I fished the Lower Kinni last night from about 7:30 to 9:00. As soon as I got down to the river I noticed caddis in the air and rising fish, so after catching a couple on a caddis larva and zebra midge, I changed it up to an elk hair caddis. After fishing multiple runs, casting to many fish, and switching my fly to a parachute sulphur and then BWO, I could not get an eat on the surface. I ended up switching back to a nymph rig, this time an unweighted size 16 pheasant tail with a size 18 zebra midge. I quickly caught a smaller brown on this setup, and as I was working my way upstream into the main riffle, I made a couple casts into a spot I know gets deceptively deeper that most people wouldn’t think to fish. After two casts, my indicator plunged underwater and I felt the weight on a bigger fish below. After a short battle, I was able to get downstream of him and scooped him up. My biggest Kinni fish of the year!
Unfortunately I only had my GoPro along so I wasn’t able to get any really good photos. He measured right at 15 inches.
I ended up catching four or five more in that riffle before heading home to watch the second half of the Warriors-Rockets game. Not bad for just a short outing, but I was expecting to catch a couple on top. I talked to a friend that fishes the Kinni frequently and he said they’ve been really finicky for him as well recently. I imagine the increased pressure since the opener has gotten the fish a little more picky on top. Now would be a good time to try downsizing your flies, or just say screw it and nymph them out. It also helps to try spots outside of the main riffles that the average fisherman won’t hit, like where this bigger fish was holding.
I got out for a few hours yesterday and today on the Rush. The water has completely cleared from last week’s runoff. The fishing was slower than I expected, but I caught around 15-20 each day. I imagine it was better a couple days ago when there was more of a stain, but I was out of town for work. I fished a combination of hare’s ears, pheasant tails, and zebra midges, but an unweighted size 16 pheasant tail was the most productive, with plenty taking the black size 18 zebra midge as well. I also fished streamers for the last hour of my outing yesterday and was able to land two.
The first streamer eater from yesterday’s outing. This brown took it on a dead drift, while the other ate after I casted upstream and across and quickly stripped back.
As I was leaving yesterday around 4:00, there were also a fair amount of fish rising to what I believe were BWO emergers. There were clearing BWOs in the air, but the fish were sipping just under the surface, often not even making a splash. However, in my brief attempt to fish an emerger under a dry, I couldn’t get one to eat. You win some; you lose some.
My best fish from this morning. It was long and lanky, about 16 inches.
These next couple weeks should offer some of the best fly fishing of the year. It’s also the time when the accesses get the most crowded. If your favorite bridge already has a few cars on it, don’t hesitate to fish another spot. There’s plenty of great water in Pierce County and the surrounding area — you just might find a hidden gem of your own!
My dad, Aric, and I went out on the Rush from about 9:00 to noon on Sunday. We spent the entire outing nymphing, although we saw a few trout rising to emerging midges. We ran standard nymphs — pheasant tails, hare’s ears, and princes — with size 18 or 20 black zebra midges below, and caught almost all our 20-ish combined fish on the nymphs. The action was definitely faster earlier in the morning and started slowing down as the air got warmer, increasing the snow melt and cooling the water. Until all the snow melts off make sure to get out early before the stream temps begin to fall. You can definitely catch fish all day, but the best action will be earlier!
With highs in the 40s and the day off work, it was a great opportunity to make my first fly fishing outing of 2018. I decided to fish the solitude of a smaller area stream instead of the potential traffic on the more popular Kinni or Rush.
I ended up catching fourteen browns between 8-12 inches. Twelve were on the size 16 Euro Pheasant Tail and two on the 20 zebra midge. Fish were in both riffles and slower water, but I tended to catch more in the riffles where they were easier to approach without spooking. In the couple riffles where there was shelf ice, I had good luck drifting my nymph rig as close to it as possible.
