Well, ski season is over, for me that is! Whitefish Mountain is still open one more week, but I doubt I ski again. I recognize two seasons, ski season and fishing season! Fishing season has begun.
Went to the middle fork of the Flathead River both Thursday and Friday of last week. Good trips both days. Caught several cutties the Thursday and mostly Whitefish on Friday. The river is high, 4ft roughly. That is big flows but even at high flows rivers are fishable. You got to find deep holes and fish deep. I have started using tippet rings as well this year. It makes it far easier for me to replace flies that I lost, no reading glasses required!!! If you have not tried tippet rings you should. They are simple 2mm wide rings that you tie onto the end of your leader. You than pre-tie up the nymphs you think you will use. I tie them with a 4 inch leader and a 12 inch leader. Each of those has a loop to loop knot at the other end. You simply loop the leader through the tippet ring and you fish. Snagged up a normal amount of times, when you nymph fish, you are either snagging up and losing nymphs or you are not catching fish.
Overall, great first few trips. Could be a good year of fishing!!
Fly Fishing Northwest Montana
Exploring and Fly Fishing Whitefish, Montana, Flathead County and Glacier National Park. From the Flathead River system to the small streams and lakes of Northwest Montana, if there is water, I want to throw a fly in it. I will also try to provide some tips and techniques to finding water and finding more fish.
Monday, April 3, 2017
Friday, November 4, 2016
A Month Of Rain!
Well, finally, after a month of rain, I got to get out and fish. Well, I think we got 24 days of rain in October! If it was sunny for part of the day, somehow I had to work. The rivers are all about 10 times their normal flows, so I decided to hit a local lake I have fished a couple times and has pretty good fishing.
Above is a picture from earlier this week at Blankenship bridge. Normally, you see a gravel bar in the middle of the river where the North Fork and the Middle Fork come together. The river that day was bank to bank. Very rare for this time of year and we set all time flow rates each day this week! Lots of rain this month.
I tied up my favorite fly, with rubber legs to add a little extra too it and see if it will work as well as it worked all summer. So, off I went to catch a fish or two.
I guess their could be a lot worse places to spend a few hours catching these!!!
Above is a picture from earlier this week at Blankenship bridge. Normally, you see a gravel bar in the middle of the river where the North Fork and the Middle Fork come together. The river that day was bank to bank. Very rare for this time of year and we set all time flow rates each day this week! Lots of rain this month.
I tied up my favorite fly, with rubber legs to add a little extra too it and see if it will work as well as it worked all summer. So, off I went to catch a fish or two.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Exloration Of The Middle Fork
Today was a day to explore. In the fall, in Northwest Montana, the fish tend to abandon the rivers and move to lakes. Makes sense since the water gets pretty low. So, I decided to go test some water I had driven by dozens of times. This water takes a bit of effort, another 3 to 4 mile hike! Hey, I am getting exercise and fishing! Exploring new water lets me know where I can catch better fish in the spring. So, the fall to me is about finding new water.
Some days you fish to catch fish. Some days you get out and just relax. Today was a bit of both. I decided to hike into a section of the Middle Fork I had always wanted to fish. Takes some work, but I hit the water running.Caught some decent fish. Wish I had pulled out a streamer, but the nymphs were working just fine!
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Exploratory Hike That Paid Off
A friend and I discussed a spot that I had thought about exploring for years. He said he was down in the area hunting and saw some great pools that looked fishy. I had the afternoon off and decided to head over and give it a shot. The hike in was only about a half a mile on the map. The problem with maps in the mountains is that they really don't give you an idea of how hard it might be to get there.
The hike in was a bit more difficult than I expected. Two significant drops that required me to scale rocks. Now at 49 years old, I am not as young as I use to be. But, I saw the drops in the river and had to get there. I know that those drops probably have fish and now the addiction is kicking in!! So, after about an hour of bushwacking through the woods and climbing up and over rocks and down cliffs I hit the water.
I can honestly say today was not about fishing for me. I got down to the river and stopped. I made one cast, caught a fish, and stopped fishing. For about 30 minutes I just sat and relaxed. I did not cast another cast. A couple of fish were rising right in front of me. I just sat and watched the river.
Some days you want to catch every fish in the river. Some days you just want to take in the surroundings. Today, I took in the surroundings. Today was a great day. I know some people would have thought of this spot as a success if they caught a lot of fish. My trip was successful because I got out, explored a great place and saw some amazing scenery!
Friday, September 23, 2016
Small Stream, Big Views and Relaxation
Today was homecoming at Whitefish High School. So, a little work, and some stuff around the house, my honey do list and then drive the kids around for homecoming. But, turns out, I got done early! I got an hour to play. Ok, most people go to fish. I go to relax.
Good news is that I found a spot to relax. Other good news is I tied on a fly, and threw it once. Then I sat or a rock and relaxed and just watched. Fact is, the stream is probably void of fish this time of year. But, I don't care. I got to get out!!
Good news is that I found a spot to relax. Other good news is I tied on a fly, and threw it once. Then I sat or a rock and relaxed and just watched. Fact is, the stream is probably void of fish this time of year. But, I don't care. I got to get out!!
