Bozeman Angler Blog

Yellowstone

2008-07-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have been on the Yellowstone almost everyday this last week and each day the river is fishing better and better. With the flows steadily dropping its only going to get better!! Nymphing has been the most productive with rubber legs, iron sallies, and big lightning bugs uh oh watch out for the whities. Some dry fly action is beginning though as the river does get a little more visibility. Try big attractors trailed with a yellow sally or a caddis. From all the mud this year the fish look like they have been sand blasted by all the silt but most of the trout we have caught look healthy otherwise and are putting up a good fight. I am looking forward to the next week here as the river should really fire up. Go get em!!

Madison Early July

2008-07-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

The Upper Madison has been fishing great over the last two weeks with some really nice fish being caught both on dries and nymphs. Lots of caddis and yellow sallies still around and with the water temps where they are we should have great fishing over the next few weeks. The kid in the photo was only six years old so we should all congratulate him on his first Montana Trout, way to go buddy. Good Fishing everyone, enjoy what is going to be a great summer!!

July 13 Ruby River

2008-07-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of fishing with trout junkie Rolf Wilson from next door at the Main Street Gym. Man, what a day! Bugs, bugs, bugs. We had PMD's, Caddis, Baetis, and the occasional spruce moth almost the entire time we were on the water. For the most part the fish we found were feeding in pods of four or five. The fish feeding in the broken water were willing to eat a well placed dry but the fish in the slick water had me constantly shuffling through my fly box until I found something they liked. Later in the day when we decided to make our way back the truck we threw streamers as we walked down stream and managed to move some larger fish. The river is running at a perfect 326 cfs and is gin clear making feeding fish easy to spot.

If you go you will need,

Para PMD's, PMD Sparkle Dun, CDC Emergers, Para Caddis, Para Adams.

Military Nymph, PMD Soft Hackle, Sparkle Pupa, Scuds.

Olive Zonkers, Big Horne Buggers, Wooly Buggers.

Fishing Report, July 12

2008-07-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hello readers and fellow fish bums. The new website has been a great transition, and the concept of the guide blog has been talked about all over town and beyond. The blog provides a more personal and specific touch to reports and fishing banter, and (though it hasnt happened too frequently) provides you, the reader, a chance to respond and communicate... But a full and wholesome river report is not always easy to find, so here it goes.

Bozeman's local rivers are clearing up, fishing is good and only getting better.

UPPER MADISON: Flows have been consistently falling over the past 10 days and currently the flow is at 1680 at Kirby Ranch. Salmon flies are the name of the game at around Macatee,though some have had trouble getting the fish to eat on top. Along with the Salmon flies, Yellow Sallies, Golden Stones, Caddis, and PMD's have also been hatching in considerable numbers. Now, the river could give up an great day or a slow one as it transitions into "summer mode". In another week I think the consistency will be there.

LOWER MADISON: At 2800 CFS and falling the lower is a good option for fishing right now. At only about a 25 minute drive from town, it is a convenient afternoon float or post work wade. Water clarity is better and the fish are beginning to move out from the banks. The only problem here is the number of floaters on the water with you. What has come to be called the "Bikini Hatch" is out in full force, and on the weekend forget about it.

YELLOWSTONE: The stone has been constantly falling for the past week from around 20,000 CFS to 11,800 right now. There have been boats on the water this week with reports of a few fish and fishability at least. When the river reaches 10,000 CFS Im predicting the fishing to turn on in a big way. In a week's time the Yellowstone will be back in full swing. Floating this river gives a huge advantage, so dont wait and book a guide for next week some time.

GALLATIN: The mighty Gallatin's huge runoff flows have begun to subside with a current readings at 2200 CFS in Gallatin Gateway. There's many reports of Salmon Flies at the top of the canyon near Big Sky, moving up into the meadows. Caddis and PMD's and also in the mix. Be careful where you wade because its still chugging along, but those picturesque Gallatin days are back and only getting better!

