Mon. I was back out with Brian and Bridger the trout dog, and we were also joined by Brian's friend Bruce. The weather was a little dicey with rain and thunderstorms in the forecast so we chose to stay close to home on the Bitterroot around Hamilton. That choice was fine with me after the fishing yesterday and I was looking for another all day dry fly affair. We started with double dries and it didn't take long for Bruce to connect with the first fish of the day. The action was fairly steady in the morning with mostly smaller and medium sized cutts and cuttbows coming to the dry. There weren't many bugs around early so I was hoping a hatch would get the fish fired up. We pulled up into a side channel to look for some fish and with no rises Bruce ended up sticking a few on a dropper. We took a break for lunch there and while we were eating a few PMDs started coming off and some heads showed. Brian set off on foot with the dry fly rod and fooled a few in short order including the biggest fish of the day. It was a big cutt in the 18-20" range but it ended up foul hooked on the double dry rig and I forced the issue a little to get the trout in quickly and it broke off. After getting back to the main river I still wasn't seeing the number of bugs I wanted so I switched the guys over to a dry/dropper rig. That's one of the surest things to get the fish up and rising, and not five minutes after that a fish ate Bruce's dry and the Green Drakes started coming off. It was back to the dry fly rig for us and the fellas started raising more fish. It was busy in the afternoon and our average size got a little better too. A couple of browns came to the net, but it was still mainly cutthroat and bows with most from 12-15" and a nice 17" cuttbow that Brian landed toward the end of the float. We had a couple of storms around us mid-day, but nothing too terrible and for the most part it was pleasant weather. Another great day on the Bitterroot with a couple of good guys and the best boat dog around,.
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| The Release |
Tue. I fished with long-time anglers Bob and John on Rock Creek. The creek is low right now and a pain to get down, but Bob and John love it and it has been fishing well. Today was nothing short of spectacular. These guys have been fishing the Creek in June for over 20 years and both said it was the finest day of fishing on Rock Creek they've ever had. We fished single dries all day and the action was non-stop. We started with golden stones in the morning for an hour or so and then switched to green drakes for the balance of the day. Rock Creek is usually busy with fish and many days it can be a lot of small fish with a few nice ones mixed in. What separated today was the size of the fish. There were a lot of trout in the 12-15" range with a bunch to 16" and even a few 17" fish too. A conservative guess would put the number of doubles at 20 and there were many runs where we landed 6 or 7 or more trout. At one point we had three cutthroat in the net at the same time. The guys had doubled and I netted both fish. I got the hook out of Bob's and before I could unhook John's fish Bob had another one boatside. I think they ended up with 5 fish out of that one spot. It was the kind of fishing everyone dreams about. If you put your fly in a spot that looked like it would hold a fish, then one would gobble it. It's really quite hard to describe the fishing I witnessed today. It was a blast out there with good friends.
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| Rock Creek Triple!! Don't see that very often |
Wed. was a day with Bitterroot valley locals Dick and Jim. The weather was perfect, cloudy and warm, and I thought we would find great mayfly hatches on the Bitterroot around Hamilton. The day started fairly normal with a couple fish eating the dry in the first few runs and I thought we were right on track. I pulled up a side channel that had been very productive over the last week and it only produced one mid-sized cutthroat on a dropper. There just weren't many bugs around and as the day continued we never really experienced a hatch. There were a few PMDs and a few Green Drakes, and we did catch some fish today, but the action was nothing like the past week and it was mostly smaller cutthroat and browns. Jim did manage to land a few really nice cutts and cuttbows up to 16" but it was hard work. There was a short period in the afternoon when it looked like things might break loose. Some bugs started to pop and we had a number of eats and a few fish to the boat in only a couple runs, but then the bugs faded and we went back to working for our fish. We had a great time on the river today, and these guys have fished enough that they know sometimes it's tough. It still doesn't make it any easier for me...I hate tough fishing and even though this was my first "off" day since high water I'm itching to get back out there and see a bunch of bent rods.
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| Jim throwing tight loops |
Thur. Bob and I headed up to float the canyon on the Blackfoot. Have you ever had one of those days when things just wouldn't go your way? It happens in our personal lives, our business lives, and despite our best attempts it even happens in our fishing lives. It happens to me when I'm fishing and I see it from the rowers seat every year. I usually depict it through rose colored glasses in the fishing report, but Bob is such a great friend and good sport I thought I would write about it a little. It was a tough day of fishing for Bob, one of those days. It's important to know that Bob is one of the finest fly fisherman I've ever had in my boat, so I don't doubt his skill or ability. We've had incredible fishing together and 'we've had our butts kicked too, but I'd never seen it quite like today. Overall the fishing was decent today, not great but about what I expected for the first bright sunny day in over a week. We started off with streamers and the fish weren't really on the chase. Bob had 5 or 6 grabs, a couple follows, and finally connected with a rainbow. It wasn't really happening on the streamer so we switched over to a dry/dropper rig. It didn't take long to get some action and it was on a mix of the dries and droppers with most of the activity on the nymph. The only problem was that just about every fish fell off the hook. Near as I could tell it was just bad luck because I couldn't see any errors in technique. What really hurt was that all the good trout came unbuttoned. Despite all that we did manage to catch some fish. It was mostly small and medium sized cutts and bows....and whitefish. It didn't matter what dropper we fished, Mr.Whitey was on the hunt today. Of course, they all stayed hooked up. Toward the end of the day Bob found his groove again and connected with three nice fish in a row, including the biggest cutthroat at 17". It is definitely frustrating when you are going through one of those days, but Bob never lost sight of the big picture and we did have a great day. The weather was stunning, cobalt blue skies with white puffy clouds and bright green grass against the orange walls of the canyon. Fish will come and go, but days spent on Montana streams are always priceless.
