Catching Bows

Monday was day 2 with Bob and Frank at Land of the Giants. It was a breezy morning with more wind on the way so I was looking to make the most of our time.

We started off in the run that treated us so well yesterday and we hooked a couple fish but it definitely wasn’t as good. Of course, the wind was making it difficult to row the boat, cast and mend.

We started searching around in different spots and the guys hooked fish in everything we worked, but it was a fish every 2 passes or other places we hooked them were too windy to row through again. It was tough, but we kept chipping away at it.

We found a couple spots in the upper river that produced a few nice rainbows before the wind ran us out of there. Our best spot was in the middle river just before lunch. Bob stuck a fat rainbow, Frank landed a mid-sized bow and we had a few other trout on.

After lunch the wind started blowing even harder. The guys hooked a couple more as we searched for a spot out of the wind, but nothing was out of the wind at that point. By 2:00 the wind was absolutely howling and we decided to call it a day.

We put some nice fish in the net, but the conditions were very challenging today. I hope the wind lays down for their 2 days with guide, Tom, below Holter later this week.

 

Catching Bows

Tuesday was the first of 3 days with longtime angler, Bill and Jim, and the Mo. We met later and launched at Wolf Creek behind most of the traffic. I had the guys start with short leash rods and Bill hooked 2 in the first run before Jim came tight on a hot fish in fast current.

They were eating right out of the gate and after a couple short leash spots we went to the deeper nymph rig. Bill had the next one that went screaming upstream, but we didn’t touch a fish in the first run we tried so I tweaked the flies a little.

The change was good, especially for Jim as he went on a hot streak with the next several fish. Bill got a couple nice ones too, but Jim was hooking up often enough that I had to set Bill up exactly the same. The action remained fast for hard fighting rainbows until we pulled in for lunch to dodge some rain and wind that moved in.

The afternoon started with a little lull. I’m not sure if that front moving in put this fish off for a bit, but we went through 3 or 4 really good spots and had a strike or two. I set the guys up with a different short leash for Craig rock and we doubled up in there. Then the deep rig kicked back in as we floated by Craig.

Bill tagged a nice brown trout, then we doubled, and after that added a couple more solid rainbows in the same long run. The next spot produced a brown trout for Jim and then Jackson rock was loaded with fish today. Jim landed a nice bow on every pass and Bill hooked up as well in there.

We finished out the day fishing the short leash and Bill had the momentum with a pair of nice rainbows coming out of good spots and then two colorful browns in the last run. We had cloud cover for most of the day, very little wind, and good fishing from start to finish.

Catching Bows

Wednesday I took Bill and Jim for a long float down in the canyon. We started off with the deep nymph rigs and the first couple of fish that were hooked were so hot that they got away.

Then Bill connected with a nice rainbow at the bottom of our second spot to get things going. The deep game was decent with about a fish in each spot, but not as consistent as it has been recently. With a lot of mayflies and caddis coming off we switched over to the short leash rods and found fast success.

Jim stuck a thick rainbow in a fast bucket and then Bill doubled up with him on the edge of a seam. The next fast bank produced a brown and rainbow for Jim and a bow for Bill and a bigger fish that broke him off. Then we decided to give the single dry fly fishing a shot on a slower bank.

Those Missouri trout can be tough on dries, but Jim fed one and Bill broke off a big rainbow on the hook set before we switched back to the short leash. Jim set the hook in a shallow riffle and I saw a big brown trout turn sideways in the current. Jim did a great job fighting that fish and before long he had a 20+” fat brown in the net.

We had lunch at Mountain Palace and then the guys went right back to work in the big eddy below that. We hooked several fish in that spot and Jim landed a nice rainbow. The short leash fishing continued to produce in most every likely spot and we ended up seeing a bunch of quality brown trout in the afternoon.

Bill hooked into a stud 20″ brown in a side channel and Jim doubled up with a nice rainbow. We got both fish in the net, but the rainbow was so tangled up in the flies that I had to release the brown before we got a picture of those two. That brown was the start of a good string of fish for Bill.

He picked up a big bow in fast boulders just below that and then we had a rodeo with another brown on a fast bank. As soon as the dust settled from that, the guys doubled up again. Bill had another nice brown that charged the boat and Jim boated a feisty rainbow.

We gave the dry fly fishing one more shot after that and Bill hooked a good brown on the dry that ran out into the middle of the river and wrapped around something and came off. We finished the day with the short leash and another rodeo. Jim set the hook in the back of the boat.

A rainbow jumped toward us and then there was a big noise from Jim’s position. I looked around to see that the back seat had broken off from the floor and Jim was on the verge of going out of the boat. I grabbed him and he stood up with no problem, but the trout got away and that ended our fishing for the day.

Fortunately Jim wasn’t hurt and we were less than 1/2 mile from the take out when it happened. I was able to run the boat into Helena to get it fixed after fishing. It was a gorgeous day in the canyon with solid fishing. Lots of nice brown trout today and a good mix of rainbows too.

