2014 Montana SnowPack Update

Posted on May 13, 2014June 2, 2022 by Eric Adams

2014 Montana Snowpack Preface:

Every year we discuss the Montana snowpack – why? Well, if trout live in cool waters then trout anglers should have a keen interest in researching how much cool water might be in store for the fishing season. Cool water lends itself to happy, healthy trout – and what Montana fly fishing aficionado wouldn’t want that.

One thing we should point out is that in 15 years of professional guiding and piscatorial acumen (define as “fish freak”) the weather trumps all snowpack conditions. A couple of weeks of seasonally high temperatures can turn high snowpack into below average. At Montana, Fly Fishing Guides can only speculate based on experience and some research.

High snowpack isn’t always bad. Don’t make dramatic changes to your Montana fly fishing trip just because the snowpack is high. Instead, stay in contact with your fishing outfitter or well-informed fly shop and follow the trends.

Make adjustments to your trip based on the latest actual information, not wild speculation. Fortunately, in Montana, we have a variety of waters that hold their own during big runoff events such as the spring creeks and the Missouri River.

Current Montana Snowpack Conditions:

The 2014 Montana snowpack has slowly begun to melt off, and slowly might be the keyword. According to several sources in our research (NRCS & Livingston Enterprise), the snow water equivalent reached all-time record high levels. While the 2014 Montana snowpack and precipitation were near normal at the start of the water year (October 2013), January started an increasing precipitation trend. Along with the average to cooler temperatures this winter most of the snowpack continued to build.

The graph below displays snow water equivalent (SWE) and precipitation at the NE Gate SNOTEL site located in the Upper Yellowstone River Drainage. The take away points for this graph are that both overall precipitation (dark red) and SWE (dark blue) are well above the 30 years average. Remember the record-setting flood of 1996, 1997 and 2011? Well, that was in the past 30 years and it looks like we could have our hand full again this season. Once again it all depends on the weather in the next few weeks.

Current Precipitation by River Drainage:

Depending on where you plan on fishing this summer you can bet that you’ll have at least enough water for most if not all of the 2014 fishing season. As you can see every major drainage throughout the state is over 100% of average. The winner for at the moment is the Yellowstone River with a massive 131% of normal precipitation.

Anglers fishing the areas with over 115% of normal precipitation should definitely talk to their outfitter or guide about the specific locations.

What Does This Mean To You the Angler?

Well first of all the private water (lakes & spring creeks) and many of the tailwaters like the Madison River and Missouri River will fish just fine. The freestone streams like the Yellowstone, Boulder, Stillwater, Smith, and others will likely be fish-able later than normal. For example, the Yellowstone over the past 100+ years has typically started fishing around the 4th of July. This year depending on the weather and run-off it will likely be a week or two later. We’ll see.

If you typically fish freestone streams our recommendation would be twofold. If you haven’t yet booked your Montana fly fishing trip we’d recommend fishing in August, September, and October. The water levels should be fantastic and after a summer of cool water, the fishing should be fantastic. If you have already made your plans don’t fret. This is likely not your fishing outfitter’s first rodeo (if it is you should rethink your choice). Experienced, veteran Montana fly fishing guides have dealt with this their entire guiding career – they have options and trust us when we say they want to catch fish just as bad or more than you do. They will do their best to get you on the best option for the day. As the angler be understanding and flexible – remember the whole idea behind your fly fishing should be to have an enjoyable day on the water.

Our final thought on the anticipated high water is that we should all be excited we have lots of cold, clear water. This is only going to help our trout spawn, thrive and survive the tougher months of the year. We have such a good snowpack and precipitation this season the 1-year forecast is for a markedly improved drought status (above) for Montana and much of the inter-mountain West. Cheers for a lack of drought and lots of cold water!

