2009 GHC Official Results Are In

Mark E. Mark B. Dave E. Cesar S.
Day 1 9/7/2009 upper madison Day #1 2/18" 13/19" 2/12" 6/15.5" (#fish/longest)
Boat#1 Day #2 6/16.5" 6/17" 8/15.5" 5/13"
guide: Blaine total fish longest poker hand
front M Baker 13 19 QQQKK Day #3 5/14" 3/12" 2/13" -
back C Soto 6 15.5 AA
Day #4 3/12" 8/22" 9/15" -
Boat#2
guide: CK total fish longest poker hand
front D Ellwanger 2 12 Total 16/60.5" 30/70" 21/45.5" 11/28.5"
back M Ellwanger 2 18
Day 2 9/8/2009 lower madison
Boat#1
guide: Blaine total fish longest poker hand
front D Ellwanger 8 15.5 910JQK
back M Ellwanger 6 16.5 66
Boat#2
guide: CK total fish longest poker hand
front C Soto 5 13 JJ
back M Baker 6 17 33
Day 3 9/10/2009 upper yellowstone
Boat#1
guide: Blaine total fish longest poker hand
front D Ellwanger 2 13
back M Ellwanger 5 14 55
Boat#2
guide: CK total fish longest poker hand
front M Baker 3 12 77
back -
Day 4 9/11/2009 lower madison
Boat#1
guide: John S. total fish longest poker hand
front D Ellwanger 9 15 flush
back -
Boat#2
guide: CK total fish longest poker hand
front M Baker 8 22,19.5. 18 JJJQQ
back M Ellwanger 3 12
bold=winner

BTW it's a new moon

Current Phase of the Moon:
Updates every 4 hours):

underlined=bought dinner

Reflecting... With a scotch.

It's like the fish was walkiing down the red carpet or something. All eyes and cameras had this fish in the scrapbook. The Johnny Walker eases the pain slightly but I have fallen victim to the blog this season.
I'm constantly searching for the "Big Fish" photo. Today's fish would of fallen into that category. If I have your attention, please read on because this is no fish story.
After having a very slow morning, Scott Ritchie wanted to change flies. " You guides have been throwing the same flies all season and I think you might be in a fly rut". I agree whole heartedly. It's easy to fish the zonker that is proven or an ity bity nymph that the fish are always seeing. I liked what Scott was thinking so I switched him up to an olive Bow R. Bugger. We hadn't moved more than six feet before he was hooked up. Then a second fish and then the bottom... so we thought. I am so glad Scott had the patience to feel this supposed snag out.
The short of a could be long story is that the brown snag measured 25"! This is the second largest fish I have ever boated. Now what's to follow is a series of events that may have some of you wondering if I'm full of BS
The fish was on the tape and measured 25". It was a toad! I don't know if the fish had stage fright or what but it decided to make a grand exit catapulting out of my boat. Scott literally jumped into the river to nab the fish for a second photo op. He wasn't able to recover the loss. Scott, I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself.
What I'm wondering is why after we boated the fish and there were two witnesses to the fish being taped at 25", and no photo, this hurts?
I see a lot of fish being caught throughout the season and for some reason this one rattles me a bit.
Does it matter that the fish was never photographed? No. I think the blog is therapy for a fishing guide who likes big fish in his boat.
I had a fantastic day on the water with Scott and his wife Lisa, until we meet up again...Cheers and Happy Birthday Lisa!

P.S.
Thank you for the Caymus wine and cheese. Looking forward to cocktail hour tomorrow night!

Getting better everyday!

The fishing is improving daily as we transition into fall. Fish seem to be bulking up on large bites of food like sculpins and crawdads. Today we got most of our fish to eat a #4 copper zonker trailed by a #20 baetis nymph. Scott boated this beauty with guide Louis Bishop.

