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With Montana Trout Scout,
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Craig Beam
Outfitter#8875
406-855-3058
mtroutscout@hotmail.com
www.montanatroutscout.com
Member of Fishing Outfitters
Association of Montana
Licensed and Insured
Cudos to Joe on his second ever fly fishing trip. Joe landed seven trout day before yesterday on the Stillwater, no small feat. This fish is one of the small ones of the day. Don't forget to send me all those pictures of big fish on your camera, Joe!
Today we had Pale Morning Duns hatching in the morning. Go figure. It's been an afternoon thing all week. None of the big brown drakes were in evidence, but we still caught fish on a Royal Wolfe. My client and friend Clancy was fishing to risers around 10 am. He was throwing a big brown bug, size 10. After catching a few nice fish with splashy takes, one dandy rainbow came slowly up and delicately slurped his fly. Just like slow motion. Clancy set the hook perfectly. No matter how many times I see that happen, it's always a thrill! It takes nerves of steel not to set the hook too soon. Go Clancy!
During the heat of the afternoon, a size 6 golden stone dry worked well. And for the first time since the water came down, a dropper nymph produced for us. The beadhead prince caught several nice fish in the morning. We fished the dry clean all afternoon.
The Stilly continues to drop and the fishing is getting better and better. I'd stay above the Rosebud convergence for a few more days, but the lower river should be clear and fishing well soon. Yesterday we had PMD's almost all day. The fishing starts to heat up around noon and is strong until the evening. PMD's were the ticket in calm water, stone fly imitations in the heavy stuff. Later in the day, around 4 PM we had a brown drake hatch and fish were really on them. A big brown parachute caught the best fish of the day.
I'd like to mention a long time client of mine, Chris Clepper. Two days ago, Chris hooked a nice trout and commenced to somehow wrap his line twice around my neck as he played the fish. I was negotiating a healthy rapid at about 3000 cfs at the time. I remember seeing the trout jumping on my right as I leaned way back, yelling "My neck, my neck!". Chris frantically stripped in line, tightening the noose. Chris's comment after we landed the fish (yes, we landed it!) was, "Good thing it wasn't piano wire."
Rock Creek will be low enough to wade within a week or so. Still high, but doable. Look for golden stones and PMD's.
I expect the Yellowstone around Columbus to fish by the end of next week. It's dropping like a rock and clearing. Same stuff, stone flies and PMD's.
Charlie DeGroot had a question about the Mystic Lake drainage, with is up the West Rosebud. I'd use a smaller golden stone or yellow sallie imitation on top with a bead head dropper in the pocket water of the stream. Something like a yellow madam x in size 10 or a yellow elk hair caddis in size 12 with a pheasant tail, size 16, dropped off it. In the lake I'd try the standard wooly buggers, bead heads and a little grey parachute for a dry if fish are rising. A lake is a lake is a lake......
Your July Fly Box should look like this:
Size 16 yellow parachute
Size 12 brown parachute
Size 12 royal wolfe
Size 6 Jack Cabe
Size 8 yellow madam x
Size 16 pheasant tail
Size 12 prince nymph
add black or olive wooly buggers for lakes, size 8
add hoppers toward the end of the month
The upper Stillwater is finally fishable. It's still high, but clear above the Rosebud convergence. I floated it yesterday for the first time. Fish were hungry and taking dry stonefly imitations such as Stimulators and Madame X patterns. Only caught two fish on the dropper nymph, both early in the morning. Didn't bother with the dropper after about 1 PM. We had a good PMD hatch around 2 PM and fish were on them in the slower water. A size 16 yellow parachute got the job done.
All area streams are blown out. Time to fish lakes and ponds. Or tie flies and repair your waders!
The famed "Mother's Day Caddis" hatch has begun on the Stillwater. Look for March browns around 1pm with caddis taking over the show later in the afternoon. Soft hackles on the swing are producing, as are size 16 black elk hair caddis and size 12 brown parachutes fished over the March browns. I floated Johnson's to Whitebird yesterday. Tough fishing in the morning, caught a few on nymphs. A couple of fish came up for a small stimulator. The March browns started coming off, but the fish didn't really get on them until later. Around 3pm, the caddis started in earnest. Not yet a true "blizzard" hatch, but close. Fish got on 'em just in time for a big hail/rain storm to blow in. Howling wind started sheeting the water, but you could still see splashy rises through the whitecaps and pounding rain drops. When the rain and hail let up, the fishing got good again on the dry fly until about 5:30. Took a couple of nice brown trout on a green wooly bugger on the way out.
Well, I'm sitting here writing a report instead of fishing. It's dumping snow again, the lower Stilly is dirty and the upper is too low to float. My Bronco is sitting out on the street, boat hooked up and ready to go. Looks so sad with 5 inches of snow on it.
I wade fished the Stillwater yesterday. Above the Rosebud the clarity is good. A bit tea colored. Had a good BWO hatch starting at about 1 PM. Fish were on them. About 2 PM, March Browns started coming off and the fish quickly changed over to them. No sign of caddis yet. I moved down below the 'Buds about 3, just to see what was up. (Yes, I walked away from rising fish. Just so I could report conditions to you, gentle reader.) Wound up at Whitebird. There were BWO's and a few fish on them, but nothing like upstream. Good numbers of bugs, but the fish couldn't reallys see them in the murky water. Visibility was about a foot and a half. I managed to find a couple of March Browns after looking pretty hard. Nymphing was good, though. The water temperature was a uniform 40 degrees all the way up and down the river.
Don't be fooled by the flow charts. The Stilly is reporting 850 cfs, but a lot of that is coming from the Rosebud. They're releasing water from Mystic right now. That's why it's dirty down low. It's very bony above the convergence. If you go float the Cliff to Johnson's stretch, be prepared to drag the boat a bit. I'd recommend wade fishing instead.
I've been fishing Rock Creek a lot lately. Everything else has been blown out due to the warm weather last week. Rock Creek's been high but clear and fishing well on nymphs. The hare's ear was the big winner. Not much in the way of dry fly fishing, but I've seen a few March browns and stone flies around. We had a good BWO hatch on Thursday, but the fish never really got on them. The only rising fish were in the most difficult lies imaginable. Fun to fish to, but be prepared to lose a few flies. I stuck three fish on drys on Thursday, all of which were actively rising. Nothing tried to eat my dry out in the open. The creek has been high and fast, so the current is keeping the fish close to the bottom or right on the banks, buried in that lovely fly eating brush. With the return of cold nights, the flow is dropping again. I'm looking for good dry fly fishing this week, but the weather is supposed to be crappy. It's snowing hard right now.
The Stillwater and Yellowstone have been muddy, but both are dropping right now. The Stilly is clear above the Rosebud convergence. I've not heard of any hatches going on, but that will change in a hurry as water levels and clarity stabilize. Supposed to be cold and rainy/snowy all week, perfect dry fly weather.