Derek DeYoung Artwork

Posted on November 22, 2013June 2, 2022 by Eric Adams

Livingston local Derek DeYoung is an amazingly talented, contemporary artist. You may not know him personally, but we’re pretty sure you’ve seen Derek DeYoung Artwork. The biggest names in the fly fishing industry including Simms, Abel Reels, Buff Headwear and even Burton Snow Boards have collaborated with him. Derek’s vivid, contemporary and unique perspective separates him from the vast majority of artists. We LOVE DeYoung artwork, both Derek and his wife Janell are good friends, fellow fly fishing junkies and occasional tavern collaborators. When talking the other night we realized that: (A) Most of our Montana Fly Fishing Guides‘ anglers have really not been properly introduced to Derek’s artwork. (B) As we approach the holiday season we get a lot of emails and calls regarding gift ideas. Problems solved, introductions made, holiday suggestions below! So get on over to DerekDeYoung.com or CanvasFish.com and solve that eternal problem of getting that perfect gift for that impossible to shop for the angler in your friends and family list – and don’t forget that discount code.

10% OFF DeYoung Artwork Special Offer

As a thank you to our loyal anglers the DeYoung’s in combination with Montana Fly Fishing Guides are offering a 10% off coupon that’s good for any order (excluding shipping). Make sure to Enter Coupon Code MTFLYFISH when checking out and the discount will apply at the bottom of the checkout screen. Offer does not apply to original paintings offer ends 12/10/13.

Montana Fly Fishing Guides’ Holiday Gift Ideas

Derek DeYoung Fine Art Reproductions. These are awesome! Our personal preference is for the Giclee 4-in-1 Series or the new Metal Prints as they are so unique. Tons of options, species, and designs.

iPhone | iPad | Samsung Cases. Are you kidding they’re perfect, who’s not going to like these unique and functional cases! Pretty much a no brainer here.

The DeYoung Holiday Card Set. Remember before the inter-webs-email-text-fbook-messenger era? You know when people still took time to send something through the mail. There is no better way to say happy holidays to family and friends.

Want more? They’ve got it – from original artwork, decals, apparel, to mugs check it all out on the DerekDeYoung.com Store

Montana Fishing Summary 2013

Posted on November 20, 2013June 2, 2022 by Eric Adams

Montana Fishing Summary

If we had to summarize our Montana fishing season for 2013 it would involve descriptors such as; schizophrenic, dichotomous, incredible, frustrating, fantastic, and exceptional. You’ll notice dichotomous might be the best qualifier as one week was nothing but lot’s of big trout and the next was tough fishing and being rewarded with mostly little guys. Regardless it’s fishing – what are you going to do not go?

As fly fishing guides we spend well over 100 days of the season chasing trout so we have the advantage of getting into the rhythm of feeding behavior, weather patterns, and hatches. While this is an advantage overall some days are certainly better than others. It’s easy to feed happy trout, but when the are off the bite it’s hard to force them to eat. Years of experience will separate the truly fishy guides and anglers from every-once-in-a-whiles. Here’s our take from this past Montana fly fishing season…

Montana Fishing – Spring

This is probably the most consistent season year after year and also the most uncrowded and the same held true for this season. While we tout these bonuses every year, anglers rarely take advantage of the Montana fly fishing available in the Spring. See our previous blog post Montana Spring Fling ~~OK enough of the soap-box~~.

Spring was typical great fishing when the weather was cooperative, which was pretty steady in terms of the past few years. The occasional northern cold front would make fishing tough, but was quickly followed by gorgeous weather and fishing would return to it’s uncrowded bliss. Eager trout looking to pile on the calories ate March Brown’s, Blue-wing Olives (baetis), midges and Caddis. Highlights definitely included some great days on the Missouri River, Yellowstone River and DePuy Spring Creek.

Montana Fishing – Early Summer

May, June, and early July were exceptionally good this past season. We started up on the Missouri River with low water due to early season run-off so we had warmer than average water temperatures. Not too warm, but warm enough to get those early season hatches of PMD’s (Pale Morning Duns) and Summer Caddis popping. Fishing was plain and simple fantastic during these months. Woulda-coulda-shoulda has been here – amazing.

Armstrong Spring Creek and DePuy Spring Creek had their typically consistent hatches of PMD’s. The bonus there was the exceptional quality, frequency, and longevity of the hatches on DePuy’s. Not to mention the number and size of the trout that steadily rose to our flies day after day.

Even the Yellowstone River was low enough to fish by the 3rd week of June and Salmon Fly fishing was as good as it’s been in recent memory. While we normally don’t condone such a risky timeframe, as the Yellowstone historically doesn’t become fishable until closer to the 4th of July, anglers taking the risk certainly had some amazing fishing for big trout with big dry flies and streamers. See out Big Trout Photo Gallery to see some of the better quality trout caught during this timeframe.

