August Fishing

Last week I took a quick trip back to the midwest to visit my son, Thomas, and other family.  He is at school in Minnesota and hired on to a solid job in Omaha for the summer so I had to get out to see him since he wasn’t coming home.

He didn’t know I was coming, and it made me happy when he saw me that the first words out of his mouth were, “Let’s go fishing.”  So we spent a morning at a family friend’s bass pond that Thomas has fished a few times this summer.

It was a lot of fun to watch him play the role of “guide” on where to go and what to fish.  He caught the biggest and the most, and I was totally content just taking pictures and watching him do his thing.

August Fishing

Sunday it was back to the river on a donated trip for Casting for Recovery.  Charile was the high bidder for a day on the Blackfoot and a couple nights at the ultra exclusive Cliff Ranch.  Since they were staying right near Scotty Brown bridge, I met him and his brother in law, Patrick, there for a day in the canyon.  We started off with dry/dropper rigs in the morning and I was a little surprised that we didn’t move a fish in the first 2 runs.

Charile briefly hooked one in the next spot, but it was definitely slow early.  I started changing droppers and a few runs later we hooked 2 and Patrick landed a small rainbow.  The fly changes continued with no tangible result and I knew for sure that the fishing was off when we made it through the Munchmore hole without a fish hooked.  After a couple more changes we finally found a bug the fish would eat.

Patrick picked up the first couple and once I switched Charlie over he started to connect as well with a pair of decent 14″ cutts in the net.  It still wasn’t great fishing, but we were finding some in the likely spots.  Once we were in the canyon the fishing was about the same so we made a change to single dry flies.  I put Charlie on an ant and had Patrick fish a couple different hoppers.  The ant was the clear favorite.

Charlie picked off a few while Patrick only had a couple half hearted swipes at the big bug.  I switched him over to an ant too and we had action from the bottom of the canyon on.  Most of the eats were from smaller cutthroat and rainbows.  Those 8-10″ fish were willing to play, but getting the bigger fish to move was a challenge.  We had chances at a few, Patrick had a couple of 15″ cutts throw the fly during the fight while Charlie was able to land a pair of pretty cutthroat around 14″.

Overall a tougher than expected day in the canyon.  We caught fish throughout, it was just mostly smaller trout with a few decent ones mixed in.  Charlie and Patrick were a pleasure to fish and I certainly appreciate their support of Casting for Recovery.

August Fishing

Monday was the first of 2 days with long-time angler, Jim, at Land of the Giants.  We met early and started off up at the dam.  The fish were not super grabby up there, but Jim landed a pair of really nice rainbows in a handful of passes.

Then we slid over and hit the faster water mid-river and it wasn’t long before Jim was tight to heavy fish in fast water.  That was the first 20+” rainbow of the day and then Jim connected with another good one near the bottom of that run.

We moved downriver a little and the next spot produced two solid hook ups and another bright 20+” rainbow in the net.  After that I wanted to try to short leash some faster water and we made a couple of passes and found a nice brown trout that jumped several times.  We finished up the morning by fishing a single hopper over some weed beds looking for a dry fly eat with no luck.  After lunch we motored back to the upper river.

The run by the dam wasn’t producing so we started floating down and Jim stuck a really big bow that flashed before breaking us off.  Further down in that run Jim came tight on a heavy fish.  I got a brief glimpse and saw that it was a big brown.  Jim did a great job keeping that fish out of the rocks but it just didn’t want to give up.  After an epic battle he had a gorgeous 20+” brown trout in the net.

We went right back up to the top of that run for another drift and Jim stuck another big, jumping rainbow that put on a show along with our smallest rainbow of the day at 15″.  We worked our way downriver from there with another solid hook up mid-river and then a brief hopper session.  I really want to hook one of these big fish on a hopper, but it wasn’t to be today.

We finished up out on the lake with a callibaeits rig.  We fished for 10 minutes out there and had a hot fish clean our clock on the hook set before calling it a day.  Solid fishing today with hook ups in most every spot that we tried.  Jim had 3 jumbo sized trout to the boat along with several other solid fish in the net.

August Fishing

Tuesday Jim and I were back up at Land of the Giants.  We were the first boat in the water and went straight up to the dam to start the day.  We struck out in that first run.  The fish weren’t eating what they were yesterday and when we still didn’t connect after a fly change it was time to try some different water.

I was a little nervous with several passes on that top run with no takers, but the faster water just downstream quickly put my doubts to rest.  Jim hooked a hot rainbow right away in that spot and we were off to the races from there.  Despite the slower start this morning, the fishing overall was much more consistent today.  Jim picked up at least one trout on every drift we made in the morning with a few of those passes producing multiple hook ups.

It was mostly thick 18-20″ rainbows, but Jim did stick a big brown at that top of that run.  It jumped right after he set the hook and then a couple more times as Jim fought it down through the fast water.  I might have been a little too eager with the net as I reached out as far as possible.  I got that giant brown in the net, but it was too heavy to lift out of the water that far from the boat and he broke off and swam away.

I’m not sure exactly how big that fish was, but it was at least 22″ and probably bigger.  Jim kept hammering away on nice rainbows until we floated down to a lunch spot.  To start the afternoon we went back up into the fast water and Jim immediately hooked up to a rainbow that went screaming upstream before coming unbuttoned.

