East Gallatin Update

Thursday, October 9, 2009. After a night of heavy drinking upon return from the Big Hole, we got out on the famous East Gallatin around 12:00. A few pheasant roosters greeted our arrival and the scenery was unmatched; beautiful, meandering stream, grassy fields that seem to go on forever, and, in the distance, snowy mountains in all directions. We parked at Swamp Road bridge and after chatting with an old, wind worn guy in a rhino we headed down stream to where the guy at Fins and Feathers told us was the better nymphing water. Two holes down, we spread out and started to catch fish.

I stood next to this deep, green water and tried to figure out where the fish were, what they might want to eat, and how to get it to them. I was throwing The Worm up front and changed my back fly a couple times - finally settled on a wet hackle PT, 18. The trick, however, was to get the right weight and depth. My goal was to tie on enough splitshot to get stuck on the bottom and then take one off. One split shot, nothing. Two, nothing. Three, FISH. I pulled three fish out of that hole, had a lot of bumps, and, in what turned into a disturbing trend for the day, had two others on (the biggest fish) but shake off.

Following Ben and Paul I moved downstream. Ben was trying to cast size 20 bwo dries to rising fish on the far bank so I decided to hit the inside seam of the run. Casts upstream, slightly across, flies in line resulted in 5 more fish in the net and 4 or 5 more on and off again, including the biggest one from that hole, too.

Headed downstream further and tossed my weighted rig into a wide, fast run near a pod of 20 rising fish. After a few casts the thingamabobber jerked under and I felt a nice, nice fish on the end of my line. A couple seconds later he shook off... I decided I needed to get a little deeper so I tied on a weighted streamer with The Werm behind it. First cast, BAM - again, nice fish. Again, shook off. GODDAMN!!!! This one jumped just to make sure I knew it was a big rainbow before coming loose. Anger. Fished a few bends, some very deep holes down stream. Ben and Paul kept hearing cock birds cackling in the fields - I always seemed to be next to a loud riffle, but did catch the tail end of one call. The hunting here would be disgusting. I would love to see Porter working hard through those countless acres of bird-filled grass...

Paul was pulling a couple nice fish out of the most downstream riffle we fished, Ben and I lined up behind him. As I worked downstream I realized I was walking on the drop-off so I backed up, moved downstream a bit and cast back to it. First cast, fish. Big fish. Turned out to be a White Fish, but fought hard and more than filled the net. Another trout, slightly upstream had the count up to 9. Walked upstream with Paul and watched him pull a couple out of a seam to even the count. Game on.

Tied on The Werm behind a large, 12, BH prince nymph. Caught two out of a tiny riffle that dropped off sideways into a run. Two, steely rainbows. The fish out of the Gallatin were unlike any rainbows I've ever caught. Smaller heads, thick in the middle, and with a cold, steel look. Apparently they have steel mouths, too, given how many Paul and I lost through the day. Ben and Paul walked up the bank behind me a jumped two cock birds who cackled and rose, one flying over my head, one flying away from the river. Gorgeous.

Moved back upstream to where I'd caught 5 before and pulled 4 more out for 15 on the day. Probably lost close to that many as well. Frustrating to lose so many fish and so many nice fish. But the day was success and beautiful. Cold, about 27 on the day, a slight breeze and sun that finally gave way to clouds and a snowstorm. As we drove back to the cabin we watched wild clouds fill the valley, swirling, dropping snow in random, isolated places.

For the record

Denver, sandwiches, brewery - shepard's pid, beef roast
Casper, bar ribs, wings, turkey club
Bozeman Saturday, Gallatin, quesadilla, buffs, burger
Sunday, yack, Gallatin, beef stew
Monday, Madison, bison, strips
Tuesday, Yellowstone, beef stew hot tub
Wednesday, Beaverhead, Big Hole, Burger King, Blasted
Thursday, East Gallatin, sausage and beef rice
Friday, Gallatin, rainbow, brown, whitefish, zuchs and squash
Saturday, Missouri...

