Tue. I was out with Dick and Cindi Hayne for our end of the season celebration. The date didn't fall on the end of season this year, but it has become an annual event and is not to be missed. We floated the upper Bitterroot and Cindi started with a single dry and Dick had a hopper/dropper rig on. True to form, Cindi hooked a couple of dicklings (small fish) right out of the gate and then she proceeded to seine the river after that. Dick might have had a couple bumps on the dropper but with Cindi tagging fish in nearly every run it didn't take long to get Dick switched over to a dry too. The morning was mostly smaller fish, but there was a nice mix of cutts, bows, and browns and once we had a couple better fish come for the fly I knew it was time for lunch before the main hatch came off. Lunch on this day is pretty much an event in and of itself, and it grows more extravagent every year. Cindi always prepares lunch for the end of the season float and today we had an absolute feast. She even had menus printed up and there was everything from spinach salad to quiche to wild alaskan salmon and all the side dishes you could ask for. Did I mention the killer champagne and chocolate turtle cake for desert? It's also the longest lunch of the year, but worth every minute. After lunch I was ready for a food coma, but we set off to see if those trout were still looking up. It was a great afternoon of dry fly fishing. The wind kicked up a little and blew some of our bugs away but we were still able to find willing fish in most all of the places I thought they should be. Cindi was gunning most of them down out of the front seat with the best being a couple of 17" trout, one bow and one cutt. Dick pulled his weight out of the back too with a couple of nice browns and a 16" cutt. There were lots of filler fish too from 10-14" and it was just a beautiful day to be on the water. Dick and Cindi are truly great folks and I always look forward to spending time with them.
Wed. was day one with long time clients, Gregg Kimball, David Joyner, Steve Dunleavy and this year they also brought first timer, Larry. I had Gregg and Larry in my boat and I was joined by fellow guide, John Gould. Larry had a few hook-set hiccups early on but Gregg kept us busy with several smaller fish on the dropper before finally coming tight on a big rainbow. After a long fight we had the 19" bow in the net which turned out to be our best fish of the morning. Larry didn't take long to catch on and a couple runs later the guys doubled up on trout and then one of the huge old bull trout starting chasing the fish on the end of our line. He never grabbed one but it was still cool to watch. Tricos were going strong by the time we made it to Munchmore and Larry and Gregg took turns drilling fish in there. It's the best that hole has fished form me in a while and the guys hooked up on a pile of cutthroats. A lot of them were smaller fish but there were at least 8 that went 15+". After that we gave up the spot for Steve and David, and we found more rising fish further downstream. Gregg took another 4 nice cutts before we pulled in for lunch. The afternoon was a mixed bag of hoppers, droppers, and little ants. Larry did well with the dropper connecting with several more great cutts including an 18" brute, and he also hooked a monster brown that ran straight at the boat, jumped and then broke us off. Gregg found most of his fish on the hopper and a couple on the ant as well. He even hooked a bull trout on the hopper in some fast water. I thought for sure it was a big rainbow, but after an epic battle through shallow rocks and boulders it turned out to be a 23" bull trout. It was another great Blackfoot day. The guys caught their share of little trout and really good numbers of quality fish from 15-17" with a few bigger ones as well.
Thur. my original client had to cancel and I was fortunate that Matt Horn called and was looking to fish for a day. I've had Matt in my boat since the 90's and he can flat out fish, whether it's dries, nymphs, or streamers he's able to fish with whatever the situation calls for and today was mainly dedicated to streamer fishing up the Blackfoot. We met at 0 dark-thirty for a trip up the canyon. The day started well when Matt smacked the first bull trout of the day before I even had the boat completely ready. The streamer action was pretty decent considering the bright sunshine we had and it was long until Matt was into another bull trout about 17", similar to the first one. We worked the streamers hard and found that a fast retrieve got the most attention as there were a number of follows and bumps to go along with a few small cutts and a fat 17 incher. We made it to Munchmore early and after working it through with one streamer I changed the fly and on the next cast Matt experienced quite a memorable moment. He was working the fly and saw a big bull trout just slide over and inhale the bug. Matt stuck him hard, came tight and the fight was on. He was pretty jacked up with being able to see the fish eat the fly and then it came to the surface with big gill rattling head shakes. In all the commotion the fish got wrapped up funny and was a little difficult to land, but the hook held and Matt had his biggest Montana bull trout to the net at 27". That alone would've been enough to make the day a success, but then I blew his mind when we slid over to the foam in Munchmore and he fished tricos to non-stop eating trout. It was so good in there that I even landed two cutties while holding my sandwhich in one hand and the fly rod in the other. We spent a long time in there tormenting those fish and Matt landed a number of 16-17" cutts and a bunch of smaller ones too. After that we found some really nice fish still rising to tricos in the shelf rock and Matt had no problem sticking several more nice, thick cutts on a little dry fly. Then it was back to the streamer for the rest of the canyon with decent success. There were lots of follows, some bumps, and a handful of small to medium sized cutts and bows. With the streamer bite fading I switched Matt over to a hopper/ant combo and he proceeded to light up a bunch of nice fish on dries. It was mostly cutts again from 15-17", just healthy and thick and a great way to finish off an awesome day. We didn't fish a nymph all day and Matt ended up with a big bully, and a grand slam with bulls, bows, cutts, and one brown trout. I always love it when anglers who fish hard and well are rewarded for their efforts because it doesn't always work out that way.
