On Peter Vandegrift's recommendation we got out of the house early this morning and headed 2hrs west to the Beaverhead outside of Dillan. Henneberry fishing access was supposed to be a good access point for wading, but the whole river was a slues. Heavy vegetation on the bottom made for almost impossible nymphing. Floating is about the only way to access this part of the river. Ben and I caught a few tiny browns on 18 BWO dries, and I had another 10-11" brown on a lightening bug. As the snow was starting to drive, we bailed and decided to head back to Melrose and jump on the Bighole. It was cold, snowing, windy and we were a bit pissed at the conditions of the Beaverhead after having driven all the way there, but we were determined to fish the rest of the day. We bundled up and headed out. 5 minutes into our walk downstream we saw two immature bull moose, one with a small rack, the other with just buttons. We watched them on the bank for a while before heading downstream to fish.
On the corner of the first riffle I hooked into a fish on my second cast. After running a few feet downstream the fish rolled and showed me I was dealing with a large brown. Unfortunately I didn't have him hooked very well and while he sat in the slow water my fly came unhooked. I came a bit unglued. It was appropriate for the day. Luckily, the day turned around a bit, despite icing eyes and wind burnt faces. I caught a couple rainbows, 9" and 11", the larger while taking another picture of the two moose still hanging out on the bank. Paul caught a bunch of nice whitefish (four), a 12" rainbow, and a beautiful 9" grayling. The grayling ate a caddis nymph despite water temps hovering just below 40 degrees. Ben fell in near the edge and had a soaking arm - not the best day to do so with blowing wind and snow, but he ended up hooking into a great 16" brown on the last cast of the day. After being fairly skunked all day, I'm pretty sure he kissed that fish before letting it go. It was good to salvage a good afternoon out of such a crappy start. To add to the good finish, we watched a good sized bull moose with a nice rack walk through the alder lined stream on the drive out from Maindenrock access point. He jumped fences with ease and moved effortlessly through the tangled underbrush. Amazing creature - we felt blessed to just watch him if only for a few minutes.
It has been good to get into a rhythm of fishing. The gear all has a place in my mind and all the small details that often require too much attention are becoming second nature. We've all improved at reading water, maximizing drift, and efficiently setting up our rigs. The Tahoe has become our gear vehicle and it's good to drive, waders on, with pole tips resting on the dash, reels lined on the backs of the back seat, wading gear in its place. The body, too, is getting used to this cold, snowy weather. Even with mid-30 temps and 20 mph winds and snow we are staying comfortable and fishing with relative ease. Hopefully, though, the water temps will rise over the next few days and the fish will become more active. Tomorrow we hit the East Gallatin.
No comments:
Post a Comment