With the low, clear water, make sure to approach holding areas as stealthily as possible. I’d often stand further back and extend my cast to keep from spooking fish. Where there’s one fish there are often a lot more this time of year, so spooking one meant spooking dozens. That also meant that if I caught one I could also pick off a couple more in a run.
These winter cold fronts can make for some dynamite fly fishing. It’s often best from about 10-2, when it’s warm enough for the fish to turn on, but before the snow melt brings the water temps back down.
When I interned at Midwest Whitetail in the fall of 2016, one of my fellow interns was Michael Parente. For reasons that are too long for this particular blog post, he was given the nickname Mark, and I was given Elvis. Mike recently got a job working for the show Fresh Tracks with Randy Newberg, and moved to Montana two months ago. Since he moved out there I’ve been bugging him about when would be a good time for me to come and fish. We were talking early last week when he said the upcoming Fourth of July weekend would be ideal — we both had Monday and Tuesday off, runoff was dying down, and the salmonflies were in the air. After a couple minutes of searching, I booked my flight to Bozeman. I was pretty excited to say the least.
Day 1
After flying in on Friday night, we hit the East Gallatin River just outside of Bozeman on Saturday morning. This was a smaller stream for Montana’s standards, similar to the Rush and Kinni. There were some caddis and PMDs coming off with a few rising trout, but I couldn’t resist drifting a couple nymphs through those riffles. It didn’t take long for me to catch my first fish of the trip, and what was also my first wild rainbow!
Mike started the day fishing dries but switched to nymphs as well.
Rainbows and browns were plentiful on this stream, with every run giving us a couple fish.
As the sun got higher in the sky the bite started to slow down, so we decided to turn around and work our way back to the truck. Mike spotted a nice brown rising to PMDs, and couldn’t resist tossing a fly over it. After two missed takes, the third time was the charm and I was able to net it for him. The 16-incher was the biggest of the day his first fish on a dry!
In the evening, we planned on fishing the Lower Madison, but the mosquitoes were so thick that we stopped fishing after about two casts. We ended up going back to the East Gallatin and caught a couple more fish before dark, but nothing picture-worthy. The Lower Madison had some great scenery though!
Day 2
On Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the famed Upper Madison River. We went to an area that Mike had fished in the past and was an easier wade. Since we didn’t have a drift boat, our options were limited on this bigger river.
While most of the area was pretty shallow, featureless water, we were able to find a smaller side channel that held some deeper runs and structure. We got into a few small fish on both dries and nymphs, and managed to lose every good fish we had on before getting it into the net. At about 1:00 we decided to go into town for lunch and stopped at a fly shop for some local intel, a couple extra flies, and a new hat to change our juju. We then headed upriver a few miles to a wade-only area that was recommended in Mike’s book of Montana rivers.
A lot of people must have read the same book because the bridge was loaded with cars. Luckily, it’s a big river that can’t be waded across, had easements for miles in each direction from the bridge, and had plenty of structure, so there was plenty of room to fish.
Mike found a salmonfly within minutes of walking from the parking area, and I’ve never seen someone more ecstatic to see a fly. He’d been hunting this hatch for the past couple weeks and was happy to finally find them.
Mike tied one on and had a strike on his first cast, but didn’t move another on the salmonfly for the rest of the night. There was also a huge caddis hatch, but for whatever reason the fish just weren’t rising very much that evening.
After seeing the salmonfly, I tied on a Pat’s Rubber Legs and Copper John, and hooked into a nice rainbow on my second cast. Unfortunately he got into the fast current and broke off. A couple casts later I hooked into another, and downstream he went! Mike got downstream to try to net it, but the fish got by him and into the next run. The river had so many boulders that I had to climb back onto the bank to chase after the fish while it was ripping line from my reel. I was attempting to get my rod over a tree when I heard Mike yell, “let some line out!” I stripped some line off my reel and soon heard “got him!” About fifty yards downstream from where I hooked into the fish, we finally got it in the net. I was pretty pumped with this 17-18″ rainbow! Check out that jaw!
