MT fishing
 

Fishing has gotten off to a very slow start in my neck of the woods
in MT. We ve had plenty of water which is a good thing. Lots of snow
pack and the Mo is 6000 CFS below Holter dam with lots more to come!

Winds have been in the 20-30 mph category alot of the time too. The
March midge hatch was abundant yet I didnt see a fish feeding on top
the whole month. Go figure, maybe the high flows???

The funny & puzzling thing is the river has experienced July
conditions as far as fisherman traffic! Last saturday it looked like
the Spanish Armada was departing from the Holter dam boat ramp. The
local eatery , totally unprepared for this assault had sold out of food
by the end of the weekend. The rainbows are out of the river spawning.
There s no hatch, tho the olives are due soon. I hope they caught
some white fish on san juans as that was about all there was to
catch other than an occaisional brown. Seems like an expensive date for
some whitefish at $400 a trip!

I did get out this week to fish for rainbows running out of Holter
lake . They cluster near Hauser dam on the upper Mo. Caught a few
nice fish nymphing but they were more interested in sniffing butts than
seriously feeding. I think most of those fish are stockers and I dont
think they are able to spawn in the river.

Going out with Warren Sunday for a float on the Lower Madison below
3 Forks. By clave time it s too warm to fish there and there s
limited wading access. Weather is supposed to be a bit crummy but
perhaps without RW along it will be just fine!

MT

MT fishing
 

The Baetis are thick on the Madison
right now, below Meadow lake anyway,
in the Beartrap and below that. Not sure
about as far down as Three Forks.

Yes, I've noticed what you said too,
over the years: the Missouri can be tough
in the early season, especially when all
the rainbows are up the creek (and we've
got the paddles).

Right below dams is an April spot that
always seems to work.

MT fishing
 

In article , Sandy Pittendrigh
wrote:

The Baetis are thick on the Madison
right now, below Meadow lake anyway,
in the Beartrap and below that. Not sure
about as far down as Three Forks.

Yes, I've noticed what you said too,
over the years: the Missouri can be tough
in the early season, especially when all
the rainbows are up the creek (and we've
got the paddles).

Right below dams is an April spot that
always seems to work.



Hi Sandy
You were correct about the Baetis. We floated to Cobblestone but
water while not chocolate was seriously off color and while there were
plenty of bugs we didnt see anything rising. Switched to standard nymph
patterns when they didn t work , went to some big ugly ones, when they
didn t work tried some buggers . When those didnt work we ate lunch,
told Democrats for Bush jokes, and watched the Baetis fly around and
then got off the big river.

Fished a little spring creek Warren knew about and caught some there
, mostly small but a couple 10 "+ but no bigger than 11" I must in all
accuracy say. The funny thing was the wind was in our faces at first
and fish were real spooky. Casting up to this narrow stream I was lucky
to get the fly in the water. Tho when the wind died it was great. Tho
some of the 3" fish were at a bit of a disadvantadge against a Loomis 4
wt GLX 9' rod. I think Warren wasn t taking any chances and was using a
6 wt 9' with 0x tippet. On one strike I saw him make, the little guy
came flying back 40' over the dike. Luckily I was there to recuse
the poor fellow. It was that kind of day but still good to be out.

MT

MT fishing
 

Warren has a tilt type trailer so getting his boat out there was a
piece of cake. Speaking of Warren....

You must not have taken out at Cobblestone,
because you can't drive to the water there. Must'a been
Gray Cliff or Three Forks where you took out.

At Cobblestone you have to drag the boat 1/8 mile uphill,
and then slide it downhill into a spring creek, and
then drag it uphill again toward the parking lot,
and then, after all that, you have to lift the boat
over the vertical railroad ties at the edge of
the parking area.

By the time you get that far you're usually on all fours
with frothy white stuff dripping off your tongue.
I used to be able to drag a 15' driftboat that whole distance
by myself. Used to be able to do a lot of things.

MT fishing
 

In article .com,
wrote:

The fish population below Gray Cliff drops off
dramatically. There are some nice fish in there,
but not that many anymore.

I think they move in and out of that section a
lot too. But I sure haven't figured out when and why.

Taking a boat out at Cobblestone can be a real
challenge. I used to have a two-wheeled cart
for the boat I called my "Cobblestone Cart"
.......that I took with me in the driftboat.
But it's long gone now.


Well they certainly weren t there on Sunday! Maybe there was a
convention in Ennis Lake or they all went up river and had an an
Easter dinnner in Bear trap. The ways of trout on Easter can be mightly
mysterious.....

Warren has a tilt type trailer so getting his boat out there was a
piece of cake. Speaking of Warren.... I just got an earful from him
over the phone about my previous post about our trip. He vehemently
insists that the fish he catapulted over the dike was in the 4"
range and not 3" as previously reported.


While I dispute this I feel it only fair to present his views on the
matter. After all I carried the poor little fellow in my own hands back
to the creek, while Warren only saw him fly momentarily over head. As
contentious as he is, I m sure his rebuttal will follow

MT

MT fishing
 

In article , Sandy
Pittendrigh wrote:

Warren has a tilt type trailer so getting his boat out there was a
piece of cake. Speaking of Warren....

You must not have taken out at Cobblestone,
because you can't drive to the water there. Must'a been
Gray Cliff or Three Forks where you took out.

At Cobblestone you have to drag the boat 1/8 mile uphill,
and then slide it downhill into a spring creek, and
then drag it uphill again toward the parking lot,
and then, after all that, you have to lift the boat
over the vertical railroad ties at the edge of
the parking area.

By the time you get that far you're usually on all fours
with frothy white stuff dripping off your tongue.
I used to be able to drag a 15' driftboat that whole distance
by myself. Used to be able to do a lot of things.





S
You are absolutely correct. We put in at the third FA on Madison Rd and
took out at the second. I can t imagine getting anything heavier than
a kickboat in at the first put in. If you could get a driftboat in at
that spot at any time in your life, I salute you! And will certainly
call you the next time I move :)

A word on Warren , for those of you who remember him. He has
recently converted and become a Registered Democrat." The Gink boat"
has a Former Rebublicans for Hillary sticker on it proudly displayed
on the bow.

Hard to believe ....


MT

MT fishing
 

mark tinsky wrote:


A word on Warren , for those of you who remember him. He has
recently converted and become a Registered Democrat." The Gink boat"
has a Former Rebublicans for Hillary sticker on it proudly displayed
on the bow.

Hard to believe ....


contrarians rule! need more. good to hear warren's abandoned the dark
side. ... looking forward to seeing y'all in july.

jeff