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.