OK, it’s 45 degrees in Livingston, Montana and feels more like spring than January. So as we are sitting here working on a few bookings for next season we keep looking out the window and thinking about, what else, fishing of course. Every year we spend the spring time hunting heads on the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. It’s still a couple months away from good dry fly fishing, but here’s a great video from our friends at 406 productions and a few of our local friends up on the Missouri. For those of you looking to improve your dry fly technique check out the great down stream drifts these anglers are getting.
There’s nothing that will get you stoked for the upcoming fishing season like some good fish porn!
As you may have noticed Montana Fly Fishing Guides is undergoing a bit of a make over. In the past ten years we’ve been fortunate to have a great crew of guides, lodging partner and most of all great clients. So things have been great, but as Paul Getty once said, “nostalgia often leads to idle speculation”. We are determined not get caught up in that trap.
So along with our new logo you can expect a few more changes in the near future. What’s up next? We’ll be over hauling the website to start. We’ve really gone into detail and found out what YOU think is informative on our Montana Fly Fishing Guides website and plan to continue to develop those areas. So look for the new website overhaul in the next month.
In the mean time what do you think about the new logo? Please post your comments below.
Montana is getting pounded with snow – FINALLY! Well it’s taken a while, but I guess the weather guys are right la Nina is starting to show it self. Good news for all Montana fly fishing anglers and those nay-sayers talking about the potential lack of water in many of Montana’s drainages. We’ll keep you posted to what this system does to the snow pack, but current predictions are for several feet in the mountains.
Montana fly fishing is never boring, in fact the 2011 season was exceptionally exciting. We thought we’d reminisce on some of the more notable highlights:
#5 – This one is our personal favorite – us getting to fish with fun people! This might seem a bit sentimental, but we have to start this list off with the quality of people that we fished with last season. Over the past 10 years we’ve meet some exceptionally great people and continued to develop long lasting relationships with others, and we look forward to it again in 2012.
#4 – PMD mania. DePuy & Armstrong Spring Creeks had some fantastic hatches this season and this past July was exceptionally good. Guide Eric and client Kris were able to capitalize with a remarkable 5 fish over 17″ in a few short hours. They also had a shot a fish well over the 21″ mark but were unable to coax him to the fly. I guess we’ll have to save that highlight for 2012.
#3 – Salmon flies on the Madison. We had a two boat crew on a spectacular day from Lyon’s to Ruby. Guides Eric and Zach saw more salmon fly dry eats in one day than in the past 4 years combined. What made it especially memorable is that one of our clients has degenerating eye disease that will make it unlikely he’ll ever see a fish eat his fly again. Certainly a sad condition we are just happy that he’ll remember that day for the rest of his life.
#2 – Fishing the Missouri River at 22,000 cfs. No one has ever guided (our research) this river at that level. Despite the high water the fishing was absolutely amazing. Typical days were 20 – 40 fish averaging 18 inches. Simply incredible!
Drum roll please…
#1 – Without a doubt was the record setting flows on the Yellowstone River. The Yellowstone River peaked in early July (a month later than usual) at a record setting 38,000 cfs which equates to 284,000 gallons of water going by every second – a once in a lifetime sight! While this definitely screwed up the fishing on the Yellowstone River until early August it was cool to see. Check out this video take from Carter’s Bridge just south of Livingston.
Snow means water and water levels equate to summer fishing quality so here go:
After the past several seasons our this Montana winter is evening out. With record setting levels last year this season is looking a bit more “normal” even by Montana standards. Huge snow packs can be good for keeping the rivers cool and the trout happy, but it does tend to spread them out which can make it more challenging to fish. In lower water years the fishing can be quite good as the fish are condensed, but water temperatures can be an issue. So at this point our experience level tells us that this looks to be a quality 2012 water season, but we’ll have to just keep following it as the season progresses to know for sure.
Current snow pack levels by drainage:
Upper Yellowstone: 79% of average
Lower Yellowstone: 91% of average
Madison: 64% of average
Missouri: 70% of average
Smith: 77% of average
Bighorn: 92% of average
Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted as a huge weather system is currently moving into western Montana.
Our fishing…
The Yellowstone River has been a tricky one to figure out this spring, with cooler than normal temperatures we are still about a week or two behind our normal schedule. The March Browns and Mother’s Day Caddis hatches are still yet to pop, but this week we’ve seen some good action on streamers as you can see on our latest video.
Our Prediction:
We are still guessing that by this weekend we’ll start seeing some significant hatches of both Caddis and March Browns so if you’re in the area get out there. The weather looks fairly warm and as soon as those water temperatures hit 52 to 54 degrees it’s going to go off! We’d also predict that the Yellowstone River won’t blow out until at least early next week, so get some fishing while you can.
The Highlights:
Yellowstone River:
Streamers have been our best ticket in yellow and black fished slow against the banks and in the slower water. The other good option is a shallow bead rig 2′-4′ below a small indicator in the foam holes with 14-18 Pheasant Tails & Midge pupa.
Spring Creeks (Armstrong, DePuy, Nelson):
Midges and baetis have been very good on the cloudy days especially when the breeze is light. Take advantage while you can with the early season discounted rates until June 14th.
Madison River:
The Lower Madison River is off color from Ennis Lake and Cherry Creek spilling in off colored water. There are baetis, midges and caddis are right around the corner. The trout aren’t consistently keying on the dry flies so it’s a nymphing and stream thing right now. The streamer fishing, dragging a Bow River Buggers and small baetis nymphs dropped below are the best ticket right now. Look for the fishing to pick up with the increased hatch activity. The Upper Madison has been a bit trickier so be warned.
Missouri River:
The Missouri is getting much more consistant with nymphing and occasional dry fly action. The nymphing from our reports is best with sow bugs and bright flies or baetis and midges. The streamer fishing is still hit and miss mostly due to the higher flows for this time of the season.
Got any good fishing reports from the area? Then make sure to leave a comment and let us know.
