Ok, This Report Is...

[Al Agnew]

Mitch, it was maybe 6 feet deep at the deepest. It really surprised me that there were that many good fish in it, and I missed two more plus saw another one rising on the shallow side. But it was like those fish had never seen a fly before...which is possible, since it was hidden from the main river and not real close to any houses.

I've floated and fished the Yellowstone now for nearly 15 years, but it wasn't until we got the house with the little side channel next to it that I figured out that these little side channels hold fish (year-round). You never see the guides taking their clients into the side channels. Now I'm thinking that I should do floats where I look specifically for the side channels and check them all out.

Have only been back out on the river once since the day of the report...went out for an hour or so a couple days ago. It was mostly sunny, late afternoon, light wind. Not good streamer fishing weather, but I just wanted to see if I could catch fish on a streamer in those conditions. When I got to the water at the head of the upper riffle, there were fish rising all over the place, which almost made me take off the streamer and put on a dry fly. But as near as I could tell they were all small fish. So I started fishing the streamer right in the middle of the rises to see if there were bigger ones underneath them, and almost immediately caught a 19 inch brown. But that was it for that area. I caught two more trout, a 14 inch cutthroat and a 15 inch rainbow, on the streamer, along with a couple of whitefish. Didn't go down to the area where I'd caught all the fish before.

[Quillback]

Those are some great fish Al! Thanks for the report.

On a side note, I just got my 2011 BPS master catalog, love that artwork you did on the cover, very nice looking bass hooked on a jerkbait. I wish they would have made the BPS logo a little smaller

[Tom Tricamo]

Al - very cool stuff. Dumb Question: are you not fishing in the Ozarks?

[gdh]

hi al thanks for the fishing reports makes me want to jump in the car and head for my cabin on the madison. guess im to much of a fair weather fisherman when it comes to montana this time of year . have done some ice fishing on hegben lake with a wind chill of minus 30 a few times and had a great time in the snow. now i see you or from flat river pretty small world i spend my time in fredericktown ,branson, and montana have never fished the area you have been fishing but it looks interesting ive enjoy reading about your fishing trips and the pictures or great in helping to visualize the adventure of the day. keep up the reports and good fishing

[Al Agnew]

Al - very cool stuff. Dumb Question: are you not fishing in the Ozarks?

Not now...we have a place in Montana, and it looks like from now on we'll be spending about half the year in Montana, half in Missouri. Only problem is deciding when to be at one or the other. My wife loves Montana, I love Missouri equally (I love trout fishing, but my first love will always be smallmouth). This year, we came out here around the first of March, will be back in Missouri sometime around Easter, and will go back to Montana sometime in late July, staying until sometime in late October.

The fall is easy to decide, because fall colors in Montana start in September and are pretty much done by mid-October, when fall colors get good in MO. But spring and summer are tough. I love spring and summer fishing in MO, including early spring in March, but as I'm finding out, the weather isn't too bad and the fishing is great in Montana in March and April as well. May and June are easy, because most of the rivers in Montana get blown out from snow melt those two months.

[gdh]

it sounds like you have a pretty good program on where to be at what time of the year . the brown water can be a problem but if you catch it right it can be very productive if you can keep a fly right next to the bank edge with light fishing presure that time of the year. i used to wade the castor river for those mean light smallmouth alot but i guess my age has slowed me down cant handle the rocks in my shoes like i used to and being a lot slower on my feet with lots of snakes on that little river also keeps me away" i hate snakes" something the rivers of montana no problem with . i like fishing that spring top water stuff on the rock from bluegill to bass its my favorite time of the year here in missouri. sept in montana is unbelivable any time around the 15th with the wildlife and the great fall colors along with the hoppers still around you cant beat it .our place over looks the wall creek area we see elk ,moose, wolves never know what critter will be hanging around the area keeps it interesting along with the drift boats going down the madison. we are going out this year to hit the salmonfly season i hope its always a hit or miss deal . sure keeps my brittney busy she loves it with all the activity. good fishing