Salmonflies on the way

Yesterday my friend Ryan and I headed out to see if we could find some salmonflies on the Lower Madison. The word was that they were starting to creep up on the banks, so we figured it was worth a shot. Ryan recently had reconstructive surgery on his foot, so he was excited to get out and fish for the first time this spring, and I was excited as well...because that's just generally how I am when it gets nice in Montana.

Nice doesn't even really begin to describe yesterday's weather. Our winter was long, cold, and snowy, the way a Montana winter should be. Our spring has been wet, rainy, and cool, the way a Montana winter should be. I've only been here for about 7 years, but the scenery around here is the most beautiful I've ever seen it. The meadows are lush, green, and full of wildflowers...and the rivers are full, fat, and happy. Full, fat, happy rivers make for some full, fat, and happy trout, and in turn some full, fat, and happy anglers in Southwest Montana.

Basically... it's shaping up to be an amazing summer. The folks that have lived here for many years are saying that this is what it used to be like every year, before the drought started about 8 or so years ago. And as we approach the first official day of summer, we know that salmonflies are on the way. I've chased this hatch pretty much every year I've lived here, mostly unsuccessfully. With a 9-5 job, it can be tough to catch a hatch right on the money, because for some strange reason those big, ugly bugs just won't wait for the weekend to splat into the water to be fodder for hungry browns and rainbows.

Soon after putting in, around 4:00 pm or so (4:00 pm is more my style than 4:00 am...see the previous entry) I was ready to chalk the day up as another swing-and-a-miss on the ole' Lower Maddy, since we didn't see any salmonflies and our standard stonefly nymph/worm combo weren't producing either.

Thankfully, Ryan had other ideas...including tying on a crayfish pattern. He picked up a decent rainbow on it pretty quickly, which was a good sign considering that in my experience the fishing tends to improve as you get further down river.

Some great conversation and a few browns followed...until he hooked into what he thought was a snag. But the snag quickly rolled...and immediately summoned a full-bodied "HOLY SH*T!!!" from myself. It then jumped about 3 feet out of the water, letting us know that it was indeed a brown trout, and a very nice one at that.

Ryan played the fish beautifully, and after what was probably 5 minutes but seemed like 15...we netted this guy...

No disrespect to Ryan, but the guy just doesn't know how to show off a fish. That's a BIG trout in his hands, but you might not know it from his posing style. I needed to teach him how to hold a trout for a picture. You know, the way smug guides do it. So we took one more picture to get a better view of the fish...which we measured to be 21 1/2 inches. I usually do a one-handed fish bragging pose, but since I've never caught a trout that big on a fly-rod, it was a new experience for me...and subsequently my lesson didn't go as well as I had hoped...

No matter how it's photographed, this is what we dream about all winter long in Montana when it's dark at five o'clock and we're flipping through HBO On-Demand. Not just the trout, but the opportunity to enjoy being outside in some of the most amazing surroundings with good people.

Thank you winter, you've given us a great gift this year! And thanks for letting me hold your big brown, Ry...hopefully it will bring me some trout mojo.