Dan and Daniel had some nice evening action with streamers and great views.
Category: Fishing Reports
Parent Category for Fishing Reports
May 17th 2014 Opening Day!
Mark and Kim enjoyed a nice opening day with more regular action. The river flows were 
steady for a couple days, the clarity was good. The catch was on streamers and stone flies.
May 18th-May 23rd, 2014 Beaverhead
As the Madison River came up and dirty, folks started fishing more of the tail water
opportunities such as the Beaverhead River.
Ryan and Bronson were fortunate to have a week on the river and caught a variety of Trout during their stay. You can see they like to express themselves with their mouths wide open like the trout they landed. They are growing fins and starting to act like the fish. They sure had a bunch of fun.
Ryan provided a list of bugs they used: Soft Hackle Sow Bug #16 and #18 pink or dead tan; Ray Charles #18 Pink and Tan; JuJu Baetis #18 Olive and Purple; Rainbow Warrior #18 and #20; Sawyer Pheasant Tail #18 Red; Halfback Emerger Baetis #18; Halfback Emerger PMD #16; Studly Baetis #18; Cranefly Larvae Olive #8 and #10; Zebra Midge Black/Copper; Black/Silver,Red/Silver #18; $3 Dips Original Brown #16; Z Wing Caddis #16 Olive and Tan; Trico Spinner #20; Pheasant Tail Nymph #16 – #20; and the Sparkle Dun Baetis #18 – #22.
Brandon took Jim and Keefer over to the Beaverhead and they had a good day. The water did come up while they were fishing. They were working it with Ray Charles in Tan and Gray without the hot head then tried some streamer action in Black and Olive.
The Beaverhead is still fishing well. The water levels are low and clear at this time.
Nancy
April 28th, May 2nd, and May 6th, 2014
The river flows came up these two weeks. The water visibility was still clear. The fishing was still good but not the regular steady bite like the week before.
Jim caught some nice trout on Stone Fly Nymphs while enjoying his cigar and relaxing.
Scott was fishing strictly streamers with a sinking line. He caught some nice sized fish and again the bite was not as steady.
Hienie had a similar day as Jim on stone fly nymphs. He experienced more weather conditions including snow. It got a bit chilly.
April 25th, 2014
The weather ended up much friendlier than expected and the fishing was very friendly. The original forecast was going to be rain. Jim fished with Brandon and had a really good day.
They stopped taking pictures at less than 17 inches. Then they just stopped taking pictures and enjoyed the catching which was regular. The later part of the day did slow down for no particular reason.
The trout were eating stone flies, mostly size #8’s and #10’s and they also ate a smaller #14 CDC Prince pattern.
Enjoy!
Nancy
April 10, 2014
Hienie, our newly settled in neighbor, and Brandon had a great day on the river.
The weather warmed up and the fish were biting all day. The “W” was calm that day. The flies included: Delektable Mega Prince in #6 and #8, Delektable Hurless Gray Stone in #6 and #8, Pat’s Rubberlegs in Black #8, and they tried some Micro May Flies and some Caddis Emergers. Other boats have scored on similar bugs and tried the Shop Vac and a variety of Midges. This week we heard success stories on the Delektable Hurless Purple Stone and the Delektable Mega Prince in Olive.
This is the time of year when there are Skwalla stones below the surface, Caddis Emergers are there, and some Midges and Baetis are out. McAtee, Storey Ditch, Varney, 8 Mile, and Burnt Tree Hole are clear for boat launching. The Ennis take out is closed. Early season is a great time of year to get out and fish.
Enjoy!
Nancy
April 1st, 2014
It is about time we posted a new Madison River fishing report. 
For the past two weeks we have heard of some excellent fishing on the Madison.
Last week friends launched at Varney but the launch was still snow and ice. Don’t try this if you are not experienced. Most of that ice and snow on the Varney ramp is melted by now.
McAtee Bridge, 8 Mile Ford and Burnt Tree Hole are accessible. The gate at Valley Garden is open so you can use the access to get your boat out but fishing is still closed there. The Ennis access is closed.
Remember that Quake to McAtee is closed to fishing until the third Saturday in May and the same for Ennis Bridge to Ennis Lake and the tributaries. Check your reg books to be sure.
I waded below McAtee Bridge and tied on two of my favorite springtime stonefly nymphs, a #8 Delektable Hurless Stone Gray with Flashback and a #8 Delektable Mega Prince Olive with Flashback. I didn’t need to change flies as Browns and Rainbows from 15″ to 17″ chomped it.
