BOZEMAN CHRIS

The Snake

2011-09-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

So Devun had a soccer tournament down in Jackson Hole, WY. So I thought I had better bring my rod as I did not last year and wished I had. We had sometime in between games so we hit up the Snake in Grand Teton National Park. The Snake has one of the most scenic backdrops ever, with the Tetons towering over the landscape. I was told it is a tough river to wade fish, but we found and nice mellow channel of the river, which was more like fishing a creek. I noticed we had a nice hatch of the area's fall drake called the Hecuba. I then I saw a few fish rise. It was game on. Devun had tangled his line, so I gave him my rod and with a few casts, I heard a big gulp and Devun's rod was bent over.

I could not get a good grip and grin of Devun, but I think this picture turned out better. Devun's nice release of a 18" Fine Spotted Snake River Cutthroat.

I finally got my rod back and was able to catch my first Snake River cuttie, not as big as Devun's though. For only fishing about 2 hours and a $14 Wyoming day fishing license, I think I got my money's worth.

If only I could fish more.

2011-08-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, If I could spend more time on the water right now I would. The fishing has been awesome, the weather has been awesome, flows are great and so is the water clarity. Its terrestrial time! Well, the few times I have been out lately, the fish have been on the dries from hoppers, ants, and beetles. Been using the dry dry setup of late, with a bigger hopper trailed by either a beetle or ant. It is amazing how many fish will pass up the hopper to eat the smaller beetle and ant. Here are a few images and a video from the last month. Oh yah, these pics and video were all taken on Devun's new GoPro. Pretty cool device, Devun can't wait to use skiing.

Devun and I on a Backpacking Trip, Hidden Lakes

Hiking in.

Wolf Print, Soda Butte, YNP

Good times, Fishin' Soda Butte

Devun is getting good at the catching, now I need to work with him on the release, it looks like this little cuttie did okay on getting back to his hole.

Beaverhead

2011-06-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Had some free time to spend so I took off to the Beaverhead. I fished just down from Pipe Organ Bridge. The water was a little dirty there but not bad and the parking lot was empty when I pulled in at around 11:30. The fishing was not bad using an indicator with a worm and a variety of flashy small beadhead nymphs. Good day for me and my old dog Acacia who had fun too. Seeing the Jefferson at close to record flood levels on the drive over there was a sight to see as well, man there is a lot of water everywhere right now.

Yellowstone River Pre-runoff

2011-05-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Fished the Yellowstone yesterday, probably the last time before it blows. There were a few caddis coming off but not the typical floating mats of caddis with fish rising everywhere. Saw some aggressive rise forms signs of the fish were onto the emergers. I had a couple nice fish grab my soft hackle caddis on the swing that I was stripping in with short strips. My best fish a seen below took a size 10 tan wooly bugger I had above the caddis. It was a nice night just wade fishing for a couple hours before the sun set below carter's bridge. I guess at this point I hope it cools off some so maybe we could have some more pre-runoff fishing. If not I will have to join the crowds and hit some of SW Montana's tailwaters.

Start to the MT Fishing Season

2011-03-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

First day out for the Montana fishing season, which started March 1. Picked up my fishing license and headed out with Devun to the lower Madison. It was a little windy below the Bear Trap so we headed up river below the dam. We were hoping for some midge action, but not enough midges on the water for the fish to start looking up. None the less we did good on the nymph rig with the best fly being the pink lighting bug. Devun hooked a bunch and landed the first fish of the day, which ended up being the biggest brown caught all day. On the way back we stopped and fished below the Bear Trap and the wind had calmed enough for some more action with plenty of fish to hand on the small cray. Here is a little March montage of some of the action today.

There she blows

2011-02-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

The wind that is. Crazy windy day on the lower Madison. I found you could only really cast in one direction. The nice thing was it was not too cold. I had about an hour to fish and landed three and lost two nice bows. I was only using one fly because of the wind. That one fly was my tan cray. I was glad I got out despite the wind.

Blast then Cast

2011-01-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

So since I was able to get my Elk on Saturday, I was able to pretty much relax and enjoy the rest of the three day weekend. So I took advantage of the warmer weather (low 40s) and headed over to the Lower Madison River for the first fishing of the new year with my Dad. We found the fish were into eating the crayfish more than little nymphs. Here is a video of two nice browns that both crushed the cray.

MT Right of Passage

2011-01-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

So I got my first Elk today. Have lived in Montana for just over 8 years now and on my second season of hunting Elk. One shot was all that I needed to put her down,which hit her in the neck. It was an awesome day starting with watching the sun rise over the Sphinx mountain in the Madison Range as I walked the field towards a huge heard of elk. It took a little while but finally I was able to get close enough, which was I think about 200-250 yards. It was all that I imagined and was made easy by some fellow Montana hunters that helped me drag my elk out with their 4-wheeler. I was very pleased that I field dressed her without any complications. I have heard too many horror stories about people screwing up field dressing. So I know I will have to pass on the karma sometime dragging an elk out for someone else or help in dressing the elk for them. I was able to drop her off at the game processor and hope to be barbecuing next week. What a day, I'm tired and will sleep good tonight.