MISSOURI: The MO has been interesting this season, to say the least. A flush in early June lasted through the month and made anglers fish deep and heavy nymph rigs, with not too much dry action. The river still produced just fine, and anglers still congregated in Craig for a different kind of June than they've seen in recent years. With flows dropping steadily (currently 7,340 CFS) the classic MO fishing that were all used to is starting to show through. As the river drops dry flying gets better and better. Caddis and PMD's, with a mix of a few Sallies and Drakes. Trico's are just around the corner.

BIG HOLE/BEAVERHEAD: The "hole" and the "beav" provided us a great opportunity in the recent weeks to find some hot fishing, and still is. The Salmon Flies in the upper stretches of the Big Hole were great this year, as well as many other prolific hatches throughout both streams. At 1260 CFS the river is still fishing good if you are willing to make the drive. Yellow Sallies, Golden Stones, PMD's and Caddis are the name of the game. Both nymphs and dries are on right now. The beav's flow has been consistent now for about a week and many of the same bugs as the Big Hole are being seen here. Early morning and evenings are the time to dry fly, but during the day nymphing has dominated.

The moral of the story is that its time to go fishing people. Break out your rods, call your friends, and get on the water!

See you out there,
Daniel

July 7, Slowly but surly.

2008-07-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surly the local rivers are clearing, coming down, and should continue to improve over the next couple of weeks. The Salmon Fly Hatch on the Madison has jumped the lake and is just now starting on the upper, so throw your Pat's Rubber legs and big Prince Nymphs along the edges of the river and keep your eyes out for fish chowing on adults.

July 1, Back to the Big Hole!

2008-07-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun on the Big Hole last week we decided to go back and do it again. Yesterday we floated up high in the slower Brook Trout water and found that our little Char friend lives there in big numbers and willing to try to eat bugs bigger than their mouths would allow. The bug of the day was a size 12 yellow Stimulator with a Soft Hackle trailing about 2' behind in the film. Late in the day rain clouds moved in making for happy trout and perfect conditions for ripping streamers....So I did. The fish in the picture fell for a yellow Cone headed Madonna stripped just off of the bank.

If you go....

Bugs to look for- PMD, Yellow Sally, Golden Stone, Salmon Flies, and Caddis.

Patterns- Para-PMD, PMD soft hackle, Military Nymph, Iron Sally, Yellow stimulator, Para-Caddis.

TY

Beaverhead

2008-06-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

With the local rivers still a little ways from being fish able I took the lady to the Beaverhead over the weekend. We got em pretty good all day with the pmd's and yellow sallies coming off in good numbers. Nymphing military mays and small tungsten sallies were the most productive. Good Fishing everyone!!

Canyon Ferry

2008-06-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

I did some carp fishing this week and the action was pretty good. Small green wolly buggers were the ticket. Leading the fish a foot or two seemed to be ok as the fish weren't too spooky. Go get em!!

June 27th

2008-06-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

Finally,!!!!!!!!!!!!!! get your fishing gear in order, it won't be much longer! After this weekends forecast of record high temps,the rivers will start to drop like a stone. The fishing opportunity's should start opening up for us. So get the lawn mowed, garden weeded and the rest of the honey do list done. In the next week Montana trout fishing will be back in full swing. So get ready and check your waders for leaks, as you will need them this year!!!!! Have fun and wade safe.
PS.
The Hylite Road is open. The lake is fishing slow but wade out along the stream mouths in the evening and throw a prince nymph trailed with an orange egg under an indicator. The big fish are up in the creeks spawning but drop down into the lake at dusk in big numbers. This should get you a fly fishing fix.