Scott Ritchie and the Maddie

This gorgeous specimen was caught today on the Madison (appropriately known as the Maddie) river in Montana. Guide/Outfitter/boat driver/Ace/knot tier/Craig Kalpinski of CK Outfitters put me on this fish and others and has for years. Had a great day catching toads not numbers! Also landed a nice Bow in the 18"+ range and lost one about that big too. Total about 8 fish with one 1" monster at the Greycliff take out. It was sunny, 80 degrees, no clouds, not a typical day for big fish. Lots of fun and reminds me of why I come to this wonderful area! Got home about 7 p.m., grilled a T bone, corn on the cob, made a salad, opened a bottle of Caymus and watched the KU football victory! Can't wait for the wife, kids and daughter in law to arrive next week...

Scott Ritchie

2009 GHC Champ

The trophy is going home with Mark Baker this year! A 22" Brown stole the show. Everyone had a good day on the river. The GHC invitational was a huge success and I'm looking forward to next year. Thanks to all and more on this on Sunday (my day off at last). Cesar, we missed you the last couple of days but I know it meant the world to your wife to be home on her birthday. See you soon big guy.

Day Three GHC Invitational?

Not quite sure what was with the fishing today? At times I wanted to pull my hair out. Baker was fishing like a champ. If the fishing had been any good, he would of worn them out. Mark Ellwanger got a few and Pops tied Cesar Soto's whitie record with a few trout mixed in.
It all comes down to tomorrow on the Lower Madison. Baker rolls into round four with a 19" lead. Will this be enough to bring the GHC trophy back home? I will keep you updated on all the action tomorrow.

Day Two GHC Invitational

Fished the Lower Madison on day two. Not red hot but not stone cold. Both boats put some good fish in the net. All in all, it was a great day and fun to be out there with this crew. Today is a day of rest before we resume play on Thursday. Not sure yet if Cesar will be joining us but I'm sure it's nothing a few flowers and some chocolates can't fix. Hope to see you out there glitter man! Will this 19" brown pictured here take the cake?

Day Uno. Success!

Day one took us to the Upper Madison. Mark Baker is sitting on top of the leader board with a healthy lead. The Ellwangers both had a good first day back on tour and Cesar Soto continues to build upon his skills. Props to Cesar for an excellent performance today. Not sure where the GHC tour will take us tomorrow but Blaine and I will keep you posted on all the highlights of this much anticipated event.

Rise and Shine...

Early morning floats on the Lower Madison are one of my favorite things to do. We hit the river early this morning to avoid the Labor day weekend crowds. It payed big dividends. There finally releasing water out of Hebgen making a float down to Greycliff comfortable. The big water push has sent crawdads and other tasty morsels down the river. Some local shop owners and Outfitters will say we are in a transitional funk as the season changes over. Based on what we did this morning, I cannot tell. Paul's big mouthed brown, pictured here measured 22" and some change. More evidence that funk or not, this is hands down one of the best times to be fishing here in Southwestern Montana. Best flies today were an olive bow river bugger with a bush's crawad dropped below.
Tommorow begins round one of the GHC invitational. This is the premeir event of the season. Looking forward to seeing the gang tomorrow and glad to have Cesar Soto on board this year!

What's my name?

Cesar Soto rolled into town and was the hot hand on the Yellowstone today. Who say's Dominicans can't fish? It was the last day of Spring Training for some and now the games begin. It has been a fantastic preseason and for those that are in this competition , you must bring your A game to fish and fight with this hard hitting crew of anglers.

Full Moon?

Fishing was pretty good Thursday for being a sliver away from a full moon. With cooler weather in the forecast I would suspect the Fall baetis activity to begin picking up. The crawdad molt is also on - diver down. This fish (new generation) crushed a copper zonker, went air born, freaked out and then took Baker down to his backing. One of the best fighting fish I have ever seen on the lower Madison. One more day left of Spring training. Let the games begin!

September

Ahhh... at last September is here and today we hit it hard on the Lower Madison. Fish were eagerly pouncing on zonkers. I started fishing a #6 copper trailed by a crawdad. We began catching a bunch of rainbows so I made the switch to pearl to imitate juvenile bows darting around. It worked! I stayed with the pearl the rest of the day and hacked off the crawdad and switched to a #18 flashback pheasant tail. We rocked em' all the way to the take out. It was a great way to begin the month and I'm looking forward to more great fishing.
This is a fantastic time of year to be fishing Southwestern Montana with CK Outfitters so give us a call to reserve your spot this coming fall.