Things are a little dicey out there right now with water over the banks on many streams. This is a shot of Rattlesnake Creek outside of Missoula. The Clark Fork is straight mud right now and the Bitterroot is in and out of flood stage. The Blackfoot? Mud, too. If you’re going to throw a line this weekend you may want to try the upper ends of feeder creeks. If you do, however, be super safe. This is the time of year when one misplaced step might cost your life. The tailwater streams, such as the Missouri, Madison and Bighorn are fishing right now, too. Lakes are an excellent choice right now and the fishing is good. Be ready to match damsels soon, but most of the action is underneath with scuds, leeches and crayfish patterns. Blackfeet Reservation lakes. Browns Lake. Clark Canyon. Georgetown. Some good stuff to be had.
Montana Flood Stage
MSR’s Reactor 1.0 Camp Stove and Coffee Press
Just got my MSR Reactor 1.0 camp stove with a French press to go with it. I can wake, pour water in the pot and have steaming coffee in two minutes. Used Seattle’s Best on this trip and had some good morning time writing and reading while waiting for the girls to get up. I’m going to spend a lot of time in the woods this summer and fall, next to the rivers and lakes of Montana and later, during fall, in the mountains trying to find elk and deer, and the Reactor, which weighs practically nothing, is going to be there with me. Check them out. Quicker than a Jet Boil and more protection from the wind.MSR Reactor 1.0 Stove $189.95; MSR Reactor Coffee Press $19.95; MSRGEAR.COM
Western Montana Camping and A Giant Brown Trout
“Hey dad, can I just ride my bike down to the beach and cast a line from there?”
“Sure. Wear your helmut. Be back in an hour.”
Hope your Memorial Day weekend was as good as ours. Dry. Hot. And a great big brown. Although, if you want to know the truth, she didn’t land this fish. A friend did and it made a big impression on our girls, in a great way.
Let’s see your best fish from the weekend. Tell me a general area where you got it and the circumstances and I’ll post the pics.
What’s Your Essential Fly Fishing Gear?
I’m trying to build a list of items that we fly fishers/guides can’t live without. One of those items, I believe, is the Stanley thermos. Mine is a mess after 20 years of hard service, but it still keeps coffee hot, which is all I’m asking for. What else? Gink? Leatherman? Roll up table? Think camping, fishing, drinking, backpacking and send me some ideas. I might put them to use in a future issue of Fly Rod & Reel. See the attached image of my Stanley.
Montana’s Canyon Ferry Reservoir and Giant Pike
You’re probably aware that Canyon Ferry Reservoir is a hot place for trout, and now it’s a solid bet for walleye anglers, too. But few probably realize how many big pike are in that reservoir. I was one of them until I ran across this article from the Billing’s Gazette which details Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks’ take of pike from the reservoir this spring. Check it.
For a lake that’s not supposed to have northern pike in it, Canyon Ferry is home to some monsters.
So far this spring during walleye netting, Fish Wildlife and Parks crews have unintentionally corralled four beefy northerns. The largest was a . . .
Posted in Conservation, Montana, Warmwater
Tagged fly fishing for northern pike, Montana Fly Fishing, northern pike
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Guaranteed Love, Brought to You By G. Loomis
I’ve always wondered how an angler can walk into a fly shop and buy a $500 to $800 rod after just casting it in a parking lot for a few minutes. That seems like a lot of commitment for such a short affair and you know the danger in that, in life and on the water. Up until now we had to kind of flip a coin and hope for the best when buying a rod, unless we went to some event where we could cast a variety of rods in a lengthy period, over a pond at a show or on the water at some sort of fly-fishing clave. But now G. Loomis is promising that you’ll fall in love with their rods and their willing to take them back if you don’t. It’s called the Guaranteed Love program and it’s coming to a shop near you soon. Here’s the press release. Check it out. Let me know what you think.
WOODLAND, Washington USA – May 7, 2014 – At G.Loomis, it’s about helping anglers catch more fish. It’s that simple. And now participating tackle dealers are making it simple to experience G.Loomis fish-catching performance with the new G.Loomis ‘Guaranteed Love’ program. Anglers can purchase any G.Loomis rod – from the GL2 through NRX series – and will have Continue reading
Bimini: Fly-Fishing for Permit, Too
Hopefully you’ve had a chance to read my feature on fly-fishing in Bimini, which is running in the current issue of Fly Rod & Reel. I was amazed at that place and would like to find a way to buy a condo there and spend a month or two each winter searching for all the discoveries that are to be had there. I only spent four days on Bimini but I wished it had been four months. Bimini is located just 50 miles off of Miami in the Bahamas and you can find tarpon, permit, big Continue reading
Posted in Saltwater, Travel
Tagged Fly Fishing Bimini, fly fishing for permit, how to catch bonefish, John Havlicek
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Is It OK To Kill Fish For The Record Book?
Notice I could have headed this post with the line, Woman Catches New World Record Tarpon. But I think the point here is the fish died. And for what? A name in the record book. Certainly that lady isn’t going to pickle this oversized herring. It is a life lost and gone, one tarpon out of the breeding pool. I’m against killing fish for records purposes and I wonder if you are, too. What do you think? It ok to kill a fish if an angler thinks it’s a potential record? Eager to hear your replies. Read the story below.
ISLAMORADA, Florida Keys — The International Game Fish Association has certfied a Florida Keys female angler’s world-record catch of a 152.8-pound tarpon on 16-pound-test fly tippet.
Heidi Nute of Islamorada caught the huge silver king in Everglades National Park Feb. 8. The new world record dwarfs a catch that Islamorada’s Diana Rudolph achieved in March 2005. That fish, caught in Florida Bay, weighed 135.31 pounds, according to IGFA records.
Nute’s fish is the largest IGFA-certified tarpon ever caught on fly by a female Continue reading
Posted in Conservation, Culture, Saltwater
Tagged Florida tarpon, fly fishing record tarpon, World record tarpon
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Chironomid Madness at Back To The Wall Ranch
I met Sage, Redington, RIO and Sitka Gear rep George Cook in the eastern Washington desert this past weekend, armed for our annual battle with some giant rainbow trout that prowl two large and fertile Columbian Basin lakes. These lakes are full of scuds and leeches and the chironomid emergences are legendary—when it happens each day the fish key in on those abundant morsels and chow down big time. You can fish a midge under an indicator and lay waste to the pack, or Continue reading
If this doesn’t date me nothing will. This is a set list from a concert I went to, my first, in Seattle, way back in the day. I would say this was one of the best, if not the best, shows I have ever seen. I think my sister and I were the only two sober people in the Coliseum. Who else was there? Were you? If so, what was your greatest memory from that night? Which of these songs is your favorite? Why? AC/DC heads (you know who you are) let’s hear what you have to say. Is this your top band to listen to while cruising to the fishing grounds? Come on Deeter, I know you’re out there. Also, in general, what were your greatest memories from the Coliseum? Sonics? Other concerts?
Posted in Culture, Music
Tagged AC/DC For those about to Rock tour, AC/DC in Seattle, AC/DC set list
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