Big Hole River 451 cfs

It was a cool, cloudy, rainy day and just a bit uncomfortable at times.
As for the fishing it was super hot and very comfortable.
Mid morning produced lots of baetis that had the fish gulping all over the river. Actually this action went on most of the day on top. How ever with these conditions it would be a sin not to tie on a short 2X leader with a #4 wooly bugger and go after the big boys. This is exactly what we did this afternoon despite fish rising all over the place. The strip had to be aggressive with long fast strips but it worked. We didn’t get any monsters but lots of bows and browns 14 to 18.

Big Hole River 514 cfs–Maidenrock, 410 cfs–Melrose
Madison River 3640 cfs

The upper Madison was closed briefly due to high flows connected to problems with Hebgen Dam. PPL stated that the dam is stable but they are having problems with outlet control structure. The river and access points are open again but not to camping. FWP stated that there is a slight chance the river may rise as much 3000 cfs so don’t park your rig next to the river.

We were in no hurry to get started this morning as it was just a bit chilly. I was hoping for some clouds for streamer action but it was a bright morning. A.P. was in the boat this morning and he loves to throw streamers so I said let’s try them regardless of the bright sun. We were pleasantly surprised as the browns and bows were whacking it. He hooked one huge fish that we never saw as it went right to the bottom and he could barely move it and the hook simply pulled out.
I was also very surprised at how well the top water action was this afternoon. Especially since the river came up over 200 cfs yesterday with all the rain and snow.
When we started out this morning I warned Allan and Sue it might be a slow day. It turned out to be a great day.

Big Hole River 407 cfs–Maidenrock, 258 cfs Melrose

Fishing the trico hatch for the last couple weeks has been kind of spotty. Saturday how ever it was as good as it could possibly get. Dave G. was in the boat with me and he only wanted a short half day trip. Around 10 am we started to see the first pod feeding. We were in a stetch of river that was wide shallow and slow. Dave said at first he thought they were white fish and I said I didn’t think so. Whitey’s make that telltale splasy rise and these were swirling and lots of them. He drifted the fly down to them and a fat hot 16 inch rainbow gulped it. For the next 2 hours it was pod after pod and the fish were really on. We got a couple whitey’s when we were in deeper water but most of them were hot bows from 12 to 17 inches and all in about a foot of water.

I got up this morning about 6 and did a double take when I looked out the window. All was white with a couple inches of snow. I immediately turned around and crawled back into bed.
By now the snow has melted here in the valley’s with a fiorecast of mixed rain and snow for the rest of the day. All this moisture has brought the river up about a 100 cfs at Maidenrock and still rising. This should dispell any rumors about the river closing. The rest of the day I’ll be busy whippin out some buggers as these are the ideal conditions for them. Temps are forecast to be back in the 60’s tomorrow and the next day.

Big Hole 307 cfs Maidenrock
Beaverhead 357 cfs Barrets

The last three days have been just a bit windy. Yesterday I thought Gustov was here on the Big Hole.
It was still windy this morning and it blew the tricos off but the top water action was good any way.
Size 16 mayfly patterns worked well with a few fish still taking spruce moth patterns.
There are lots of hoppers along the banks but we didn’t try them as the action was good with what we were using and Pat was happy with that. Like the old saying, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Roger has been fishing the last couple evenings right up til dark. He said he was getting a hit almost every cast using the super beetle. He said the fish were getting so big he was getting a bit nervous about wading any more in the dark.

Big Hole River 244cfs-Melrose, 317 cfs Maidenrock
Beaverhead 379 cfs-Barrets

Yesterday afternoon I went up to Wise River and on the way up near Jerry Creek this pickup was pulled over to the side. As I went by this lady was standing next to it with the door partially open and looked like she was talking to some body inside.
When I was on the way back she was still there and in the same position. I drove slowly by and just about past and she yelled at me. I stopped and she came over to the jeep and asked if I had a pair of heavy gloves. I told her I think I do in the back but why do want them? She explained to me that she was in the process of moving to Butte and had her two cats in the cab and her large tomcat panicked and got wedged under the brake pedal. I looked in side and sure enough there he was. She put the gloves on and tried to get him out with no luck. I offered to try (stupid move) and put the gloves on with full intentions of getting that hairball out of there. He got in so he should get out. I went to get a firm grip on him and a couple seconds later pulled out the shredded, claw ripped, bitten gloves. I turned to her and said I have a gun in the jeep, (just kiddin of course) She gave me this serious look and said “get it”. I told her I was just kiddin but she was serious.
She then said while I was trying to get the cat out she had sent a message with a passerby to tell her son to bring bigger gloves and a gun. That’s when I wished her the best of luck, told her to keep the gloves and went on my way. I just figured I had tried to do my good deed for the day and didn’t want to wait around to see the results.

Hot today but much cooler with clouds next couple days which should make for excellent fishing.

