray #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail or Lil’ Spanker in Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Tungsten Beadhead Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Dries:

Streamers:

Delektable Screamer Olive and Yellow, Single and Double, #6:

Fly from Riverborn Fly Company

Or:

Your favorite big or medium stonefly nymphs, BWO nymphs or dries, midge nymphs or dries, or your favorite streamers.

Dan, Marty, Nancy, Brad

Spring Fishing on the Upper Madison – May 6, 2008

We are now starting to get out of the winter season and into spring. This winter has been one of the longest in memory. Spring brings the morning midge fishing, which flows into the baetis or blue winged olive (BWO) hatch and that is very dependent on the amount of wind that is comin’ up. If you don’t have any wind, the heat of the day brings on both hatches. Then you’re going to get an overlap of March Browns and then we’ve got the Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch happening on all the rivers, which is triggered by water temperature. Once you have water temperatures that reach around 50 degrees that triggers the Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch over a three or four day period on all the different rivers. The other thing we’ve got going on now is the first stonefly hatch of the year—the Skwalas and they’re pretty much done now. That wasn’t such a great hatch this year because of the cold temperatures and the winter weather through the spring.

Then the pumped up flows that will come with the snow melt will bring on the streamer fishing in force. The fish will become more active with the flows and the increased water temperature and the fish will turn from being lethargic and not wanting to move very far for flies to the point where they’ll move several feet to eat things and go for streamers. That season’s going to be pretty long this year with the augmented flows from the snowpack. So the fish will be on the feed right through runoff and the runoff will be well into July this year. It’s going to be a day by day thing as far as places that will be fishable. A lot of the water conditions will depend on how cold it gets at night. If we get cold temperatures at night that tends to put the runoff in check for awhile. The way patterns have been we get a few days of warm weather and then it goes back to winter again and that stops the runoff. Everything is very subject to change. It’s a good/bad thing. It’s good if you’re here, it’s bad if you’re not, when the fishing is hot.
Dan

This is our first Fishing Report on the Web

This is our first Fishing Report on the web, so I would like to start by talking about the Seasons of the Upper Madison River and then the detailed report for May 4, 2008 will follow. We hope you enjoy our Reports. We aim to be accurate, honest, timely, detailed, and entertaining. We will update the Upper Madison Fishing Report at least weekly.

The Upper Madison River has been my year round fly fishing home for over 25 years. The seasons and rhythms are ingrained into my soul. I would like to break these seasons up into categories for our Fishing Reports. The current season, as of May 4, 2008, is going from Winter conditions into Spring. Our Winter fishing starts in November and can last into April. During the November to April periods, stonefly nymphs in sizes 4 to 10 dominate, medium size nymphs in sizes 10 to 14 work and the ever present midge hatch in sizes 18 and 20—both dry and wet—work.

The Spring season begins with the first big stonefly hatch of the year–the skwalas, which can start at the end of March and last into April. The BWO mayflies and the midges overlap the skwalas and continue into April or the first part of May. The next mayflies to show up are the March Browns, which can start in April and continue into May. Then there is the famous Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch. Good luck finding the 3 to 5 day period that they come off. The Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch can start from the end of April through the second week of May. The Spring time fishing has always been my favorite—the first big hatches start, the weather is getting warmer, and water conditions are stable during March, April, and May.

The next best season for me is June and the first part of July. Stonefly nymphs and dries can dominate in sizes 4 to 12, along with caddis dries and wets in sizes 8 to 16, and mayflies in sizes 12 to 16, depending on water flows and temperatures. Streamers are especially good during high water periods. This is the time of salmonflies, golden stones, caddis—from big to small, and mayflies—from big to medium. This smorgasboard of hatches continues until the middle to end of July, when the PMD mayflies, caddis, and nocturnal stones dominate.

Late summer brings tricos, small caddis, small PMDs, flying ants, and yes, my favorite late summer hatch—the wind blown hoppers.

Fall fishing starts when Mother Nature decides to cool down. September and the Fall BWOs take over. Streamer fishing and BWOs dominate until October turns into Winter.

Then what I like to call the Winter Season starts, from November until April. Stoneflies, nymphs—4 to 12, medium sized nymphs—10 to 14, and midges, wet and dry, dominate.

These seasons are a general outline and are subject to snowpack and weather conditions that change on a moments notice—welcome to Montana. Also, with over 2000 different fly patterns in our shop, we will leave the fly selections to one’s own imagination.

Dan

May 4, 2008 Report:

We like a “Big/Little” rig, with a Delektable™ Hurless, Delektable™ Mega Prince, or a Pat’s Rubberleg, followed by a Delektable™ Twinkle Midge or a Delektable™

Lil’ Spanker. If fish are rising, which is not happening very often, try a midge or baetis cripple or emerger.

Recommended Flies

Delektable Flies can be viewed in the Delektable Flies Gallery under the

Beartooth Products tab

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Gray #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14 Beadhead Pheasant Tail Tungsten Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Dries:

Snowshoe Cripple BWO #18; Q’s Loopy Cripple Stacker BWO #18; Snowshoe Baetis #20; Adam’s Midge Cluster #20; Stalcup’s Hatching Midge #20

Or:

Your favorite big or medium stonefly nymphs, BWO nymphs or dries, midge nymphs or dries, March Brown imitations, or your favorite streamers.

