Report From Montana

[Al Agnew]

The leaves are getting sparse on the riverside cottonwoods, and the aspens are almost all bare. The Yellowstone is very low and clear. The guided trips are about all done; we don't see drift boats going down the river any more. There is snow on the mountains down to about 7500 feet elevation.

But it's been a great September and October out here. The weather has been wonderful, for the most part, with temperatures staying in the 60s and 70s until the last week or so, while the nights have been cool, down to around the freezing point. It's been windy at times, and we've had some cloudy days with some rain, but it hasn't been what you'd expect for Montana in October.

When you're living on the river at a place where there are two great riffles to nymph, a long, smooth run to fish dry flies and streamers, and a side channel that is like my own personal little creek full of trout, it's hard to tear yourself away from it even to do some float fishing, let alone go very far afield to other streams. So most of my fishing has been a matter of getting wadered up, grabbing a rod, and dropping off the bank into the river. I made one trip over to the Boulder River, and did a total of three float trips. I reported on the first one, on which I got pretty much blown off the river. The second was more of a scenery trip rather than fishing, since I was taking some friends who don't fish. I got to do some fishing when we'd stop for lunch or on other breaks, and I needed the breaks from rowing anyway, because it was ANOTHER day with a strong upstream wind, though not as bad as the trip before.

The third float was just a short one in which I was teaching my brother-in-law how to fly fish--he took to it well and caught several trout.

Fishy highlights...

We had a lot of company visiting; family and friends. Most of them don't fish. My artist friend Bruce fished, and I reported on how we did--highlight was the 19-20 inch brown I caught on my first cast at the upper riffle by the house, while he caught several nice fish including a 17-18 inch rainbow.

There was an evening soon afterward when I caught a 19 inch brown and a 19 inch rainbow just below the riffle on nymphs.

There was a rainy afternoon when I decided to fish a streamer all the way down the island at the house. Caught a couple of browns, and hooked what felt like a big fish far out in the current. It was big alright...the biggest whitefish I've ever caught! The thing was a good 24 inches.

There was another evening when I tried the streamer, and in about the same place where I caught the big whitefish, I hooked what felt like a HUGE fish far out in the current. It made a long downstream run, forcing me to chase it because I was far down in the backing. I chased it out onto a gravel point, where I couldn't go any farther because the water dropped off too deep. So I let up on the pressure, and the fish turned and started back upstream. I gained line, then got it out of the current into slack water...and that's when I finally saw it. It was a 19 inch brown that I'd somehow foul-hooked in the belly.

I had some great times catching fish on dry flies in the side channel, and one afternoon I fished it with a streamer and caught a 15 inch rainbow, several 10-14 inch Yellowstone cutthroats, and a gorgeous 20 inch brown.

This afternoon, after more than a week of not fishing because the wind was bad and I was busy painting, I got on the river again. Cloudy weather, light wind, 55 degrees. I wanted to walk down the bank farther than I'd been before just to see what was down there. I came to an eddy off the main current with a ton of trout (and probably whitefish) rising to something too small to even see well. None of them looked big, and I didn't have a clue what to use to match whatever it was they were eating, so I just put on a size 14 Royal Coachman. They liked it. I got two dozen or more to take it, but most were very small and didn't get hooked. I ended up with eight, mostly 10-12 inch rainbows, but also a beautiful 15 inch cutthroat. Then I put on some nymphs and fished the run above the eddy, catching a 14 inch brown to complete my trout slam for the Yellowstone, and then a deeply colored, very fat 16 inch rainbow. Then as it got close to dark I put on a streamer and worked my way back to the house, catching a couple of 14 inch browns.

One more week...and then we'll start back for Missouri. It'll be back to smallmouth fishing. Sometimes I feel like I've got a split personality...trout in Montana, smallmouth in Missouri. Fly rod in Montana, casting and spinning in Missouri. Raft and waders in Montana, canoe in Missouri.

I thank my lucky stars every day that I've got a career where I can live anywhere.

[FishinCricket]

Fantastic imagery, Al...

So what have ya been painting? Fish?

[Al Agnew]

Nope, I'm in the middle of a big (44X60 inch) painting of a grizzly on an elk kill, surrounded by wolves. Nice thing about painting out here...I was having a little trouble getting the colors of the sagebrush in the painting just right, so when the light was right, I just went up the road a couple miles and studied sagebrush!

[Mitch f]

I read this feel like I was there! I agree with cricket, great imagery! I was wondering if you could have caught bigger trout using spinning equipment with jerk baits? I wanted to talk with someone who is good at using both.

[ozark trout fisher]

The leaves are getting sparse on the riverside cottonwoods, and the aspens are almost all bare. The Yellowstone is very low and clear. The guided trips are about all done; we don't see drift boats going down the river any more. There is snow on the mountains down to about 7500 feet elevation.

