Joel Thompson
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Thanks for the report and the great pictures Poudre! I am heading to the Big Horn on the 18th of Oct. with a group of friends and hope to be chucking a lot of streamers at some big Brown Trout! Hopefully I will have some pictures as good as yours to post when I return!
Zach if you like getting your hat handed to you come to Montana and fish the Missouri during a trico hatch! Huge fish with give the tail all day long!!
Moosedog
I am a guide in Western Montana and these are my tips for clients to insure a great time on the river.
1. Come prepared for changing weather. I pack a few extra clothes for clients just incase they forget something. Your comfort can sometimes make or break your day.
2. Be honest about your abilities. If your casting needs work it is better I try to help you before we get in the boat. We can accomplish a lot more casting on land and it can give you a lot more confidence once we hit the river.
3. Don’t get a big jag on the night before a fishing trip. There is nothing worse than a hung over client!! Not to mention the river doen’t always have the best places for you to do your business.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Guides are teachers by heart and love to share their knowledge with others.
5. Don’t worry about tangles and snags. It comes with the territory. We expect it and don’t mind getting you set up to fish again.
6. Listen to what your guide is telling you. This could keep you from getting tangled in the first place.
7. Keep your expectations real. Every guide wants you to catch fish!! However, somedays fish better than others and we have no control over that. That is why they call it fishing not catching!
8. Don’t get so focused on catching fish that you miss out on the beauty of the river your on. Sometimes you need to stop and look around and see just what a beautiful world we live in.
9. Never help a guide get his or her boat ready. We understand that you want to help because you are a nice person, but we have a routine and if someone else helps it is a good way to forget something.
10. Relax and have fun!!!! That is what you paid for after all and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that happens!!
Ok those are my top ten. I look forward to see others both from the guide stand point and the guided.
Moosedog
That’s a great idea Zach! Hey…aren’t you a writer?? I would be more than happy to give you my input if you want to make a book. As a guide I actually think a book like that would be an excellent resource.
Hi Guys! Thanks for all of the input. I ended up going with the Sage Launch. The guy I got it for never even casted it so I hope it works out for him. (You know how busy these Lawyer types are!) Anyhow he is off now on an eight day trip in the Bob Marshall wilderness so I guess I will find out in a week or so on how well I did picking out a rod for him. I casted it and thought it was a nice rod.
Thanks guys! I am having to buy this rod for our company lawyer and to be honest I am not real sure of his skill level. Makes it kind of tough. I am able to get really good deals on Sage and Winston thru my outfitter as that is the line he stocks so that is why I am considering the Winston but I wanted to be sure there wasn’t something better out there.
Moosedog
That’s a great looking fish snaggle tooth! How is the Madison fishing now that we have cooler weather? I haven’t been down there since May. Might be time for a road trip!
Hey mending machine!
It has cooled down nicely here! About 25 degrees here this morning and frosty. Warm springs is starting to fish very well. The Browns are getting fiesty! A great place, by the way, to use that spinner streamer you like. My buddies at the Kingfisher in Missoula created that bad boy! I was there the day they tested it in the toilet. We all refer to it as the “Heavy Metal Sculpin”. I will say the purest hate the thing, but I like the creative genius behind it. It’s amazing what a couple of beers after a hard week will do to peoples thought process!
Moosedog
Thanks for your input Zach! I have contacted Fishpond and William Joseph about their products and I will be getting all of my flies from Montana Fly Co. and Umpqua. I really appreciate your input on the other fly rod companies. Most of the people coming to the ranch are not that experienced in fly fishing. They are here more for the golf. However, I am going to try and change that! All the people that I have taken in my boat this summer are hooked on the sport of fly fishing. (No pun intended) I really want to have stuff in the shop that fits their needs the best. I’m the kind of guy who finds something that works great for me and never tries anything else so it is going to be a challenge for me to find what works for other people.
The fly shop will be for ranch members only. This will also make things tricky when it come to stocking the shop. I don’t want to be carrying over a ton of inventory year after year.
As far as selling other destinations off the ranch go I am not sure about that at this time. I like the idea of it, but we will just have to see what the future brings.
If you are ever in this part of Montana you will have to let me know and I will give you a tour. The ranch is an 80,000 acre working ranch at the base of the Flint Creek Mountains just outside of Deer Lodge. It’s pretty awesome!
Thanks again for your input Zach!
MoosedogHey Drifter!
That was a big leadeyed yellow bugger with some crystal flash and rubber legs tied into it. There were a lot of crayfish in the area I was fishing and that was the closest pattern I had with me. Sometimes ya just get lucky.The Big Horn has fished well all summer long. Lots of big fish this year. I had a friend that fished it in late July in 100 degree heat and the waters temps of the river were around 50. The group he was with didn’t catch anything under 16 inches. I’m heading that way in late Oct. with lots of streamers to mess with some of the big browns in there. Good luck and let me know how you faired. Oh by the way, while you are there go in and see the guys at the Big Horn Trout shop as they are by far the most in tune as to what is working.
I bought a new pair of the Simms boots this year that are made by Keen and absolutely love them. They are nice and light and have great support. And the thing that I like most about them is they dry out fairly quick. I am a guide and I am in and out of the raft a lot with clients so my boots take a beating during the summer. So far I have nothing but good to say about these boots. I think they retail for around a hundred bucks. If you are a guide you can pick them up on a pro deal for about half that price.
