Creek season has begun

I’ve been waiting for this day for about 6 months. Creeks are finally open again. Something about being on smaller water just feels right to me. The creek we fished today in particular is one of my favorites. Beautiful scenery, close to home, very challenging fishing.


Run off is in full effect. Looking at the flow charts however, it seems to be tapering off already. Not a great omen for our fire season but, it makes the water a bit more fishable. Chad got into a nice rainbow in the first spot we tried.

I started fishing a San Juan worm but, after Chad got into his trout he gave me a streamer pattern he was using. Not long after…

My first brown trout. Beautiful fish came in at 13″. Every time I fish the Amago I find new ways to cast. Especially when using non-traditional fly patterns. The fish really hammered the fly, thanks to Chad’s extensive experience he got the very deep-set hook out and the fish lived to fight another day.
Shortly after, Chad got in the same hole I pulled the brown out of and found himself a rainbow.



Gorgeous fish.

We moved on to our third spot of the day. Getting to some of the best looking water was a bit challenging…


As I said before, the runoff is in full effect…

After taking a spill and losing my glasses (so long Peppers. You served me well) I threw a San Juan worm in the last hole of the day. On about the third cast I had a strike, set the hook and the fish didn’t budge. It spit the hook, I cast a few more times, then got out of the way to let Chad give it a go with a streamer. Good decision…


18″ of trout. A great way to end an evening on the water.

Welcome back creek fishing. We missed you. Happy angling everyone.

Rock Creek with Matt

Matt texted last night, while I was out riding some single track on my Pugsley (be jealous…), and asked if I’d be interested in getting some line wet. There are some perks to having Mondays and Tuesdays off. I picked him up at 4:30 and we headed out to Rock Creek.

At least two tenkara rods out on the Creek today. I started with a Montana Prince. After dragging through a few nice holes I managed to lose it to a snag. I switched over to a San Juan worm a friend tied. I’ve had no luck in any of my attempts to fish the SJ but, so many of my friends claim that it’s money I keep coming back to it. Finally, they were right. I got into a big ol’ trout. Sadly, I didn’t get a picture. I was having a hard time getting the hook out of his mouth and he managed to break my tippet and get back in the water.

I’ve had a few issues with my fish releases the last couple times out and I’m pretty disappointed about it. I’m not opposed to people keeping fish but, I practice catch and release. The thought that maybe a couple of the fish I’ve had the privilege to catch could have been released a bit quicker/more gently bums me out. I’ll be doing my best to improve that aspect of my angling moving forward.

It was a gorgeous day on the water.

Warm enough that neither Matt or I wore waders. He was brave enough to just rock shorts and his Vibrams. I picked up a pair of Simms guard socks. I absolutely loved them and couldn’t be happier about the purchase.

While I was tromping around I came across this fish in a small side channel.

It certainly didn’t seem like it was in great shape. Couldn’t tell if it had been injured by another animal or if it was just exhausted from trying to get up-stream. After my poor release of my earlier catch this bummed me out a bit as well. Amazing how a year ago I didn’t give fish a second thought and now I have such an appreciation for them.

On my way out I through a San Juan worm in the same hole I caught the first fish. Part of me wanted to catch the same fish from earlier in the trip and make sure it had spit the hook. While that didn’t happen I did get into another nice fish. This time around I managed a decent pic, removed the hook and released the fish in a short space of time. Nice finish to the trip.

I didn’t exactly wear the Simms socks as intended. Consequently, the logo on them left a nice mark on my calf. Just when I think I couldn’t look like a bigger dork…

Great afternoon on the water with a friend. Some beers, some fish, and some thoughts on which to reflect. Happy angling.

An evening on RC

What a fun weekend. Friday, I had a chance to briefly meet Daniel of TenkaraUSA. He’s always seemed like a very genuine, nice guy and meeting him in person didn’t change that for me. It sounded like tenkara was well received at the Orvis Down The Hatch Festival here in Missoula. Glad to know there are people other than us in the area interested in this super fun method of fishing.

