Big Hole River, Melrose 351 cfs Big Hole River, Glen 408 cfs Beaverhead River 904 cfs (be sure to duck down low going under Grasshopper bridge)
Despite the hot weather and such the Big Hole River is holding up very well, it even came up a little from yesterday. It’s still a good idea to fish mornings and late afternoon leave em alone.
Late this afternoon we went up the Wise River to get into some cooler conditions. Don’t be fooled about the flow when you cross the bridge in Wise River and look down to see a very meager stream. About five miles upstream you will get above the head gates and the flow is excellent. As a matter of fact it’s still a bit too high for wading below Pattengail Ck. Above there it’s just about perfect. We caught a couple grayling, a couple bows and a few brooks. The biggest fish was about 11 inches but it was fun and cool. There is a potentially dangerous forest fire near the head of Pattengail Ck. We watched the smoke clouds billowing over the ridge to the west today. It was a bit unnerving as the fire was at least ten miles away but it seemed like it was just over the ridge. No ground crews have been sent in to this area as it’s very remote with heavy timber and no safety zones. Years past I ran a couple huntin camps in this area and there are places where the deadfall is so thick it needs a fire to clean it out. At times a fire is a good thing.
Hank and Eva from Andros Island, Bahamas left early this morning and were going to make a loop into Yellowstone Park on the way back to Billings. I gave them a map and showed them how to go in the west entrance and go through and go out the north east entrance and on to Billings. I totally forgot that going that way you have to go over Beartooth Pass which is the highest pass in Montana and Hank will freak out when he looks down at the clouds.