Category: Fishing Reports

A few good mornings with the ant and nocturnal stone fly followed by some great nights with the PMDs and bigger bugs made
for some excellent fishing the last few days for John and I!

We have found ourselves working a little harder but the results have been rewarding. Evenings have been best with the dries. The big dries are working for us still; John scored well on an Orange Stimulator and Psycho Princes, while I did well on Dan’s new Delektable Big Spanker Red Head. Dries in the evening are the ticket however. We have been going out around 7:30 to 10:00pm after work.
Once again, some fish are turning for the ants and hoppers but it might be a bit more time yet before they start pounding them. Marty also went out this day doing two floats, one in the morning and one in the evening. the morning was good with a huge rainbow that thought it could get away by wrapping itself around the anchor rope. Marty, however, is one of our best guides and was not about to let it go! After jumping out of the boat to unwind the line while fighting the

higher water as of late, he got the fish lose and jumped back in the boat only to realize his net was 100 feet or more floating down the river!! After pushing forward for a fast short stretch, Marty grabbed his loose net and netted the rainbow immediately! Great job Marty! 🙂 The evening was also a very stellar one for the caddis hatch! The word was insane hatching and insane catching. No pictures for that, but it will be remembered for a while! Happy Fishing!!!

Dan G

We had several folks go out this week. To make it easier for you and not too long a read with pictures, we tried to generalize the report and provided a sample of the photos. So, here we are catching up for you! 🙂





Mornings and evenings have been the best with caddis, mayflies, and sallies. Most of the fish have been taken on nymphs like the hares ear softies and the tungsten pheasant tail softies. The micro may and some red style nymphs like the red brassie in the small sizes have been working great as well.


The Delektable CDC prince and the lemon drop have been hot in the middle of the day when it slows down a little. Sally nymphs have been good in the Indian Creek confluence and nearby. At this time when the fish are getting a little pickier, you have to be willing to change it up a little bit more than usual to find what they want exactly. We have been seeing some hoppers now but they aren’t taking them as readily yet. Ants have been reported to be working also. It’s hot and terrestrial season is upon us. Happy fishing!!!

Dan, Marty, Brandon, Tim, Randy, Nick and Craig

Higher water levels, chilly mornings and cool, pleasant days; it’s a great
time to be out on the water. Add wonderful clients to the mix and it’s just
a joy to be a guide.
Such was the case Sunday with Mark and Mark, a transplant father and son from Montana and Idaho. Originally from east
Texas, we are/were virtual neighbors and spent the day discussing much of
our home states, and enjoyed lots of mutual ribbing over the aspects that
are the Texas/Louisiana rivalry. The day was non-stop conversation, joking
and laughing. A day on the water with new friends; it doesn’t get much
better than that.

And, of course, there was the fishing. Which was great! … The fish were
hungry and eager, with the bite starting practically as soon as the oars
were in the water. The bites were strong, leaving no doubt to their intent,
and the fights were equally intense, with big runs and leaping fish. there
were very few “twinks,” with quality fish coming one after another. The duo
had a blast!

And the fly selection couldn’t have been simpler. The fish were keying on
Nocturnal Stones, and the fish were caught on Girdle Bugs, from start to
finish … So grab your Girdles and go fishing!

This followed another great trip with Missy and Jeff from Pennsylvania. The day started with Missy running nymphs and Jeff throwing dries. Jeff got a few fish to rise, but after watching Missy catch most of the fish on nymphs, he made the switch, then it was game on for both of them! Another fun day with wonderful clients.

Marty

Back to the Madison and the water is higher and faster. Big Dan was out with Gerry and Sarah during the day. They had a good day both on dries and wet flies. With the water up, more action started coming later in the day with nymphs as the hatches delayed and the stone flies were under the surface along with emergent caddis. There was a bit of dirty water from the West Fork area from last night’s storm but that did not stop the trout from biting. You just needed to find them in new places.