The Anticipation of Flyfishing Adventures

There are three flyfishing opportunities that dominate my year. The first is Montana and the West; from April til October. Next is steelheading during the month of October and into November. Finally if I didn’t have enough addictions in flyfishing; there is Andros Island in the Bahamas where we have a flats boat and a rig to pull it around the island.

Saltwater flyfishing for bonefish and other species is great from the end of December til April. This year Dad and I spent a month; part of January and February; while Nancy came along for two weeks worth in February. Each of these three fishing seasons always starts with two weeks or more of fly tying. The creative juices start flowing with new patterns, new fly tying materials, and new ideas straight from Father time. My wife adds; that it seems like two months worth of fly tying before our Andros trips. It’s hard to correct her on things she may be right about. Anyway, the fly tying is always followed by rod building and then the trip.

I started fly tying in 1968 and building fly rods in 1975. I still think I’m very productive at age 50; maybe in my prime; would like to think so. Some of my favorite parts of going on a flyfishing adventure are: buying new clothing and gadgets; tying new fly patterns; and sometimes building a new fly rod for myself instead of others. I get the thrill and excitement of the expected trip long before I go and it becomes an important part of the adventure.

Dan

Friday January 11, 2008

Well, Friday January 11, 2008 became a great day to start the blog; my first day out flyfishing for the new year on the Upper Madison River. I have a long tradition of winter fishing. That started in the late 1960’s for trout and steelhead. I haven’t been fishing since early November when I took my wife Nancy and my 85 year old Dad, John, steelheading. So, today was special. Montana winter fishing in December, January, and February usually means going for 2 to 4 hours during the heat of the day with temperatures between 32 and 40 degrees and hopefully the wind’s not blowing over 10 mph. Location is mainly the Upper Madison River from Hebgen Lake Dam to Ennis. I can be working at the Fly Shop where we live and by 11AM can walk out the door, check on the wind and temperature, and like today if the conditions meet the criteria of above 32 degrees and wind under 10 mph; I’m off within one hour on an afternoon flyfishing adventure. Sweet!

I rigged the fly rod with two of my Delektable™ winter nymphs: a #8 Delektable Flashback Hurless Stone Gray, up top; and a #8 Delektable Flashback Braided Stone Brown/Tan about 24″ to 30″ below the upper fly on 3X Fluorocarbon. It was cloudy today. I love the flashbacks on the dark days. I put my waders on, took one fly box, tippet, nippers, pliers, and I was out the door in a 230,000 odometer miled Blue Burb, the ultimate guide rig. While driving 8 miles up the highway to my set of fishing holes, there were 40 or more mule deer by the lodge, and over 1,000 head of elk by the river on the Wall Creek Game Range. That’s one of the reasons I’ll never leave Montana. It’s so spectacular!

Almost to my fishing spot, a 6X6 Bull Elk is across the river all by his lonesome. We have a big snow winter in Montana this year so far. Thank God! We really needed it. It did make it a little harder to get to the river from the highway but it was all downhill. Just the excitement of being able to fish took over. The associated adrenaline buzz allowed me to fish upstream through a sweet boulder field for 2 hours that resulted in over a dozen browns and rainbows hooked between 12″ and 18″. Typical winter fishing where you find one there will be more. The fish pod up in the winter.

I would like to end my conversation today with special thanks to some special people who have helped with our web site and starting this blog. To my sweet wife Nancy, none of this would have been possible without you. To our flyfishing maniac friend, Brad Harlan, who has guided and helped us through this process. Also, thank you Gregg Machel and Bill Kiene for your generous time and friendship. I am looking forward to sharing my flyfishing adventures on this site and hope it will add knowledge and enjoyment to those who visit.

Dan

Happy Holidays from Beartooth Flyfishing

Hi! All,

Dan and Nancy have been working on the preseason process which entails all sorts of projects: inventory (with 300,000 flies that takes a while); shopping (we have fun doing that); and new ideas for technology.

We ordered tons of cool new stuff including many new fly patterns. Dan will have to figure out where to locate them in our shop. Nancy ordered more clothing continuing her pursuit to find cute fishing attire for woman and adding to the men’s. Fishpond has a number of new fun items in their accessories selections for 2008. There are a number of new gadgets for vests. Somebody keeps thinking of new stuff. Dan is working on custom rods this winter and has been designing new fly patterns both for trout and for the salt.
The big project is our effort to work on our web site with fishing reports and adding an online shopping cart. We will also be installing a point of sale system in our retail store. We expect much of the work to be done by early March, sooner if we are lucky. Keep checking our site.

We had another good year and want to thank all our customers for your support and for the fun experiences we shared in the store and on the phone this year. We hope to provide more fun in 2008. Remember, if you need something you can just call us at 406-682-7525. We can walk through the shop and look for your items and ship them out to your home or business.

Have a great holiday season!

Dan and Nancy

Beartooth Flyfishing