10-10-10 Lower Madison

2010-10-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

So it has been awhile it seems since I've been out on the river. Soccer season is done and fall fishing season has begun. I've got my buddy Matt coming out in a couple of weeks so I thought I better brush up on my skills. Landed this nice brown on a crawfish imitation on the lower Madison today. Hooked a bunch landed a few. It seemed they liked a little action on the crawfish since most of the fish took it on the strip rather than dead drifted. Got the day off tomorrow and it sounds like it will actually be fall since the forecast is for some rain and overcast, hope to fish streamers.

Big Hole Dairy Cows

2010-09-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

Fished the Big Hole River yesterday after going to a work meeting in Butte. I wanted to fish dries but had to switch over to the nymph rig and immediately started catching fish. Caught plenty of browns and white fish. The browns seemed to hold high up in the run with the white fish in the tail of the run. It was a beautiful day after having some early fall weather the days before. The mountain rages all had new snow on the peaks contrasting with the blue sky of the day. When I stepped into the river I was met with a big bird with a white head in the cottonwood above me and two of the strangest dairy cows I have ever seen. Good day to get out.

Glacier Two Medicine

2010-08-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Spent a 4 day weekend up in Glacier within the Two Medicine Valley. Man that place is awesome. It was a nice break from the stresses of work to relax, take in all the senses of this amazing place. No wonder the Blackfeet consider this place to be good medicine. Devun and I did some hiking, a little fishing, and lots of Huckleberry pickin, since the berries where just starting to ripe. Saw lots of bears this trip too, starting with me almost taking out a griz cub driving into the park. Skidded and scared both me and the cub. We also saw a pair of black bears above our camp in an avalanche shoot foraging and then on our way home had a huge black bear and two cubs cross the road just outside of Big Fork along the Flathead River. I know these are the trips I hope Devun will appreciate as he gets older to recognize the great wonders of our planet and the need to preserve them.

Upper Two Medicine Lake

Full bag of Huckleberries

Ripe for the Pickin'

Casting on Upper Two Medicine, check out the head turn on the back cast, I feel it is just as important to watch your back cast as it is to watch your forward cast. It's not hard just turn your head.

Nice bow I picked off in addition to a nice brookie of the same size I got before him. Devun was not ready with camera on the brookie. It was cool though, I watched this rainbow come charging at my spent spruce moth after I gave it a little twitch on the water. The twitch triggered the take.

MT Small Creek Tour

2010-08-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Devun, my Dad, and I headed over to Big Creek today and we had a great time on the creek with another big emergence of Grey Drakes. Since we fished Grey Drakes last weekend my box was a little low on Grey Drake sparkle duns. So we improvised and used some other big sparkle duns that work pretty good. The day started pretty gloomy with rain and low clouds but the sun broke out for a nice day. Devun is getting pretty spoiled with all this good dry fly fishing. We were all amazed how big the fish were for how small the creek was. I had a nice cutthroat on but I could not stop him with my glass 3 weight from taking me into a log jam and then broke me off . We are going to head to Glacier next week, hope to do a little fishing too and pick some Huckleberries.

Devun sportin the Gill's Guide Service Hat

Fish on!

Grey Drake Macro Photo

Another Grey Drake

2010-08-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

So Devun and I took off Friday morning to camp and do a little fishing on the upper main Boulder River, for Devun's Birthday. He is ten now, which is mind blowing. First time ever fishing this place, it is amazing that I have lived here in Montana for 8 years this fall and I am still finding new places to fish and explore within a days drive of my house in Bozeman. The Boulder drainage is a neat place, very diverse and beautiful. Devun had one of the best days fishing ever he said, totaling about 8 fish and loosing many more. We had a nice emergence of big gray drakes in the afternoon that brought up many cutthroats. He out fished Dad today, which I am sure will be a common theme in the future. Here are a few pics of our adventure.

2010-07-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

So I decided to see if there where any big bugs further up the Yellowstone and hiked into the black canyon from the Black Tail Trailhead. The hike was 4 miles down into the Canyon following Black Tail Creek and 4 miles back up. They had the bridge closed across the river right now doing some improvements. I walked up stream and had plenty of good water to fish. The fishing was good, fish eating both my big dry and occasionally the dropper like this guy bellow. Most of the fish where cutties, however a few I think were cutbows. Saw more golden stoneflies than salmon flies. Also saw caddis and a few little olive stones.

Big River, few people.

Shedhorn along the trail.

2010-07-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

I hiked into the Yellowstone River today in the park from the Rescue Creek trail across the Gardner River. Awesome day, did not see another sole all day. The fish were willing to eat the big dry today, but I did catch two on the dropper. Caught a brown, rainbows, cutbows, and yellowstone cutthroats today. I threw a amy's ant that I tied that was black and orange. Saw a few big Salmon Flies today, but mostly saw lots of tan caddis. First time I ever fished this part of the river, it was really nice and wild. Hiking from the Gardner river over to the Yellowstone there where plenty of hoppers allready. I guess the plague has started. I predict the hopper fishing will be great from now till October. Here are a few of the sights from today:

Cuttie with his mouth full with my fly.