Today, Chad and I hit Rock Creek for some early evening fly fishing. I found quickly that my cheapo waders have a hole in them somewhere but a wet foot and leg didn’t put an end to the fun.

We were getting skunked when Chad started dragging a big ugly streamer through the hole in the above pictures and hooked in to this…

A beauty that measured out at 16″. On our way out we came on a nice hole with a deep pool next to a tree root. I put a Montana Prince through it a few times with no result. I was about to call it quits when Chad said “I believe…” And before the words were out of his mouth I watched a flash and felt the strike. Dragged a nice 13.5″ trout out and called it a day. Chad got a photo, hopefully he’ll send it my way and I can update this post. For now, here’s a (poor) video of the release. Note to self, point the camera down more when videoing under water.

*Update* Chad sent over this pic proving I did actually catch a fish

All in all, a fun few hours on the water with a good friend. I even got around to smoking the excellent cigar my former coworkers gave me as a going away gift (thanks UM MFCU folks!).

Happy angling!

Let’s tie one on…

I’ve taken the next step in angling. I picked up a vise from my friend Bones (thanks Bones!), got some tools and materials from my friend Thurston (thanks Thurst!) and today I tied my first fly. It’s an ugly beast but it’s mine.

Material choice was purely based on laziness. The yellow thread was on the bobbin Thurst gave me. The hook was loose in the box, and the hackle, well, it seemed like a decent size. As Matt told me on Facebook yesterday when I posted a pic of the vise, this rabbit hole is going to be fun to jump down…

Happy angling… and tying!

Last trip for a while

Spring runoff is starting to get in gear in my area. Matt and I headed out to Kelly Island to see if we couldn’t get in to some fish. No luck. The water is super murky and as it was a gorgeous evening in Missoula, there were many other folks who had the same idea. Fighting for space on the water is not my idea of fun. We packed it in after about an hour and a half, and in my case four flies lost to hidden snags in the Clark Fork, had a beer and headed home. As I mentioned in a previous post, I picked up a new camera. Pics should be a bit better than when I was using the cheapo cam. Enjoy and if you’re lucky enough to still have fishable water in your area…

Happy Angling.

Blog pics just got a whole lot better

In my last trip report, I mentioned that my camera batteries died and I missed getting a pic of the rainbow I caught. That was the last straw. I stopped by Costco and picked up a Fuji FinePix XP60. I passed on the model by Panasonic that had GPS. Anglers are supposed to be secretive of where they go after all…

It came with an 8GB memory card, neoprene case, and a floating lanyard. So look for some improved pics soon. Should be getting out Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully the warm weather doesn’t cause the runoff to blow the rivers out just yet…

Happy angling!

Sun, snow, and a rainbow trout.

Waking up to snow on the ground and very low temps was not what I was hoping for today. The great thing about fishing with Thurston though is that even if the fishing sucks I know the beer will be good.

We had originally planned on heading down the ‘Root but after seeing this pic on twitter we revamped our itinerary. We went west of town a bit to Council Grove park. Very near Thurstons place, it has some big water and channels, all part of the Clark Fork.

It was clearly a dreary day. We had wind, snow and clouds cycling through with varying intensity. As we explored the different channels we saw a few fish rising in this hole.

While we had no luck the first time through we doubled back and hit it again on our way out. I pulled out a 13″ rainbow on a Utah killer bug. Thurston snagged one that looked to be even bigger but it released before he could get it in hand.

Sadly, the batteries had died in my cheapo camera before I landed the fish. That will probably be enough to push me over the edge into buying a new camera. Oh well.

It was a fun day on the water, landed my first trout of the season and got to drink a beer or two with a buddy. That’s a win in my book.

We climbed the bank to scope out the hole we’d had luck in when I realized I had my cell phone with me. Amazing how quickly you stop thinking of your phone as a usable device after you switch back to a dumb phone.


Happy Angling!