Spring Mix

PICK YOUR POISON

Weather For One And All

catching improving by the day

If you have a large screen you can read on the sign who once lived here.

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.. Estuary fishing is good: estuary catching is great. Those with the guts get the glory. A bit of local knowledge and a willingness to post hole, snowshoe, or ride a sled to the open waters will yield some of the best catching ever. Hebgen Reservoir is the destination of choice for many of the neighbors. Ice out is not officially here but the expanding tributary estuaries are giving it a nudge.
.. Some neighbors are exercising their petrol ration and visiting the lowland Madison River, Missouri River, Yellowstone River, and Big Spring Creek. Lowland fishing and catching is in full swing; as it were. Check the sidebar for links to the reports of folks already deep in Montana's waters.
.. The weather has given us everything from wet snow to hail. A bit of rain and some graupel always keep the mix interesting. The fish don't seem to mind: the fishers usually do. Rare, however, is the empty pub parking lot syndrome. Folks have bailed out of town with a whoosh that was heard as far away as the Varney Bridge.


Reversed Parachute Midge Emerger

.. Up here it's still midge time and the fish are enjoying it. The bright, dead still, gentle snows of mid day are perfect times to tie on a midge pattern.
.. Some of the "REVERSE" midge emergers from across the pond have been used by the world traveliing fly fishers in the neighborhood. You'll have to tie them yourself - no local feather merchant has them at this time.
.. You can read about their success rate and use HERE. We like fishing midges Between The Lakes because there is no need to enter the water and disturb the redds of the spawning trout. Cavitation slicks and back eddy swirls are prime places, (and they ocure near the shore.)
.. The midge is a staple of the trout in many areas - not the least of which is the Madison River tailwater, or the edge of the weed beds in the just now opening estuaries.. The wonderful video by Ralph Cutter, (below,) is highly instructive for fly fishers that wish to indulge themselves in this sublime form of torture - and exaultation.

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.. If dinky flies are not your cup of hooch, try some streamers. The ones with a stinger hook seem to be becoming fashionable right now. There may be something to it. Little fish nip at the tails of their food. Big fish attack the head. If you'd like to hook up with a small  16" trout for a dance or two try a streamer with a stinger hook. If you are looking for normal sized fish stick 'em with a traditional streamer.


Scleech, image courtesy of Parks Fly Shop

.. Stinger hooks are a staple of salt water fishing but seem to have never caught on with the inland fly fisher.
.. One of the best in our region is the SCLEECH, that has been tied in Gardiner for a long time and is now available from the MONTANA FLY COMPANY. It should be available at a retail feather merchant near you.
.. It's not our practice but, some of the neighbors fling a streamer toward the over-sexed trout and aggrivate them into taking the offering. Some very big fish are stuck this way.
.. The outlet of Quake Lake is ice-free and access through the boulder field is negotiable by younger legs than ours.
.. The Devil Worm and it's relative the GOB 'O' are each being used currently, with more than moderate success, at the edge of the ice at Quake Lake, both at the outlet and at the boat ramp near it's head.
.. That's it for now. We're headed to an empty parking lot that we know of.

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Parking lot sucked dry, (and empty,) by folks leaving our village