I got back up to that run and threw my nymphs behind the same boulder, and caught a nice brown a couple casts later. Great start to the evening!
I continued upstream and seemed to hook into a fish behind almost every boulder. Getting them in the net in the fast current was another issue. I ended up landing six or seven more fish, including another brown around 16-inches, before calling it a night.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
Big fish in some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable made this my favorite spot to fish during my vacation. I’ll be dreaming about the Upper Madison until I get back!
Day 3
On Monday morning we began the day fishing Hyalite Creek, a small stream flowing through a mountain canyon just outside Bozeman. Hyalite had a lot of small, willing browns and rainbows eager to take both dries and nymphs. None of the fish we caught were really picture-worthy, but the area definitely was!
In the evening we decided to head to the Gallatin River. It flows through Bozeman, but we decided to drive about 20 miles upstream where the highway runs along the stream, allowing for abundant and easy access.
The first spot we tried didn’t have much for structure and surrendered just one fish in about an hour, so we packed up and headed further upstream, keeping our eyes peeled for good looking areas that we could pull off the road and fish. We spotted one such pull-off and tried it out. Mike and I quickly had fish on but lost them. Right after I lost mine, I heard Mike yell upstream that he had a fish on. The fish made a few big jumps and runs, but I eventually got downstream of it and got the biggest fish of the trip in the net!
A beautiful fish in a beautiful place.
After a while of not landing another fish in this spot, we packed it up again to go further upstream. We found another good pull-off point and decided to fish there the rest of the night. There were a ton of salmonflies in the air, so we both tied on dries. Mike quickly had a strike, but wasn’t able to get a hook in the fish. I guess catching fish on salmonflies wasn’t in the cards for us.
I opted to go downstream of the pull-off where there were more boulders for the fish to hold around, and hooked into and lost a couple decent fish before landing a couple decent rainbows. I kept throwing behind every boulder within casting distance until finally hooking into a good fish. As soon as I set the hook, he sent it (shout-out to Mike and his roommates for adding “send/sent it” to my vocabulary) downstream, ripping line off my reel. I again had to hop onto the bank to chase him down, this time having to net him myself since Mike was around the bend upstream and could see or hear me. After a long fight and a few swipes of the net, I was able to land the 16-inch brown!
That ended up being my last fish of the night. The canyon section of the Gallatin is a beautiful area that I’d highly recommend to anyone else visiting Montana — it is wade-only, has plenty of access, and plenty of fish!
Day 4
Since I had to fly out in the afternoon, we chose to fish a section of the Gallatin closer to Bozeman. I bought a book on Amazon that we also used throughout the trip to research spots; it recommended a few bridges and luckily the first one we drove by didn’t have a car at it.
Mike quickly caught a good brown and I caught a sucker, and a couple runs upstream of the bridge had a bunch of fish rising to caddis and PMDs. Mike tied on a dry and soon had a nice brown on.
While he fished the dries, I went one run upstream and nymphed a few browns and rainbows out of a good seam, the biggest being around 14-inches.
We worked upstream with every run surrendering fish. I tied on a PMD and caught two browns and rainbows out of one run, while Mike switched to a nymph and caught a couple good browns himself. As it approached one o’clock we decided to hit one more run and each catch one more fish. It didn’t take long for Mike to catch another brown and I to catch a ‘bow.
After those two fish we headed back to Mike’s place so I could pack up for home. It concluded an awesome trip that I won’t forget anytime soon! I can’t thank Mike enough for hosting me at his place for the long weekend. It’s always fun to fish new areas with great friends that share a passion for fly fishing. I can’t wait to get back to these rivers again, hopefully with a drift boat or raft next time to fish some more areas.
Montana definitely lives up to the hype. I’ll be dreaming of this view until I get back.
My dad and I hit a smaller area stream tonight from about 6:30 to 9:00. We were happily surprised to see a slight stain on the water when we got there. We began the evening nymphing — myself with a Tungsten Torpedo and a Red and Black Midge, and dad with a green Copper John and a Zebra Midge.