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| Floating into the canyon |
Fri. I was back out with Bob and today we were joined by Marcelo. The guys were looking for dry fly fishing so we headed to the lower West Fork and I crossed my fingers that the second day of sunshine would bring more surface activity. We started with double dries in the morning and the action was hit and miss. We found some fish on the surface but after several fly changes I still didn't feel like we had it dialed. Then we pulled back up in a run that had several rising fish and spent a good deal of time getting frustrated. I don't know how many times we changed flies but the guys put a bunch of different patterns of those fish with no success. I was ready to pull my hair out when Marcelo dug into his own fly box and pulled out a couple of bugs he tied. After a couple of drifts he was tight to a nice cutthroat. He tagged one more while I scrambled to borrow another bug from him and get it on Bob's line. A few shots for Bob and he had a cuttie in the net. Marcelo's bugs saved the morning for us and after that it was pretty steady action on his mayfly pattern. Shortly before lunch I sent him up a side channel where he found some rising fish and connected with three nice cutts with the biggest a fat 17" fish. While we were eating all of us started noticing the golden stones flying around. The robins were picking them out of the air and I was hoping the trout would be on the too. We changed to a golden after lunch and it was instant affirmation when Bob raised two fish in the first run. The balance of the day was pretty awesome with healthy fish coming out of all the good looking spots. The guys had a bunch of doubles and no shortage of pretty cutts in the 13-16" with several in the 17" class. We found a few bows and browns too, but it was mainly a cutthroat day on bushy golden stone patterns. I love goldens on the upper Bitterroot and it looks like now is finally the time.
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| West Fork dry fly fish |
Sat. I fished with Stan and Jim who've been coming out to Missoula for over 10 years now to fly fish. They were with fellow guide, John a couple days ago on the Bitterroot so I thought we should take a shot at the Blackfoot today. We got an early start to avoid the weekend traffic and beat the heat. The morning was tough duty. I changed flies a lot, and we fished everything from dry/droppers, double dries, to full on nymph rigs and we only had a couple small trout and a few whitefish to the boat. Those Blackfoot trout were grumpy and I had my fingers crossed that the afternoon would produce. Some nice cloud cover rolled in for the afternoon and while the river didn't light up for us, the fish did get more active. The guys found a bunch of smaller trout on dries and a couple of good ones including a cuttbow that was pushing 20" that Jim boated. There was a good yellow sally hatch and I thought the bugs and clouds would get some big fish up on the surface but eventually I changed back to dropper rigs to try and find a better class of trout. It wasn't fast paced action, more of a steady pace but we did find some nice 12-15" bows and cutts on the dropper and had a few bigger fish take a swing at the dry flies. It was a beautiful day in the canyon, the clouds kept the temps reasonable and the fishing was fair. I would've like to have seen a little more action, but the trout always have the final say on that one.
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| Hard earned treasure on the Blackfoot |
Sun. I was back out with Jim and Stan and we set off for some dry fly fishing on the upper Bitterroot. We launched all by ourselves with single dry flies and raised a few fish early on. There was decent action for the early morning, but things got interesting when we pulled into a great run to spend some time. I rigged up a rod with double dries and the next hour or so was simply perfect. The guys took turns with the rod and we were never more than a few minutes without a fish on. They were all nice cutthroat and cuttbows including a 19" fish by Stan and a 19.5" cuttbow that Jim landed. We must have landed at least 15 in that one run before it was finally time to move on. After an early lunch we got ready for the golden stone hatch and the guys were not disappointed. It was steady action the rest of the way with lots of fish coming to the single dry. In the afternoon there were a bunch of smaller fish on the hunt from 10-13", but we also landed more than our share of nice trout in the 14-17" range. It was a great way to end the trip with a couple of the nicest guys I know. They're already making their reservations for next year so I look forward to seeing them then.
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| Stan was having so much fun he forgot to smile with this big cuttie |
It's been an awesome June and the great fishing will continue into July. Golden stones are coming out in force these days and it should be another good week of dry fly fishing in western Montana. I love my job.
Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
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