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Thread: Fishing during the summer (smoke) season.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Right Here!
    Posts
    374

    Default Fishing during the summer (smoke) season.

    As I was planning my annual fishing trip to the Rockies, I was hearing tales of warm water, hoot owl restrictions, big forest fires and tons of smoke. I was deterred a bit at first, but I figured that there wasn’t a whole helluva lot I could do about any of it and I went anyhow.
    I did bear in mind that warm water is not a good thing for our salmonid friends, so I used my thermometer often and would not fish if the water temp got too high into the 60s. I also kept to smaller streams that tended to be a LOT cooler and a lot less crowded as well. I did fish some bigger water as well, but kept an eye on the water temp and it all worked out okay in the end.

    The star of the streams in Western Montana is the west slope cutthroat trout. Many were caught and here is a sampling of some of the specimens:









    This is one of the many small streams that I fished. Very cold, tons of willing fish and I didn’t see anyone else the whole time I was fishing.



    Weekends can get crowded on many streams, so I made sure that I was way out in the sticks on the weekends, so I could avoid the masses. This river was at least 40 miles from the nearest town, the temp never got above 63 and the fishing was solid all weekend.



    I also lucked into a nice bull trout when I was stripping a streamer in some deeper water.



    I also saw plenty of wildlife. Most went unphotographed, but I did catch a few pictures of some of the more memorable ones.







    Yeah, the skies were kind of smoky times, but I avoided the fires and the larger streams and the hoot owl, and I did okay.
    "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." --Jeff Lebowski

    Some pics of native salmonids: http://flyguydave.wordpress.com/

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    SJC
    Posts
    68

    Default

    Super photos !

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    847

    Default

    Thanks for sharing. I reached the same conclusion. Instead of convincing myself conditions would be bad, I just ventured out and have had some good days on high elevation lakes and high up on some tributaries.

    I do hope we some some more water next year!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sebastian, FL, USA, Earth
    Posts
    23,837

    Default

    Wonderful post Dave,

    Very inspiring to see all that beautiful wild country.

    Great photos.......thanks.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    1,765

    Default

    Dave,
    Great post! A veritable travelogue.
    Best to all,
    Larry S
    Sun Diego

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