We caught a few fish out of the first couple runs, but after noticing a couple rises, we switched it up to terrestrials. I went with a purple Hippie Stomper and he went a Stimulator. I ended up catching 8 or so browns on the Hippie while dad caught one on the Stimi, with both of us missing plenty more.
The Hippie Stomper is my favorite summer attractor pattern. Red, or as tonight, purple, are great colors to tease trout to the surface when there isn’t a major hatch.
Terrestrials are a great option right now, especially on the smaller creeks. I didn’t cast to specific rises as much as just good holding areas near rocks, cut banks, and fallen trees, where the fish can quickly swoop out for an easy meal. We were too lazy to tie on droppers, but I imagine tying a small Pheasant Tail or Frenchie 18-24 inches below would make for a killer combo.
This cooler weather has made for some really pleasant summer fishing. Get out and take advantage of it while you can!
I was able to fish the Rush a couple times this week. Nymphing was the most productive, especially in the hour or two before dark. The bigger fish seemed to head to the riffles just as the sun got below the horizon, and I was able to catch a few in the 14-16 range — too dark for photos, unfortunately. The same, standard nymphs — Pheasant Tails, Euro PTs, and midges — did the job, although more fish have favored the midge lately. There was a really good midge hatch yesterday with lots of rises for about an hour, but after going through my fly box I could only get one to take a purple Hippie Stomper — I just didn’t have any midge dries that were small enough to match the hatch. Sulphurs were coming off in good numbers earlier this week as well, with lots of rising right before dark.
Now is definitely the time to focus on the early mornings and late evenings. Staying after dark to swing some streamers can be productive too!
I was able to get out for a couple hours after work tonight from about 7:30 to dark. Figuring the runs closer to the bridge had gotten fished pretty hard over the weekend, I hiked upstream for a half mile or so before starting to fish. I pulled five fish out of both runs I fished nymphing with a size 16 Tungsten Torpedo and size 20 black Zebra Midge. One of them was a nice 16-incher, as well as a couple more around 12″.
Once it started getting dark I tied on a black leech pattern to swing through the riffles on my way back to the car. This caught me just one brown, a 12-incher.
There was also a good sulphur hatch just before dark with plenty of surfacing, but I was determined to get it done streamer fishing. It’s a great time to be on the streams!
I fished a new-to-me section of an area stream this evening from about 6:00 to dark. The stream had a little stain on it from last night’s rains, which was a welcomed sight. I began the outing nymphing with a size 14 Tungten Torpedo jig variation with a size 18 Red and Black Midge. I quickly plucked five browns out of the first run, with one around 13″.
I worked upstream for another half-mile or so, with almost every riffle producing a couple fish. Once the sun began dropping below the horizon, I decided it was time to turn around and start walking back to the car. I tied on a black leech pattern and swung it through the pools and riffles on my way, and managed to bring two fish to hand, with a few follows and misses as well. There was also a pretty good sulphur hatch right at dusk with quite a few trout rising to them. It was just getting too dark for me to switch from my streamer rig.
With the hot weather we’re having, the fishing will be better in the mornings and evenings. The mosquitoes were pretty thick tonight too — remember that bug spray and/or a buff!
I fished a short section of an area stream tonight from about 7:00 until dark. Midges were the ticket, as a Red and Black Midge caught all but one fish on the outing, with the other coming on a flashback pheasant tail. I ended up catching about a dozen total, all between 8 to 12 inches. I did have one around 15″ on but he fell off as I was reaching for him with the net. The streams are definitely higher than normal, but plenty clear.
Great place to end the long weekend.
Aric also fished the Kinni on Sunday evening from about 4:30 to 9:00 and caught about 35 fish, all 12″ and under. He began the outing using a Pheasant Tail and Zebra Midge but noticed quite a few fish rising to sulphurs, so he ended up catching 10 or so on top using a size 16 Sulphur Parachute.