But it's been a great September and October out here. The weather has been wonderful, for the most part, with temperatures staying in the 60s and 70s until the last week or so, while the nights have been cool, down to around the freezing point. It's been windy at times, and we've had some cloudy days with some rain, but it hasn't been what you'd expect for Montana in October.

When you're living on the river at a place where there are two great riffles to nymph, a long, smooth run to fish dry flies and streamers, and a side channel that is like my own personal little creek full of trout, it's hard to tear yourself away from it even to do some float fishing, let alone go very far afield to other streams. So most of my fishing has been a matter of getting wadered up, grabbing a rod, and dropping off the bank into the river. I made one trip over to the Boulder River, and did a total of three float trips. I reported on the first one, on which I got pretty much blown off the river. The second was more of a scenery trip rather than fishing, since I was taking some friends who don't fish. I got to do some fishing when we'd stop for lunch or on other breaks, and I needed the breaks from rowing anyway, because it was ANOTHER day with a strong upstream wind, though not as bad as the trip before.

The third float was just a short one in which I was teaching my brother-in-law how to fly fish--he took to it well and caught several trout.

Fishy highlights...

We had a lot of company visiting; family and friends. Most of them don't fish. My artist friend Bruce fished, and I reported on how we did--highlight was the 19-20 inch brown I caught on my first cast at the upper riffle by the house, while he caught several nice fish including a 17-18 inch rainbow.

There was an evening soon afterward when I caught a 19 inch brown and a 19 inch rainbow just below the riffle on nymphs.

There was a rainy afternoon when I decided to fish a streamer all the way down the island at the house. Caught a couple of browns, and hooked what felt like a big fish far out in the current. It was big alright...the biggest whitefish I've ever caught! The thing was a good 24 inches.

There was another evening when I tried the streamer, and in about the same place where I caught the big whitefish, I hooked what felt like a HUGE fish far out in the current. It made a long downstream run, forcing me to chase it because I was far down in the backing. I chased it out onto a gravel point, where I couldn't go any farther because the water dropped off too deep. So I let up on the pressure, and the fish turned and started back upstream. I gained line, then got it out of the current into slack water...and that's when I finally saw it. It was a 19 inch brown that I'd somehow foul-hooked in the belly.

I had some great times catching fish on dry flies in the side channel, and one afternoon I fished it with a streamer and caught a 15 inch rainbow, several 10-14 inch Yellowstone cutthroats, and a gorgeous 20 inch brown.

This afternoon, after more than a week of not fishing because the wind was bad and I was busy painting, I got on the river again. Cloudy weather, light wind, 55 degrees. I wanted to walk down the bank farther than I'd been before just to see what was down there. I came to an eddy off the main current with a ton of trout (and probably whitefish) rising to something too small to even see well. None of them looked big, and I didn't have a clue what to use to match whatever it was they were eating, so I just put on a size 14 Royal Coachman. They liked it. I got two dozen or more to take it, but most were very small and didn't get hooked. I ended up with eight, mostly 10-12 inch rainbows, but also a beautiful 15 inch cutthroat. Then I put on some nymphs and fished the run above the eddy, catching a 14 inch brown to complete my trout slam for the Yellowstone, and then a deeply colored, very fat 16 inch rainbow. Then as it got close to dark I put on a streamer and worked my way back to the house, catching a couple of 14 inch browns.

One more week...and then we'll start back for Missouri. It'll be back to smallmouth fishing. Sometimes I feel like I've got a split personality...trout in Montana, smallmouth in Missouri. Fly rod in Montana, casting and spinning in Missouri. Raft and waders in Montana, canoe in Missouri.

I thank my lucky stars every day that I've got a career where I can live anywhere.

Very nice. I love Montana.

[Al Agnew]

I read this feel like I was there! I agree with cricket, great imagery! I was wondering if you could have caught bigger trout using spinning equipment with jerk baits? I wanted to talk with someone who is good at using both.

I've been wondering that myself. When we come back in the spring, I'm going to bring my river casting rods (because I think casting jerkbaits and crankbaits is more efficient with casting rods than with spinning rods). The only reason I haven't done it already is that I suspect it would be a recipe for losing a lot of lures. The Yellowstone MOVES. There aren't many places where you can go back upstream and retrieve your bait if you hang it up. Such lures shouldn't hang up often on the rocky bottom given that the rocks are so smooth and rounded, but there are a lot of submerged roots along the banks and occasional woody debris anchored to the bottom.

[Mitch f]

I've been wondering that myself. When we come back in the spring, I'm going to bring my river casting rods (because I think casting jerkbaits and crankbaits is more efficient with casting rods than with spinning rods). The only reason I haven't done it already is that I suspect it would be a recipe for losing a lot of lures. The Yellowstone MOVES. There aren't many places where you can go back upstream and retrieve your bait if you hang it up. Such lures shouldn't hang up often on the rocky bottom given that the rocks are so smooth and rounded, but there are a lot of submerged roots along the banks and occasional woody debris anchored to the bottom.

Thanks for answering! you are a guy who is above average at both, I would be curious to hear about the results