MO Rainbows

What a great time of year to be fishing the Missouri! If you are looking for solitude and great fishing, the MO is your best bet. You will experience fantastic dry fly fishing in the afternoon. Nymphing with baetis nymphs and emergers is solid before the hatch comes off. Haven't thrown any big junk - haven't had to but I suspect those big browns would take a bite.

A brief warm up!

Looks like we have seen the last of this arctic ass whooping. Predicted highs for the rest of the week should reach the mid forties to mid fifties. We'll see if the weather guy is right or just a wannabee James Span.
The weather guy said something to the effect of this being a “once in a generation” weather event. Temperatures this cold in October happened last about 25 years ago. It's certainly not global warming... maybe a global cool down.
As for the fishing, we begin to pick it back up tomorrow and will have more to report at a later time. Before this freeze, the Browns were beginning to stage up in the shallows and slow moving tail outs before they make the run to do their thing. If wade fishing ***Use caution this time of year not to disturb the redds. They are pretty obvious looking barren patches of clean gravel that the fish have pushed away. This will help protect future generations of fish. We saw a new age class of Brown trout on the Lower Madison this year. These fish were clean, bright, powerful, HOT and wild fish. Most fish had very few hook scars and some had never been hooked before - a testament to the importance of Catch & Release fishing.
On a side note and a break from fishing here in Montana: Ya'll need to check out my brothers Blog.
http://milespaddled.blogspot.com// His crew of dedicated kayaking friends are as serious about their paddling as we are about our fly fishing. Barry hooked this turtle gettin' jiggy - something I did not teach him this Summer. Turtle was unhooked safely and released back into the Wisconsin River. Way to represent CK Outfitters! I will continue to keep you updated on all thing relevant to fly fishing here in Southwestern Montana until it is just too cold.

COLD!

COLD! 4 degrees this morning and rising. We went from Summer straight into Winter bypassing fall. This cold snap is not even funny. It is too early for this bone chilling torture.
We had a couple of trips booked last week but due to the weather we pushed those into next week when the weather is supposed to warm up a bit. They are calling for a high of 51 on Tuesday. Sorry to say but I don't have much to report other than one mediocre day on the Lower Madison last week. I will amend this report after it warms up this next week.

Up and running!

After a brief sabbatical from technology, we are back! The fishng last week was good, as it should be during fall in Montana.
We have been all over the map. From the Jefferson to the Missouri and over to the Stone. Everything is fishing well! ***Word of caution*** Come prepared for foul weather. Most days will start out cold and if we are lucky, temps might reach a comfortable level.
Were getting fish on dead drifted Bugger and Bead combos. Baetis dry fly fishing has been weather dependent. If there is a ceiling, the fish are looking up in the afternoon. If that big bright ball is out and about, it's been a nymphing game.
My apologies for lack of Blog posts. Computer crashing, geeky techs, poor service, you get my point. We are up and running again and will keep you posted as the fishing continues!

On Hold...

Computer problems have me down for awhile but thanks to the very knowledgeable computer geek fixing my laptop, I should be up and running soon. In the meantime, the fishing remains very good! I will keep you updated on all things relevant to fly fishing with CK Outfitters as well as the front that is going to push through tomorrow.

Hot out of the gate...

We put in in the town of Livingston and 14 miles later got out at the Hog farm (Joey you will love that!) and had a blast. My first cast of the day was a sweet 19" Brown, about 30 minutes later we hit this neat run with a streamer and I had two break me off. Then this really nice colored up 19" Rainbow takes the fake and once stuck jumps 4 to 6 times right at the boat. It was hard to keep tight but he was hooked good and no problem landing him. Great day today landing lots of whitefish (20+) - which are still fun to hook and land, along with the two fair sized fish mentioned and a couple others that did not need the net. I sure hate to go but got to make some bread so I can come back soon. Thanks Craig! Scott

Fall Baetis just around the corner

The Fall Baetis hatch is on the brink of breaking loose. All we need is some cooler weather and some overcast skies and it will be go time around this place. In the meantime, I think we are out of the seasonal transitional funk that we experience every year. Fish are still looking for Hoppers but will inspect closely before attacking with any sort of vengeance. Nymphing has been solid all the way around but my favorite means of catching this time of year would be the streamer/bead combo. Try fishing a zonker (olive, copper or pearl) in sizes #2 - #6 trailed by a #16 - #20 beadhead flashback pheasant tail nymph.

Ritchie Family Float

This is two years in a row of great fun with the Ritchie family. The morning started slow as expected after the first freeze of the year. Sorry, grasshoppers - next season, R.I.P
The wind blew but did not deter us from catching fish!
Lana, aka Ace Ritchie boated a beautiful 20" Yell0wstone brown. Thanks and you all did a fantastic job on the water today. I'm looking forward to next year.

Everyday is Different

The day before yesterday the fish were crushing foam Hoppers. Different story today. They would not even look at a Hopper today so we nymphed until we were blue in the face. It paid off BIG! This 22" pre spawn male took a # 6 copper zonker.

New York Minute

By the looks of my fly patch, it's still Hopper time. Hard to believe the hopper fishing is still hanging around but with temps in the mid 80's and low 90's coupled with dry conditions, we may be throwing the locust into October. Weird. I think this week has been the best Hopper action I've had on the river this season. Yesterday was good on the Yellowstone. Today was epic action on top > Lower Madison. Had a great day with Ray and Steve today!

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!