2018 Fishing Season in Review
The Year of the Dry Fly
This past years fishing season might just be one of the best
we have ever seen. Huge amounts of snow
fall and reserves kept most rivers cold and clear all summer. The completion of the Hebgen Dam on the
Madison River to a true bottom release and a favorable summer season made for
some outstanding fishing.
Our season started like most do in March on our home water
of the Madison. Fishing got going a
little late with old man winter hanging on longer than expected. The really
early March fishing on the Madison was slower than normal. Winter hung on and you needed to pick your
days.
April we transitioned to the Bitterroot and Clark Fork
Rivers in the Missoula are for the famed Skwala hatch. We love our spring trips to Missoula and
this year was especially great. While
there was more water in the Bitterroot than in past April’s the fish did not
mind. Fish ate dry flies and droppers
most of the month. The best fishing was again the first two weeks of
April. Each year we find that the fish
like the low riding skwala dries more than the flutterers and this held true
this year. Think low floating foam
stoneflies in a size 8-12 with a dropper of a worm, small pats rubber leg or a
march brown. We spent almost two weeks
fishing the skwala hatch in the Missoula area. and had good fishing the entire
time.
While some of us were on the Bitterroot the rest of the
guides were busy with our Spring Special on the Madison River. April the water warmed up and the fish
started to eat in the big way. Lots of
success with nymphs and streamers. The
fish are stacked up this time of year in the deeper green slots. Once you recognize this and start to target
them it can be really great. Eggs,
worms, stonefly stuff and general attractor nymphs were the name of the
game. It feels like this time of year
the size of fish caught is much larger than the summer average. I think the big fish wake up and get hungry
earlier or are more aggressive in the spring.
We transitioned back to the Madison after our stint in the
Missoula area. May on the Madison was a
tough one this year. Usually we have
great hatches of March Browns, skwala, and Mothers day caddis. This year the uncertain weather and the higher
than normal water put a kink in our dry fly plans. The nymphing stayed good with the turd and
worm options but the dry fly fishing was less than spectacular. Blame the demise of the Mothers day caddis
hatch on the high cold water this year.
While we lost this hatch of dry fly fishing it set us up for some great
stuff down the stretch.
When we were dealing with flows over 5000 CFS on the Madison
we transitioned to the Missouri River near Craig. Flows here we very high as well. Most of the time they were over 19K CFS and
even one day topped the 21K. The thing
about the MO in the spring with high flows is that the fish are still eating.
Deep nymphing with pink scuds and worms is always good. Think 10 feet from the indicator to the
weight and then two flies. We only fished the soft inside bends and flats but
the fish we hungry. If you could get it
to them they ate it. Another great
thing about the Missouri River that time of year is the fish are BIG and
STRONG. Average fish was over 18 “ and
we got many over that 20†mark. May
and the start of June is the time to fish the Missouri. While the dry fly fishing this time of year
can be a wash out the bobber following is epic.
We did find some dry fly fishing on certain days. Cloud cover and rain helped. Good hatches of PMD’s made fish look
up. These fish on the Missouri river
are PHD’s when it comes to dry flies.
Long leaders and perfect drifts are the norm and anything else will not
be tolerated.
From the Missouri we moved back home for the meat of the
season. Starting about mid June the
Madison went off. Salmon flies started
and the hatch this year was epic. Lots
of days floating large dry flies along banks and rocks in the warming June
sun. The hatch progressed upstream in a
logical and historical pattern and gave anglers a good two to three weeks of
steady salmon fly fishing. We usually
find even in the meat of the hatch fish will eat caddis much better than the
large stone flies. Floating a salmon fly
imitation with a X-caddis dropper was the ticket this year.
Once the salmon fly-fishing started to slow down the caddis,
yellow sallie, PMD and large golden
stones kept the fish looking up the entire months of June and July. It was by far some of the best most consistent
dry fly fishing on the Madison Rive we have ever seen. Pick your poison, large goldens or caddis,
mayflies or attractors they all worked for a very long time. The water stayed cold and the fish kept
looking up.
August and the beginning of September are usually slower
months on the Madison. In the past few
years with broken dam water temps got high and the fish got lethargic. Dredging with nymphs and streamers was the
norm. Not this year. Flows stayed above 1000 CFS which is right
in the sweet spot for the Madison. Lost
of water so the boats can float all areas but low enough where the wad guys can
access the water. It was also low enough
to create the proper head space for fish to eat dry flies. If we have to much water and to much head
space they stay sub surface. To little
water and the fish get spooky. We feel
this is the perfect summer flow. When
the major hatches started to wane the terrestrials came out in a big way.
It has been years since the last great hopper season and 2018 was one
for the record books. Hoppers and ants
were abundant river wide and the fish were on them. Our standard day started with a hopper and
dropper nymph till lunch. After lunch it
was dry or die. A small hopper pattern
and ant trailer was the go to for a month and a half. The thing that surprised us most was the
size of the fish looking up. Yes all
the fish were fat and happy with the cold water but the big fish were eating
hoppers daily. It was not uncommon to
catch fish above 18†on dry flies during the middle of the day. What made the abundance of hoppers this
year we have no idea. But, whatever it
was please do it again. The size and
abundance of fish made this hopper season the best we have ever seen. If you were here you know how good it
was.
The epic hopper fishing continued into the end of
September. The cool days compressed
the dry fly window but the fish were still hungry for the big dry fly. In fact we even caught dry fly fish on
hoppers and ants in October. Usually the
fall is streamer time. This fall we did
catch some nice fish on bunny fur. The
problem was keeping folks focused on throwing streamers when we knew we could
catch fish on dry flies. We probably
fish streamers less than most years because of the epic dry fly fishing. Not a bad problem to have. When we did stay with the bunny fur we caught
some really big fish. The browns were
hungry in the pre spawn mode. The thing
we did not see was the big influx of true monsters coming out of the lake. We did have lake run fish but it was not as
noticeable as past years. It may be that
the river was colder than normal and when fall it the temps dropped even more. Our
thought is the big fish ended up spawning lower in the river than normal and
not making the big runs up river.
The late fall fishing stayed good till the end of
October. Streamers, nymphs and even dry
flies keep anglers happy and bent. We
had some great days with BWO’s in October.
These are days you dream about.
Overcast and spitting snow and rain, sailboat like dry flies dotting the
surface and heads behind each rock and on each slick. It is a great way to close out the season and
after one of these days an angler feels complete.
Generally we fish more dry flies this year than the past few
years. Was this due to the dam on the
Madison being fixed or the huge amount of snow we had in the mountains. We feel
it was a combination of both. Cold clean
water all season make fish happy and happy fish eat dry flies. It was an unbelievable year and one we will
never forget.
As we look forward to the 2019 season things are still
looking good. Our Madison River Dam is working great and the early season snow
pack is strong. Will this produce the
epic dry fly fishing of last year is anyone’s guess. Have a great Christmas season and lets float
a few flies in the New Year.
