Yep, it rained like crazy for a few days over in Missoula, which pretty much blew out any fishable water for a week. Being a little bored and not wanting to row my boat and try to fish at the same time, I jumped the pass and headed to the Blackfoot anyway. Not the smartest of moves? Maybe not...but I had a friend meeting me in Lincoln for dinner so I brought my rod and gear and figured I'd try some fishing anyway. I jumped in just up-stream from Lincoln and although the flow was about twice as high as normal for this time of year, it was coming down and the water was clearing up. It was still off a little but a good few feet of visability anyway. That can be good this time of year. The fish are hungry and although you probably won't get them to come up to a dry fly, they will eat something big and ugly if you put it in front of them. I fished for a few hours, half of it trying to figure out what they would eat, and put a half dozen to the net. All were in the 15 to 18 inch range, which is good for the upper Blackfoot and missed about a dozen more. It was fun and worth the change of pace. (And dinner was nice too..) The thing about fly-fishing this time of year is it can be frustrating. However, one can have some pretty good days even though it might seem a like a little more work but isn't that why we fly fish and not throw spinners or bait? It's the challenge of trying to trick a trout to eat something either you tied, or you picked out of a store because they think it's food, not because it triggers some inate response or because it is in fact food. You're trying to get in their head so-to-speak, and figure out where they are and what they are looking for. A trip this time of year begins with deciding what river to fish and where to fish it given the conditions and goes through trying out just about every fly in the box if need be. The better one is at figuring out where to go and what's happening on that particular river at that particular time, the fewer flies he/she has to tie on before there's success. When I went out on the Blackfoot, I knew there could be skwalas. I also knew it would be at least a little off colored. I took a box of streamers and a box of stoneflies. I threw about 5 different bugs before finding one that attracted any attention. After that first flash of a cutty and the first tug of a drive-by and near miss, I knew they would eat as long as the color and the size was right, (and you put it right in front of them.) I kept the one streamer on and then trailed it with another bugger I tied as a skwala looking nymph. It took a little while to dial in but that's again, the cool thing about fly fishing. You have to work a little for it and figure things out and that's why I love fishing small streams and other rivers on my days off. It's not just about catching dozens of fish; it's about recognizing the conditions and the environment/ecology and figuring out what the fish will eat. Have fun out there and don't be afraid of getting skunked in order to try new things and always remember, keep 'em where they live; in the water not in the trees.
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