Charles Won
08-07-2014, 02:31 PM
The Last Supper Fishing trip:
Wife is 7 months pregnant with our first - the fish gods smiled, and somehow she approved me going on the fishing trip to Montana and Idaho with a buddy (I didn’t even ask until the USS Enterprise-sized honey-do list was complete).
We drove all day Friday 7/25 to SW Montana and fished 8 days straight from the 26th through Saturday, 8/2, and drove back Sunday on the 3rd. We fished the Beaverhead, the Bighole, Henry’s Fork, the Madison, and even the South Fork of the Snake near Palisades. We wade fished some, and got guided by Mike Bias multiple days (more on that later). Fish mainly ate stoneflies and PMDs, but it seemed like we tried damn near everything at some point – terrestrials, midges, caddis, mayflies, even huge streamers and mouse patterns - not necessarily the best timing, but just cause ....
We stopped at nearly every fly shop and supported “mom and pop local” with money we should’ve saved. We stayed at http://www.kingsflatline.com/ and http://sportsmanmt.com/ in Dillon and Melrose – simple, honest, hardworking people running those joints. Naturally, one that has been fishing a long time expects to lose a few flies. To my wife, that may mean that I really need 5 flies, but as a man, I need 10 of each size (there’s the baetis version and the PMD version too) - it’s like ammo: “two is one, one is none.” A buddy’s dad once told me: “Charlie! A lot is good. More is better. Too much is jusssssssssssssst right!”
A few observations: It was 95+ one minute, and torrential downpour with HUGE ass raindrops, lightning/thunder, and hail the next. I was dry because of the awesome outerwear, but didn’t layer properly so I froze my ass off. Amazing how the fishing explodes after a hard rain. Be ready for mosquitos. Not like three around the boat, but rather 2 million, hovering and following you in the boat or while hiking. So I stick an 8 inch fish one day, and here comes osprey, wings locked like a honker, slowing itself down and then diving at last minute. I pull back on the rod thinking, “I don’t want hook in bird or bird on me – maybe I can drag the fish into deeper water column” – no dice. Osprey takes off with it like it was Sunday afternoon. Few minutes later, buddy sticks a fish – big one in the fast chop – standing waves. Osprey dive bombs Zero style and flies off with its dinner – its agility was amazing. Guide, buddy and myself are speechless for .5 seconds and what do three grown men do in this 2-for-2 kind of situation? ACT LIKE 13 YEAR OLD SCHOOL GIRLS!!! – screaming, laughing, and high-fiving each other.
On guide Mike Bias: He’s educated – has a PHD in Biology from Cal. He is engaged and committed to the resource (conservation of fish and water) – he is Executive Director of the Bighole River Foundation. He’s experienced – being doing this business since 1997. Was it worth it having Mike? This is ONLY my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. I believe a guide should be in the know, they should elevate my game, put me on fish, but most importantly, I should learn and have a great time doing it. Here are some specifics – he knew the water intimately. Multiple times he told me to bring the flies in closer to the boat, just off the oar – to a line that I just knew wouldn’t hold a fish, but it did. When casting to the banks, I would cast ahead of boat and would get redirected to cast again straight towards the bank (I was afraid of drag, but learned I only needed 10 yards of good drift for that given spot). He is a big proponent of fishing within comfort zone. How this applied to me: I’d make a cast to where I thought I should start the drift and then a huge stack mend, putting a big upstream bow in the line. Fish would grab and I’d strip line and lift rod tip, missing the fish because I was late and there was slack in the line. After a few hours with Mike – cast upstream, mend, and strip in the slack with rod tip closer to water, anticipating the strike and my landed percentage definitely went up. When we arrived, I didn’t expect to use many salmon fly nymphs, because we arrived last week of July, but we continued to use big stones with rubber legs, because the 2nd and 3rd year nymphs were still in the water (another learning lesson for me).
On the intangibles: Mike took the high road. Multiple times, we would pull up anchor and get out into the current only to see another boat coming (lots of braids and corners on the rivers we fished). Mike would immediately row back into the calmer water and would wave the upstream boat forward, so as not to cut them off. He was extremely hard working, backrowing multiple times, and jumping out of the boat to pull us back upstream as well as moving us around constantly, so that we could effectively floss the water. There wasn’t a fly shop that we went into, where he wasn’t recognized, but he would bluntly ask the locals what was working and it paid off. He wasn’t above asking for the “boots on the ground” information.
Lots of great guides out there. This is intended to represent my recent experience with Mike. What I learned may not apply to many situations or people. If you want specifics, don't be shy, PM me. Enough of my boring novel. Pictures attached below.