Big Hole River 239-Melorse, 317-Maidenrock

Yesterday was just a fair day fishing. My fisherman Brian and Pat were terrific guys and were well satisfied with what they caught. To me it was one of the slower days out of the last couple weeks. The trico hatch was weak and the bigger fish never got on them like they did a couple days ago. Also I couldn’t get the fish to hit the bigger patterns and beetles like they have been doing. The purple haze and para adams did produce some nice fish.

The weather pattern is in for a big change as of Tuesday with high’s only in the 60’s. That’s the type of weather that brings out the big fish.

I almost forgot but early yesterday evening the river near my house was alive with feeding fish. I saw all these bugs flying around and hitting the water. At first I couldn’t figure out what they were and they were flying really fast. They were flying ants and lots of them. It only lasted about 15 to 20 minutes but while it was going on the fish were going crazy.

Big Hole River 256 cfs-Melrose, 322 cfs-Maidenrock

It was no more than 200 feet out of the gate this morning and we already had a 19 inch brown trout caught on a twisted sister.
Dave was a bit reluctant to cast to the area I wanted him to. It was close to shore, very shallow and just a slight flow. We caught a few more on that same pattern before it slowed up. Tricos started to come off and the fish were on em until the wind started to blow mach 2.
We tried a new beetle pattern and for the next few hours it was hot. Had to tie it behind an attractor as it was hard to see but the fish loved it. In one particular slow pool Dave was casting in the deepest part with the most flow. I eased the anchor down and told him to watch the right shore where again it was shallow and almost dead water. In just a few seconds he saw the first big one and could not believe where that fish was at. Dave is a great caster and placed the fly just right. The fish inhaled it and exploded out of that shallow water. We caught three more in that same area of almost dead water and all on the beetle.
It was a perfect day except for the wind at times. Lots of cloud cover and temps in the mid 70’s.
Dave was using a medium fast Scott 6 wt and was glad he had it. Like many times folks will bring a light rod that is fine when there is no wind. When the wind picks up as it often does here in Montana they are basically dead in the water. As I have said many times before, bring a rod that will get the job done with the wind and won’t play a fish to death.

This afternoon I was helping running a couple shuttles and as we came through Melrose I noticed a big blow up Santa Claus by the Hitchin Post. I never paid much attention to it as a person sees some strange things going through Melrose at times.
Being the lazy bachelor I am I went down to the Hitchin Post to treat myself to a steak sandwich this evening. When I went inside I was instantly greeted with Christmas music and greetings of Merry Christmas from Debbie and staff. My first impression was they were all on drugs or had been out in the sun way too long.
Debbie pointed out the table with all the food and said “help yourself”. It was a table fixed with all the Christmas dishes and treats one could imagine. There was turkey, ham, roast beef, salads of all kinds, grits with cheese ( which was awesome) smashed taters and gravy and you name it.
Of course this was Debbie’s idea and a way of saying thank you to all the customers.
For the past couple years I have got all my client lunches from The Hitchin Post and never a complaint.

Now on to fishing which is quite good.
Tony called a few minutes ago as he and Art floated the river today and he was raving to say the least. Big fish in skinny water and lots of them. Beetles, ants, hoppers and yellow and red twisted sister was hot. Dan Delekta will be likin that report.

Big Hole River 370 cfs

Another great day on top water with an assortment of different fly’s. This morning we got into some great pods of bows. They were looking for the little guys but a well presented moth pattern the bigger ones could not resist.

Early afternoon we tried several hopper patterns but the one that worked the best was the old para hopper. The guys really liked that pattern as you can see that parachute from a mile away. In fast riffles we added a nymph dropper which also produced some nice fish.
Mid afternoon the hopper switch was turned off and they would not touch it. Went back to some mayfly patterns and they worked.
Had a report from Bob’s clients that they caught a 16 inch grayling—that’s a huge grayling for the Big Hole River.

Big Hole River 389 cfs

Today was kind of a mixed bag between pleasure floating and fishing. These two ladies at first just wanted a pleasure float and just take in the scenery and swim along side the boat, sip a little wine from time to time and life would be easy. At the last moment they asked if I could bring along a couple fly rods as they would also like to learn how to fly fish. My thought was there goes my nice easy day and are you sure you want to try fly fishing. They were quite adamant about it so what choice did I have.

We floated from Glen to Notch Bottom as the water is warmer down there for swimming and I wanted to check out the hopper action there any way.

I rigged up a fly rod and gave them a crash course on fly casting. I only let one of them fish in front of the boat as I explained that I had not brought along my Darth Vader helmet. They completely understood while mixing a little Captain Morgan and coke just to get rid of the jitters.

All in all iit was a great relaxing day with both gals getting a fish on a fly rod and I came out of it completely unscathed.

I do believe that lower stretch of river has suffered a lot from the past couple years of drought and dewatering. It’s kinda sad as that used to be my favorite stretch of river. There are those who may differ with me and I would like to hear from them.