June 24 Big Hole River

2008-06-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Going on a tip from Andy, yesterday we floated a stretch of the Big Hole in the Divide area in search of the famous Salmon Fly hatch. Early in the day we did run in to a few of the big bugs dropping eggs but found nothing feeding on the surface, so sub-surface it was. The winning combo was a Pat's Rubber Leg on top trailed by a San Juan or a Lightning Bug. Later in the afternoon we drifted in to a good size Caddis hatch with a good number of Yellow Sallies mixed in. Unfortunately we pulled of the river just as the fish were starting to looking up, so if you go don't be afraid to shoot for a little later in the day or just get over there for the evening hatch.

TY

Lower Madison

2008-06-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

While I was at work sling'n flies, Sarah floated the Lower Mad with Daniel and found this pig ignoring salmon flies and munching on Caddis pupa. She's been rubbing this one in my face for a couple of days now.

Chub Fest 2008

2008-06-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

Yes you heard me right. It was chub fest at Ennis Lake Montana. The chubs where cruising the shore in large schools of up to hundred in each school. Local boys Gavin and Brandon got on to them and had a blast catching one after another. It was Brandon's first time fishing with a fly rod and after Pam helped him out with his cast and retrieve, he got into them heavy. The chubs ran up too 13" in length and fought like, well chubs.

Big Hole

2008-06-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

Fished the Big Hole river this past week and ran into a few Salmon Flies. As of Yesterday they were heaviest around the Melrose/Brown's Bridge area. The dry fly fishing is still waiting to go off but the fish are hitting the nymphs pretty well. Try a rubberleg with a san juan trailer. I did get a few fish with crunchy bellies so they are starting to key in on the stones. Bring your big salmon dries, it may happen any day. Good Fishing!!!

6/16 Lower Madison

2008-06-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

It looks like Daniel beat me to the first Salmon Fly report this year, so I'll just contribute with a couple of photos.

Lower Mad Salmon Flies

2008-06-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

While fishing the lower madison yesterday I pulled out the saining net to see a quick sample of what was crawling on the river bottom... Salmon fly nymphs are absolutely everywhere along the banks and are quite active. We did several sains and I don't think I pulled it out once without there being 8 - 10 of them in the net. Expect the hatch to be prolific from the recent increased flows, which has churned the riverbed. Look for these guys to be popping in the next week or two. Even better, you don't have to wait to fish... They're eating the nymphs plenty good. The weather is warm and the fishing is picking up... there's no better time than the present! See you out there,
Daniel

June 16th

2008-06-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

Finally the warm weather has arrived and we can all finish getting our gardens in and then get ready for a great fishing season in Montana. With the warmer temps. the river levels have all jumped up some. They should rise for a few days then start to drop and start to green up in a few weeks. There have been some reports of Salmon Flies on the Lower Madison. And there has been enough visibility to fish them if they pop.

Our beginning fly fishing class was full and was enjoyed by all. Many thanks to Brant Oswald and Ty Webb for their instruction. The next class will be held on July 12th and we still have 6 spaces left as of today(max 10).

Get out there and enjoy life in Montana or where ever you live.

Thanks

Fathers Day

2008-06-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Fathers Day to all you fathers out there, this is the day that you can fish all day and your family will greet you with open arms and a great meal on your return. No work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rivers are still high but dropping some with enough visibility to have them see it if you hit them in the head with it. Try big rubber leg stones trailed with a prince or copper john, even a lightning bug. But get out there and enjoy your day Fathers of the world.

Yesterday we still pressured the still waters and got some real toads. The fish took some olive leeches early in the day but not as well as they have been. The best action came on midge pupa cast to cruising fish and also blind fished under an indicator. Then with the wind pushing the warm water to one side of the lake the callibaetis action picked up and we took a dozen or so fish on dries.

Many thanks to the Dr. Wilson and his sons Brent and Rolf for a fun day. Here are a few pictures of Brent Wilson with a few of his monsters. Brent is a father of two and enjoyed his holiday with his brother and Dad.

FRIDAY 13th!!!