Winter salvation

A winter storm canceled our plans to travel to the Firehole today. Awoke to 6 inches of snow and counting. A steady 15-20mph wind was blowing sideways and temps were struggling to get into the 20s. We spent the morning tying flies, doing work, and cleaning up around the house. Around 1:00 Paul and I decided to brave the cold and hit the Gallatin. Ben had some work to finish up before joining us. Paul decided to cross in the most unfortunate spot and almost took a chilly dip. We headed up a side channel and started fishing. It was slow to start, but soon picked up. While my new black bugger was stuck on a snag, Paul got into a real nice brown. I netted and, as planned, he got put on the stringer for tonight's dinner. Paul ended up with a few more fish on as well, but lost them. Finally he hooked into a nice whitefish and we added it to the stringer. I pulled one out of the same hole, too and the count for dinner was up to three. Ben had joined us by now and hooked into a beautiful rainbow, just a touch longer than Paul's brown. I decided to head back downstream to a deep hole that had proved frustrating earlier. The flow into this pool was fast, the drop off deep and although it looked fishy, I'd only caught a couple small fish out of it over the two past days we'd fished there. I knew there were bigger fish on the bottom it was just a matter of getting the drift and weight right. I played with my set up for a while - added weight, raised the indicator - and cast to get a drift into the small, swirling seam between the fast water and the eddy. When I finally got everything right, a beautiful rainbow took my fly. It was one of the most satisfying fish I've ever caught. Another rainbow and three big whitefish followed. It felt amazing to have turned this crappy day into a success. The snow blew, the cold seeped into our feet, but we were out there and caught a bunch of beautiful fish - some of the biggest fish yet besides the lunkers that came out of the yellowstone.

Tonight is supposed to get down to -5F. It's our last night in this house. We're cooking up fish, doing wash, and packing. Tomorrow we head north to the Missouri river in Craig, MT. The forecast is for 28-ish, cloudy, and calm. With the increased temps from the tailwater of the Missouri we should get into some fish. While I'm not happy about leaving this house, I'm looking forward to the day.

Oct. 7, 2009 - Beaverhead and Bighole

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.

Oct. 6, 2009 - Yellowstone Float

Woke this morning at 6:30 and made a big breakfast with leftover bison and steak to keep us powered up through today's float of the Yellowstone. Any description I muster up will not do the day justice. It was mostly sunny, with a supposed high of 50, and winds steady at 15-25 MPH. Brutal on the casting, but we caught fish despite. I started out wading while Ben and Paul helped Peter get the boat set up and started upstream. From my place on a side channel near a "tributary," I caught 3 rainbows, 9-12" on a black bh zebra midge dropped behind a parachute adams. Had 3 others on, too. Once they figured out the game and stopped biting, I walked downstream to see what I could fish while waiting for the boat to arrive. nothing of interest awaited me, so I headed back up to where Corn Creek dumped in and changed my rig - indicator with "the worm" and the zebra midge. Only a couple casts in I landed a nice 16" rainbow. Fought like a champ, too. The boat had just arrive so I hopped in a started the float.

I have much more to say about this day, but my eyes are closing and I'm exhausted. We're getting up early to drive to the Beaverhead and fish some warmer water tomorrow. I'll fill in the details later, but all three of us hooked into some beautiful fish today and despite the constant distraction of catching whitefish all day, had beautiful scenery and a great day in a drift boat.

Oct. 5, 2009

Woke up this morning to a few inches of snow covering everything. Snowed throughout the morning. Ben had a lot of work to do, so Paul and I tied flies until noon before the three of us headed out to the Madison River. On recommendation from Peter Vandergrift we headed up to Bear Trap Wilderness Area and jumped in to some good looking riffles and pools. Rainbows were on the menu. Paul caught one right away. Ben soon followed. The river was big, wide, and looked super fishy. But the wading was tough and really the first time we've fished a river of this size. Not sure if the weather was the biggest factor or our strategy, but the fish were few and far between. Paul caught one more and I managed to pull two out of one seam and hooked another, but didn't land it. A few beautiful fish, but nothing more than 15". We're in the mood for some big fish.

Cooked up some bison for dinner - didn't know what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. Wicked good. Hit the hot tub for an hour or so after dinner. Rolled in the snow halfway through to break things up. Loved it. Beautiful sky with stars poking intermittently through the overcast sky. Hopefully the haloed moon brings good luck for tomorrow. We're meeting Peter at 9:00AM to float the Yellowstone. "Let's go catch some big fish" was the last thing Pete said to me before cell service cut out. Let's hope he's right. Should be a beautiful day - first in a while - and we're looking forward to a full day on the river.

Finally bought real food to stock the kitchen. It's been too long. Local beef, sausage, bacon, and bison to start. Turned some of the beef into Trout Slayer Stew (Patent Pending). It'll do a body good. Can't wait to come back in from the stream and snow to a cup tomorrow. In the meantime, we're settling for a Sunday night Steelers game (whooping up on the Chargers) and the smell of stew.