Its January and lots of Montana fly fishing guides finally have plenty of time to fish for themselves.  Everyday there are new pictures on Facebook and Instagram of a Montana guide hoisting a nice trout over an icy river bank.  Even in the winter when most fly fishermen consider Montana unfishable, the guys who really know what they are doing are getting it done. Everyone has heard the old saying... "10% of the anglers are catching 90% of the fish."  Its true! As a guide it seems that plenty of people attribute the success of the 10% to some sort of secret fly, exceptionally perfect drag free drift, the perfect cast or a hidden super spot where the fish are just lined up feeding like crazy.  

​For the guys sitting behind the oars, these explanations usually don't add up.  There are hundreds of great flies out there but my best bugs every year end up being among the ones everyone knows about.  If I could only use two in a season, it would be a girdle bug and a prince nymph...the two most well known flies in the box...every shop has them.  Likewise, some sort of unacheivable super drift is not going to suddenly get you hooked up.  Good enough is usually good enough and most of the time the drift is more about getting the fly to where the fish are and keeping it there.  There are plenty of days in a Montana fishing season when more trout get caught on a dragged fly than that perfect drift.  The perfect cast? Being able to get the fly to where the fish are definitely matters but they really don't seem to care that your 15th cast went an inch closer to the bank than your first one.  A good cast is one that catches a fish.  Secret spots?  There are tons of them and knowing the river helps with catching fish as much as anything.  However, there are fish all over and being able to read water and know where they are going to be on a given day is the real secret...not one honey hole that is always on fire.  I could go on and on about myths and misconceptions but here are the top 5 reasons that guides notice when people are not catching fish.

99% of all fish are caught in the water!  Putting the fly in the water seems simple but sometimes it is the only thing you have to do to catch a fish.  I see a shocking number of hook ups when we are pulled over changing a bug, eating lunch or talking and someone's fly is dangling in front of the boat.  Some days dragging the fly when you are rowing to the other bank seems as productive as a dead drift.  However, waisting time by second guessing yourself and changing bugs every 5 casts or doing 5 false casts between drifts does not help. We call this "casterbateing" and it will make you go blind...or at least keep you from hooking up.  Its simple math, if you do 5 false casts when you only needed one, you spent 80% of your time with your fly in the air and you spent 80% less time in the water and caught 80% fewer fish during that time.  

This one is super common on guided trips.  If you don't commit to that hook set, by the time you realize that there is a fish on the other end it is too late.  Most often when a fish comes off mid fight it is the result of an uncommitted hook set. It is shocking how much time guides spend trying to convince people that there was a fish chewing on their fly while they were shaking it off of a rock.  We always lose this argument but normally we are making it because we could see that little rainbow trout turning side to side under the water trying to shake the fly free.  Again, it comes down to math. Whether you think it is a fish or not, if you miss 50% of you shots, you caught 50% fewer fish. When in doubt rip it out! 

Back to math class...if you spend all day in a hole that is only ever going to be good for 5 eats, the best you could hope for is 5 fish.  This is one of the reasons drift fishing is so popular.  You cover tons of water and sometimes you can have solid fishing just by showing your fly to lots of different fish.  For wade fishermen knowing when to move is a big issue.  The biggest advantage of wading over drifting is the ability to park on a good hole and get a bunch of shots.  However, knowing when to leave is just as important.  Usually you are going to have your best action and best shot at the big one in your first 10 drifts through a run.  After that it is often just going to fade.

When things slow down a bit and you went through a beautiful spot without a tap, you start to think that something you are doing is not working.  Two or three good spots like that and you need to make a change.  Being able to adapt to different fishing conditions is one thing that keeps good anglers hooked up.  However, overthinking the situation and second guessing yourself can lead to disaster.  I find that on most guide days if fishing starts off slow and we have to change bugs a lot, when it finally does get really good, we are catching them on the same rig I started with.  Changing flies is good but keep it within the relm of reasonably good bugs and don't be afraid to circle back to your first instinct or what you have the most confidence in. It is easy to spend 50% less time with your fly in the water because you are trying every rusty mouse in the bottom of your box and cussing it for not working within 10 drifts.

