Hebgen Lake-Quake Lake: 7/13/2010

Between the Lakes has had some great fishing.  Golden Stones and Salmonflies dominate the fly selection right now.  There are a ton of people fishing this stretch, but the bite has been good so why not?The standard Salmonfly and Golden Dries are working great.  Dropper rigs can hook up some more fish early in the day when fish aren’t yet willing to rise.  

Quake Lake-Lyon Bridge: 7/13/2010 

The “wade section” of the Madison has a lot of bugs right now.  Salmonflies have finally made their way into this stretch and these insect monstrosities have brought along most of their buggy buddies as well.  Along with the big flies one can find tons of caddis, some PMD’s, Golden Stones and Yellow Sallies.  The afternoons and evenings have been fantastic both with Caddis and Salmonfly patterns.

 Lyon Bridge to Ennis: 7/13/2010

Fish are still eating Golden Stones in the Float section though Caddis are the main item on the menu throughout  most of the day.  Goddards, X-Caddis and EC Caddis have all been consistent producers.  Caddis imitations are also working well when fished deeply under an indicator.  Dips and Sparkle Pupa have been deadly.  Fish are extremely picky about drift and don’t offer any second chances to set the hook so anglers would be wise to pay attention their flies on the water.

 Gallatin River:  7/13/2010

We’ve had some great fishing on the Gallatin north of Big Sky lately.  Fish have been rising to Caddis, PMD’s and Drakes.  There are still a few Goldens about as well.  The nymph bite has been more reliable than the dry fly fishing and we’ve had no shortage of fish willing to eat a PMD Soft Hackle when fished with a good drift.

 Hebgen Lake: 7/13/201o

More Callibaetis are emerging on Hebgen every week, but there still aren’t a lot of heads up on the lake that can present a consistent target for an angler.  Stick to the bobber rig with a Callibaetis and a Chironomid and enjoy the nice fish that come to it.

After stopping by the shop at 7:30 AM to pick up an unusually bright-eyed and bushy tailed Ty Holloway, Ty,  Lloyd and I headed down Highway 20 to float Box Canyon on the Henry’s Fork. I felt extra lucky to be able to tag along this time. Usually I am the one that gets left behind on these sorts of trips due to my lack of rowing skills…I am plagued with a “nemo fin” that inhibits my “digging” while on the oars.  I grew up fishing the area around West Yellowstone but surprisingly enough this was my first fishing experience in Idaho, and I was excited to satisfy the itch I had to scratch this one off my list of things to do this summer.  The morning looked promising: blue skies, warming temps and relatively little amounts of air displacement. We got to the boat ramp, suited up in our Simms G3 waders, rigged up with rubber legs and various dropper nymphs and pushed off quickly, excited to seduce some trout. 

We pulled over at the first bend (approximately 200 yards from the put in) to give Lloyd a rest from his arduous task of rowing so we could all fish. For those of you who are like me and have never fished the Box you will be just as surprised as I was at how much BB tin shot it takes to get to the fish feeding on the bottom of the river. It plunges down pretty deep and is fast, especially in the first section and even if you detect a “bobber down” it is more likely you are hitting the bottom than hooking up with a fish who is most likely even deeper, strategically hiding in a hard to reach crevasse. Ty started the day off well for us by landing a few rainbows feeding on his copper john. 

We continued downstream and it wasn’t long until my BB split shot got me into trouble once again; I caught a log… or so I thought until Ty informed me that it was in fact a fish! It is always a treat when a take you thought was a log turns out to be a fish, instead of the other way around. However, my joy was cut short when I realized it was in fact a “rocky mountain bonefish” instead of the desired species. But! As my Granddad would have told me, a fish is a fish and I should be happy to  catch him.  I guess the large amount of shot is the way to go after all. 

After another little while of no fish the two professionals chose a run that looked promising. We all hooked up with fish and I found out just how hot a 4 inch rainbow  could be down there. 

The last stretch before Last Chance was a lot slower and more shallow than the previous miles but we still managed to pull out a few. Much to the surprise of his walleye bonking North Dakota friends Lloyd has been known as being merciful when it comes to saving the lives of trout. On this last section he caught and landed a 7 inch rainbow that was really excited to see him, so excited in fact that he wanted to stay in the boat. Lloyd, being the welcoming guy that he is decided to let him hang out with us for a while but instead of having him sit in the net, let him flop underneath the front deck of his boat. Well, I think that is the last time that trout will be so friendly. After a moment of panic Lloyd grabbed some hemostats from Ty, pinched the little guy’s tail and in one motion pulled him out and threw him back into the river. As he swam away Lloyd commented that “youngsters are resilient to those sorts of experiences” and we kept floating. 

The day ended in a rush so Ty could get to work on time. It was such a rush in fact that Lloyd’s new 35 pound anchor was left sitting on the step of the trailer and likely still hanging around in Idaho somewhere….oops!