Fly Fishing: R&D Day 2...Upper Big Hole

Al Lefor, Great Divide Outfitters, pondering what to do with all that water...or just enjoying the view...or contemplating just how high the river might rise should all that snow in the mountains suddenly turn to...well, you know what....(click on the photos to enlarge)

We put in at Squaw Creek Bridge and floated to East Bank under mostly cloudy skies with a cool northwest breeze...right out the gate sort of I had three hits on a streamer, one I'm pretty sure was a nice brookie...Anyway a few PMDs and BWOs started coming off, a sparse hatch but...low and behold we found a few fish...most, if not all, grayling...rising. I rigged up with what both Al and I agreed was a suitable imitation and several dozen casts into it landed a fat grayling. Obviously what seemed to us "suitable" didn't exactly suit the risers...oh well.

Both of us pretty much decided beforehand it would be streamers or dries or more to the point dry/dropper; in other words no damn "bobbers" come hell, high water, even at the risk of eating skunk...

And to be fair we both did stick to our guns...well sort of anyway....

I did notice Al starting to slip a bit toward the end and in the interest of honest photojournalism felt obligated to snap this, ah shall we say "telling" photo...

Was it worth it, I mean risking an old man's stellar reputation? You be the judge...

Montana Fly Fishing: How High Will the Big Hole Rise?

Looking east through the Notch to the Tobacco Roots (click to enlarge)

Is always a hot topic and a big question this time of year. It got even hotter a few days ago when the Big Hole suddenly spiked up several hundred cfs almost overnight. Not at all unusual this time of year but since just about everybody I've talked to seems to agree we are still very much in the grips of either a prolonged winter or a real chilly spring...Since most days either start out damn chilly (12 on the porch yesterday) or end up that way no matter what the mid-day highs are I'd call it a toss up...

With that in mind we have been trying our best to just ignore the endless chill and do just that...Been fishing twice on the Big Hole, both admittedly somewhat aborted ventures, with similar though not unexpected rather grim results. Ditto the lake sort of...Yesterday being three strikes and out that's all I have to say.

How high the Big Hole will rise is of course more than I (or anyone else for that matter) know. I checked the Jeff snow pack info this morning and the snow water is 123% of normal; the snow pack a bit less. So assuming we get the usual dumpings over the next 10 weeks or so my bet is pretty damn high. If not well, who the hell knows given what's out there could come off pretty damn quickly or not depending of course on that other impossible to predict long range (with any accuracy) variable e.g. how hot?

So there you have it, a cop out I know, sorry...over and out...