Montana Winter Fly Fishing

X-treme Winter Fishing

I'm not much of winter trout fisherman anymore.  I enjoy it, and it's a nice diversion this time of year when there's not much going on.  I just feel sorry for the poor bastards.  We chase trout so hard from March through October that I feel they deserve a little break.  That has led to afternoon fishing excursions with my daughter Kaitlyn in the living room.  She's got a pretty good cast these days but her mends could use a little work....couldn't everybody's!  Still, it beats the hell out of playing Barbies and doing tea parties.  Of course, cabin fever could strike at any moment and all the above goes out the window when the need to feel a bent rod overwhelms any shallow feelings of pity for the poor trout.

Digging Out

Friday view from the porch

It's snowing again today, but the weekend gave us a break from the 5th biggest snow event in western Montana history.  I don't know what the official numbers were but we got nearly two feet of the white fluffy stuff at my house.  Spent all of Thur. and Fri. just keeping the driveway cleared out. 

Most of the other guides I know finally breathed a sigh of relief.  Up to this point it's been a mild winter and we were looking down the barrel of a low water year.  One big storm and suddently we are in good shape again.  I don't think we'll see the record high water levels of last year, but we've broken the dry weather cycle and we're in store for another good water year.  Time to go shovel again...... 

Bourbon St. and Big Reds

Here in Montana all of our hunting seasons have closed and trout fishing is more of an excuse for a cold walk than a productive endeavor right now.  So my wife, Brandy, and I headed to New Orleans for some fun in the French Quarter and fly fishing for over-sized redfish in the marsh of Louisiana.  We were met by my Florida buddy, Rich and his wife.  As we were running to the fishing grounds on day one in the skiff after only 2 hours sleep I was tempted to crawl into the fetal position but I didn't want our guide giving up on us before we even got started.  Bourbon St......if you've been there, you know what happened to us. 

Overall the fishing was typical saltwater fly fishing, weather and water dependent.  We battled both for a couple days before conditions finally came together to give us a glimpse into the potential of this fishery.  We had light winds, blue skies, and relatively clear water which allowed us to make a bunch of quality shots on mid-sized redfish.  Rich and I both boated at least 10 reds in the 6-12lb range on the last day.  It always amazes me how one day, or even just a couple hours, of good fishing can turn a whole trip around.  Up to that point, the only fish landed was a big 22 lb redfish that I had tagged on day two.  

We had a great trip, escaped the cold MT winter for a while, ate some unbelievable food, and managed to catch a few fish.  I may head back to the marsh someday for a shot at a 30+lb redfish, I'll just steer clear of Bourbon St. if I do.