Montana Fishing – Mid/Late Summer

OK here’s where the fishing got totally schizo. Low water in early summer means a high probability of warm water temperatures later in the season. While there were river is Montana that faced fishing closures due to these higher temperatures, such as the Madison, Jefferson, and Bighole, the Yellowstone, Boulder, Stillwater, and others remained within safe water temperatures. While water temperatures where a factor in good one day / bad the next fishing the real issue was the severe weather that repeatedly pounded localized areas of these rivers. The summer of 2013 in Montana experienced a 21% increase in severe weather. It’s typical to get strong thunderstorms, hail, and heavy downpours this time of year, but the frequency was incredible. This affected the fishing due to heavy rains washing mud into the rivers. With lower than average river flows and consistent mud plugs it was hard to find good quality, clear, fishable water.

Nearly every week we had to deal with the running from mud scenario. One of our guides said, “It’s the summer of mud” – He wasn’t wrong.

Which makes it hard for trout and guides alike to get into a rhythm. This scattered pattern of fishing started in late July and lasted until about early September. As mentally tough as this part of the season as we still managed to find quality fishing each and every week. We pulled some amazing tricks out of our back pockets to do that, but let’s all hope that we don’t have to deal with that again for a few years ~~or ever again.~~

Montana Fishing – Fall

Our fishing this Fall was pretty good for the most part. The weather was less volatile/cold than normal and made for some great fishing on the Missouri River, Yellowstone River, and the Spring Creeks. While the normal hatches of Blue-wing Olives were less than stellar on the Yellowstone River the other water had good hatches with consistently eager trout. The Yellowstone however, fished quite well with streamers and big fish were a common occurrence. The same low water scenario that added to our late summer fishing boded well for Fall. Lower, cool water allows trout to be active and anglers to be able to reach those bigger trout without going to the extremes of shooting heads, full sinking lines and the like.

General Summary

It’s pretty hard to summarize a whole season in one sentence, but overall we would say fewer trout to the net, but the quality of trout was higher than average. The great thing about Montana fly fishing is the absolute dizzying array of waters we have to fish. While we prefer certain waters at certain times of the year when they aren’t fishing well we can move to a more productive fishery. We’d also point out that every year is different, just like everyday fishing is different from the last. Even as professional experienced guides we rarely can forecast the quality of fishing – that’s why we hit the water every day to find out.

We’ll look forward to seeing you next season and hopefully you’ll be part of the best of Montana’s fly fishing 2014.

Free Fishing offered this June in Montana

Posted on May 14, 2013June 2, 2022 by Eric Adams

Looking for some free fishing? Then head to Montana this June and you won’t need a Montana State Fishing License on June 15 & 16. The following is a press release issued on May 10, 2013 from Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks:

Here’s the perfect gift for Dad and Grandpa: free fishing for all over Father’s Day weekend, June 15-16.

“It’s a great way to get outdoors with friends and family and it provides everyone in Montana with the opportunity to get hooked on fishing,” said Jeff Hagener, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Helena. “You can fish without a license on June 15 and June 16, but you must follow all of Montana’s other fishing regulations.”

In total, each year more than 230,000 residents and 160,000 nonresidents purchase a Montana fishing license. Anglers spend about $240 million annually in Montana for things like transportation, food and guide fees. For every dollar spent by FWP’s fisheries program, anglers spend an additional $11 benefiting local communities and the state’s economy.

Montana’s most popular waters include the Madison, Bighorn, Missouri, Bitterroot and Gallatin rivers; and Canyon Ferry, Flathead, Georgetown, Hauser, and Fort Peck lakes.

“Montana’s ‘fish for free’ weekend is the state’s Father’s Day gift to dad’s everywhere,” Hagener said. “We want everyone to have a fun time, so we’re also encouraging folks to check conditions first and to always keep safety as their top concern.”

Those wishing to take advantage of this opportunity need to be aware that fishing for bull trout requires a catch card and fishing for paddlefish requires a paddlefish tag.

The free fishing promotion is set for Father’s Day weekend, June 15-16. To learn more visit the Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks website.

If need advise or a guide check out one of our Montana Fly Fishing Trips. What better way to celebrate Father’s Day than taking the “old man” fishing!