John and Dan G thought they would get out there and see what was going on in the evening after returning from the Beaverhead and they were glad we went out. Browns on the dry just off the banks and boulders. The hot fly was a Caddis in the #16, but they are going to leave it up to you to get the exact pattern 🙂 they were also eating the Delektable Red Twisted X (size 14) pretty hard. Don’t be afraid of the higher water and a little color, Dan G’s advice is to up your game and try to figure it out! Some suggestions would be streamers with nymphs behind, or double up on the big nymphs behind the rocks. He has been throwing dries in the evenings and doing great. Some dries to try would be any Caddis, PMD patterns and go for the Yellow Sally still too!! They are definitely eating them all! Happy fishing and keep those lines tight!

Big Dan, Dan G, and Nancy

The water came up a bit today which helped the temp and flow. We had stormy weather later in the afternoon. Mike doesn’t stop casting all day and scored well on dries and on nymphs. We were still having good results on Goldenstone dries. And yes, Dan’s secret golden was one of the tickets and Caddis too. We ran out of Dan’s fly in the shop but still had some great other goldens to substitute.

Cheyenne who is 8 years old enjoyed her birthday float with Gunnar. Right out from the launch she landed an awesome trout. Way to go Cheyenne! Happy Birthday! She was fishing a stone fly nymph combination and just kept scoring. She was able to take a short breather to get a nice photo of Gary, her dad, with a nice Brown Trout. They got off the river just before the big storm hit.

Dan with Mike and Beth kept floating through the storm and did keep catching. Again, goldenstones, caddis, sallies, and a variety of nymphs were working today.

Nancy

This was a very pleasurable half day float with excellent company. Vaughn caught fish on small nymphs. Deb was mostly sight seeing and taking photos with occasional fishing where she caught and lost a couple fish. What a nice relaxing laid back day.

Marty

Brett, Craig, Dan and Marty were on the river with clients on the 3rd. All the boats had a great day fishing with Goldenstones on top and Caddis with small nymphs either as trailers or double small nymphs using PMD, Caddis, and Sally nymphs. Many of our fishermen and women were just learning flyfishing for their first or second time and really did well. What a great day and then the day after was awesome too. Flows were fairly low still with the bite happening more in the riffles, and the middle.

Then on July 4th, the slay factor continued to be waaaay up!!! Epicness has settled over us

for the brown and rainbows have been submissive to the dry! My buddy, John, from my home in PA came out yesterday for a couple of weeks and we went straight to the river. Lyons to Windy last night. Wow… Slayage!  John fished the big dry while I rowed, and he just let ‘em have it! Lyons out the gate was exceptional with the golden stone, with the softie peasant tail picking up the slack in the back. I watched John absolutely slaughter it while I tried to keep up with the net and boat. Epic….be right back…followed by Chip and MaryRose with Marty having a great experience with both dries and wets. Yahoo!

Young Dan and Nancy

What an incredible and special day! Everyone from our shop started off early between
7:00 and 8:00 AM.

The afternoons have been getting so hot, we strongly recommend that for the fishermen and women and for the fish. The salmon flies are further up the river now with still very low flows. Caddis are everywhere in a big way. Below the Salmon Flies are Goldenstones, Yellow Sallies, and more Caddis. The bug hatches continue to be huge. Pulsing will begin in a day or two to add cooler water to the river. Get out early if you can.

We had three groups out today that all had fishing days to write home about. The Upper river was mostly on dries with Salmon Flies and Golden Stones. Further down river folks switched out to Caddis, and Yellow Sally dries and Caddis and Yellow Sally and Stonefly nymphs. When switching to nymphs, lately, two smaller nymphs seemed to do better with an emerger pattern as the trailer or an emerger below the big dry.

We passed by a family combining recreational floating with fishing. Looks like fun! Wear a swim suit if you can to cool off in the river. The fish are biting and still seem to be where there is more water. What a great time and special experience for everyone. Get out and fish!  Nancy