once you get in….you can’t get out
What about the title you ask? Well when you check out the photos we will edit in this blog entry later you will see what I mean. I hit the river this afternoon and once I got in, I could not get out. The snowdrifts off the shoreline were so high in places that once I got in I could only get out by wading long distances to a spot where the drifts cleared. In the hardened snowdrifts measure over 12 feet high and since I didn't bring climbing gear I was forced to fish upstream for as much as 200 yards before finding a low spot in the drifts which allowed me to climb out of the water. The fishing was great and I ended up with several nice rainbows that came to nymphs and dry midge patterns.
Too, you will see a shot of blood on the ice shelf along the river....along with lots of otter tracks. Most times this spot offers up some wonderful winter fishing, but if the otter(s) has recently been there the fish move out of the run and into mid-river and become very spooky......I've watched this otter and family on many occasions and have had the large male swim between my legs fishing late in the evening during summer caddis times. He is huge, over 60" from nose to tip of the tail, and almost black in color but I wish he'd not be such an efficient predator on my beloved fish here. On a side-note, a very good friend of mine did his masters work on otters in the Madison and found their favorite food to be stonefly nymphs followed by whitefish and then trout. On another note, the whitefish population in the Madison River has crashed and this has biologists very concerned. A study is forthcoming so stay tuned here.
Back to today's fishing. Jackie and I headed to Ennis this morning for a late morning breakfast at the Ennis Pharmacy. Returning home around 10am we stopped on our bridge and could see a couple small rainbows nymphing in the currents behind a bridge abutment. I came home and got my gear and headed down to the river near Wolf Creek. There I located a pocket with a couple rising trout and took one on a Skittering Zelon Midge. In the run below I scored another on the same fly before busting a good brown off on the same fly. I sat on water and did not see another trout come up so changed to a #16 red Copper John and trailed a #20 Slough Creek Midge Larva behind and took another half dozen rainbows, one a beautiful male before the winds drove me for shelter. I took a shot of the larger rainbow which will be edited herein. The rainbows are jsut now getting their spawning colors and this male's kype was just beginning to hook.
The forecast is for warm weather all week so stay tuned for more reports to follow. This is the time of winter when the trout really come up for midges, both clumps and emerging adults so you should be ready with adults tied with trailing shucks like G Gnat Emergers and standard and Skittering Zelon Midges. Cluster patterns like our Hi Viz Midge Cluster and sometimes the Griffiths Gnat work well too. Give us a call before making the trip to check on river and weather conditions if heading this way.
The Otters Don't seem to have any problems with the banks.
A quick shot of a nice rainbow before it was released.
Comments
Great shots Craig. I remember some banks like that in the Arkansas in Colorado. Here on the coast it’s rain, flooding rivers and 55 degree temps. Want to trade?
By Kirk Giloth on 01/17 2011
Great blog! See you in the Spring…
ed
By drumznfishes on 01/20 2011
Holy smokes, John J catching 120 plus on the Firehole and now we have 5 foot otters swimming through legs? What’s that saying, you can’t BS a BS’er… You guys hurry up and get down to some warm weather and sunshine. Stay warm.
By Rich on 01/21 2011
It hit. 70 this week for a day in Carmel. A friend caught a 32 in steelhead in the lagoon the other day. N o rain so fishing has stopped due to minimal flow requirements. No snow in sight. see you after the 4 th of July.
By John brazinsky on 01/29 2011
Great job on the changes to the web site. You both are an asset tot the sport and the enviorment Craig and Jackie. Thanks for all your efforts, advice and time in passing it on.
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