Fly Fishing: Fishing Report and...

I continue to hear mixed reports on Clark Canyon. Ranging from okay to not so hot and pretty much everything in between. My take has been and falls heavily on the not so hot side; slow fishing though is one thing, like could very well be just me but where the cruisers has me baffled. In several afternoon sessions I have yet to see more than a handful up on the banks as is normally the case this time of year...go figure, I'm sure at a loss.

On another track the Big Hole continues to fish well, most days especially for you streamer addicts. A neighbor reported the other day Maiden Rock to Melrose three of them boated at least 15 and probably more. Al has apparently heard a similar tune in the shop. Alas, except for the one day Al and me nearly got blown off the river I have been buried in work and unable to get even...oh well.

Same neighbor reported really good fishing recently Tash to Trash (Beav). Didn't say how many or what they were throwing but did say some of the fish were pretty hefty; showed me a brown on his phone as proof...

Still not hearing much on the Ruby or Madison and not a single mention of blue wings showing up anywhere except the Lower Madison...wind a course could be the culprit.

On yet another track this will probably be my last post this month. We're headin to Oregon tomorrow sometime and will likely be out of touch until at least next Wednesday and since we're going there to work don't look for much in the way of posting. We plan to attend the big fly tying expo in Idaho
Falls on Friday so if I get a chance will fill you in on that extravaganza. Also in Bend Or hope to visit the fly fishing golf course and perhaps even wet a line as free time allows. Promise to fill you in first chance...Anyway that's about it for now...over and out...

Birding Trails Montana: Bird photography...

...is not easy: Starts with a plan, add a decent lens (in most cases 300mm is bare minimum), a tripod helps big time but is not always possible, so image stabilization comes in handy and lucky sure doesn't hurt. But even so like with most things in life some days you get steak: the killdeer is a prime cut.

Some days you get chicken... alas this shot of a junco is close but..OK, the pose is spot on, the eye sharp, the background none too shabby, though cast a keen eye and you will see Mr Junco is not quite tack sharp...My excuse is poor light (juncos tend to hang in dark, forested places), hand-held, too slow shutter speed and sticking with a too low ISO 100...As I say chicken baby and be damn glad to get it for...

 ...had this fumbled hairy woodpecker shot been judged best in show...Well you know, like no din-din tonight unless of course the dog is willin' to share...over and out...

On another track a rare afternoon of almost no wind we packed it in at the office and scurried to the lake...Hardly a ripple, hardly any competition (as it soon became obvious MIAs knew something I missed) and not a single bump. Despite diligently offering up several choice looking jigs, a couple nymphs and a woolly or two; yup, two hours up near the dam and a half hour so at Horse Prairie and nothing, nada; flat out skunkoed go figure? If any consolation I noticed the four brothers plying the dam face were pretty much, no make that, summarily skunkoed as well...Skunkoed. Sort has a nice ring don't you agree...

Fly Fishing: Catching Fish is But a Small Part of It...

Gale caught a good one. Me? Well, what can I say? (chuckngalerobbins.com photo)

Yesterday I got skunked--again. So no real news there since more times than not this spring Clark Canyon has kicked my sorry butt...While I would like to know what the hell I don't intend to lose sleep over it. Baffling to me is not so much not catching fish except for one afternoon I'm not seeing fish.

Normally, as in every other spring, just about anyplace on the west side fish are cruising the banks, not this spring. At least not on my watches. Actually I haven't heard or seen anyone else knocking 'em dead either. So obviously there is something going on...What? I have not a clue. I have heard several excuses: too much water (yes the res is brimmin'); numbers way down (hard to argue although I can't for life of me come up with a reason why; when last spring seemed trout numbers in the lake were off the wall); too cold (hard to argue early on but of late? well it sure hasn't been balmy often but it really hasn't been all that cold); ice fishermen beaning way too many trout (seem like there were ice fishermen beaning trout forever so)...

So there you have it...if you got any startling revelations feel free I'm all ears...

Beaverhead Trout: Chunky Colorful Clark Canyon Cuttbow

Clark Canyon continues to give up some really handsome trout and this chunky colorful cuttbow appears to fit the description. Sort of a first for me since I can't ever recall catching a cuttbow in CCR although every now and then one shows up in the upper Beav. A pink-head black jig was the ticket yesterday fooling the cuttbow and several equally colorful and fat rainbows. Briefly I tried stripping a couple midge patterns and the usually reliable Sheep Creek but to no avail. All the trout ate the black jig hung 5 or 6 feet below a bobber. I changed top flies several times just because but the trout weren't interested.

