The Bighorn River below Yellowtail Dam has faced challenges in the past, but none were as serious as the good old-fashioned western water fight the river faces today. A decade long drought has reduced Bighorn Lake's levels, and upstream interests in Wyoming want to maintain the reservoir's level at the expense of flows downstream, in essence keeping Wyoming water in Wyoming. The story begins in the 1940s, when the dam was authorized by Congress for the purposes of flood control, hydropower, irrigation, sediment storage, recreation, and fish and wildlife. When construction began in the 1960s, the Bighorn Canyon was flooded to create the reservoir, and farms and ranches and their associated tax revenues were lost to the Lovell, Wyoming area. In addition, businesses that supported these farms and ranches were also lost. The government promised that dollars lost would be more than made up in tourism dollars when visitors flocked to the new Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area with their boats, campers, jet skis and fishing tackle. . Read the full article



The Pitzen Knot is a terminal knot, used to attach a fly to the tippet. Once learned, the Pitzen Knot is simple to tie. The primary advantage of this knot is that it is stronger than most other terminal knots. Read the full article



While the Bull trout now occupies just a fraction of its historical range, identifying this threatened species can still be very difficult because of its close resemblance to both the Brook and Lake trout that are often found in the same drainages. In many instances the harvesting of the non-native Brook and Lake trout is encouraged to protect Bulls, but differentiating between the species (especially as juveniles) can be difficult because of the similarities. Read the full article



        I t was a glorious day for our last on the river.  We'd fished through the morning happily but uneventfully, seeing rises primarily from small fish.  We hooked and landed a few of these to validate our sharpened skills and choices of flies, but we'd hoped to see some larger heads break the surface.  Few flies were in evidence: a smattering of Pale Morning Duns, a few flying ants, a caddis here and there, but not enough of anything to get the larger fish looking up regularly.  It mattered not.  The sky was clear, the air relatively still, and we were happy simply to be in the mountains and in the West and on this big, wonderful, glass-smooth river again. Read the full article

Eric has also provided four great fly patterns that accompany the article.  Please take a look at the recipes and fly patterns on the Best of Times Fly Patterns Page


Southwest Idaho's Boise River watershed offers fantastic fly fishing where an angler can still get away from the crowds.  Moreover, it features some of the state's most productive hunting and offers many popular hiking and camping areas.  The region's countless mountain valleys are formed and defined by the River's three main forks and numerous tributaries.  The streams are full of both native and introduced fish and their valleys with both native and introduced game.  All this bounty is within a two-hour drive of Idaho 's largest and fastest-growing metropolitan area.  Unfortunately, all of this is at risk from what is fast becoming the most common conflict in the American West: resource extraction vs. resource conservation and non-extractive use. Read the full article


Last night, fishing a local stream, I was landing trout after trout --it was incredible! I probably landed over 30, but I lost count. PMDs were everywhere, trout were rising everywhere. I was thinking, I'm catching most of them by accident .

Most of the fish in the little stream I was fishing are small, eight inches, ten maybe, with an occasional twelve-incher. But wait! Behind a huge boulder across the current, there was something else.

It was big, much bigger than anything I had caught so far. Its head had to be the size of my whole hand, which would put it in the sixteen- to nineteen-inch range range, maybe even twenty. It couldn't be. Now I was excited, maybe too excited. Read the full article

        When I was 18, my cousin and I put together a string of days on several southeast Missouri bass rivers that simply could not be beat. We each caught multiple two-pound bass (largemouth, smallmouth, and Kentuckies) in low-productivity water where a twelve-incher is average, and on the last day of the streak, in late May, I caught more fifteen-inch bass than I have in any complete season since, and probably two-thirds of the fifteen-inch smallmouth I've caught in my entire life. We had the pattern dialed, but we also benefited from several years of great water conditions that had produced a bumper crop of large fish that season, and from the fact that we had ferreted out access points on second- or third-tier rivers, access points leading to stretches of canyon water that were faster and steeper than any other stretches of the rivers, miles of water with lower fish densities than elsewhere but which were almost never fished, though they ran only an hour and a half from St. Louis.

        Then I wrote a magazine article about it, as a break from the "serious" literary writing I was doing as a college freshman. As a how-to where-to story, it was great. Only the fact that I lost the four-pounder I hooked on one of the rivers kept me from getting a cover shot for the magazine I wound up selling the story to, Missouri Game & Fish . The picture of a fish my cousin got and the two-page spread one of my slides merited showed what the 2500-word article did not. I got $250 for the story, sold a half-dozen other pieces to the magazine, had a regional fly-fishing article published simultaneously in several other Game & Fish publications, and eventually landed a scholarship based on these stories. In most senses, my article was quite a success. Read the full article

     The South Platte River at Deckers, just below the world famous Cheesman Canyon , is a world class fishery in its own right. The river at Deckers has nice pocket water, deep pools, riffles, a variety of gravel bars, and runs. Most of the river is within the Pike National Forest and offers easy access until it meets up with the North Fork, before flowing into Strontia Springs and entering Waterton Canyon . The river here is home to brown and rainbow trout averaging fifteen to eighteen inches, with many stretching twenty inches or better. Like the trout upstream in Cheesman Canyon , Deckers fish are some of the toughest trout in the Rockies to catch. As such, you shouldn't expect a twenty fish day. They can be had, but they're hard to come by. Read the full article





     The South Fork of the Snake River is a fishery that begins below Palisades Dam outside of Irwin, Idaho , and meets up with the Henry�s Fork some sixty-four river miles downstream, near the farming community of Menan.  Technically a tailwater, the South Fork is more like a typical Western freestone stream.  It predominantly flows over cobble, and is known worldwide for its native species, the Snake River Cutthroat.                        

