Joel Thompson
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I would recommend seeing a physical therapist and I would also looking into getting into Spey casting. I know quite a few guys who thought they would have to give up fly fishing due to injuries and learned how to Spey cast and it kept the love of fly fishing alive for them. Plus just think of the new gear you can buy! 😉
If that doesn’t work for ya take Dr. Nealpod’s advice. 🙂 But I would suggest coming to Montana to go to the clinic in person. Missoula is a great town and there is LOTS of great fishing in the area. Of course right now it is all ice but come March we will have some good fishing!
Joel
All I can say is…..LET IT SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not up for going through yet another dry summer filled with forest fire smoke! I want a huge snow pack this year and if that furry little bastard can bring it too me I say BRING IT!!!! Plus I am going snowmobiling tomorrow and I want a big powder day!
More snow = better fishing all summer long!!
Hey Gregg!
I don’t want to high jack your post but I had a quick question for you and I thought you would look back to this post. During my stay in Puerto Rico I am going to be staying a couple of nights in a beach house in Luquillo. Is there any good fishing in that area that you know of?
Thanks Gregg!
Joel
Drifter…that photo made me laugh. Â It looks like I am blatantly trespassing on private water. Â HA…
Nice cover up there Cam! We all know the truth! Drifter was probably putting on a little fishing clinic and you were tired of not catching anything so you did what you had to do. Ya, that’s how it probably REALLY went down.
John do you have pictures? My brother in law talks about his old Fenwick every time we go fishing and it might be fun to surprize him with this.
Joel
Eric, you should be fine as far as run off goes by the end of June. As far as hatches go you will see a lot of Golden Stones and maybe a few left over Salmon Flies. June is big bug month for sure!
Joel
My buddy Ron Snow commissioned my Mom to paint this for him. It is a water color of one of our favorite fishing holes near the ranch. She finished it this week and I stopped by to take a picture for Ron. I thought you guys would enjoy it as well.
That was pretty cool of Nicholas Cage to go fishing with you  😮
I cannot imagine what one of those things would feel like. Â What size rods were you using?
Are you talking about the first picture? I can’t wait to tell Tom that!
I used a ten foot eight weight Sage Z-Axis. It worked great! One of my buddies had the same rod and the rest were using nine foot eight weights.
Joel
I will be over as soon as I get the call from Clint. Â This time, I will stay for two or three days…………….
Hopefully you can get one of them off-Clint and I will show you some synchronized fishing. Â It will blow your mind.
BTW-If you do have a client, don’t bring him around us……..word to the wise.
What are you talking about? Clint loves it when I have clients around. A) It makes him feel like a rock star and B) I am able to take his picture for him with big fishies. 🙂
That sounds great Lando! Give me as much notice as to the day you are coming so I can make sure to get it off. There are only two things that will screw me up. One I take my outfitters exam in April sometime (I will let you know the date as soon as I do) and two if I have a client on that day. With enough notice I can work around the second one.
Beer and pizza sounds great!
Tim the double bead headed golden stone was money and so was a size 16 pheasant tail. Now I personally would not have even thought of using the pheasant tail but after watching the boat ahead of use pull out four or five fish I swallowed my pride and asked what the fish ate. Nice guys that they were they happily replied the pheasant tail.
Joel
I know a pretty good place to hit, but then Clint and Joel would kill me.
Hit the Big Horn, or bum around Bozo.
Wise choice Lando!
Conner there is a lot of good advice here. I know that the Missouri, the Big Horn, and the Beaverhead can all fish really well that time of year but so can the Clark Fork the Bitterroot and the lower stretches of Rock Creek. I would not recommend the Blackfoot though. I takes about a month longer before it starts fishing very well. The Clark Fork and the Bitterroot have the years first Skwalla hatch. It can be a very happy thing. The weather can be sunny and nice one minute and a white out the next though so bring lots of layers. A big saying around here is “if you don’t like the weather wait a minute”. It is never more true than in the spring of the year.
The MO Club does have a very good burger not to mention lots of local color. I am sure you would not be disappointed!
Joel
I have worn my shirt twice to fish in but it has been so bloody cold that the shirt never makes it to the top layer! Oh, but I have some ideas…one of them involves a poodle, a circus monkey and shamu the killer whale! Uh, was that out loud?
Jim the water was pretty easy to cover if you are a descent roll caster. The toughest part about fishing the Trinity for me was it was a pretty narrow river and there are LOTS of big trees on the banks. It was hard for me in the beginning because I am use to having plenty of room to through casts. After catching a few trees I was a roll casting machine! Any how to answer your question we used the boat to float to deeper runs and then fished under indicators trying to get as long a drift as we could.
Neal, I used 2x flourocarbon leader and tippet. The only fish that broke me off was do to me catch a tree right before that and then not checking my line. The 10 ft Z-axis has a nice soft tip that really seamed to protect the tippet when fighting fish.
Joel
Yuhina I like the touch of comedy you have added to your paints! Not something you see very often! Nice touch!
Joel
Sure would be nice to see some of the photos from the photo guys on the site!
It is funny you mention a River Runs Through It Gregg because the Big Blackfoot River is the river that that book was writen about! I assume you will be flying into Missoula, right? If that is the case you will be driving up hwy 200 along the Blackfoot until you get to hwy 83 which is the road that takes you to Seeley Lake. Pay special attention to a river called that Clearwater right before you get to hwy 83. There is a dirt road that follows the Clearwater to its confluence with the Blackfoot River. There is some good fishing right in that area.
I would set your rod up with floating line and a 9ft tapered 5x leader. For bugs I would be thinking terrestrials like hoppers, ants, and beetles and some kind of attractor pattern like a madam x. Off of your bigger dry flies I would drop a size 16 cooper john, pheasant tail, or flashback hares ear. If that doesn’t work than try the Montana prince nymph in a green size 12. If that doen’t work try the San Juan worm in either Red, brown, or pink.
If you are flying into Missoula I would recommend stopping at the Kingfisher Fly Shop to pick up your bugs or some more advice. They are great guys and will give you good help.
Joel
Gregg, the weather is going to be in the high 80’s to mid 90’s more than likely. The fishing could be hit or miss depending how long it has been hot and dry. Seeley is a great little town. I think you will like the double arrow as well. Morrel creek runs right through their golf course and is a good fishing little steam. Since you are a bonefishing guide you are probably more into flat water? If so there are a TON of great fishing lakes in the area. I think you can rent float tube in the town of Seeley and if you can I would recommend Rainy Lake and Clearwater lake. Both are about 20 to 25 minutes from town. No motorized boats allowed on either of those two lakes and they hold some nice big trout. You will also be close to the Big Blackfoot river and the Clearwater river. The Blackfoot has been really slow in August the past few years. When you get closer to the date send me a P.M. and I will give you a report.
Hope that helps a little Gregg.
Joel
Damn that is nice Paul! I was really hoping you would post something on this thread. I have been to your site many times and dream of the day I catch the fish and capture it on film so I can have you paint it up for me! 🙂
Joel