This one is not an easy fix.  It takes time and it is the reason that those Montana trout guides are able to go out in the dead of winter and have some pretty solid fishing.  People see the photos and say "well..if you are going to be dumb you gotta be tough" but guys are out there catching trout on some of the west's most famous rivers and never seeing another angler. If you know exactly where to fish and what to use on a given stream you can make things happen in even the worst conditions.  For this, the only answer is practice. Learn how fish behave under various conditions, in certain spots during all times of year and what bugs they ate under those circumstances.  

Most people I talk to ask about what fly to use or what section of river to fish or a dozen other questions without ever considering the role of water temperature.  Trout are cold blooded so the temperature of their environment plays a major role in how they behave.  If its cold, they are going to hold in deep slow water and move much less than they might at warmer temps.  Further, water temperature is the main thing that triggers aquatic insect hatches.  There is one major factor that influences how fish move and where they hold and what they eat and most people don't even consider it until it gets too hot on a summer afternoon and nobody is catching anything.  Paying more attention to water temperatures in your fishing is a good way to get into that 10% who are catching 90% of the fish.  

Our 2016 prices are up in the book a trip section of the site...They have not changed!  Although winter is just beginning to settle in on the Madison river, we are already preparing for the 2016 fishing season.  Dates are booking up fast this year so now is the time to plan a trip. The prices for our Madison River float trips have not changed but we are expecting some pretty significant changes for the fishery this year.  Perhaps the biggest news coming in 2016 is that the upper Madison River will now be open YEAR ROUND! 

Earlier this year the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and parks proposed and took public comment on several changes to the regulations governing the use of the Madison River.  The most significant of the approved changes will be that the Madison River will now be open to fishing from Hebgan Lake to Ennis Lake year round.  A public meeting to discuss the Madison river rule changes with FWP biologists was held in Ennis.  The meeting was an interesting one with a strong emotional reaction heard from the public.  A portion of the proposal aimed to simplify the rules by making the entire river open to killing one trout per day.  The strongest opinion seemed to be against this change despite urging from biologist that opening 1/3 of the Madison River to taking 1 fish per day and reducing 2/3 of the river to the same limit from the current 5 fish limit would reduce the overall numbers taken.  Further, it seemed that nobody had read the portion of the proposal that would make the Madison River from Hebgan dam to Ennis Lake artificial only and outlaw bait fishing.  Judging from the public response to the proposal as a whole, it seemed as though the entire thing might be thrown out.  

The biologist noted that whether approved or not there would likely be little impact to the fishery in terms of strength and population.  Rather the intention was to simplify complicated regulations and create more public access by opening more of the river year round.  I for one am in favor of more public access to our fisheries and am excited to be able to fish and guide on the upper sections of the Madison River during April and May this year.  These are some of the best months to fish the Madison with relativly few other anglers around.  Opening weekend may not be as silly as it used to be but this should be a really fun spring to get out on the upper Madison River.

This year fall was a great time to be fly fishing in southwest Montana.  Lots of big fish hit the net and there was no shortage of really nice days to be on the rivers and lakes.  Fall and early winter are one of my favorite times of year to be on the water.  The cotton woods and willows are turning yellow, the light is low and beautiful and the big browns are out of there summer haunts.  Without a doubt October and November are the best times of year to hunt for that brown trout of a lifetime.  Lake fish that are uncatchable in the summer move into our rivers where anglers actually have a chance at them.  Never knowing what you might hook into on the next cast is exhilarating through the fall even after having seen a seasons worth of Montana trout on the fly.  

The Madison river near Ennis Montana fished really well this fall.  As the summer crowds faded and the weather cooled the fish really seemed to start feeding on bigger flies with the kind of recklessness that we usually see in the spring. The Madison is performing well into the late season, depending on the weather there might be a nice enough day or afternoon to get out.

After being forced into waders in late August and September we have had a beautiful October.  Warm weather and sunny days have made October fishing on the Madison river feel a lot more like summer than winter.  The trees started to change color early but the leaves are still hanging orange on the cottonwoods.  It has been a great season to float the Madison river or the Jefferson river and fish as low fall light shines through the golden grass and bright trees.  A nice fall day is a real treat regardless of catch.  The last days of the guide season are upon us and most of the best fishing lately has been on the Missouri River rather than the Madison river.