fishTRACKER

Madison River 2011 – Ennis, Montana

August 6th-13th, 2011
Again, the annual Montana Fly Fishing trip.
We set up a float trip on the Madison River with Joe Dilschneider of Montana Trout Stalkers & guides Jim Morrison & Chris Knott. They are the best guides & always make it a very productive day on the water even when other boats are having a rough go of it. Try to set up your Madison float with Joe and his folks early in your trip to pick up on any tips that can be useful on your own.

Day 1: Saturday – Drove non-stop to Ennis, Montana and checked in to our favorite place – the El Western, again.
Day 2: Sunday – After changing a flat tire on the truck, we fished The Madison River at Valley Garden. Great water this year with nice pools in the channels and inlets. Caught & released unharmed several small rainbow trout & a couple medium browns. Best bet was the Caddis. Also trailed an ant & lightning bugs behind stoneflys, girddle bugs & whooly buggers with some success.
Day 3: Monday – Floated a full day on the Madison with Montana Trout Stalkers & Joe. Dropped in 3 boats at Storey Ditch and pulled out near Burnt Tree. It wasn’t the greatest day for big fish, but still quite productive right up to the last cast. A couple guys in the group caught a few 22-24″ fatties. Spent most of the day trailing nymphs and lightning bugs behind stoneflys. We even tried double bunnies, zonkers & streamers without much luck.
Day 4: Tuesday – Day started a bit slow, so we just fished Ennis Lake & Bear Trap Canyon.
Day 5: Wednesday – Fished the Upper Ruby River. Read more about fly fishing the Ruby River here.
Day 6: Thursday – Midday we hiked & fished a small alpine lake off North Meadow Creek Road. Beautiful area, but don’t waste your time if your looking for fish. I think the whole place was nothing but a feeder and watering hole for cattle. After dinner at the Taqueria Las Palmitas we headed to the the trout farm, Bear Trap Canyon. Nice evening with plenty of action. Caught 2 rainbow & 1 brown on Elk Hair Caddis & a Prince Nymph trailing a brown Stonefly bug.
Day 7: Friday – Checked out of El Western & headed to Yellowstone Park. We stopped on the way to let the kids play in Quake Lake. The 83deg weather and breeze would have been great if it weren’t for the massive infestation of horse flies. We toughed it out for a hour or so before driving to West Yellowstone for some supplies to fish the Yellowstone River. First stop was my favorite place to buy fishing stuff in West Yellowstone, Madison River Outfitters. Second stop was the famous Bud Lilly’s Fly Shop. I buy flies at Bud Lilly’s because they are always helpful & the fly fishing report whiteboard always seems to be accurate and up to date. After getting the required Yellowstone National Park Fishing Permit ($15 for 3-day) and flies we headed to Old Faithful.

Day 8: Saturday – Yellowstone Park, Firehole River, & the Madison River. Read more about fly fishing the Firelhole River, the Madison & Yellowstone..
Day 9: Sunday – Head west…home.

Firehole River – Yellowstone Park, Wyoming

We left Old Faithful at 8am with the intent to fish Slough Creek, Lamar River, & the Yellowstone River providing the water was clear. We didn’t watch closely enough & drove 30 miles past the turn for Slough Creek. By this time it was lunchtime, so we went to Yellowstone Lake for lunch on the beach. We had no idea Yellowstone Lake was so large, 136 square miles. If your going to fish Yellowstone Lake I highly recommend a guide & boat rental from the marina. The lake is so big that it could take you all day just to find a place to fish. Some local expertise is a must.

After Driving the entire Upper Loop and Lower Loop in 5 hours without fishing it was time to return to Old Faithful for some Bitch Creek refreshment & to regain composure. At 4pm we set out to fish the Firehole River on the way to dinner at the Beartooth BBQ in West Yellowstone. The Firehole River was in great shape, easy access, great water & easy to wade. Saw a few freshman jumping, but not much action to speak of…unless you count the wildlife. Nothing better than fly fishing in the middle of a river only to turn around and find you are surrounded on both sides by Elk. In 2 hours of fly fishing the Firehole I tried various rigs, including hoppers, double bunnies, bead head prince nymphs, girddle bugs, caddis & PMDs. I tried trailing most with lightning bugs and ants. Got a couple of small bites, but not much action to speak of. It was a great experience despite the lack of catching action.
After dinner, as planned, we fished the Madison River inside the park just before Madison Junction. MASS, MASS jumpers. I have never seen so many fish jumping during a hatch. It was insane just before sunset and billions of bugs on the water. But, the fish weren’t interested in my offerings. I tried every kind of dry fly I had in the box: caddis, dunns, drakes, anything & everything
It was awesome to see though.

Fish: Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout, & Brown Trout
Flies: Girddle bugs, PMDs, Bead Head Prince Nymphs, Lightning bugs, Hoppers
Water: Clear, warm
GPS: 44.642222, -110.865556
Rating: 4 star

Ruby River – Alder, Montana

Each year on our annual Montana fly fishing trip, we fish the lower Ruby River below the reservoir. This year I had a local in an Ennis fly shop tell me about his secret spot. “Just go to the red barn, ’bout 20 miles past the reservoir, park on other side of road and have at it.” Well, he was right. Great fishing and great water. The problem was the outfitters that had staked out the river at the bridge near the barn. Essentially, they told us they pay a rod fee there and that we were breaking the Montana Stream Access Law by accessing the water next to the bridge. I understand the need to protect the interest of their clients, but when we accessed the water from a public bridge on a public roadway I believe we were in the right and should’ve stayed the course.

Bridge Access
House Bill 190 , passed during the 2009 Legislative Session, confirmed that the public has access to surface waters by public bridge or county road right-of-way. The Department, in cooperation with the affected landowner and county, is responsible for providing public passage around or through a fence preventing such access. A typical access feature would be a stile, gate, roller, walkover, or wooden rail fence.

At any rate, being seven of us, it took a while to gather the dispersed troops. In the brief time hunting down the troops I managed to hook up 2 beautiful Rainbows in about 8 casts. Nice. The old man in the shop was right…this area kills. Anyways, to keep peace we all decided to go up river about 5 miles to Cottonwood Campground. This far up the river starts to get a little small and access is more difficult but entirely public. Fishing was less productive and all fish seen were in the 6″-12″ range. Not ideal

Time: 9am-10am, 10-12pm
Fish: Rainbows, Cutthroats, Grayling, Brown (Lower)
Flies: Bead Head Prince Nymph, Elk Hair Caddis, Dunn, Stoneflys
Water: Clear
GPS: 45.520278, -112.340278
Rating(s): Red Barn – 4 Star, Cottonwood Campground- 2 Star

Skykomish River – Sultan, Washington

Fished the Skykomish River for Steelhead just East of Sultan, Washington. Fished float rigs for 2.5 hours spin cast with various pink & orange jigs sunk under an indicator. Caught nothing. There was about 6-7 sleds going up & down the river, & about 12-15 waders on the south side of the river. I only saw 1 fisherman hook a good size one from shore about 10:30am, nice fish.

GPS:47.859912,-121.812783
Time: Saturday, June 25, 2011, 8:30-11:00am
Weather: 52 F
Water: 46 F, High, swift , & a bit cloudy still
Access: Great
Rig: Steelhead float with jigs
Notes: This is a great place to fish, close to Seattle and surrounds