Early mornings drivin rt 90

Living in Emigrant, MT can be AMAZING. Especially if you love to fish since it sits on the yellowstone. There is just one downfall...Runoff. It started last week and right now its cold so its down a few feet but still mud mud mud. This is the time of year I like to make some trips up 89 and when I get to Rt 90, I just pick a direction. East and I run into the bighorn and stillwater, west I hit madison, missouri, Beaverhead/bighole. Tomorrow I already have it figured out being that the Bighole has been fishing out of this world, and I have a few days to spend out in Dillon. Might run into some higher flows and if so we will just float the beaverhead, which is never a problem for me. Spring creek like water, enormous browns, and midweek crowds. Ill be fine either way. Looks like its goin to be nymphin and streamer fishing for the most part, although I have heard that the drakes and BWO are still coming off strong. Gonna hit the Lower madison on the way back if warm springs is open yet (whole other subject, dont get me started). Report will be up in a few days.

Yellowstone Madness

Its that time of year again. Fishing is hot, but will not last forever. The run off should start kicking in within the next month or so while temps climb. We have already seen the flows jump a bit, but only to make the fishing better. When flows start to come up and temps rise, it triggers the spawners to start running. I would stay away from the spring creeks and side channels for now being that the cutts and rainbows are making their way in there for their annual spawn. If you do want to fish the springs be wary wading, and fish behind the redds. A lot of the time you will see a hungry brown staged up yards behind a paid or spawners chompin on some eggs. Although the glo bug is usually a daysaver, you cant go wrong this time of the year, and could be a go to fly right off the bat. salmon, and yellow colors have worked best for me.

Its also the best time to be throwin streamers in my opinion. Water is getting some color, flows are on the rise, and browns are starting to chase some big bugs. Even though with that said, unless you find yourself out there on a cloudy warm day, try dead drifting them on the bottom or slow retrieve. Sculpins are starting to lighten up a bit being a brown or olive color so out with the black in with the color. Other streamers such as the Bow river bugger, wolly bugger, and all sculpin patterns should be productive right now. If you are feeling lucky, or just wanna go big, try tossing out something big and ugly like a large articulated home invader or articulated monkey. Color in these big flies are up to you. Sunny days, go with yellow, white, purple, and cloudy days, go with something more natural like black, olive, or brown. But whatever works for you works for you. Swinging a 5 wt with these big flies does not always work out well, especially on the yellowstone being that wind is always present. I use an 8wt single spey for the most part when i am throwin big flies, and accompany it with some nice 12 lb mono for my leader. Its not common that you are catching anything smaller than 4 lbs when you are fishing these big articulateds so why mess around.

Nymph wise is pretty standard here right now. #14 prince, lightning bug, PT, HE, really any stonefly or attractor will be productive right now, along with a midge dropper. Dirty water days, go red, or green on the midge. I like the serendipity in a #16-18, and clear water a little smaller, and maybe in a rootbeer color. Lightning bug in grey is good right now and will only get better with the baetis hatch that just started.

Speaking of baetis, duns have been spotted on cloudy warm days in the paradise valley. Although midges are still the bug of choice for the fish. Not for long though. Once the fish realize they can get a bigger meal, they will key in on baetis. Dry fly wise, I like to fish a standard cdc bwo, or a cripple mayfly in olive or grey. The spring baetis have more of a greenish tint, while the fall hatch is a big smaller in size and grey (rs2, my favorite NJ fly).

Wont be long before the yellowstone jumps from 1500 cfs to 12,000 so get out and fish while its hot.

2/28/10 Report

Fishing has been pretty decent lately all over. Our current snow pack is not looking great as of now. We are only at 74% according to last year's pack. Not too worried as of now since most of the snow comes in the spring. Hopefully temps stay low for a while. Today it was 48 degrees in town, and doesn't look to be getting lower for a few days. Went skiing at Bridger today and temps were around 30 so snow should keep coming up in the Mtns. Not only is this bad for the fish, but fires as well. I was out here a few years back when there was a fire, and some of the rivers I wanted to fish were closed.

