The Montana Dream

Many of us have found out how ridiculously easy it is to catch fish on the Missouri this year by sitting in eddies and scum lines and absolutely wrecking fish. It's a no-brainer and there are a number of these holes throughout the entire 35 miles of blue ribbon portion of the river. With the water still high and the food getting sucked into these spots, fish get stacked up and become easy pickings. Because there are so many fish and they compete over the food, they will eat anything you throw at them and it really doesn't take much skill to catch a butt-load of fish.

But is it ok to sit in these holes for hours on end with clients picking off fish after fish? I had clients this week who's a guide the day before had them sit in one of these spots for 5 hours! It took them another 3 hours just to row out to where they took out. Another guide said he caught over 70 fish; most of them in these holes. Doesn't this seem wrong?

Last week I took Greg and his dad out for three days. The second day we put in at the Craig Bridge and floated to Mid-Canon. We caught a few fish right away and then things got at little slow. As we turned the corner to Jackson Rock, there were eight boats either in the eddy below the rock or waiting to get in. As I pushed past all the boats a few of the guides waved me in and I just responded with, "That's alright. We're good."

We fished our way down to the next big eddy at Bernie the Billionaire's place and as we turned the corner, Sneaky Pete was anchored up in the hole. At least at Jackson Rock the guides were willing to take turns doing row-arounds.

I took my dudes into the bank up-stream from the eddy with the hopes of fishing the bucket just above the wall that creates the eddy. While sliding over, Greg tangled so we parked along the bank and untied. While sitting there we noticed a few good fish working dries a little upstream. Not having a lot of luck on dries in the past, I figured it was a great opportunity for Greg to get some experience; he stuck this 22 inch brown on a caddis. It pretty much made his day. We continued to fish the bucket for a while catching a number of fish and then headed down to find a different scene. (Pete anchored up in the hole and ate lunch. He was there for a couple hours before heading out, pretty much sealing the hole off from anyone else to fish.)

I would say it made Greg's week to catch that fish but the next day we decided to go down low to get away from all the other boats and he stuck another 22 inch brown with a great cast in a bucket in the rapids below Hardy Creek.

So here's the deal. There's a saying that I agree with and have used as a strategy for a while now, "Don't leave fish to find fish." But at what point do you have to give the fish a break? And is it really in the client's best interest to sit in a scum hole for 5 hours even if they are catching fish? The day after fishing behind the guide that sat at Jackson Rock for 5 hours, I took them down low and only saw a couple boats the entire time. We didn't catch 70 fish but we had a great day. We caught a bunch of fish, saw a good portion of the river; most of which was new to them, and the dudes were happy.

I guess the ethical issue is that of putting so much pressure on these spots and what it does to catch the same fish over and over again. I've seen fish in these holes that their mouths were beat up to a point it was hard to believe they could even eat at all. Survival of the fittest? Natural selection? Maybe those fish need to be weeded out you might say. Well, if every dumb fish was taken out of the Missouri I assure you, the fishing will get very, very tough. These fish are instinctive and are going to were the most food is. They are being prayed on by us and will eventually suffer from the pressure. I'm not against going into these spots to catch a few fish but at some point, give 'em a break.

As for guiding philosophies; if you have to rely on picking fish out of a barrel in order to make your clients happy, maybe it's time to find a different profession. Part of having a good day is managing the expectations with your dudes. The difference between 30 fish and 70 is a lot closer than you might think. I've never had a person complain about putting 30 fish to the boat. I have heard people complain that they sat in one spot for too long and were very appreciative to see more of the river. It is difficult when we start defining success by numbers and we naturally put more pressure on ourselves by doing so but I've also had way more clients have great days catching a few tough fish on dry flies than have had guys brag about the number of fish they caught watching a bobber swirl around in an eddy amongst tons of scum.

Before you assume I'm arrogant and think that I put myself above other guides, I realize I fall into the trap of put numbers in the boat as well. The last few weeks has made me question a few things however, and I'm definitely going to put more thought into what I want to accomplish as a guide.

Keep 'em where they live y'all.