2007 Blog

June 27, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

Sara and I fished the Madison around West Fork this afternoon for a couple of hours, and had some of the best dry fly fishing that I've seen in a while. Fish seem to want nothing more than to eat a dry fly right now, regardless of the time of day. We fished a few different caddis patterns to both likely spots and spotty risers, and found quite a few fish willing to participate. As is usually the case, Sara stuck the biggest fish, an 18" brown.

June 26, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

I ran up to fish the Gallatin in the park for a few hours this afternoon. I fished the stretch around the confluence of Daly Creek, and found a spattering of PMD's, Caddis, Golden Stones, and one or two Salmonflies. Very few fish rose consistently. But it seemed that if a fish rose, and you got a good drift over him, he'd eat regularly.

June 25, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

Back to the Madison today for another guide trip with the infamous Brack Hill Tackle Boys (and ladies). Al Visgar and I floated from Windy (aptly named these days) to Mcatee. Unfortunately yeaterday's wind hasn't completely blown itself out. We dealt with some blow in the afternoon, but nothing like the day before, and the fishing showed. Fish were looking up for salmonflies very well for a couple of hours around mid-day, and for caddis before and after that. Thanks for a great time Al. We'll do it again on Friday.

June 24, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

I had the great pleasure of guiding the Madison today. The wind blew about as hard as it possibly can, but we still managed to have a fun day fishing Salmonflies, PMD's, and caddis. Fishing was obviously a challenge with the big blow, but Mel and Dave persevered and managed to get some nice fish. Thanks for a great day guys. I look forward to doing it again when it doesn't feel like "a nuke went off in Bozeman".

June 18, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

The evening, and anytime for that matter, caddis fishing on the Madison has started in earnest. Evening emergences have started to bring some fish to the surface, but mornings and afternoons have also seen plenty of rising fish. So, I jumped in above the West Fork this afternoon at 5:00pm and began to blind fish with a size 16 X-Caddis. The river remains as low as it's been since 1931, and fish seemed to taking advantage of the low water by eating every piece of surface food available. I rose a good number of fish in several different spots along the way to the Eagle's Nest. Salmonflies are on the way up the float stretch. I'll have to get down there to check them out - Stay Tuned.

June 15, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

The railroad Ranch section of the H-Fork opened today, and after an entire off-season of speculation and anticipation, I ran down to see how the river survived another winter. This was the fourth winter in a row where flows had remained relatively high, and my hopes have been equally high that those big pods of 12-14" fish from last fall had had a chance to stay healthy and maybe pack on an inch or two. I hit the upper ranch parking lot at 8:00am and hiked well down towards Millionaire's. Unfortunately, the skies were bright and a slight breeze had the water ripped up in places. Despite the sun, Pmd's, caddis, and an occasional Green Drake floated down, and fish could be seen rising to them in a quite a few spots. Now, many of those fish were definitely small guys, and there weren't nearly the numbers of fish that we saw in the glory days, but there were definitely some legitimate opportunities. I found a short section above millionaire's where a small group of what appeared to be good fish rose pretty consistently, and worked into position just up and across from them. After trying several different pmd patterns, I rose one fish to a size 16 pmd emerger with a foam bubble back. Several good jumps later I had a plump 17" H-Fork rainbow. Over the course of the morning I found two other groups of fish to work to. One group yielded a fiesty 14" fish, and the other never gave me the time of day. It's tough to say after one morning session on the water, but it seems like the river has made a small step forward from last season, but we still have a long way to go before we see the river old. In the meantime, though I'm excited to see what the rest of the season brings.

June 12, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

Back to the Firehole this morning to milk a few more fish out of the PMD activity. Temperatures are slowly starting to warm. So, I've been focusing my efforts on the upper river near Biscuit Basin. PMD spinners continue fall sporadically in the early mornings and duns emerge by mid to late morning. Rising fish numbers were good at the bottom of the meadow where the river bends into the trees, but the activity didn't last for much more than an hour and a half. The best pattern seemed to be a size 18 olive foam back hackle spinner.

June 8, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

Geoff Unger and I snuck down to the Madison for a float today from Pallisades to Story Ditch. We'd both heard reports of dry fly fishing with a variety of attractors starting to produce good fish. So, we thought we'd check out the prospects. The weather remained cool and breezy throughout the day, and we got nailed by one passing rain squawl. Dry fly fishing was sporadic at best with a # 14 Royal Wulff Cripple and a #16 PMX. With flows continuing at record low rates, we found the best fishing in the deepest runs and pools with nymphs like a Macro Madison and a Crystal Serendipity.

June 6, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

I spent today on a guide trip with long time guide client Chuck Cadman and his son Greg. We had a great day wondering around the Firehole and Madison in the park. Early morning winds made things interesting, but we managed to find some fish on white miller emergers, pmd's, and even a streamer or two. We finished with a few salmonfly fish from the Madison by the Eagle's Nest. Thanks for another great day guys. I'm looking forward to next time.

May 31, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

It's been a crazy week weather-wise around West Yellowstone. A storm rolled in on Memorial Day Monday and dropped 3-4 inches of fresh snow on the Madison Valley. That system passed through, and now we're left with beautiful weather. It was warm and calm this morning. So, I ran up to grasshopper bank on the Madison. I arrived around 8:00am and saw a few small fish rising sporadically to midges, and an occasional baetis spinner. I crossed and worked up the far bank with a size 20 hackle spinner and caught two 10" browns right away. Twenty more yards passed by before I saw another rise. It was a nicer (15") brown tight to a weed bed. He refused me on the first drift. On the seond attempt a was a bit zealous on the front cast and the pile drived spinner spooked him. I worked upstream for another hour and found a handful of rising fish, catching about half of them and sending the other half running for Hebgen.

May 26, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

Today was the Yellowstone National Park opener. I've been driving in to lust over the Firehole for a couple of weeks, and today was finally my chance to hop in and feel a couple of fish pull. I fished the picnic area with what's becoming our opening day crew (Franny Gough, John Juracek, the original Larry and Cecil). We hit the water a bit late as Cecil needed to gorge himself on pancakes at the Running Bear. It was 10:00am before we pulled into the parking lot at the garbage can. Fish were rising when we arrived to emerging caddis, and an iris caddis rose quite a few fish right off the bat. After about forty five minutes, good numbers of pmd's began to emerge, and the fish switched promptly. For the next hour and a half, a size 16 pmd sparkle dun (or probably any other size 16 dry fly for that matter) caught any fish that you presented it to. It was awesome! We fished until early afternoon, and called it quits on account of wind and copious amounts of fish caught.

May 19, 2007 - Steve Hoovler

It's opening day in Montana, and I headed down to float the Madison from Lyons to Pallisades for the first time this season. It was a bit of a birthday float for Les Brunton. Despite a stiff wind from the south the river fished well. Nymphing was consistent through the morning with rubberlegs and small nymph droppers. By afternoon we switched to dries, and rose quite a few fish (mostly smaller) with a size 14 Royal Wulff Cripple.