Big Hole River 1970 cfs, temp. 52.3, visibility 3 feet
Some things you might want to do and some things you don’t want to do when your fishing with a guide. Before you start your day have as much of your gear ready as possible. Have your rod and reel set up with a leader. The guide will check it to see if it is appropriate for that day’s fishing. The reason for doing this is to save time and get on the river and start fishing. Especially when there are two of you it takes time if the guide has to assemble the rod and reel and tie on leader and tippet. This is time that could be spent fishing. If the guide is rigging up one rod, help him out by rigging up the other rod. My favorite item is that combo rod, reel case. You can have every thing set up and just pull it out of the case and your ready to fish. When there are two of you, learn how to cast as not to be tangled up with each other. Usually it’s up to the guy in the back to watch. When you do get tangled (and you will) many times it’s a complete chop job especially when your fishing with two fly’s as we often do. After the guide has rerigged your rod, don’t be flip floppin it around or trying to cast unless he tells you to. Most of the time you will be anchored next to the bank and the fly’s will end up in the willow ten feet above your head. If you do this too often the guide will start to take sneak peeks at his watch and you know what that means. There have been times when I have tied on three or four setups and the boat never moved. Another thing that will irritate the hell out of your guide is if you have a tangled up mess and you dangle it in front of his face while he is rowing through a tricky part of the river.
The only fishing I did today was a few moments ago just above the house. I caught three on a skwala and then switched to chernoble ant type pattern just for the hell of it and instantly got a 14 inch grayling, which is a big grayling. I had a couple more refuse it and that was it for my fish fix for the day. The river is in exellent condition and the caddis should be here soon.