FISH'N IN THE DIRT

Normally a high and dirty Madison River doesn't keep me off the water. Getting out of the boat and thoroughly fishing slow the pockets and inside seams is the key to catching trout in these conditions. But right now, the problem is that the water temps are on the cold side and the fish aren't willing to move too far to eat a fly. You have to get your fly right in his face to have any chance at all of putting a trout in your hand. Yesterday, my client, Takumi Tanaka from Japan, applied these tactics on the swollen Madison and managed to find a few fish seeking shelter from the fast and dingy water. The flies we used were brighter than what we would use in clearer conditions. We used patterns with flash like the flash back mega prince, or big lightning bugs in sizes 14 and 12. We all know that Madison trout love the worm, so make sure you use a big sparkle worms or San Juans in flo pink and orange. It's run off season, anglers. It brings a whole new set of challenges to the table that most fishermen aren't willing to take the time to figure out. As long as the river is at a safe level, I see no reason to sit at home wishing I was fishing. It's always fishing season.

SPRING ON THE HORN

This past Monday fellow fishing gillie, Miles Nolte, and I headed to the land of no cell phone coverage, Ft. Smith, Montana. The plan was to disconnect from the real world and fish the world famous Big Horn River before the heavy guide season starts. The first two days on the river were possibly the best dry fly fishing I have ever had. But the flies were the only thing dry during this wet and blustery 48 hour period. It rained from the time we left Bozeman on Monday morning, to the time we pulled off the river Tuesday night. But, for battling the rain and wind, we were rewarded with a beatis hatch and surface feeding trout that lasted for two days. We would set up on a pod of feeding trout to pick them off one at a time, and somehow the fighting fish that were wrangled to the boat would only put the rest of them down for a minute or so before they would start eating again. Just to change it up we did do some bouncing on the bottom and found a few fish on sow bugs and midge nymphs, but when you have trout feeding up top like they were, it's hard to walk away from the dry fly. On day three the sun came out to give us a break from the moisture, dried out our camping gear, and stayed with us for the last two days of the trip. Though the warmth and sun shine were a welcome change, the dry fly fishing dropped off considerably, but this gave Miles the opportunity to show me the finer points of a little something he calls sight nymphing. With the bright sun and clear water, we were able to spot fish nymphing on the shallow inside seams of a few river bends. Miles would pick a target and with a very light nymph rig, he would drift his bugs into the trout's dining room until the fish ate. You spot the fish, stalk it, and make your cast. The next best thing to dry fly fishing if you ask me.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

March 27 - Madison River scouting mission

 
Last Sunday, my trout savvy partner, Mrs. Sarah Webb, and I did battle with the waters of the Madison Valley. We braved the elements so I could do homework for the first guide trip of the season coming up. With the wind crank'n down stream and the mercury on the less desirable end of the thermometer, we flew down river. I worked my unseasoned rowing muscles, straining to slow the rig so Sarah could pull out a sweet drift. It wasn't easy. Most of the buckets and holes on this stretch of river are short, so there's not much time to pick the pocket when you're screaming by in a wind propelled drift boat. But, my wife ain't no hack. When she did get a good shot at a hole, she hooked up. And as you can see from the photo proof, she digs the pigs. With the exception of one freak brownie on a purple worm, every fish pounded the olive rubber leg nymph.

 April 1st - The trip

Yahoo, it's guide season! It's April 1st, spring, and I'm fishing with my first sports of the 2011 season on the Madison. On the recommendation of super client Nick "I don't have a rain coat" Slowick, Brothers Phil and Paul Eversman, hired me to introduce them to Montana's finest fishing. Rather than dump'n the boat and taking on the wind again, we stayed on our feet so the fellas could get to know this river a bit more intimately. The weather was the most spring-like we had seen all week and stayed that way all day. No wind, no cold, no complaints. Well, except for the lack of fish. By midday we had burned through half of the standard flies with nothing to show for it. Not cool. The Madison River was not on my side and making me a little nervous. But after a little lunch, BS-ing, and trading bad jokes, the trout rose to the occasion. As an added bonus, by the time the fish changed their mind, the guys had a solid grip on reading water, were putting bugs where they needed to be, and began stick'n fish like pro's. The Eversman boys found that sculpin and stone fly nymph patterns were on the afternoon menu. If you find yourself on the Maddy in the next few days, be sure to have a pocket full of Bow River Buggers and Pat's Rubber Legs in olive and sizes 6 and 8.

Feather hair extensions.........What?

Have you guys heard about this new fad that has fly shops and fly tiers standing on their tying bench yelling, "What the hell!"? Apparently, young fashionable women all over the country are lashing long colorful feathers in their hair and calling them, feather hair extensions. No big deal right? It's just another goofy phase that will go just as quickly as it came. But for the dry fly freaks itching for spring and dreaming of the season's first bug sipping trout, it seems like the quality hackles used to make their favorite flies have been snatched up by every hair salon in the country. Sorry fly tiers, these feathers don't grow on trees, they grow on chickens. And the birds that sport these crazy long hackle feathers certainly don't reproduce and mature over night. To make things worse, the fly tying industry is very small and the only industry that produces these, now highly sought after, quills. So fly tiers, guard the saddles that you have and tie sparingly, cuz it's gonna be a while before you see them on your fly shop's wall.