Just Gotta Gloat A Bit...

[Greasy B]

Al,

I'll take a look at our itinerary tomorrow morning at send you an email with a date and time we would be available as well as my cell number. It would be great to get together for a visit and it would only take a few minutes to tie the canoe on.

Billet, you've got me courious about the creeks around paradise valley. I'll need to do a little exploring while I'm in the area.

Mike,

[BilletHead]

Mike I can tell you two places mentioned above where the Mrs. and I caught nice fish. Easy access too. You have to love Montana for what they have done for fisherman to be able to do what we like to do. We have spent more time fishing places in Wyoming where access is limited. I will PM you with my e-mail address and phone number and put yopu on to these two creeks,

BilletHead

[Al Agnew]

I've fished Mill Creek, not Big Creek. Haven't heard too much about Big Creek but I do know it has fish in it. The smaller creeks can be tough wading, very fast pocket water and tight quarters. But they don't get fished much. Mill Creek is a little bigger, but access is almost non-existent in the meadow stretches, so you have to go up to the higher, faster waters on it as well. Pine Creek and Six Mile Creek are also good fishing. Six Mile is interesting in that it has almost no rainbows, not too many cutthroats, and LOTS of browns. Tom Miner Creek is another good sized one with no convenient public access.

And then there is the Shields River, which runs into the Yellowstone a few miles below Livingston. It's bigger, more open, but gets pretty warm...it's on the verge of being too warm right now. The fish are still there, but I expect the Fish and Game people to put hoot owl regulations on it any time now. "Hoot owl" regs mean that you can't fish it past 2 PM, to keep from stressing the fish, and they are put on any stream that is regularly getting to 73 degrees or above in the afternoons.

I just fished a terrific stretch of the West Boulder River last week. The West Boulder is the largest tributary of the Boulder River, which is the next valley east of Paradise Valley on the Yellowstone. The lower West Boulder is great fishing but acces is non-existent except right at the mouth. It's owned by people like Tom Brokaw and Thomas McGuane. But you drive up to the end of the road, which is entering the national forest, and then hike up into the Wilderness Area. It's only about 2.5 miles up to what is called the West Boulder Meadows, and you're hiking along the canyon side with a raging stream well below you most of the way. But then you come to the Meadows, where the river is slow and winding through open meadows dotted with pines. Even though the whole area burned about five years ago and all the trees on the mountainsides are dead, it's a gorgeous area. We didn't fish all that long because we wanted to find a pair of lakes called "Lost Lakes" in a bowl about a thousand vertical feet above the Meadows, but I still caught several 14-18 inch browns on dry flies, only fishing about a hundred yards of the stream up in the meadows.

There was supposed to be a trail running up to Lost Lakes, but a landslide and the fires had apparently obliterated it. So we hiked straight up the mountain over a bigger, older rockslide, not much fun. Got up to the lakes but they didn't seem to have any fish in them. However, the setting was beautiful and we saw three huge whitetail bucks, 120-140 class, about as big as you'll find them in Montana. Strange place for whitetails, which are usually river bottom dwellers around here, but those old bucks had a sweet and secluded place to live. I've got to draw for a buck whitetail archery tag next season. I can buy a doe whitetail tag over the counter, but if I want to shoot a doe, I can do it from the front porch.

[BilletHead]

Al you are right about Big creek being pretty steep in places and not very large. There is a place quite a way up there where there is one little camping spot with a picknic table at a bridge. Going downstream the landowner has put in a gate access so anglers won't ride down mess up the fence. I fished mainly upstream. First time I was there caught small rainbows. A couple years later found the cutts. Caught several nice ones. There is only enough room to walk right up the middle of the stream casting the same way. Used big hoppers. Managed some big whitefish too. Even with there small mouths they were smashing the hoppers. It would be easy in places to turn an ankle on the bolders too. As far as Mill creek the fellows at the fly shop which Is in Emigrant (I think) told me to try there. First place was access on a road where there is a forest sign. Dropped off the road there. Big falls below that. Went upstream staying below the high water mark because it went through some private ground. It is in a meadow setting. Wife and I did well there also on cutts. Then we went farther up to the campgrounds on the same road quite a way up. I dropped in the stream right behing the camper and proceeded to catch more. Here it was tight quarters with timber both sides and hanging over the creek. Fun times and we will go back sometime. I have tried the yellowstone here and there at public accesses catching a few fish. One time right in Livingston the wife dropped me off so she could do some laundry. I get quite intimidated at larger waters. I need to get over that. I suppose it is that way with me missing access the floaters with boats have. We like that part of the country. you are truly blessed to be able to be there like you are,

BilletHead

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I know I'm blessed...

You can get over your intimidation for fishing big rivers like the Yellowstone if you break it down into little bits. The Yellowstone if full of trout, and there are a lot of them in places tight to the banks where you can reach them easily by wading, or along featureless banks that don't really look very good. In fact, the fish in those types of places can be a lot easier than those in the big, obvious eddies, riffle corners, and drop-offs, because every drift boat coming down the river fishes the obvious spots, while most ignore the obscure ones, or just fish the long, featureless banks as they drift by. The wading angler is forced to fish spots like that thoroughly, and by doing so will catch a lot of fish the drifters miss. Having now lived on the river part time for several years, I've learned a lot just from fishing the water I can reach from the house, and have found out that the little side channels that are too small for the drift boats to get down are chock full of fish that are accessible to the wading angler. Doesn't even have to be much, if any, current in these channels.

This year, however, I've been squeezed even more on what I can fish from the house. The river changed again and put a lot more current through most of the side channel next to the house. It is just now getting down to where I think I might be able to wade it, but there was enough water going through it that the boats were occasionally coming down it. There is still one little bit of small side channel above where the current cut through my island, with a bit of deeper water, and I've caught several nice trout from it so far. I've also got my eye on a big brown that is hanging in it that I haven't fooled yet. I can look straight down from the edge of my yard and see it...looks to be about 22 inches.

[Greasy B]

Gosh, so many rivers so little time. A couple of years ago my brother and spent a week floating up and down paradise valley in our one man pontoons. We caught a bunch of fish and had a blast. That week convinced me that a drift boat or raft is the only way to go. Even if we took turns rowing we would have fished effectively more than fighting the wind in our personal pontoons. This trip I'll have to do my best at balancing fishing with sight seeing so I don't torture Linda with my usual combat fishing style. The brother and I are planning a trip for mid September. That trip will be gonzo balls to the walls fishing from dawn till dark. The last several years we spent two weeks on the North Platte around Saratoga. With the drought coditions in southeast Wyoming we will probably seek out a tail water. Maybe Green River or Big Horn. I would suspect the Yellowstone would be one of the few freestone rivers that would have enough water to float and fish well in September. Still need that drift boat though.

[Al Agnew]

Lots of water on the Yellowstone, and it fishes very well in September. And the crowds are thinning out by then. Within an hour's drive, I've got nearly 100 miles of the Yellowstone, plus the wading size streams I talked about above, and most of the Gallatin is within an hour's drive. Within two hours or less, you can add a bunch of the Madison River and a lot of streams in Yellowstone Park, plus the Stillwater and even a stretch of the Misssouri. And given the stream access laws in Montana compared to Wyoming or Colorado, I much prefer my area to anywhere in those states.