Big Hole Spring Fishing

We got a reprieve in the weather last weekend and took full advantage... a few fish were taken on top with Skwalas, but mostly the browns were on the worm and bead eat. It was certainly great to spend some time on the river before they all blow here pretty quick.

Need some outdoor gear for spring, head on over and we'll hook you up!

Missouri River "Spring" Fly Fishing

A couple of buddies of mine and I went over to Craig, MT last weekend to quell some cabin fever and hopefully catch some eager Missouri River trout. The forecast was for 65 and some sun... but as can often happen in Montana in the spring, the forecast should have been for WIND.

We got blown around quite a bit, and didn't do so well fishing out of the boat. We were actually skunked both days from the boat, but were able to catch some nice rainbows from shore on Sunday. Nymphing was pretty much the only option due to the wind, and the bows were pretty eager to eat small San Juan worms in soft water and in deep buckets. We had one around 20" and the others were typical healthy Missouri River Rainbows from 16-18".

Izaak's still isn't open, so if you go, bring some food. Although microwaveable pork rinds are available at Joe's Bar. I'd never seen these before, and being a pork rinds fan, I had to try 'em. The barkeep popped them the little bag of dried up skins in the micro, and in a minute, we had some hot puffy chicarrones! Dump a little hot sauce on those suckers and they're pretty darn good.

If you're looking to head to the Mo, visit our favorite Missouri River flyfishing guides at Dry Fly Outfitters to book a trip. They specialize in dry fly fishing the Missouri, and they'll put you on 'em!

Big Horn Breather

Meat with a side of meat

Jason wrangled a few on dries

typical Big Horn Bow

I hadn't been over to the Big Horn since February of 2007, otherwise known as our Big Horn Bro Down. It was pretty much the same idea... a bunch of dudes, dogs, and drinking beer. Oh yeah, and doing some fly fishing. We had a different place to stay this time around, known as the Brown Palace, which is located in a small group of "cabins" known as Cottonwood Camp. The place was perfect for what we needed. It had beds, a fridge for beers, a freezer for ice, a stove for elk steaks, and even a satellite TV for Sportscenter.





Fishing was good on pink and orange scuds, #20's mostly. We caught some decent fish, nothing monstrous. Jason caught a handful on dries... and I don't think anyone did any streamer fishing. I did have one nice follow and swipe from a good sized brown on a mouse pattern. That was a first for me, which was pretty exciting. Exciting enough for me to completely airball on it... but fun nonetheless. I even missed Kansas whoopin' up on Mizzery to fish on Saturday. It was worth it, fishing was good. But... if you go, bring warm clothes. More importantly, bring them WITH YOU on the float. I made that mistake on Saturday, and I paid the price. It did make for a wonderful hot shower and whiskey drink when we got back. The showers at the Brown Palace are top notch, by the way.

Great trip, long hangover.

Leroy Brown's Grandma

Here are some new pics of the monster, courtesy of our good pal John McMillan....

A few weeks back in our post "Bad, Bad...Leroy Brown", we showed you a pretty big fish. Well, evidently ol' Erik Severson has been blessed by the Butt Monkey Gods, because he caught this rediculous creature on Saturday. This thing is 7 inches bigger than the last one...a full 31 inches of brown trout...

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.