     Brown trout, rainbows, and the hybrid �cuttbow� also live in the river, as well as Rocky Mountain Whitefish --these fish thrive in the river, saving many days from being skunkings.  The Idaho Department of Fish and Game encourage anglers to keep all rainbows and cuttbows due to the threat of crossbreeding with the native cutthroat. Read the full article



     Every morning before opening the fly shop in Gardiner , Montana out of which I guide, I walk down to the Highway 89 bridge to check the Yellowstone River .  From the bridge I can look upstream most of a mile, into Yellowstone Park .  I note many things: water level, clarity, and on days when the Yellowstone is dirty, the particular shade of the sediment --each major tributary has its own.  All of these variables tell me something different about fishing conditions and even weather conditions upstream, helping me decide where in the Yellowstone Park area to take my clients.

     If my glance off the bridge is discouraging, the Yellowstone �s small tributaries can be expected to provide some fishable water, even if they are raging with snowmelt themselves, since they almost always run clear.  Often, the steep creeks that tumble down from the Absaroka Mountains north of the Park or from the Park�s central plateau hit the Yellowstone with enough force that they make the big river run clear for a hundred yards or more downstream of their mouths, providing a short stretch of water that�s usually full of fish.  One creek that doesn�t quite match this pattern is Bear Creek.

     Bear is the first tributary to enter the Yellowstone outside of the Park, in the half mile where the river dips north into Montana before reentering Yellowstone for another mile and a half.  It�s a big creek, and the run at its confluence with the Yellowstone can be good.  Much of the time, however, on warm days in June when the snowpack is melting fast, or after thunderstorms, Bear Creek runs muddy.  Read the full article

 

It is hard to believe that less than five weeks before this trip down Interstate 70 would have taken more than two hours, with ski traffic slowing the 65mph stretches to a crawl. My fishing partner and I made the trip to the Blue River in under an hour and fifteen minutes, with hardly a car on the road. It was the beginning of May, which is a great time to fish some of Colorado 's freestone streams and rivers. The mornings have a chill, but the weather always warms with the rising sun, and the water is not yet muddied by runoff. Read the full article






All morning Charlie insisted on standing up in the boat to fish. This wasn�t a problem except whenever I pulled to the bank. Then the Madison�s swift current shoved the boat sideways to bang the rocks, bringing things to an abrupt halt. So the drill was to somehow encourage Charlie to sit before the inevitable crash landing. Unfortunately, �Charlie, sit down!� did not elicit the same instant response from Charlie as it might, for example, from a well-trained bird dog. So, each time I pulled on the oars toward shore, I began a minor chant, �Charlie sit down. CHARLIE sit down. CHARLIE SIT down. CHARLIE, SIT DOWN, NOW!� Read the full article









Most of the press about the north end of Yellowstone Park concerns the fine dry-fly rivers in the Park's northeast corner. These creeks and rivers, all in the Lamar drainage, are at their best in late July and August, and every word written about them is justified. The lack of attention paid to many other waters in the region is not. Here, organized by season, is a synopsis of all of the fishing opportunities in the northern part of our oldest National Park. All of the streams and lakes I mention below eventually find their way into the Yellowstone, and many of them are steep, hard-flowing streams that are physically difficult to fish. They are also extremely productive, and because many require hikes into the backcountry, they are seldom as crowded as other Park waters. Read the full article



With the summer fishing season just around the corner, a lot of anglers are planning their Rocky Mountain fishing vacations. Many of these trips will include at least one day with a guide. A guided trip can be a great way to learn new water, improve on techniques, or just enjoy a day of fishing with some friends. The following are some tips that will help you get the most out of your trip, and hopefully make it that much better.

1. Be honest about your skill level
As a guide, I believe this is the most important thing clients must do. Nothing can ruin a day faster (for both client and guide) than a client who exaggerates his/her abilities, either out of vanity or simply by not objectively evaluating their skills. Often the choice of destination is influenced by the client�s skill level so if you are not up front about your abilities you may find yourself having to do things beyond your capacity all day in order to catch fish. Guides see clients of all types and skill levels, and will know rivers and lakes suitable for anyone, so be honest about your skills so that your guide can plan     Read the full article


In the coming months, I�ll be writing articles on Montana fishing and conservation issues. A few months ago, I was fortunate to have been selected as a member of the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) Region 5 Citizen�s Advisory Council, which serves to advise FWP on a variety of hunting, fishing and parks issues. Hopefully, I�ll be able to use this column to inform you of upcoming topics and issues, as well as pass along your questions and concerns.

Before getting in to specific topics, I thought it might be helpful, especially to those of you living outside Montana , to get a feel for some facts and figures relating to fishing in Montana . Some Montana natives might be surprised by some of the following numbers as well.

  Read the full article