2008-06-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

Holy crap it's Friday the 13th!! Being fisherman, we tend to rely on a combination of knowledge and good luck to put a trout or two in the net. Just in case some of you lean heavy on the the "luck thing" you should probably keep an eye out for black cats, walk around ladders, and for goodness sakes keep the bananas out of the boat!

This week end's weather looks like it's gonna be a bit summer-ish. That means that the fresh snow that fell in the high country this week is going to come down and continue on with the longest run off season in 10 or so years. Not to sound like a broken record, but you should continue to look to the tail waters for safe water levels and active fish. As far as flies go, you should still be throwing San Juan worms, Lightning Bugs, or anything bright and flashy.

June 11

2008-06-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I spent the last few days showing off Montana and Yellowstone to some family on they're first trip to the Big Sky state. Earlier in the week, before the day trips into the park Sarah's dad, Dennis, and I hit a small lake and put the hurt on the fat Rainbows that call this place home. The pictures show each of us with nice fish but both were actually caught by Dennis. He insisted that I hold the first one because I'm smaller and I would make the fish look much larger. The fish caught earlier in the day were fooled by olive leech patterns on long leaders stripped slowly over the drop offs. Later in the day, and after an hour or so of rain, we saw that fish began to feed the a few Callibaetis that popped on the surface. With fish cruising back and forth at the drop offs hunting for emerging bugs, we suspended Callibaetis nymphs and soft hackles about 3' under an indicator. Sure it's a little like worm dunking in a farm pond, but it worked.

6/10 Tailwater

2008-06-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

Fished a local tail water on thurs. 6/5 with new friends Tom, Jim and Andrew. The water was clear and the fishing was good on nyphms but no bugs coming off the water. The weatherman was wrong about rain, the day turned out to be very nice and all got alittle burned. The weather is to be cold the next couple days but lets look forward to the weekend when it is to be sunny and in the 70s. Sorry for no pictures the camera got wet on thurs.

2008-06-10T06:41:00.001-07:00

Slabs June 9th

2008-06-10T06:33:00.000-07:00

Steve Lombard and Brit Dubois got some big slabs on a local stillwater. The fish where huge and really on the feed. We threw black and brown leech patterns and they did not refuse them. Today it is walk wade day, so I'm off I'll keep you posted on today's success.

June 8th Snow Pack Report

2008-06-09T03:30:00.000-07:00

Due to snow pack, along with many rainy days in May and so far in June Southwest Montana rivers have more water than in many years.

As of June 1st statewide snow packs are at 148% of average and 374% of last year this according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The river drainages in and around Bozeman are
Madison River basin 118 to 126 % of average
Gallitin River basin 120 to 131% of average
Upper Yellowstone River basin 112 to 126% of average
Lower Yellowstone River basin 132 to 153 % of average

What this all adds up to for fly fishermen thinking about coming to Montana is that this year is shaping up to be one of the best years in the last ten. If you have been thinking about a trip out west this is the time to come. Our bookings at The Bozeman Angler are on the rise in spite of highier gas prices, airline prices and the economy.

To check on a guide booking or for further information call the emergency trout line 800-886-9111. Hope to see you this summer.
Rod

USA Fly Fishing Team June 7th

2008-06-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Mike, John and Joe from Las Vegas the future USA fly fishing team at first day of practise. They will be ready to compete in the near future. Lets say 2050 or so. Just kidding they did great and everyone got fish.

The river conditions are still in full run off, near flood stage and very muddy. This flush of water will last sometime but will help the river systems clear the sediment that has accumulated in the last 7 years of low water. This equates to better and more spawning areas and increase in habitat for insect life.

Good fishing.

Paddlefishing June 1st, 2nd

2008-06-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

I went to Glendive Montana this week and did some paddlefishing. I make the annual trip during runoff plus when else do you have a chance to hang with the locals and do some old fashion snagging? I even got one on a spey rod! Off to fish some ponds tomorrow then to the Madison and Willow Creek over the weekend. Good Fishing Everyone!!!