Judging yesterday's crowd at the dam this spring's hot bite is far from secret. But since there are plenty of other mostly empty hotspots scattered about the lake makes you wonder what's so special about the dam area. Bigger trout? I doubt it but who knows maybe the crowd knows something I don't? Regardless I'll continue to seek out the empty spot, take the leavings so to speak. I'll take trout such as this one any day. And if there's not another soul around to show it off, well hell, such is life, eh? 

Beaverhead Trout Report...Sort Of

Amid a haze of swarming midges, surrounded by  loony loons in full courtship mode, at times wailing such even the irritating interstate truck noise is at least temporarily put on hold, no wonder I'm missing more than hooking up. But of course I wouldn't want it otherwise, like who needs a slimy old trout anyways. Actually yesterday afternoon hook-ups were hard to come by...at least for this ol' boy...

About to quit we ran into Bart Doig and Terry Throckmorton with clients in tow...given the client's grins I didn't need ask...but did anyway and both guides admitted to catchin some...In guide speak, at least with those two, that meant only one thing...Chuck you have indeed once again blown it...Terry later hinted a purple jig with a pink head might have worked better than the green and brown jigs I'd been fishing...He also hinted egg patterns were working pretty good all morning, although not so hot this afternoon...Since we didn't get to the lake until mid afternoon that little tidbit didn't hurt the ol' ego half so bad...Oh well, as someone once said fly ain't workin try sumpin else...sounds like sound advice to me, eh?

Beaverhead Trout Report

Saturday marked my first guide trip of the season. We floated the Beaverhead from Pipe Organ to Barretts. The day started off dark and dreary and a light drizzle. Rather  perfect actually and as expected Andrew and Rob were soon hooked up. Browns mostly with a couple small rainbows tossed in for good measure. Most were in the 10-12 inch range but both landed trout in the 15-16 inch range. One Rob got probably would have gone 17 but that's just a guess. It seemed to me like an unusually large number small trout in the river. An observation the Frontier guys totally agreed. Since the bigger browns seem to be in exceptional shape this spring the consensus was the apparent over-abundance of small trout could very well be just temporary...stay tuned.

We started with nymphs and for the most part stuck with them most of the day. Although we tossed a variety streamers below Grasshopper. Didn't do much for the overall body count but did induce a fair number of chases. But other than a few tugs not much came of that idea. For what it's worth a brown cone-head bugger drew the most looks. A size 16 tan soft hackle with a pink/orange head was far and away the star nymph. (I forget the name, sorry). A thin bwo hatch brought a couple tiddlers to the surface, not near consistent enough to even consider switching. There were a few caddis around but again nowhere near enough to get the trout fired up.

Last week I fished the lake twice with mixed results. The first day the lake was nearly dead calm and way too bright for my taste. Thus the fishing was sort of slow. A few tugs, a couple quick long range releases and just one solid hook up. A sizeable brown which I somehow managed to lose right at the beach. The second day was just the opposite, slight breeze, noticable chop, not too bright resulted in takes about every 15 minutes or so and a couple really fat rainbows (see above) on the beach. Obviously in full spawn mode Clark Canyon rainbows at this season are really something to behold...fat, fiesty, colorful and damn happy lookin to my way of thinkin... Small jigs worked best, especially a glitzy dark green job.

Best Not Put Away The Snowshoes Yet...

Hard to believe but here in southwest Montana signs that spring is indeed sprung are everywhere. Many geese are already paired, super hardy Eurasian doves are building nests, some local ponds are completely ice free, the other day I spied two sandhill cranes cruising the river bottoms south of town...the earliest arrivals ever so far as I can recall...according to Gale's calendar about two weeks early...

In the valley there is zero snow and not all that much in the surrounding hills, although the mountains still remain winter white...no surprise there. The mud season is already off to a grand start...We tried to take the dogs up Ermont to look for sage hens and nearly didn't get turned around and back down was like steering a greased pig. It took about 5 bucks worth quarters at the car wash to even make a dent.

But it ain't over yet, ice is still wall to wall on Clark Canyon Reservoir (above photo), just the faintest sign of open water around the edges and then only in a few places. On the other hand we spotted a fair number of fishermen on the river, especially for a Monday afternoon in early March. A local guide I know was floating, working or just playing is more than I know. And over the weekend we saw that the Big Hole at least below Divide is mostly open and there were a couple rigs at Browne's Bridge.

So no doubt Ol' Man Winter will rear his ugly head a bunch more in the coming weeks spring is now official and that of course means summer is just around the corner...OK maybe not JUST around the corner but...well, you know.