Elk skull along the Yellowstone

Nice day along the Yellowstone down from the Black Canyon.

2010-06-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

What a weekend, from fishing the opener of the Park to floating the MO, you can always find a place to fish in Montana. Right now many rivers in Montana are off color and flowing high. Except there are always spring creeks and tail waters to be had. So I fished the world's most famous spring creek the Firehole River and the MO a tail water that fishes a lot like a big spring creek.

Fished the Firehole river off of Fountain Flat Drive near the Nez Perce picnic ground. Started off slow, had a few grabs on the soft hackle. Then about 12:30 started seeing the first emergence of BWOs. Put on a dry, and started catching fish. I ran back to the truck and grabbed my new fiber glass 3wt I built this winter. It was great, a very fun rod for the firehole. The nastier the weather the larger the hatch, which sent the fish in a feeding frenzy. You name it we had it for weather that day. I lost count of how many I caught that day, however I'm not really the counting type. I can just say it was enough to break in my new 3wt.

Here are a few pics from the Firehole:

Headed out of Bozeman on Monday around 7:00 am and dropped the boat in the MO around 10:00 a.m. Every time I fish the MO I am amazed how strong and big the fish are. I did see plenty of BWOs, however it did not get to many noses up. So the nymph rig was the setup for the day. Here are a few pics from the MO:

Mothers Day Caddis 2010

2010-05-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Got the boat out on the Yellowstone River today and slayed the whities. We did catch a few trout, I actually caught one cuttie and brown and about 25-30 white fish, mostly on dries. Here is a few pictures of the float. Cool weather, a little breezy but not bad for the Yellowstone.

2009-11-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Fall Fishing in Southwest Montana

The next three Photos are of fish I caught on the Madison down stream of $3 Bridge on Veteran's Day 11/11/2009. I was getting them on an egg and BH micro may. Saw very few BWOs, but a lot of midges that day. Winter has arrived. The next day we got well over a foot of snow in Bozeman.

Here is probably a Brown out of Hebgen Lake on the Madison at Bakers Hole. This was the only one I landed. I hooked like 4 more, they were all very hot fish out of Hebgen. I was only able to fish about an hour since Devun came down with the Flu with a high temp. We just had to turn around and head back to Bozeman bummer. It was the last day of fishing in the Park. Hard to leave a hole full of fish, the things we do for our kids, it would have probably been considered child abuse letting him suffer while I caught fish.

Photo: Devun Scott

Fall brown on the Gallatin one morning with Devun throwin streamers.

Photo:Devun Scott

High water no problem

2009-05-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

After doing a few errands around town I decided to hop in the car with my dog and drive up to the upper Madison ($3 bridge). High water, off color= good fishing! Hooked many on the coffee and black rubber legs and a few on a bead head dropper. Fish where in predictable places, being in any slack water you could find. Pretty much right on the banks. It was a nice day to get out and there was not too many people as well. Drove back by Hebgen Lake and stripped a bugger off the bank and caught this nice dark bow.

2009-01-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

With above average temps around Bozeman, I took a break from the slopes and hit up the Lower Madison for some fishing. It was mostly a midge day, nothing on dries, but did good on a juju midge I fished for the first time. Lots of slush in the morning but thawed out by afternoon. Here is the first fish on 2009.

Nice Warm Fall Day on MO

2008-11-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

Took advantage of the nice weather and cheap gas and drove up to the MO around Craig, MT. Pink lighting bug or a pink Ray Charles was the hot fly. Here are a couple of piggy BOWs.

Acacia and the MO

Fall on the Upper Madison

2008-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Went with a couple of my buddies up to the Upper Madison. It was a great Fall day. The egg was the best fly of the day. However, I did get lots of little fish on a shop vac.

Madison River, Sphinx Mountain in the background.

Surprise Brown caught in a small skinny side channel.

Nice colored up Brown egg eater.

Saw this old man brown all spawn out, not sure if he was going to make it. Took an underwater pic of him. We saw lots of big dead browns, the skinny water has not been good this year. They had to really lower the river after the dam failed this year.

BUMMER

Bighorn River, MT Election Day 2008

2008-11-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

My Dad and I decided to leave the election chaos and head over to the Bighorn River for a few days (Nov. 2-4). The river was green and had about 1 to 2 feet of viz. The fishing was a bit slow for the Bighorn, however it was still not so bad, as you can seen from the pictures. The quantity of catching was down, but the quality was up. Another big plus was the Bighorn was void of the typical crowds this place endures during the summer months.

Fall Fashion Brown Trout

Election Day 2008 Rainbow

First Brown on the Bugger

Bighorn Brown

Glimmering Rainbow

Another BOW

First Fish on the Streamer a Big BOW