Trip Report: End of the Season

Today is the last day of the general fishing season on small streams here in Montana. To mark the occasion I decided to spend a short afternoon on the kayak. I headed to Foy Lake, a deep lake just outside of Kalispell. I've heard that this lake was good in the past, but has fallen off in the last few years.

My second cast enticed a beefy 15 or 16 inch rainbow from only a few feet off the shoreline. After I played him sufficiently I uncased my camera, turned it on, and tweaked the settings. As I raised the camera to snap the picture the fish gave a hard shake, undoing the hook, and swam away. This lake is around 150 feet deep at certain points and crystal clear. With deep drop offs and rocky shorelines this lake will definitely be on the list to check out when runoff has the rivers unfishable.

Foam Hoppers Galore

For the last few days I've been practicing my foam hopper patterns so that I can tie them for sale next summer. I had a little trouble at first but I think they're starting to come together!

 This is the gang. I'm going to tie a mason jar full of hoppers and one full of caddis patterns so that I can just grab a few any time I need them. Too often this summer I found myself tying up a quick few on my way out the door.

 I think these guys will do the trick.

 These split-wing foam hoppers are a little different style than the above pattern in that the wings are split and the white fluff gives the fly a "cashed" appearance.

I really like this pink, red, and purple split-wing. The purple and pink is a popular color combo here in Montana. I think the red fluff should be especially attractive to the monster cutthroats of the S. Fork of the Flathead! I think these hoppers should be good for a few of these late next summer...

Day Dreamin'

For the last hour I've been daydreaming about some of the cool places I've gotten to visit this past summer. Images of the Missouri River, Belt Creek, Glacier Nat'l Park, the Great Bear Wilderness, and more have been dancing around in my head, so I decided to go through some of my pictures and post a few that I didn't have room for in my fishing reports.

My buddy Brian took these pics at Sluice Box.

That's one big chunk of rock! I hope to return to Sluice Box soon for another shot at the stout bows and brownies that swim in the cold, clear waters of Belt Creek. 

 Only a stones throw from our new home (Kalispell), we'll be spending a lot of time at Glacier National Park.

There's great hiking...

Good Fishing...

Abundant wildlife...

And of course, the beautiful views! I'd like to get up to Glacier this winter for a little hiking through the snow, but I doubt the Saturn could handle the drive!

Some New Fly Patterns...

Long time no fish. No bites on the job front either. I've spent the last two weeks applying to all kinds of different jobs and haven't found the time or energy to get out and fish in the snow. I've also been tying flies for sale and trying some new patterns for personal use. While researching different fishing options in northwestern Montana I came across a few references to huge pike, like over 30lbs, so I decided to try some pike patterns.

I'm not sure if these will work well but then again pike will hit anything! I tied the back fly first, then threaded a piece of wire through the eye. I tied the wire down to the front hook, then tied the front fly like normal. In theory this will allow the back half to swing back and forth. I think my next attempt in this style will be a sculpin. 

This is a new grasshopper pattern that I'm working on. I've seen a version of it online, but this one is all foam. The second picture is of the last thing a trout sees. 

 These guys are the same only green with ice dubbed bodies. These will be a cutthroats worst nightmare.

I tied up a few of these guys too. I really enjoy tying these foam hoppers and tying them myself saves a lot of money as they are kind of expensive to buy. After tying the minnow and hopper patterns I started researching some alpine lake patterns.

I've heard that hopper patterns can be effective at higher altitudes, but ant patterns often prove more effective. I need to pick up some red foam too! After perfecting my ant pattern I started working on some chironomid emergers. These tiny wet flies make up a good portion of the trouts diet and can be very effective on high altitude lakes.  I didn't take any pics of these but I'm sure they'll make an appearance here soon!

As for fishing, I hope to get out at least once this week if just to see how the minnow patterns act under water. Stay tuned, maybe I'll surprise a fish or two!

Trip Report: Itchin' To Go Fishin'

The move to Kalispell this weekend went swimmingly, so on Monday I decided to take a quick exploratory trip west of town to chase the fishes. I did a lot more driving than fishing but I did manage to catch one colorful brookie. I also looked for some small lakes to fish in spring, when runoff is high, but all I found was moderate sized lakes surrounded by resort homes. 

After fishing at this relatively low position I moved higher into the snow. I wasn't even able to scare anything up in this spot but it did look really good. 

In this spot the river flowed down the side of the mountain, a series of short falls and pools. The pools averaged a little over a foot deep with some spots close to three feet deep. I did pull one nice little brookie out of a good pool. I hid behind a big rock and tossed a caddis dry into the water. I watched the lethargic brookies in this cold mountain stream lightly nip the fly. After numerous missed hook sets I switched to an olive hares ear. This did the trick and the trout took the fly just long enough for me to set the hook. I grabbed my camera and prepared the settings. As soon as I snapped the photo the camera shut off, never really capturing the picture. I fished this area for about 20 minutes and continued on to check out a few lakes.

Today I decided to go out for a short drive to kill some time before my interview this afternoon. First I stopped at a fishing access site on the Flathead River around five or six miles from our new place.

After a short walk at this spot I decided to head up to the mountains for a closer look.

The higher I got the nicer the houses became. I also ran into some idyllic settings.

 

It was nice to get out and explore, but all of the lakes that I found today ended up being private.