Gone Fishing-Montana-Day Seven

[Mike Cline]

October 5th, 2007
Today was one of those cold, nasty days that make you wish you booked your trip a few weeks earlier?  It wasn’t quite snowing in Twin Bridges, but in Dillon it was.  Overnight rain was enough to wash out some key roads that eliminated some probably more productive floats.  The float today was on the Big Hole near Melrose.  Water was clear and cold.  The fish didn’t budge until after lunch when the temps reached the low 40s.  After a wet, cold lunch on the riverbank, we finally settled on a pattern the browns liked—a purple, egg-sucking leech.  Throughout the afternoon, we got steady strikes and landed a couple of dozen 12-16” browns.  The big boys just weren’t moving for anything and there was no BWO hatch during the whole day.

Here’s me stripping Woolly Buggers.  It’s like going to church.

Here’s an interesting look at how fast the weather changes and the effect on the local fauna.

This an Ash tree in front of the Stonefly Inn at 8AM on Thursday morning.
http://venturist.com/images/MikeImages/TreeStoneFlyInn.wmv
This is the same tree with a video at 8AM

At 6PM on Thursday, the same tree, literally leafless.

Things change fast, but next week Twin Bridges will see 60 degrees and I suspect the fishing will be better.  It always is.

[chris scott]

I bet those scenes are all white today.

[Tim Angeli]

Mike,
I almost feel bad for you…after a handful of weeks of being back in the grind at college I’d kill for a couple 12-16″ browns, much less a couple dozen.

Great reports, I’m glad to see that it looks to be a fun trip so far.

[Author]

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