Didn't see any hatches when I was there, just a few yellow sallies and some caddis flying around. Spent the morning on Palmer Creek and then went below the entrance bridge and fished a few hundred yards there.
Been doing a little bass fishing on a river relief nearby this week. Caught some real nice healthy bass, and a couple bream and small crappie. And several gar.
He took his helmet off and shook it out like Fabio the other night when he was up to bat. Twas glorious.
Looks like a young John Daly. Good for him... Nice bass! Bigger than mine from last night. Biggest fresh water fish I've ever caught.
https://myfwc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=87162eec3eb846218cec711d16462a72 Welp. Hope it's gone by fall. Water in this state is so fucked it's insanely sad
Day 1 in Montana. Got up at 2:45 eastern for a 5:45 am flight. Got in to the hotel and went about helping my dad's friend who's along learn/relearn how to fly fish. Went down to the Madison for a little bit to work with him, was able for fish for a little while. Landed what everyone comes to Montana for: I did hook into this one that mocked me while snapping my line and then another 14-15" one that got off of my dry fly. The number of caddis and mayflies flying around are amazing.
Another 55 this morning. Admittedly the old man out fished me, went the last hour+ without catching anything worth keeping. A small red ear and a baby bass. Meanwhile he was hitting bluegill left and right. I was getting angry haha
My nephew will be bass fishing in South Carolina at the high school national championship next week. All that dude does is fish.
Was going to post this earlier but forgot. Went down to Glen Elder, KS back mid April to go crappie fishing. Managed to pull 4 - 17" black crappie and probably another 30 crappie that were 12"+. Best crappie weekend in a long time
Day 2 in Montana. We went and fished the Ruby River today, had a much better day, caught 20+ fish between cutthroats, rainbows, cutbows, and whities. Used my dad's 2 weight today, so everything bigger than a sardine was a fight. Ted Turner's buffalo herd When we got back I went out to the Madison to fish to dusk. There were just clouds of caddis and yellow sallies out there. Couldn't catch one, but had tons of strikes on dry flies.
Bought a new Moonshine 4wt, 8’6” for fishing some smaller Idaho streams. Excited to test it out this week if the water temps don’t go too high with this heat
In Washington/Idaho every other week for the next 6 months or so. Usually split each trip half/half Coeur D’Alene then Tri cities Washington
I have an 8 wt. Pretty good rod for the price point. I would like to throw the Vespr. Two tip sections is awesome.
Day 3 in Montana. Floated the Madison today. It was pretty windy and the guide said we did about as well as anyone has in the conditions today. Out boat caught over 20 trout/whitefish. The salmonflies are still around, so they're pretty neat to see since they're so big.
I'll be there in August, are you fishing the Madison btw the two bridges? We've got a float with Gallups lined up but want to go on my own. Are you on public access or private streams?
smallmouth, there carp and catfish are there too. those shoals were treacherous. i stepped from mid-thigh to chest deep water a few times.
Public so far. When I was wade fishing the Madison, I just went down to Valley Garden since it was 2 miles away and hiked down a bit to where the islands are. Then for the Ruby we were in the National Park. The float trip was between Windy Point and floated to McAfee Bridge. I will be attempting to fish a spring creek on Wednesday, hopefully I'll catch at least 1. Be prepared to have restricted fishing time in August. They're thinking some of the rivers will be closed and others may have a midnight to 2 pm fishing restriction due to warm waters.
Montana Day 4. We went to Yellowstone NP and I hiked into the first meadow of Slough Creek. Pure sight fishing with clear water. Caught 5 cutthroat including a 16" and 18", and nearly had another 18+" one. Saw one that had to be pushing 24", but he wasn't interested. Also fished a little bit of Slough Creek lower down and pulled a nice rainbow.
yours is probably better than mine, but i stopped at the clinch once and after wading out to an island to check out the other side, the water rose and i had to swim back to shore. luckily it was summertime and i was not wearing waders.
Lol no. Equal too, perhaps. My roommate my soph year of college was from Gate City, and fished the Clinch a good deal. Caught a citation smallie the summer before our adventure. He and I went one weekend. We put in somewhere upstream and floated all day. I remarked then, and stand by the fact that it was some of the prettiest damn water I've ever been on. 3 items of note: -Caught absolutely nothing. I think we landed one 8" fish between us all goddamn day, and we were both fishing pretty seriously. -I assume there are also muskies in there. Had a fluke trailing over the side, being lazy, and something came up and flashed it. Something large. Would have taken the rod and left me sitting there slackjawed, undoubtedly. -Lastly, as the afternoon wore on, the river got wider and shallower. Had a big thunderstorm roll in on us as we were dragging an aluminum jon boat for the last mile over rocks and gravel bars. Scary, wet, and fishless. I'd still do it again.
that's a hell of a time. nothing in my life has gotten me into as many "predicaments" as chasing fish. the clinch is part of the Tennessee River system, so there are musky around.
Appreciate the heads up, was thinking we would have to swap from float to wade already. Mom says the heat at Tetons is southern horrible.
Montana Day 5. We floated the Madison again since the Big Hole is already too low to float. I had a bit of a slow morning while my fishing partner was catching one every few minutes, including a 19.5" brown. Picked for me in the afternoon with some big rainbows and browns. Had 2 big 17"+ browns shake a barbless hook and had a huge something snap the 10 lb line on the hook set. All told between my boat and my parents', we caught 70-80 fish today.
It's been in the 90s for the last few days. The guides said the Big Hole is as low as it normally is for the first of August. The Madison looks like it would for the end of July vs end of June.
Montana Day 6. My group wanted to finish their tour of Yellowstone, so I had them drop me at the Gibbon River where it wasn't out of their way. Caught a couple on dries, an had a few strikes, but that was it. Later that night I went back to the local Madison access and caught a few on dries during the caddis hatch. Hooked back into the big one that broke my line on the first day and he eventually made a run into the fast water and got downstream of me and off. As I was leaving, I saw a bull moose on one of the nearby islands.
Montana Day 7. We floated the Yellowstone river today. My dad and I had a tough day, caught ~15 between the two of us, but it did include a nice cutthroat and brown. My mom and the other person with us caught about 55 using the same set up. She had a 19" and 20" brown, along with another nice one and a bunch of whitefish. Also caught this rainbow that had a line with a swivel hanging out of its mouth.