Yellowstone River:

Fishing well right now with the warmer weather. Took the boat out last week, and wow is that river low. Running around 800cfs I would say, and unfortunately got a few scratches on the bottom, but that is why RO drift boats are the best (not a big Hyde fan at all). Mostly midges for my choice of fly. #18-22 in a rootbeer color worked pretty well. I trailed that behind various bugs including prince nymphs, PTs, and even streamers. For the most part, all strikes were on the midge. Got a nice brown to rise to a dry, which was nice for this time of year. Wind has not been bad at all in the Paradise valley, and we all have been taking advantage of it.

Lower Madison:

A few weeks ago, I would have said GO GO GO, but fished is the other day, and not much to say about it. Caught a bunch of fish near the warm springs access, and that is about it. Looks like the Bows are going into spawning mode, and rippin them off the redds is just not my game. Bug choice is as follows

zebra midge red/rootbeer #20-22
Brassie red/green #18-20
Prince # 10-14
PT #16-18

Dries:

Griffiths gnat #16-20
parachutes (adams, trude tan/geen) #10-18

Streamers

maccunes sculpin #6-10
Buggers (dark) #4-8
shilas sculpin #4-6


Upper madison:

As of Tomorrow the upper is closed in two sections (quake-mcAtee and Ennis-Ennis lake). Fished yesterday from Reynolds-8 mile. Not sure if the sun coming out or the sudden high temps through it off, but nothing great. I have been hearing of good fishing, but we did not fall on anything spectacular. Midges worked along with larger attractor nymphs. Did not see and rising fish.

Bighorn:

Going to fish this next weekend, but I would say stick to the basics for the bighorn since it fishes similar all year round. Sowbugs, scuds, midges, and big streamers like the bighorn bugger or bowriver bugger in darker colors #2-6.

Spring creeks:

Went over to depuys to do some work for TU and yes the Bows and cutthroat are picking their spots for the upcoming weeks. Although these creeks are open through the spawn, I would advise all to give them a rest untill they are making their way out. If you do choose to fish, watch out for the redds. If you fish behind the redds with an egg pattern you may land some browns.

Upper Madison February 6th, 2010

Fished the upper madison between Hebgen and Quake lake yesterday. We got out around 11am and hiked out to quake. Not a good idea if you doing have skis or snowshoes. Snow was about 2 feet deep and drifts about 3 ft. Not much luck out by the lake besides two decent rainbows. Went about two miles upstream after that and did better. Fished a dark scuplin #6 with a rootbeer midge #18 and produced some fish. Caught a pretty nice brown, and had a chunk of its tail bitten/ripped off. Could be a Bow since they are becoming pretty territorial right now before spawn, but also could be a bird of prey. I saw the largest bald eagle of my life yesterday, and could very well have been that sucker. To my surprise, all fish taken on the streamer today, hit it right when it hit the water. My train of thought would be these fish would hit it on the dead drift. Maybe a bow would hit like that due to prespawn, but a brown? Who knows. All the rainbows we caught were looking about full spawn so its going to come soon that you will have to be wary of the redds. Air temp was about a 28 degree high and water was 36 degrees. Flows were pretty good for this time of year, and with all that snowfall we have, its looking to be a great summer fall here in SW Montana.

1/30/2010 Lower Maddie

Fished the Lower Madison today with a buddy of mine. One of the best days out in a long time. Between both of us, we hooked into well over 50 fish in three hours. Fishing was not too technical today. Just keepin it low and slow. Even caught a few on a streamer. Started the day with a pink scud #14 and #12 san jaun worm and was killin it right away. Lost the worm on the DOG (long story after some streamside surgery) and switched to a #16 black lightning bug. We were still consistently hooking into fish. Put on a sculpin pattern at the end of the day and caught a few nice fish and one toad about that must have at least 20 inches. Fished up around warm springs and fished down about a mile or so. Average size was around 16 inches, but a few over 18 and one over 20. All but two fish were Bows. I caught one whitefish and my buddy hooked into a cutbow. Bows and cuts will start spawning in a month or so, and the upper madison will be closed in some parts starting mid feb for a few months. Water temp was 37 mid day and 35 when I left. Air temp was between 20-27. Mostly cloudy and wind around 5mph SW.

