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Fly Fishing in Montana-Not Just a Summer Activity!
I got my truck stuck three times, stood out in the snow for five hours and had a three-hour, white-knuckle drive back to Big Sky in white-out conditions.
Normally, this would not sound like a very fun day. But throw in the fact that my arm was sore from landing fish and all those other things start to vanish. Welcome to winter fly fishing in Montana!
As Jonathan (Lone Mountain Ranch sous chef) and I approached the world-famous walk-and-wade section of the Madison River near Ennis, it appeared that things were in order for a great day on the water. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast in the Ranch Dining Room, temperatures were predicted to be between 30 and 40 degrees, there was slight cloud cover with snow starting to fall lightly and it looked like the road on the other side of the Madison had been plowed to reach the fishing access point. Unfortunately, after turning off the highway and starting to head down towards the river, I quickly realized that only a couple of other vehicles had been down the road, and the snow was more than a foot deep. With the parking lot about 100 yards away, we plowed through a snow drift and I suddenly felt my tires being sucked out of the main tracks. We came to a sudden stop! Luckily, we were not stuck too badly. With the help of a bucket and using floor mats for extra traction under the tires, we moved on.
With the Madison River so close you could feel it, we hit an even bigger snow drift that got us stuck far worse than the last one. After twenty minutes of digging, pushing, struggling, and a few choice words, I asked Jonathan to start calling his friends in Ennis because I figured that we were not going anywhere. Thinking that our day of fishing was ruined, I continued to dig around the tires and under the truck. After moving a substantial amount of snow, I wanted to give it one more try. With a little luck and strong thoughts of fishing on our minds, we broke free.
After taking a few deep breaths and calming down after fighting with the elements, we began to bundle up and string up our rods. As Jonathan has repeatedly told me, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear." Fortunately, after putting on many layers and my waders, I settled in and was comfortable.
Since I had recently had success using a big Girdle Bug and a Prince Nymph on the Gallatin, I figured I would start with that. Jonathan went with a streamer trailed by a small Bead-Head Nymph. After about four casts, I had a healthy 17-inch Madison River Rainbow on the end of my line, and I could barely remember that we were stuck in a snow drift just fifteen minutes earlier.
Heading back to the truck five hours later, we had each experienced an epic afternoon. I did not switch flies all day, I lost track of the number of fish I landed after fifteen, and only three or four of the fish were under fifteen inches with everything else ranging in that feisty 15-18 inch range. Jonathan landed at least ten fish and took the biggest one of the day with a beautiful 20-inch Brown Trout.
There are two take-aways from this story: First, fly fishing is a year round activity in Montana. One can escape the crowds of summertime, and winter is one of the few times of the year when trout can be taken on nymphs, streamers, and dries. Opportunistic trout will take little or big meals presented along the bottom and we'll see Midge activity on top along with Blue-Winged Olives hatching as we get closer to springtime. The second is to scout the snowy road before driving down it and make sure it is passable.
So throw those chains and the snowshoes in the back of the truck and enjoy the many winter fly fishing opportunities that the greater Yellowstone region has to offer!
John McKinnie works in the fly fishing program and is an avid fisherman. Call him in the Outdoor Shop at 406-995-4734 to set up a fly fishing trip.
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