We had another great Montana Run this year. The rivers were running a bit high, some more so than others. Most were just coming into shape after Montana's late, wet winter/ spring ( sound familiar?). We stayed 4 days in Rock Creek. The view of the valley off the back deck is picturede below. Not too shabby! The house was 100 yards off of the creek which is one of Montana's Blue Ribbon streams.Â
We fished the Blackfoot outside of Missoula on Day 1 and did well ripping streamers in the AM and fishing dries during the afternoon. I caught my first Bull Trout here, a nice 18" fish.
The next 2 days we fished Rock Creek, one day floating and one day wading. I actually caught about double the fish wading ( 50 fish day) and caught larger fish on the wade as well. The last 4 days we fished on the Big Hole and had everything from slow to very good days. All rivers in the Dillon area were running very high but most, not all, were fishable. A few are still blown out. Â
We were able to reacquaint ourselves with the fabulous mancave at the Great Waters Inn, where we stayed in Melrose when fishing the Big Hole. A picture is below. The bar is self service, you gotta love it!
We did a half day float on the lower Big Hole the day we returned home. I landed this fatty 22" Brown on that float. I was also lucky enough to land a Grayling on the upper Big Hole. The dorsal fin makes it look rather cool. A neat thing about fishing this area is the diversity of fish you can catch. Two of us caught all 8 species during the trip . . . Bull Trout, Brown, Westslope Cutthroat, Rainbow, Cutbow, Brook Trout, Grayling and the famed Whitefish. It's really a great trip and we've built some great relationships with the Outfitters and Guides.
Nice fish Bob!!!! Looks pretty damn nice back there!! Good to have something to look forward to I am still exploring the streams of CA but soon enough I hope to make it out there!!
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"Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn." - Anon.
One of the funny things from the trip for me was fly selection. I brought a bunch of California flies out and the guides and outfitters went nutty over them. We nailed a bunch of fish on Hogan's S & M as well as Dark Lords. These guides had never seen either nymph before???!!!! It's amazing that flies are so territorial. I left about a dozen S & M's with the guides and about the same for the Dark Lords.Â
When the Caddis Hatch hit, I had a Lambroughton Pheasant Tail put on and the fish really went after it. AGain, the guides were all over this dry fly. I took a couple pictures for them, but being a discontinued pattern, I wasn't giving those puppies up. Rich, i bet you could make a few bucks selling those flies in the Dillon area now!
You're probably right! I copied that pattern pretty accurately and it's works just as good as the original. I've got 2 dozen ready to go for my McCloud/Upper Sac trip next week.
