Flexibility

We were planning to hit the Stone again this weekend but when we woke Saturday and looked at the weather, Nathaniel and I were in agreement that it might fish well but it would absolutely suck trying to deal with the wind and snow. I just looked at Stuart Dominick's post on face book and I couldn't be happier with the decision to head West to the Lower Madi.

The snow is definitely welcomed as the last I heard, we were at about 85% of normal snow-pack. All that can change with a couple good storms in the mountains though and it looks like we are going to get some good precipitation heading into the week; pretty much state-wide. Bring it on. We need a wet Spring for sure.

As often the case this time of year, (especially with the temps being so cold lately,) the fishing was slow to begin with. We put in at Warm Springs and didn't land a fish until the old bridge abutment a couple miles down-river. The worms and crayfish made another early season showing as Nathaniel was more than happy to prove again, so once Scott, (neighbor down here in Bozeman,) got re-rigged with the steel and the pink, he started hitting fish too. This was his first; a nice twenty-inch brown on the pink worm. His last fish of the day was another twenty-plus--two of the biggest browns I've seen on the Madison. We also caught two brookies...weird.

Nathaniel played 'guide' pretty much all day, which was really nice as I got to fish a bunch. It was also a little humbling since I couldn't even touch a fish for most of the day and both Scott and Nathaniel were making quite the showing; Nathaniel when we would stop to wade fish. However, I was throwing streamers most of the day and looking for heads, which I was handicapping myself. At one point we stopped off on a sunken island and turned over some rocks and found a number of black and golden stonefly nymphs. So we tried one of each and again, Nathaniel started crushing them on the goldens and I couldn't buy a fish...give me that f'n worm rig!

I did start fishing the worm and the golden stone rig and started putting a fair number of fish in the net. We hit a couple spots where there was just enough cover from the wind and just enough bugs and found some fish up eating midges and BWO's too. In one spot I hooked probably a half-dozen fish before they stopped eating on the foam line. I literally think I touched every fish on that line. Nathaniel was content with netting and watching while he drank his beer. That's a valuable friend to have. Just sayin...

Today I head back up North to Wolf Creek and the Mo. I'm going to be pretty busy guiding for the next couple weeks and hopefully can pick up a bunch of days in May to keep me busy. My June and July are looking promising and I'm feeling good heading into the season. I could always use more though so come on out!

Keep 'em where they live...