January 24, 2010 Yellowstone River

Floated the Yellowstone today with a buddy of mine and conditions could not be more perfect. Chinook winds were down to 5-10 mph, which is very good for the Stone this time of year, and lots of cloud cover. Floated from 9th street bridge to Mayers, which is about a 2.5 mile float. Got out at 10am and fished till around 3:30 pm. Air temp was around 30 and water temp around 35 so we new the midge hatch would be pretty good. Starting around 11 am there was a great midge hatch that offered spectacular surface fishing. We saw a few pods rising and hooked a few on the dry. Once the wind picked up a little, we switched to a sculpin with a midge dropper. Dark brown scuplin #6 and a #18 midge in red was working well. After dead drifting the streamer for a while, and no action I decided to get a little more aggressive with it. A slow 2 second strip did the trick. After that we were hooking into fish for the rest of the afternoon. All Bows and NO whitefish today. I would also recommend tying a midge off the back of a small attractor fly such as an adams or trude. The fish were feeding quite actively on emergers, especially in the foam pockets.

Heading to the Lower Madison this weekend so Ill have a report early next week on it.

January 19, 2010

Yellowstone River:

With last weeks warm weather, the Yellowstone is finally able to breath. Along with that warm weather came some Chinook with gusts up to 70 mph in Livingston. It looks as if the wind is calming down for now, but who knows since the weather can change without notice. If you are looking to float, please contact an outfitter for the wind report. The open water is going to be found in town. Yankee Jim to Emigrant is still jammed with ice so fishing in the valley is for the most part not accessible. Carters and through town is floatable but you may still run into some ice. As for pattern selection, nymphing low and slow is the name of the game. Midge and stonefly imitations have been producing fish. As for streamers, sculpins have been doing well along with beadhead bugger patterns. Keep in mind that the sculpins keep a dark color this time of year, so black is the way to go.

Recommended Patterns

Nymphs-
Zebra Midge, Black and red #18, #20
Disco Midge Pearl #18-22
Prince Nymph #14
Girdle Bug #4-8
Sawyer PT #16-18
Copper johns #14-18 all colors
Pats Rubber legs #4-10 all colors

Steamers-
Articulated streamers #2-6
Sculpin patterns #4-10 Black!

Dries- (if wind is cooperating)
Griffiths Gnat #18-20
Hi-Viz midge #20


Lower Madison:

The Lower Madison is a great choice for those looking to do some winter fishing. The standard float right now would be from Warm Springs to Black's Ford. As of lately, I have been getting mixed reports. On warmer days, look to sink some midge patterns following a worm or scud. Last weekend there were no signs of slush, but once this warm weather turns, that could chance quickly.

Recommended patterns

Nymphs-
Lightning bug #10-14 red and black
San Juan worm #10
Zebra midge #18-20 red
Tailwater tiny #18-20
Scud #12-16 pink and natural

Streamers-
Deaddrift Crayfish #8
Clouser Crayfish #8 olive and turkey
bush's dad #8


Missouri River:

The Missouri is also a great winter choice. Caution right now since there is an ice jam on the Gallatin River that is in flood stage right now. Below Holter dam is open as of now. Some good reports have came in from the Missouri with nymphing producing much of the fish.

Recommended patterns

Nymphs-
Lightning Bug #16-18 red, pink
Rainbow Midge #20
Sawyer PT # 18-20
Prince Nymph #14

Streamers-
Crayfish patterns #8-12
Buggers #6-10 Rootbeer, Black


Bighorn River:

This might be the best time of year to get on the Bighorn. You may actually find some solitude for a change. Basic tailwater flies and midge patterns are the best right now. Make sure to bring a few midge dries with you should you catch the bighorn on a calmer day. Reports have been consistent with good catches.

Recommended patterns

Nymphs-
Ray Charles #18
Bighorn Shrimp #14
HB Sparkle Scud #16 tan, pink, orange
Zebra Midge #18-20 red, black
San Juan worm #10

Streamers-
Bighorn Bugger #4-8
Wolly Bugger #8-12
Flash Fry #4-6 Yellow

Dries-
Griffiths Gnat #18-20


Gallatin River:

The Gallatin is still slushy even with this warm weather. A few stretches are open, but it looks as if you are going to have to wait till the spring. Caution: due to the ice jam below Big Sky the Gallatin river has a flood warning and is not recommended for recreational activity at this time.