Fly Fishing: Big Hole River

Floating the Big Hole of late is more a drag...literally...than a float trip. But the good news is most days the fishing is pretty good. Yesterday dawned chilly, with heavy cloud cover rain seemed to be more a matter of when than if...

Joe is one of the better fly guys around and like many of the good ones prefers to fish dry. So when I rigged up a bobber and nymphs, while he didn't say so he was clearly disappointed. But as we made our way painfully (for this ol' boy) and ever so slowly down the skinny river it soon became clear the trout were not much interested in munching nymphs. 

To me switching to dries seemed an even worse idea but since Joe had voiced his displeasure in having anything to with streamers why not...

Well so much for bad ideas...almost from the get go it became evident the trout were indeed looking up. And the top water action continued pretty much non-stop all the to the take-out. Though the curious thing most of the takers were on the small side...But with so many takes Joe could hardly quit grinning long enough to bitch...How many? Who knows for sure but I'd say at least 40, maybe even more...all in all turned out a fine day to cast dries and yes, there were a few hefty enough to put a severe bend in the ol' fly pole. Even caught a grayling and a couple whitefish, imagine. And we did get rained on but the brunt of the big storm went elsewhere...thank you rain and thunder gods.

For me though the day's real highlights were five moose sighted...three, a cow with two little babies in tow, I nearly hit when they burst up from the willows onto the frontage road below Melrose. Then on the way home in nearly the same spot another cow and a yearling calf...thank goodness this pair stood their ground on the field side the fence. Been sort of moosey actually as a couple days ago we spied a bullwinkle and few days before that two big bulls. 

Big Hole River Fly Fishing Report...

The river is dropping like a rock...litterally. Ten days ago, with the upper river running above normal at about 400 cfs, we rowed the hard boat from Troutfitters to Dewey and touched nary a rock. Yesterday the river now running just barely above 200 cfs, we more or less drug the raft from just above Troutfitters to Jerry Creek. Spent almost more time dodging rocks than casting flies. In one of the many rock gardens below Wise River one of the clients lost his balance, nearly went overboard, and came within an eyelash of flipping the raft. Combine that near disaster with the equally harrowing near miss of a couple days ago when we crashed a rock and sent the guy in the front the hard boat airborn...spectacular, though also scary as hell. How he missed landing on a boulder instead of deep water is more than I know or care to contemplate, really lucky is an understatement.  Anyway that's about it for me as far as guiding the Big Hole until the river rises which usually happens in early September once irrigation ends in the upper valley. As for the raft we are pretty much done period. In other words it's for sale and at a bargain price...so if you are interested in a small Aire raft (unsuitable for guiding too small) with or without the NRS three seater fishing frame give me a holler....

Too bad the river is so low up there because its fishing really well...Tricos, mayflies, spruce moths, various attractors and even hoppers...All day, all topwater, if it weren't for the pain in the butt conditions...hell, can't hardly beat it.

Hunting Season Officially Arrives Tomorrow and...

...as usual I can hardly get my head around the idea of big game hunting in mid-August. But yes, it's true with a 900 antelope archery tag in hand come dawn Sunday morning you are good to go. Most years the season opener dawns way more summer-like than fall-like but if yesterday is any indication this year could be different...like 180 different as the temperature struggled to climb even into the 60s and as mentioned previously snow in the high country was the prediction...don't know if that really materialized but mid-60s in mid-August...well as I said felt pretty much like mid-October is supposed to feel.

Alas this time around I won't be participating, having somehow totally forgot to apply for any big game tags...that's right none, nada...thank goodness Montana law allows me to buy a deer/elk tag over the counter or for the first time since I turned 12 many, many moons ago, no big game hunting for this lad. Scary as hell, you got it but hopefully not terminal.

Taking advantage of the chilly day we took the sisters to the woods hoping they might get into a blue grouse or two...did not happen but they did uncover a roost site in a bunch of pines...several days (weeks) old but still...we declared the mission a success of sorts and after all we did get a little workout and the heady smells in the damp pines did get our juices flowing for what surely will turn out a fine fall bird season...don't they all?who needs a moldy ol' elk or deer anyways...right? Right.