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.

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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.

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!

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Day 1 – Friday 2/23

Friday was probably our best day of fishing. Isaac got us started with this laker on a Little Cleo spoon.

Derek soon followed.

Alex got on the board.

Colin with another.

Nolan with a nice one. He was particularly on fire that morning, catching three or four out of one hole.

A couple of these were not fortunate enough to go back in the lake and made for a nice snack on the ice. Karl brought a propane cooker and fried them up — the freshest fish you can get!

We soon saw Moody in the distance fighting a fish. As the fight kept going we realized it must be a nice one. We ran and drove over in snowmobiles to check it out. It ended up being the biggest of the trip, measuring at 28 inches!

I was finally able to hook into one myself. These fish are crazy to watch on the flasher — I was in about 40 feet of water and he shot up to my lure at 15 feet off the bottom, and chased about ten feet higher before eating. Definitely not like coaxing a weary walleye or crappie!

I would guess he was about 25-26 inches. I could then check lake trout off my list of species caught! I caught two more smaller ones later in the day and missed a few more.

Day 2 – Saturday 2/24

The second day started off noticeably slower, as you can see by Garrett’s jigging position here.

He was eventually the first to get on the board on the day, and his first of the trip, with this laker.

With the slower fishing we decided to split up and fish some new spots. On our first move after lunch Alex quickly hooked into one, with Colin soon following.

We made a couple more moves and caught a few more. I marked a bunch of fish later in the day but couldn’t hook into one.

Day 3 – Sunday 2/25

We woke up on our third and final day of fishing to some snow showers.

Our first spot was just off an island near the launch. I missed two fish and broke off on a third within the first ten minutes — it just wasn’t in the cards for me. Karl was able to get his first of the trip here, however. Everyone in the group got in for a photo. That’s the negative of being the group photographer — you can’t get in the pics. I’ll be bringing a tripod on the ice next year!

The weather cleared by mid-morning and after trying a couple spots for walleye, we went back after the lakers. The ‘eyes must have read our minds and started showing up among the lakers! Derek and Karl caught this laker and walleye about two minutes and 20 yards of each other.

Moody got this nice walleye, I believe around 23 inches.

I think Garrett pulled three lakers out of one hole.

Isaac forgot to charge his flasher throughout the trip and it died Sunday morning. No worries — he caught this laker blind jigging!

Karl ripping one more hole at sunset.

Overall it was a great trip with a great group. It’s tough to beat time in the outdoors with good friends! I can’t wait to do it again next year.

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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.

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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!

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.

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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.

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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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