Happy Holidays
As the end of the year approaches most of us tend to reflect on our lives. At Montana Fly Fishing Guides we often think back on past fishing seasons, memorable fish and the great individuals we’ve meet along the way. In fact, one of our anglers & friends started us thinking about this particular topic – thanks Barbara.
One thought we always come back to is our conversations with anglers about our choice of the fishing lifestyle. Many of our anglers comment on how great it would be to spend time on the water everyday in Montana searching for that next tight line. We couldn’t agree more, that’s why we do what we do. In 2001 & 2002, after the 9/11 attacks, we saw a tremendous shift in anglers who changed their entire lifestyle. No longer was it about career, work, money or acquisitions with the hope of sneaking in some fishing along the way. It was about enjoying life and pursuing their passion for fly fishing. This season wasn’t much different, many people suffered from the recent economic debacle, and we’ve seen a similar shift in our angler’s priorities. Spending time on the water with family, friends and enjoying life to the fullest has taken hold once again. If you’ve been contemplating your choice of lifestyle this past year consider the following this holiday season:
Meet Mr. Jack Gartside (link to the Boston Globe). His passion was fly fishing plain and simple. He didn’t let a traditional career, money or everyday life get in the way of his enthusiasm. One of his close angling friends stated “he’s who we’d all like to be if we all had more guts.” While we never had the pleasure of meeting Jack personally, he was certainly the epitome of one who pursued his angling passion to the fullest. Angling Fanatics, Trout Bums, Fly Fishing Geeks – whatever you choose to label such societal contrarians we applaud them for their choice to pursue a lifestyle richer and fuller than most have dared attempt. While most of us can’t embrace a Trout Bum lifestyle as full as Jack’s we can glean insight from someone who lived an angler’s life to the fullest.
We’ll save you a spot on the water in 2010. Until then all of us at Montana Fly Fishing Guides wish Tight Lines to our angling family and friends this holiday season!
Well it’s been cold here in Montana and we thought since most of you don’t get out here much in the winter you’d like to see what the river looks like this time of year. As you can see it’s partially frozen, but the trout are hunkered down awaiting warmer days. While we love all the activities our snowy weather offers we are anxious for spring fishing to return. We’ll update you after the New Year on our current snow pack conditions. Talk to you soon. www.MontanaFlyFishingGuides.com
Develop your Guide Vision
On our travels we fish with other guides and we’ve noticed that all quality guides share at lease one commonality. It’s something we like to call “guide vision”. Regardless of whether you fish saltwater for bonefish or freshwater for trout, seeing fish puts you at an advantage. You might have thought that most guides just have exceptional vision, but really it’s not about having good eyes, more importantly it’s about knowing how to look at the water. We are going to give you a few pointers to start you on a path developing your own guide vision.
Keys to developing your guide vision:
Spend some money on good, quality optics and take care of them. There are several good sunglass manufacturers out there whose products are worth the $150 to $250 dollars, most of them even have options for prescription lenses. Make sure they fit properly – a high quality lense is only good if it fits correctly. Sunglass lenses should not touch your eyelashes and should not let light in from the sides or bottom. You should also consider the color of the lens, we prefer browns and coppers. Grey lenses block out too much light and yellow might let too much in for those with more sensitive eyes. Fly fishing is a visually active sport and if you can’t see your fly or the fish you are at a huge disadvantage.
Spend more time on the water (you can even tell your significant other we said so). Obviously, the best way to do this is with a guide or an experienced angler by your side. Ask questions, most guides and anglers love to share their knowledge with those eager to learn.
When you are out on the water be observant; look for subtle color changes, flashes, and movement. Don’t look for the whole fish under the water, instead look for the movement of a tail, a flash as the fish rolls on its side to eat a nymph, or a change in the color of the bottom which might be the shadow of a fish.
How many times have you been fishing from the back of the boat and the guide, who is in front of you, is able to see your fly eaten before you do. This is a simple matter of opening your vision. Don’t concentrate so hard on finding a fish that you loose your peripheral vision. Make sure that you can catch a movement or splash out of the corner of your eye. When looking at your fly you should also be able to see your fly line (is it time to mend again?), and the water surrounding your fly (is it time to recast?).
When fishing try to put your back to the sun, you’ll be amazed at how much more you can see. Put those new polarized sunglasses to work for you, sometimes it even helps to tilt your to one side or the other which can reduce glare off the waters surface.
Learn to read the water effectively to spot feeding fish. If there is surface activity due to a hatch where are the fish concentrated? Focus your attention on the most active areas and spend your time there. As you develop this skill you’ll spend more time fishing to actively feeding fish and less time fishing unproductive water.
If you spot a fish, but have to move to make a presentation make sure to mark the fish’s location so you can find him when you’re repositioned. You might do this by identifying something on the bottom or the stream bank. If you think you’re in position to make the cast don’t rush in, be patient and wait for the fish to show himself again.
Don’t get frustrated this is a skill that can take years to develop. A typical guide spends months at a time on the water so it won’t happen for you overnight. Keep practicing.
These are just a few of the keys to seeing the water and spotting fish more effectively. By learning and using these basics you’ll be on your way to developing a skill that will dramatically increase you angling abilities.
If you have some useful tips please feel free to post comments!
Well it’s a couple days late, but we guided some great folks from the Bozeman area the day before Thanksgiving on DePuy’s spring creek – thanks to Sweetwater Fly Shop. It was a beautiful sunny day and about 50 degrees. The biggest bonus was very little wind, which is something special on a warm winter day to be sure. There were midges and some Baetis (blue wing olives), but not a strong hatch. It would have been a better hatch with a few more clouds, but we managed. We saw several brown trout redds, but didn’t see any fish on them.
We fished mostly subsurface with small midge pupa’s and Baetis emergers. Our window of opportunity was very short, but best between noon and 2pm. We managed to hook a nice brown and rainbow, but they both won the short lived battle.
That will probably be the last time we are out on the water for this season, but you never know with the variable Montana weather. We’ll be sure to update you if we get out again. We will however be updating all of our subscribers on the snow pack throughout the winter season – we might even throw in a few ski pictures!