Catching Bows

Thursday we decided to go back up to Wolf Creek for the last day with Bill and Jim. Bill hooked the first rainbow of the day on a short leash rod, but it came unbuttoned and then we switched up to the deep rods.

Jim hooked a couple in the first run that got away and then we worked a spot I haven’t fished in a while and were briefly doubled up. Jim landed his, and we had the first nice rainbow of the day in the net. Bill added a colorful brown trout that gave us a couple jumps and then Jim was tight to another solid bow.

The guys doubled up in our next spot and Jim’s fish was a big, flawless hen. The morning continued at a pretty good clip with quality rainbows in the likely spots. Then the PMDs came pouring off the river and there were lots of rising trout.

Even though the small dries were hard to see I made the guys give it a shot in a few runs. Bill hooked a really big rainbow in skinny water that bent the hook out and then Jim connected with a feisty rainbow on the dry. With a dry fly fish in the boat we went back to the nymph rods and stuck a few more before stopping for lunch.

In the afternoon we mostly fished the short leash rod. The foam eddies were loaded with fish and we hooked up in all of those with a couple more doubles. Some of the shallow riffles and banks produced nice fish too. It was steady fishing until the last 45 minutes or so.

We had a bunch of strikes at the Spite Hill swirly and then it was pretty quiet on our way down to Dearborn. The day didn’t finish as strong as I would have liked, but we caught plenty of fish up to that point. Bill and Jim are always a lot of fun to fish with. I look forward to seeing Jim again in July and will have Bill in September.

Catching Bows

Friday was a rare one for me. I had an angler that I haven’t fished with before and that doesn’t happen very often. Steve is a local, and he called a year and a half ago to schedule a Missouri River trip to celebrate his retirement. I was able to get him out with guide,

David, on the Missouri for two good days and then I took him to Land of the Giants in the jet boat today. We ran up to the middle river and right away Steve hooked up on a fat 20″ rainbow. Then he picked up a smaller bow at the bottom of that drift. One more pass there yielded another mid sized trout and then I took him up in the faster water of the upper river.

We made a few passes up there and hooked a fish on nearly every pass, including a really big bow, but they all got away and I didn’t feel like we were getting as many strikes as we should up there so we worked our way back down to the middle river. I moved around to a few different runs but the fishing was spotty.

Steve picked up one more big 20″ bow and a smaller one before we took a break for lunch. I decided to give the upper river another shot in the afternoon and the fishing was similar. We hooked a fish every run or two and Steve landed a nice male with a big kype, but it was tougher than it has been recently so we headed out onto the lake.

Steve fished that for 20 minutes or so without a bump and I didn’t see any of the other boats hook up either. At that point we decided to take a scenic boat ride down into the Gates of the Mountains and check out the site of the Mann Gulch fire.

We made one more go of it on the lake to finish up the day. It was windy, but in 15 minutes Steve had a couple strikes and finished up the day with a big slab rainbow on a leech pattern. The fishing was a little off for Land of the Giants, but we worked hard and ended up with some nice fish in the net.

Steve was a pleasure to fish with and we are already making plans to chase northern pike on the Clark Fork around his house.

Catching Bows

Saturday I had local anglers, Marcelo and Constance, for a walleye/trout combo day at the Land of the Giants. Last year the walleye fishing was easy in early June, but not so much this year. They are so good to eat that we had to give it a shot.

We had maybe one or two strikes in our first spot which is normally the best walleye spot I know so we dropped down the canyon a little to try something different. It only took a few minutes there before Constance brought the first walleye to the net. I picked one up after that and then Marcelo landed one two.

That was a promising start and we ran that drift several more times. It wasn’t fast and furious fishing but we managed to land a few more walleye and Constance also picked up a perch. After lunch we went further downstream to see if the perch were schooled up, but didn’t get a bite in a couple different spots so we ran out onto the lake to finish up with some trout on the fly.

The fishing was just steady enough to keep us interested. It seemed like every time I wanted to move to a new spot someone would hook a fish. Early on it was pretty balanced out with Constance and Marcelo both landing a couple of nice rainbows. Then Constance caught fire and landed several fish in a row.

It seemed like each rainbow was bigger than the last for her. She hooked an absolute tank at the end of the day that came close to the boat and then took a hard run and broke her off. After that we reeled up and headed to the marina. It was a gorgeous day on the water.

Marcelo and Constance headed home with walleye and perch in the cooler and we played with some big rainbows for the last hour or two of the day.

Catching Bows

Sunday was a day off, but with my time running short over on the Missouri I had to go chase walleye one more time. I launched at Gates of the Mountains early and ran down to where we had the best success yesterday.

The walleye were still there and they were a little more aggressive than yesterday. By 10:00 I had a limit in the cooler and was on my way back to the dock. I look forward to a couple walleye dinners with the family this summer.