Montana Spring Fly Fishing Update

The wife and kids were gone all last weekend so I took the opportunity to get out on the water for a few days with some of our guides. On Friday we hit the Ruby River and had a blast fishing over a morning midge hatch and an afternoon baetis hatch. The water is still very low, no irrigation calls yet. At 36cfs the Ruby is similar to a spring creek. We were able to spend most of the day sight fishing to browns and bows in the 15-20" class. Once the baetis hatch started the entire river turned on and caught fish both on dries and emmergers.

On Saturday we floated Bear Trap Canyon with three rafts. The water was still a bit green from the sediment in the lake that was kicked up by some windy days. The fishing was slow but steady. It should get much better once the clarity improves...Either way it was a great feeling to be back in Bear Trap Canyon for the first time in 2010.

On Sunday we scouted out a new put in on the Yellowstone. We put it right on the YNP boundary in the town of Gardner. The catch is the only access is a 200 yard long trail to the river so we used two elk carts to roll the rafts down. A lot of hard work but the payoff is 3 miles of untouched water. The water had bumped up a bit from warm weather so the fishing was off, I can't wait to get back in there under productive conditions...it should be a late summer gem for dry fly fishing to trout that are still dumber than a box of rocks!!!