3 days of fish for Virgina

Took Brian and Mack from Virgina for 3 days, fri., sat., and mon. Fishing the Yellowstone for 2 days and the Lower Madison for 1. While the yellowstone has a whitefish bite going on, we did manage to land a few trout. The Lower was full of trout taking bubble heads and lightining bugs. Lots of fish were landed some even got away, so lets get out and try to bring them in the boats

Fish after Fish

Had another great day with my new friends the Minamies on Tues. We floated the upper Yellowstone with dry flies. What a day, with lots

of fish in the boat and who knows how many that got away. We had a great time and lots of fun. We also can not forget the Carrols and the fish they landed and had get away with Joe. Lunch time was full of good stories and lots of laughs. Lets keep fishin and havin fun.

Hebgen Dam Update - 9/22/08

It was reported to us today that the problem in the tower at the Hebgen Lake dam has been fixed and water flows are beginning to drop. The hope is to drop the flows by 20% each day until we reach 850 cfs on the Upper Madison. With dropping levels the fishing most likely will be affected this week until the river stabilizes. Thanks to all the crews, FWP and PP&L for their hard work in resolving this situation. We look forward to more great fishing on the Madison this fall. The Browns are coming into the Lower and are looking good.

Sept. 17th on the Yellowstone

Wendy Wilson caught this nice Yellowstone Cutthroat this past week on the Yellowstone River. Good going, Wendy!

Girls Gone "Mad" (river)

In spite of the high water levels in the Lower Madison the fishing has been very productive. Check out Eunice Carroll and Pam King with nice Brown Trout from the Lower this week. The male Browns are finally making their way upriver and are "dressed up" for mating season in the beautiful spawning colors. The weather has been spectular with sunny, warm days and crisp clear nights. The high water during the never ending spring runoff is paying off now with great fishing conditions on all local rivers. We are still seeing some grasshopper action, but streamers and small nymphs are working well.

Sept. 17

Floated the Lower madison today with the Minamis. With the water running at 3600+ cfs, it was anything but ordinary. We noticed lots of bugs coming off with no action on top, we went with nymphs all day. Starting off fishing the banks and the regular buckets we found very few fish. Going to the middle of the river was the way to go today. We boated about a dozen fish and lost several more. The river is fast so go for a longer distance float or it will be over quick.

Sep. 8 Tricos-n-stuff

I didn't feel the need to burn a tank of gas yesterday so I kept the fishing close to home and did a little bridge hopping. First off, I took a look at the Jefferson near Willow Creek just to see what was going on. I jumped out of the truck at Williams Bridge and found a light Trico hatch and a pod of mini trout feeding under the bridge, which just wasn't enough to get me into my waders and down the bank....So off to the Gallatin it was. My intention was to fish the lower part of the East Gallatin but it still looks like a milk truck crashed in to the river somewhere up stream. When I finally stepped in to the Gallatin I found trout feeding on Trico spinners and the occasional caddis in the tail out of almost every bucket and elbow in the river. Since I hate #20 flies and 6x tippet I opted for the Caddis patterns so I could see it and tippet strong enuogh that I can lean on if I have to and caught every 8" fish in the river.

TY

Sept. 5 Is it fall already?

Over the last few days Ol' Mother Nature has been reminding us that our summers days are numbered and autumn is just around the corner. That means its time to start thinking about cool weather trout tactics. Early in the day going subsurface with nymph rigs seems to be the key to finding feeding trout. Unfortunately for the both fish and fisherman this cooler weather has slowed the hopper fishing considerably, but mid-morning to early afternoon the fish have been turning their attention to fair hatches of baetis. So bust out those Para-BWO's you tied up this spring and get your dry fly fix now before it's too late.

TY

Summer 08 Recap

This is from the missing link in the Bozeman Angler blogger program. My thanks to Ty, Andy, Chad, Pam and Daniel for keeping their blogs up to date.

I had a great summer after a very slow start due to the very cold, wet and long run off. But the wait was well worth it. The water conditions were reminiscent of years past with the rivers full all summer and water temperatures between 58 and 65 degrees. Even the hoppers showed in force and brought up the big trout in good numbers. This fall should be fantastic fishing right thru October. If any of you have a chance to come out streamer fishing this would be the September to do it.

My good friend Hugh McDowell from NZ will be here this coming weekend and we will go in search of old fighter once again. I have not seen Hugh in several years and I'm looking forward to his visit.

I once again apologize for my lack in computer skills and not posting my clients photos with names and dates. Thanks to all my old fishing friends and the new friends.

Moose on the Yellowstone

What a fun day on the Stone. Took good friend Dan and his cousin Ed out. Another day of afternoon Paradise breeze, however to start the day we saw a cow moose. The fishing was not bad and we became the white fish slayers. Even though alot of the fish were whities we did manage to land a few trout as well. Dan even landed one on a Trude. Not to much action though on top. The weather is to be cooling over the next few days but the fishing is still great so get out and have some fun on the rivers.

Hebgen Dam malfunction

We received a report this morning that there has been a malfunction at Hebgen Dam and the river has jumped to 3500 cfs and is rising. All fishing accesses from the dam to Ennis Lake are closed at this time. Check out the USGS website at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mt/nwis/current?type-flow. Looks like the fishing is on hold for a few days!