Wife is 7 months pregnant with our first - the fish gods smiled, and somehow she approved me going on the fishing trip to Montana and Idaho with a buddy (I didn’t even ask until the USS Enterprise-sized honey-do list was complete).
We drove all day Friday 7/25 to SW Montana and fished 8 days straight from the 26th through Saturday, 8/2, and drove back Sunday on the 3rd. We fished the Beaverhead, the Bighole, Henry’s Fork, the Madison, and even the South Fork of the Snake near Palisades. We wade fished some, and got guided by Mike Bias multiple days (more on that later). Fish mainly ate stoneflies and PMDs, but it seemed like we tried damn near everything at some point – terrestrials, midges, caddis, mayflies, even huge streamers and mouse patterns - not necessarily the best timing, but just cause ....
We stopped at nearly every fly shop and supported “mom and pop local” with money we should’ve saved. We stayed at http://www.kingsflatline.com/ and http://sportsmanmt.com/ in Dillon and Melrose – simple, honest, hardworking people running those joints. Naturally, one that has been fishing a long time expects to lose a few flies. To my wife, that may mean that I really need 5 flies, but as a man, I need 10 of each size (there’s the baetis version and the PMD version too) - it’s like ammo: “two is one, one is none.” A buddy’s dad once told me: “Charlie! A lot is good. More is better. Too much is jusssssssssssssst right!”
A few observations: It was 95+ one minute, and torrential downpour with HUGE ass raindrops, lightning/thunder, and hail the next. I was dry because of the awesome outerwear, but didn’t layer properly so I froze my ass off. Amazing how the fishing explodes after a hard rain. Be ready for mosquitos. Not like three around the boat, but rather 2 million, hovering and following you in the boat or while hiking. So I stick an 8 inch fish one day, and here comes osprey, wings locked like a honker, slowing itself down and then diving at last minute. I pull back on the rod thinking, “I don’t want hook in bird or bird on me – maybe I can drag the fish into deeper water column” – no dice. Osprey takes off with it like it was Sunday afternoon. Few minutes later, buddy sticks a fish – big one in the fast chop – standing waves. Osprey dive bombs Zero style and flies off with its dinner – its agility was amazing. Guide, buddy and myself are speechless for .5 seconds and what do three grown men do in this 2-for-2 kind of situation? ACT LIKE 13 YEAR OLD SCHOOL GIRLS!!! – screaming, laughing, and high-fiving each other.
On guide Mike Bias: He’s educated – has a PHD in Biology from Cal. He is engaged and committed to the resource (conservation of fish and water) – he is Executive Director of the Bighole River Foundation. He’s experienced – being doing this business since 1997. Was it worth it having Mike? This is ONLY my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. I believe a guide should be in the know, they should elevate my game, put me on fish, but most importantly, I should learn and have a great time doing it. Here are some specifics – he knew the water intimately. Multiple times he told me to bring the flies in closer to the boat, just off the oar – to a line that I just knew wouldn’t hold a fish, but it did. When casting to the banks, I would cast ahead of boat and would get redirected to cast again straight towards the bank (I was afraid of drag, but learned I only needed 10 yards of good drift for that given spot). He is a big proponent of fishing within comfort zone. How this applied to me: I’d make a cast to where I thought I should start the drift and then a huge stack mend, putting a big upstream bow in the line. Fish would grab and I’d strip line and lift rod tip, missing the fish because I was late and there was slack in the line. After a few hours with Mike – cast upstream, mend, and strip in the slack with rod tip closer to water, anticipating the strike and my landed percentage definitely went up. When we arrived, I didn’t expect to use many salmon fly nymphs, because we arrived last week of July, but we continued to use big stones with rubber legs, because the 2nd and 3rd year nymphs were still in the water (another learning lesson for me).
On the intangibles: Mike took the high road. Multiple times, we would pull up anchor and get out into the current only to see another boat coming (lots of braids and corners on the rivers we fished). Mike would immediately row back into the calmer water and would wave the upstream boat forward, so as not to cut them off. He was extremely hard working, backrowing multiple times, and jumping out of the boat to pull us back upstream as well as moving us around constantly, so that we could effectively floss the water. There wasn’t a fly shop that we went into, where he wasn’t recognized, but he would bluntly ask the locals what was working and it paid off. He wasn’t above asking for the “boots on the ground” information.
Lots of great guides out there. This is intended to represent my recent experience with Mike. What I learned may not apply to many situations or people. If you want specifics, don't be shy, PM me. Enough of my boring novel. Pictures attached below.