Then for the first time all day, we made a drift without a fish in that run and didn’t connect on the next pass either so I slid down into a spot with slower water and some big boulders.  Those fish were willing to play as Jim tagged 2 on our first drift, hooked 3 on another pass as we continued to stick healthy rainbows on every pass.  Then we moved down into the middle river and Jim hooked a rainbow that nearly ran him into his backing upstream.

While we were landing that rainbow I noticed a few fish rising so we grabbed the dry fly rod and took a shot at them.  They were not rising on a steady rhythm which makes it more challenging, but Jim put some good drifts over the first group of fish and then I spotted a single fish rising tight to a big boulder.  Jim made the right cast, got a perfect drift, and that fish came up and ate the fly but we just didn’t connect on the hookset.

At that point we had some dark clouds building upriver so we ran out onto the lake to finish the day.  Within 2 minutes Jim had a bright rainbow jumping that got off in some weeds.  While that was a great start, the fishing sputtered for 10 minutes or so without a strike so I changed flies.  A few minutes later and Jim was tight to another fish and this was a heavy one.  After a good battle he had a colored up 23″ rainbow in the net.

That was a great way to end the day and we headed to the ramp.  We had two days of solid fishing at LOG with a bunch of big trout in the net.  Jim is always such a pleasure to fish with.  I’m glad he was able to sneak away for a couple days this month.

August Fishing

Wednesday was my first day in over a year on the water with big fish Martha.  Some freakish weather and funeral kept us from fishing together last season and I was very excited to have her in the front seat today.  We ventured up to the West Fork of the Bitterroot and I was surprised to not see another boat at the put in.

I rigged Martha up with a single dry fly and we set off.  We didn’t have a look in the first 10 minutes so I stopped to change flies.  That helped as we had a couple eats in the next few runs and then landed the first cutthroat of the day.  Martha was moving some fish on that fly, but I thought we could do a little better so I made another fly change.

I knew we were dialed in when she hooked 2 fish in the next 2 spots.  From there it was pretty consistent action from 12-15″ cutts the rest of the morning.  After lunch I outsmarted myself a little.  I really like fishing an ant pattern this time of year on the West Fork and even though we had very solid fishing in the morning on a different fly, I changed to an ant to start the afternoon.

The ant was a bust as it yielded a couple small cutts in 5 good runs.  As soon as I changed back to the fly from the morning it was game on again.  Martha landed 5 or 6 in the next run we fished, including a couple thick 15″ cutts.  I just kept rowing back to the top of that run after landing a fish and Martha would stick another one.  That spot was a highlight of the day, but the fishing remained consistent for the rest of the afternoon.

Good drifts were rewarded in most of the likely spots,  We picked off a few little guys, but there were quality fish for this time of year looking up.  Lots of 12-15″ cutts and cuttbows with one colored up cutt that stretched to 16″ and of course, a big one that got away.

We didn’t see another boat all day, fished a single dry fly from start to finish, and put a bunch of nice trout in the net.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  It was great to catch up on stories from our lives over the past year and reminded me how much I enjoy fishing with Martha.  I can guarantee we will fish together more than once next year.

August Fishing

Thursday we had a family from Texas out for their first fly fishing trip.  It was a mix of adults and kids, and we split up with 2 boats on the Clark Fork and 2 boats on the Blackfoot.  I had Tracy and her 8 year old son, Avey, in my boat on the Blackfoot.

This pair has fished a lot in both freshwater and saltwater, but this was their first time fly fishing so we went over the basics before starting downstream.  Avey picked things up quickly and the first stretch of faster water produced a small rainbow for him.

Tracy was very patient allowing me to focus on Avey in the beginning, but once he had a trout in the net her line was in the water too and she connected with a decent rainbow just below that.  There was enough action to keep them engaged with some missed fish, a few that got away after being hooked, and some that made it into the net.

At the bottom of a slow run Tracy stuck a solid fish that went screaming downriver, jumped, and tangled in Avey’s line.  We were able to sort that out as she did a great job playing that fish and ended up with a 17″ rainbow in the net.  With some fish under our belt we took a break and let Avey hunt for crayfish in the rocks.

He had a blast doing that and then we pushed downstream to the other boat for lunch.  The action in the afternoon dropped off with only a few other fish hooked and Avey had crayfish on the brain so we made another stop so he could find a few more of those before making out way to the takeout.

It was a successful first day of fly fishing for the crew.  Everyone caught fish and had a good time on the river.  With young anglers it is important to keep them engaged and make sure it is fun.  I am sure Tracy would have preferred to fish hard all day, but it was the right call to take a couple breaks and let Avey stomp around in the river.

August Fishing

Our weather has cooled off with highs in the 80’s and low’s in the 50’s.  As a result Hoot Owl fishing restrictions have been lifted on our local rivers.  The best fishing is still in the morning for most of our area, but it does allow us some flexibility in our schedules going forward.

We are starting to see some tricos in spots and more and more hoppers are showing up in the water.  The transition toward fall is taking place and that’s something to be excited about.

Tight Lines,

Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516