IT'S WORTH THE DRIVE
Down To The Lowlands
floating and wading
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.. It's not Yellowstone National Park but it's very 
good fishing right now... Our provincial mindset only infrequently pokes it's mentality into fishing opportunities too far from home. This last weekend was one of those occasions.
.. The news of great catching opportunities zings through the aether like angry hornets.
.. Whispers are louder than jet engines: ". . . crayfish are taking 'em in the shallows . . ." ". . . Try Beartrap - keep it quiet . . ." ". . . yeah, right at the take-out . . ."
.. Just our kind of stuff! Park next to a river, walk to the shore, fling a fly the size of a cygnet, catch a big fish or three, don't break a sweat, smile all over; it's a situation we find hard to resist. So, the 200-mile drive is worth it... Although we are limited in our sauntering and striding, you need not be. Both wading and floating are very productive right now.
.. The 30 river-miles, or so, on the Lower Madison River below Ennis Dam have lately been densely populated with lowland fishers - for good reason!
.. It looks a lot like Spring down there and 55+ degrees sounds plumb tropical to us. Midges in the stillness of a balmy mid-day sojourn are a certain draw as well... It seems that when the trout are keying on the midges, they are also willing to take other small stuff as well. Floating a double rig of a midge cluster and a small soft hackle is a sure way to exercise your reel's drag.
.. Your favorite crayfish in sizes from 4 to 8 will work, (we used left over General Practitioners from the road trip to the Chetco and Coquille rivers.)
.. Ours were a wee bit too orange for the local palette but worked; greens and brownish-yellow are the local favorite... Stonefly nymphs of the yellowish and golden variety are also working. Even your chewed-up Woolly Buggers and Clouser Minnows are fair game.
.. We visited with some folks from Belgrade, Montana, that were using a double fly rig. They had an Olive Woolly Bugger followed by a damned small, (16-18,) bead-head Pheasant Tail - had great cell phone pictures.
.. The kind folks at Montana Troutfitters and The River's Edge pointed us to the places we were headed anyway. It's certainly a bump for the ol' ego when the local experts confirm our predispositions. Thanks guys.
.. If next weekend is as soft as last weekend, we'll travel down-canyon to the big water again. We may even walk a bit because of the reports - who knows?
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