Big Hole River 2220 cfs
The river is still rising and the visibility is down to about a foot. The ice is breaking up on the upper river and as soon as it’s gone it should start clearing up some. When the river is at this level and the visibility gets to two or three feet is a great time to go hunting for the big boys. You can usually find them tight on the banks and big streamers are the ticket.
Even though the river didn’t look very good this morning we decided since it was a nice day we would do a short R&D trip anyway. I just got my Hyde drift boat back from the factory where they repaired some battle scars and did a complete overhaul. I will have to say they did a great job. So I wanted to put it in the river and test it out. When we left we didn’t expect to catch anything at all. We floated for about two hours and had a few hits and managed to boat a 15 and 19 inch brown trout on a olive streamer. This was actually quite good. When we launched there was grass, branches and chunks of ice floating by and the water temp. was only 35—not the most ideal conditions. It was fun as this was my first float trip down the river since I returned from Andros Island and I’m just coming down from my bonefish high. I was trying to go back to Andros next week to catch just a couple more bones but none of my friends would loan me the money. I pleaded that I needed one more bonefish fix before I get into the trout fishing for the season, but to no avail. They told me that I was getting so obsessed that I needed counseling and professional help and I responded that Herman there on Andros could take care of all that and make me feel much better—-that didn’t work either.
Dan Delekta from Bear Tooth Lodge on the Madison said that river is still in good shape and the fishing is good on streamers and nymphs.
Chuck Robbins from Dillon reports the Beaverhead is muddy as Blacktail Creek and Grasshopper Creek are really muddy.
The Missouri below Holter Dam is running fairly high at 5500 cfs but the fishing is good.
Some times I think these guys who operate on tail water rivers have got it made as they know where the fish are every day and don’t worry about runoff. But to me it’s a challange fishing a freestone river like the Big Hole where almost every day is different with the rising and falling flows and weather conditions.