Friday, September 16, 2016
South Fork Of The Flathead River
Sometimes you just have to persevere. Today, was one of
those days. I started off with the intent of heading back to the Middle Fork
and fish the opposite side of the river I had fished yesterday. As I drove I
got a call from a friend that told me that the South Fork was fishing pretty
well. Knowing that yesterday I caught nothing
but Whitefish and having heard that the Cutties were super aggressive in the
South Fork, I changed my plans. After all, I was driving right by there on the
way to the Glacier area. The South Fork
of the Flathead River is a stretch of river that I have floated many times in
my raft and I have wade fished several stretches as well. The South Fork is a
beautiful float and one of my favorites because you can almost always catch
fish.
So today I decided to hike into a section I had never hiked to but have
looked at several times on Google Earth.
True, I have not looked at it for a while, but I thought I had a pretty
good idea of where to go. Plus, this was a stretch of river I have stopped at
many times while floating and caught some really nice fish there.
The hike in started off a bit ominously. People in the parking lot had lost their
dog. So as I started up the trail I told
them if I found the dogs, I would let them know and yell if I found the dogs.
About a half mile in, I found the dogs swimming in the river in a section I
thought might be decent fishing. After I
sent the dogs on their way, I continued on to fish the section I intended to
fish. I thought I had a pretty good idea
where it should be. Two miles into my hike and I realized I was not going to
find the spot I wanted. I had either passed the trail or what looked like a
trail was not really a trail. Sometimes where you explore things just do not
work out and I figured I had only a limited amount of time so it was time to go
to plan B. So I decided to double back
and head downstream and fish a spot I have fished several times before. As I walked out, a little perturbed that I
missed the trail, I came by the stretch I saw the dogs at on the way in and
decided just to walk in and look if anything was rising.
I stood there for a second and looked. BINGO! Fish were
rising everywhere!!! Nothing big, but lots of fish. I started casting to rises
and started catching fish. Since there
were so many fish rising I decided to work on my casting and mending
skills. I stood on the edge of a riffle
and made myself make upstream, cross stream and downstream casts. I challenged
myself to make mends and casts that I would have normally changed positions to
make. After a great couple hours fishing, I decided it was time to pack it up
and head home. Today, I have no
complaints. You can’t really complain when you caught a bunch of fish!
What started off as a disappointment turned into a pretty
good fishing day. Like I have said before,
a fish on is a fish on!
Thursday, September 15, 2016
A Fish On Is A Fish On!!
Whitefish on the Middle Fork
Most days I chase trout. I chase Cutthroats, Rainbow, Cuttbows
and Brook Trout where I live. Today, though, I chased Cutthroats but it was not to be. What I found
was a lot of Whitefish. Mountain
Whitefish to be exact. While they are part of the Salmonidae species, they are
completely different from trout. You can
sometimes catch them on the surface, but most of the time you catch them deep.
Most of the people I know consider them a nuisance. But they can be fun to catch. In Montana, they are native species and the
typical ones caught in Northwest Montana are 12 to 14 inches. The Cutthroat trout follow them upstream in
the fall to eat the eggs they are about to lay during spawning. Which means when you find Whitefish in the fall, their is a good chance to catch a big Cuttie as well.
Today started off as a beautiful day and I decided to explore a new
spot I had scouted online several times before. I had several hours to get out before a soccer game I was refereeing so
off I went. I decided to fish the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. I picked a spot along the southern border of
Glacier National Park that I had driven by numerous times but had never fished.
I parked along the road and started walking downstream. I had scouted this piece of water many times
and had always thought that this water looked really good. As I walked out to the spot I
wanted to fish I noticed some smaller fish rising. Turns out it was 8 inch cutts and I wanted to
see what the deeper holes downstream held. So, on downstream I went leaving
the little fish to play around.
One thing I love about the Middle Fork is the scenery. I
find I walk a couple steps, then just stop and look. It probably took me a half hour to walk to
the spot I wanted to fish that was probably a half a mile away.
I decided to nymph today because I didn’t see anything
rising in the hole I wanted to fish plus it was really deep water. Big cutties live in deep water. Big cutties
live behind big rocks. And I know the
Middle Fork has big cutties and big rocks. Plus, after scouting the water with
Google Earth, I know that this stretch has everything I would expect for great
fishing. I was pretty excited to get
down deep to see what was there.
So I tied up a double nymph rig and started casting. Fish
on! Then it popped off. Another cast,
another fish…that popped off! I checked
the hook thinking that it might have broken the point off. Nope still there. Another couple casts and
another fish. Another pop off.
WHITEFISH!!! They have really small and soft mouths and you need to be really careful to
land them with a fly. Getting a good hook set on a Whitefish is sometimes tough.
Finally a hook up and an 8 inch Whitefish. Seriously? This
is what is here? I make another cast…and another miss. I decide to move up to
the head of the pool and see what is there.
Now, from experience, I know that the big cutts are behind the
Whitefish. But the Whitefish are being
super aggressive. This tells me that no matter what I do, I am catching 5
Whitefish per cutthroat today.
Finally, a bigger fish! A nice 13 or 14 inch Whitefish. Then another…and another. Sure, they are not the Cutties I wanted to
catch, but a fish on is a fish on!!!
After a couple more fish I have had enough of Whitefish and
it was time to go home and get ready to referee a soccer game. Today was a win for me. Beautiful scenery and lots of fish in the net. Overall,
although I wasn’t looking for Whitefish, I had a great time catching them. Just being out hooking some fish, is the reward. I
have to work late tomorrow so I plan to fish the other side of the river and
see what is there. You never know what
you are going to find! May be a big Cuttie, may be a Whitefish. Either way, a fish on is a fish on!
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