I just returned from some fishing and fly tying-conservation presentations in and around Montana. I fished the Yellowstone, Boulder and Stillwater Rivers during March Brown and Baetis mayfly times as well as midge times on the Boulder. The fishing was good. I tested some of the new midge and Baetis fly designs we have been working on. Then I met my old fishing friend, Al Ward, and together we fished the Madison and Ruby River for 3 days.

We had a fine time fishing Tenkara rods, talking fly patterns, design and materials and did well on the Madison. The Ruby was not nearly so kind to us but because it was slow that day we had lots of time to "sit water", waiting for insects and trout rising, and discuss all of the above. Midges and Baetis came off the Madison this past Monday and Tuesday and we had a ball fishing Tenkara and learning new technique as we went along. Our new midge patterns are tyed with more and more flash and sparkle as you can see one in the following photos of a large brown trout I fooled with one of the new patterns using opal Mirage tinsel. I fished over this fish, and more like it, and fooled 6-7 good browns with our new patterns. More on these flies in a later blog entry.

The above shot is one of Al taking his first Madison River trout using his new Tenkara rod. While many feel the fish are too large and the current too strong on rivers like the Madison you can see we did land some trout, many trout, without breaking one off.

Another picture is one of a March Brown mayfly I took on the Boulder River last week near Big Timber. The fish, mostly rainbows, got on these #14-16 duns and the fishing became "easy" for a couple hours as they rose to the first BIG mayflies of the new season. Note too the shot of a classic midge run, if you look closely you can see a couple rises and I took a few of these, mostly browns, on our latest midge flies. The one rainbow picture is a shot of a nice pre-spawning, run up trout at the mouth of the Yellowstone River, one I took on an Improved Baetis Sparkle Dun #20.

Our early spring fishing is now in full swing. The snow is still falling most afternoons and this brigns on great Baetis and March Brown emergences. More later on the fishing, new flies, etc! I am loaded up and heading spring turkey hunting in South Dakota and Montana so stay tuned, I'll fish both along the way and returning home!