Brookie for the Rookie!

Yesterday I had the privilege of taking my good friend Mr. Bill Jimmerson with the Montana FFA Association fly fishing for his first time. Being his first time fly fishing I wanted to get him started on the right foot so I decided to take him up for a couple hours to Hyalite Creek. Now for those of you who have fished Hyalite it's a small stream outside of Bozeman that dumps into a reservoir and then later into the Gallatin River.

Being his first time we started with a quick casting lesson in the small camping area, then we headed out to fish the beautiful creek. Mr. J started the day off right by hooking a nice little Brookie on a Royal Wulff (which seemed to be the fly of the day).

Once we released the gorgeous little fish we headed downstream in search of other, possibly bigger fish. Well, we found one! Not a huge brookie but bigger none the less coming in around 11" for that size of stream thats a decent brookie! Another brookie for the rookie!

In all the day was awesome and I think we can add Mr. Jimmerson's name to the list of potential addicts to our great sport! Thanks to Hyalite and a couple willing (more or less) brookies for a great day!

Trib Attack!

There are those days when you don't catch fish that just suck. 30 degrees and hailing and having to walk uphill both ways to get there. Today was NOT one of those days, in fact we even caught a fish or two! I was fishing a section of private water near Livingston with my good friend Race. This was Race's first time fly fishing and what a day to do it! We started off getting to the water around 10:00 am and the Pale Morning Dun hatch was spectacular! We started off with the basics and were tossing a simple Parachute Adam's in size 14. This proved successful with Race hooking a nice 14" Yellowstone Cutthroat, his first fish on a fly rod! Later that day we hooked up with several other fish including many of decent size! We also had tons of fish hitting on hoppers such as the Grand Hopper, the Pink Pookie, and one of my "special ties" a Shields River Hopper. I'll post the instructions for that fly some-time here on the blog!

August 13th

Had a great day with Mike Lambardozzi from Bermuda via NY. We had fun fishing and talking about Rome NY. Mike proved that he was a great fisherman and could keep his game face on all day. We got some both down under on nymphs and had good hopper action in the afternoon.
Thanks Mike for a wonderful day. Mike got a Yellowstone grand slam with whitefish, browns, rainbows and cutthroats.

August 10-11th

My good friends Francis and Florence from Paris France have come to Montana to see our beautiful state and sample our fishing. We have been having been having fun but the fishing has been a challenge. We did have some luck on the Yellowstone, that has been fishing slow in the AM and picking up in the afternoon. They will be with us for another week so stay tuned.

8/9/09

Fished with the Thornbroughs up on the Yellowstone. Both Grant and Diana were a blast to fish with. We had fun with the eager Cutthroats and spunky Rainbows. Their friends Jack and Pam joined us with Cale VanVelkinburgh as their guide. Just a great day and welcome to Bozeman.

Blue Lines

Fly fishing in Southwast Montana is some of the best worldwide, bringing in anglers from all across the country to rivers such as the Madison, Gallatin, Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. But those arent the only streams that we're blessed with. Montana has thousands upon thousands of miles of small streams holding brook, cutthroat, and rainbow trout of all shapes and sizes. This time of year is an awesome time to fish these small blue lines as you veer away from crowds, experience some of the states best dry-fly fishing, and see perhaps some of the prettiest trout decorated in the most vibrant colors.

The fly selection isnt hard either! These small fish have to be opportunistic due to the streams size alone but pair that with the basic laying structure of the streams and it's a recipe for success. "Blue lines" are also a great place to teach children how to fish as you often catch dozens of fish (even if they're only 6" long!)

Hot Flies for Blue Lines:
Tan Elk Hair Caddis
Royal Wulff
Lime Trude
Red Copper John

Rods needed for these streams are very basic. I prefer a seven to eight foot rod in line weights 2-5. This gives me the opportunity to fish small nooks and crannies that a nine food rod could not, and gives me the ability to cast in such confined spaces (you're often shrouded in brush and willows.)

Always carry bear spray when fishing these streams as they can be a hold-out for black and grizzley bears and every year we have casulties from bear attacks that could have been avoided by the use of bear spray!

Yellowstone August/July

The Yellowstone the last few weeks has been a lot of fun to say the least, fishing has been pretty dang good! I just cant get enough of it. I've been so busy going here and there this summer I have had trouble keeping up with Rod's improving blogging skills. Here's a few pictures from the last couple of weeks on the stone. Thanks to everyone who's provided these great days! PS- I thought everyone should know that Ty is considering dropping guiding and picking up a modeling career (see below)...

August 3rd

Rowed Pam and my son, Peter, down the Stillwater River for Pam's annual Birthday float. Pam's B day is really the 6th, but due to scheduling we had to float a few days earlier. Whoever named the Stillwater must have been drinking or out of his mind, there is nothing still about the Stillwater.
The river is full and fast, so I had to stay on the sticks the whole day to keep from getting stuck more than we did. But the bite was on and we landed many bow's and brown between 10-15 inches, that this river is famous for. Hoppers were the ticket and the BLT gold and yellow was the best pattern.

August 2nd

Floated on the Yellowstone with my wife, Pam, and good friend Jerry "Coach" Walczak, from Herkimer, NY.
Jerry nailed "Ol fighter" right out of the gate. This fish just flushed the toilet, sucking his hopper down with out so much as a ripple. We knew it was a good fish but when it swam under the boat, that's when we realized it was a fish of a lifetime for Jerry. The brown measured 23 inches and was in beautiful shape. We went on to have a great day with many nice bow's landed but nothing held a candle to Leroy Brown.

Bus Mans Holiday August 1st

Fished with Greg Bricker and Percy Oliver on the Yellowstone today. We played float football(rules on a previous blog) and looked for big fish. Never broke 19" but put some fat bows in the boat. Great to get out there and just fish and not have to yell mend and set all day.

The final score was Rod 15, Percy 11 and Bricker 2. I told you, Greg, to bring your A game. I think Greg has spent so much time fishing through his clients that he needs their help now. Just kidding! I feel that Greg Bricker is one of the most talented guides and fishermen I've known in my life time.

Maybe I should get out more?

July 29 and 30th

Well July has flown by as it always does when you are in the fly fishing business. Fished and helped Dennis and Mary Murphy learn the art of fly fishing. They fished with Ty on the 28th and me on the above dates. And we had a ball. Great folks and they are on they're way to becoming fly fishing addicts. We fished a walk/wade on the Gallatin first and we got some spunky browns and rainbows, as well as worked their way up the learning curve of casting,knots,entomology, and reading the water. The second day with me, we fished the Yellowstone just to put their new learned skills into practise.