Report From Montana

[Al Agnew]

We've been out here a bit over three weeks now. I've made one serious float fishing trip, floated the river for fun but took along a fly rod twice, fished right below the house a few afternoons, and fished a couple of other creeks.

We had family out here the first week. Second week Mary got sick, some kind of really nasty stomach bug that started up in Yellowstone Park among the employees and has spread all over the area. She's not nearly over it yet. I can't think of where she would have gotten Giardia, but that's kinda what it acts like. Had to get a painting done, and now am finishing a Bass Pro catalog cover design. Which is partly why I don't have a whole lot of fishing to report. And there has been a lot of thunderstorms in the afternoons, three of them strong enough to get the river muddy for a couple of days. The run-off peaked very early on the Yellowstone this year...the river was fishing well by early June. But now it's lower than normal for this time of year and so it doesn't take much of a rain to muddy it because there isn't as much water to dilute the mud. The biggest one came last Wednesday, a very quick, very heavy rainstorm in the Gardiner area that caused a big mudslide that blocked Hwy. 89 into the park and dumped many tons of mud, gravel, and rock into the river. It was zero visibility and the color of heavily creamed coffee here at the house by Thursday, started to clear Friday, got very murky again yesterday when we were floating it with some friends in the raft. I brought along a fly rod and tried streamers and nymphs in the first half of the float, got absolutely nothing, and gave it up midway through, just floated along and socialized.

Today the river finally cleared. I had stuff to do in the morning and places to go in the evening, but I slipped in a couple hours of fishing at the house in the early afternoon. Stuck with nymphs, a big Hare's Ear and a Copper John. Caught a bunch of whitefish, a half dozen small rainbows, and one nice rainbow about 16 inches. I also found a very good oar in the bottom of the river, and got stuck in a whirlwind that was churning the water around me to froth and nearly knocked me over...on an otherwise windless day.

My one serious fishing float was a good one. This was almost two weeks ago, and at the time, there was an excellent mixed hatch of small caddis, little yellow sally stoneflies, and a couple sizes of mayflies. I was using a big, fluffy mayfly imitation and a small elk hair caddis on a dropper, and got into one wide, shallow, moderate current run where I caught rainbow after rainbow, probably had at least 20 takes in that one run. Caught a bunch of others as well, and caught a nice brown on a streamer and hooked and lost a big brown, probably in the 22-23 inch class, since I saw it clearly when it jumped about two feet out of the water.

The other interesting day of fishing actually started the day before it. One of Mary's friends out here is a herbalist, and she and her husband often go into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs. They invited Mary and me to go with them on the upper reaches of Mill Creek, one of the small tributaries that enter the Yellowstone in Paradise Valley. I'd never fished far up on Mill Creek, but I threw in my new 3 weight Sage rod just in case there was any fishing to be had. I ended up not fishing long, because where we parked there had been a fire a few years ago and the creek, which averaged about eight feet wide and was almost a continuous cascade, was also crisscrossed with downed timber and very rough going. But every tiny pool had a few absolutely gorgeous Yellowstone cutthroats in it that acted like they'd never seen a fly, and using a big, fluffy attractor pattern, I caught about a dozen in about a half hour of fishing.

The next day, an artist friend who is also an avid fly fisherman visited for the day, and when I told him about those fish he had to check it out. So we spent the afternoon driving the rough gravel road along the creek and stopping wherever it looked like we could fish a few pools without too much clambering over the deadfall and through the brush. The trout were just as stupid and just as plentiful everywhere we fished. Most were between 8 and 11 inches, but I did manage to catch a few 12-13 inchers and one behemoth of 15 inches. Between the two of us we probably caught well over 75 of them in about four hours. When we finished, my friend commented that people might not want to drive or fly to Montana for that kind of fishing for little fish, but it sure was fun to do occasionally. I agreed.

I wanted to post pictures of those fish and the creek, along with some other photos, but can't until maybe tomorrow. At any rate, if I can get Mary feeling better, we plan to get out on the river a lot more in the next couple of weeks. It's been pretty crowded, though. It's certainly nice to have the little side channel next to the house, which is now too low for the floaters to use, so it's almost like my own private water. One more little story from it...

A week or so ago there was a small raft with two guys in it that came down my channel right in front of the house as I was out puttering around in the yard, late in the morning. They caught a real nice brown, looked to be about 19 inches, in a little eddy right in front of me. Later that afternoon, I went down to the river to fish for a while and drifted a nymph through that same little eddy...and caught a 19 inch brown. I'm almost certain it was the same fish those guys had caught earlier. That poor fish was probably thinking it had been a real bad day.

[On The Fly 6]

Great post! I'd love to get back to Montana/Wyoming in the summer and fish again. I've had a blast every time I've been!

[BilletHead]

Mill Creek, neat place. Been there done that. Caught a bunch. Even did well way up at the camp ground where you would think the pressure would effect the catch rate. No trip this year to Wyoming/Montana for the BilletHeads because of a job change for the Mrs. Next August though we will make the Pilgrimage again,

BilletHead

[ColdWaterFshr]

great report. looking forward to the pictures of those cutts!

[mic]

Al, I fished that creek on the upper half in 2011 and loved it. Thanks for the report.

[Greasy B]

BilletHead (Marty) recommend the creek to me last year but between all the other activities I crammed into my one week trip the closest I came to it was a couple of glances as I passed over a bridge. Note to self; the next trip spend more time at Chico Springs, allow more time for small creeks and spend less time fighting bear traffic in the park.

[BilletHead]

oh yea, The bear jams, wolf jams, bison jams. They will get you every time. We used to rubberneck gawking in the park every trip. Love the sights there but now we just keep moving along getting to where we want to be. That would be fishing somewhere with the fly rod There will be another day Greasy B. In the meantime we will have to enjoy Al's Reports.

A couple Mill Creek photos

BilletHead

[Greasy B]

Beautiful, you would never know the creek was so nice by looking at the trickle that flows through paradise valley.

[Al Agnew]

Here are some photos...

Our two nieces, Eva and Hope, doing gymnastics in the yard.

Eva's dog, Kami, getting into the act

Mary and I and our nephew Xavier and his girlfriend did a horseback ride in Yellowstone...I hate horses. This is Mary using a rock to help her mount her horse.

Our lunch stop on the ride.

The upper canyon of Mill Creek. This is several miles upstream of where Billethead's photos were taken.

Me fishing an "open" piece of upper Mill Creek.

A couple more photos of the creek where I was fishing it.

One of the little cutthroats.

A little bigger one.

When I released this one, it just hung in the current at my feet, right below a little waterfall, allowing me to get some good underwater shots.

Driving into the Crazy Mountains, Big Timber Creek canyon. The family had a nice short hike up there.

[ness]

MMMmmm...OK. Jealous.

A couple observations:

1) You should have shot those poachers that caught the 19-incher in YOUR water.

2) The first couple photos had me thinking I was on the wrong forum.

3) Virgin cutts in pocket water -- now that's fun.

4) Dry/dry setup is one of may faves. Even more now that my eyesight ain't what it used to be.