The views were spectacular and the fishing was really fun.
This is one of my favorite times to fish in Montana.
Dan
December 20th 2013 to January 27th 2014 Andros Bahamas
Andros Island in the Bahamas is a beautiful place we enjoy every winter and have for eight
years now. Andros has the third largest barrier reef in the world, great for scuba diving and for big deep sea fishing, and is the bonefish capital of the world. It is a tropical island with uncrowded white sandy beaches, lobster, conch and fish are bountiful, wonderful people, and temperatures from 70° to 80+° all winter. There are pretty flowers, blue holes to discover, and local art to be found in the neighborhood. 
Androsia batik fabric is also hand made on the island.
This is paradise in the dead of winter where Nancy and Dan can support Hermon’s Andros Bonefishing Club in Bowen Sound.
Our flyfishing friends, Chip and MaryRose escaped winter between Christmas and New
Years and pounded the bonefish enjoying 80° temperatures. This was MaryRose’s first bonefish. She caught many more during her stay and grew more confident with Hermon’s guidance. As you can see Chip is a great photographer and fisher and had his share of fun.
Tim Miller came down again to stalk tailing bonefish in calf deep water everyday.
He also provided some awesome music for us at the lodge.
Our favorite flyfishing on Andros is the wading and stalking of feeding bonefish: casting to
targets. The wading flats are endless. You feel like you have your very own tropical island. While the fishing out of the flats boat is fantastic, if you like wade fishing on flats, Andros is really your place. Nancy did really well at the catching this trip. 
She found some of the bigger bones compared to most.
She was very happy and found reason to celebrate with her favorite island beer, Kalik Gold.
Out of all the guides that we have guided and fished with, Hermon Bain is our favorite:
always a chearleader; a true coach; and a tireless worker that will find fish all day in every situation and weather condition. Hermon and his dad, Conchy, are icons in the guiding community and Conchy fishes with us even in his 70’s. It is obvious Hermon and Conchy love to be there and to help you have fun and catch fish. When they are not guiding, they are out in the sound fishing, sponging, slinging lobster, and fetching conch.
We love December, January, and February and the first two weeks of March. This time of 
year offers great weather: from 70° to 80° daily; virtually no people where you feel like you are the only ones; air conditioned comfortable and very clean accommodations; and incredible home made from scratch dinners by Hermon’s wife Antoinette at the lodge. Dinners include: fresh lobster, conch, and fish.
So, if you need to escape winter and would like a very special saltwater treat, give us a call and let us help you discover paradise. You can see how relaxed we become from the island life.
When we returned home, elk were in our yard to greet us. Happy New Year!
Dan and Nancy
PS Thanks to Craig, Dave, and Jenn and our awesome crew and neighbors for watching the shop while we escaped.
October 10th to the 18th 2013
As we are truly seeing the season winding down, we have had some great fall trips. After
our early big snow storm, we continued to have some cool weather but not cold enough to ice up the guides and the bite has continued to be strong. Water levels have remained about the same for the past two weeks with slight changes.
The choice flies have remained similar for about 
two weeks now including: Delektable Screamers in White or Black/Olive, Sculpzilla in Black or White, Flash Fry in Olive/White, BH Copper Bob in Purple or Red, Delektable Big Spanker in Red, Delektable Surestrike in Purple, Delektable Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Pat’s Rubberleg in Black, BH Lightning Bug Pearl, Epoxyback Tungsten Copper Red, and BH Batman Nymph in Purple.
We had some true beginners and folks with fishing experience all having fun and catching. 
One group was awarded this great fishing trip for succeeding in selling products for their company. They also succeeded in catching. Great Job!
The same week we had visitors to Beartooth Flyfishing, a Mother Moose and her baby hung
out in the yard for a couple hours and took a few bites out of our Canada Cherry Tree.
Nancy
October 26, 2013
What a great day for two brothers, Jim and Brian, finishing their season with lots of catching.
They had such a good day, they stopped taking pictures. The temps started pretty cool in the morning and warmed up a bit later, then cooled down again in the late afternoon. The day was pretty clear with less “W”. The flies of choice remained pretty consistent with the week before and the bite was really on. It was great to see such happy brothers, Yeah! Thanks Joe, Jim, and Brian!
Nancy