Fri. I was out with Bitterroot valley regulars, Brian Bachman, Bob Dennis, and Bridger the trout dog. The guys live around Hamilton and were looking to get out of the smoke a little so we floated the lower Bitterroot. We started the day with a hopper/dropper rig and Bob had the hot hand out of the back of the boat. It was a mixed bag of trout and whitefish on the dropper, but Brian couldn't even buy a whitey in the front seat. He finally came alive though and stuck the two biggest dropper fish of the morning with one bow around 15" and the other at 17.5". They had a number of other smaller bows before the tricos started coming off. Once the hatch was going we switched over to a single small dry and took turns casting at risers. Brian didn't waste anytime as he connected on a hot bow with his first cast and then Bob hooked a big 18" bow when it was his shot. The next pod produced good fish for both Brian and Bob and then we set up on a couple of big fish eating tight to a root ball. Again, Brian's first cast connected and the fight was on. After a long battle our best fish of the day came to the net and this bow taped out at 18.5". The guys kept taking turns like that on good fish and they did amazingly well. Those trico fish are hard to feed and they're even harder to hook and land but we only broke off one fish that ran us under a log, and only missed a couple others. Everything else was solid hook-ups, wet nets and big smiles. We finally took a break for lunch and then rigged up with mahagonies for the afternoon. It was solid dry fly fishing even though we didn't see many bugs or actively rising fish. Bob picked off a lot of the best fish in the front seat, but Brian smacked a few too and he also hooked into the biggest fish of the day. It was big, brightly colored rainbow that ate super tight to a log and after a big jump it was running back for cover when it broke off. I was sorry to see the fish get away but I was glad that Brian took his chances with the tippet holding instead of just letting the fish run him into the timber. Not long after that Bob took our only cutthroat of the day in flat calm water and that fish was another fat one that went 17". There were a lot of fish today and a lot of bigger fish too. The weather was beautiful and the river treated us well. It's always a nice day on the water with Bob, Brian and Bridger.
Sat. was my last day with the Osprey cabin crew, David Joyner, Steve Dunleavy, and Gregg Kimball. They were a man down today so guide, John and I had just three anglers. We launched the boats right at the cabin on the lower Bitterroot so we could shoot at some trico fish that aren't used to being messed with that time of day. Right off the bat David hooked a really big fish that broke the fly off in short order. A few casts after that Gregg got a mid-sized bow on a trico before we slid down on two more toad trout that were sipping tricos. These fish took a few more casts but David finally fooled one and had it briefly hooked up before the fly popped out. Then we found a really big fish just barely sipping tricos tight to the bank in a quiet back eddy. It was Gregg's shot but after a few casts his fly hung up on an overhanging bush so David was in the game. It was a challenging drift but David got the fish to eat the fly a couple of times and we missed him. Usually you only get one chance at fish like this, but today he kept eating and the third time was a charm as David came tight with a good hook-set. The fish rolled up to the surface and when I saw how big it was I thought for sure we'd lose him to the bank side brush. Luckily the fish charged out into the main river and we were eventually able to get the net under him. It was a monster bow at 21.5" and David got him on a little bitty fly and 5x. Gregg was up next and after breaking off a big fish in a slough I put him on a seam with a couple of risers. The first fish was a scrappy 12" bow, but the next one had more meat on his bones and gave Gregg a good fight. It was a heavy 19.5" bow. The trico action pretty much dried up after that and we switched to a hopper/dropper rig. David smacked a mid-sized brown and a 17" bow on the dropper and Gregg had a big one just pound the hopper. After a couple of big jumps we landed another great 18" bow. The guys switched it up after lunch and I had David as a single for the afternoon. We fished a mahagony dry with mixed results. There wasn't much of a hatch in the afternoon so most of the fish we turned on the dry were smaller than the trico fish of the morning. We did find some big boys up eating at the mouth of a spring and David had several eat the fly but we never really connected. Then we decided to do a little pike fishing in a slow stretch of water. We worked our way down a long bank and had two follow the fly but wouldn't commit. We also saw a monster pike probably pushing 20 pounds but I couldn't ever get the boat in the right position to put a really good shot on that fish. As we neared the end of the pike run I saw an old friend rise in a sneaky little spot. I have had folks hook the fish twice earlier this year. Once it broke us off and once we were able to tow it out of the gnarled log jam mess that it lives in. I gave David the set-up with where to cast and what to do once the fish ate the fly and it all went according to script. The fish ate on cue and once David was tight, he got his rod tip in the water and hauled that trout upstream to safety. A short fight later and David had another Bitterroot giant in the net. This cuttbow hit the tape at 20.5" and after a couple pics we sent him back to his little hide-out. We kept at it with the dry fly and had a couple other big eats and a few decent trout to the boat. These guys are always a ton of fun to fish with and I look forward to their trip each year. Their cabin, the Osprey, is right on the banks of the Bitterroot and is available to rent most of the season. It's an awesome place to stay if anyone is looking for a good alternative to a hotel in town.
The past week gave up some great fishing which is to be expected in late Sept. It's hard to believe that it's October already. Our weather doesn't seem like fall yet and I think this is the first year I've made it all the way through Sept. without wearing waders. Change is in the air though, and a cold front is supposed to hit by mid-week. If we're lucky it will come with some rain and put an end to the smoke that's been around for over a month now. One thing is for sure, when it does arrive it will put an end to the already dying hopper fishing but it will ramp up our mayfly hatches. The coming weeks should be dry fly nirvana with mahagonies and blue-wings in the afternoons. I love my job.
Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
