2006 Fishing Reports

10/22/06- Our friends Kiyo and Takashi Kanako visited with there daughter Yume. Leslie, Emma and I joined them on the Yellowstone River and a night at Chico hot springs. It was a fantastic, blue sky day in Paradise Valley! A great day to be alive in Montana.

10/21/06-As I drove to town today, the snow was coming down...I mean really coming down. I met Ron Miller, Lon Christianson and Ron's nephew Sam at the River's Edge flyshop and the weather had not improved. I soon learned that Ron and Lon were from Fargo North Dakota and Sam was from Whitefish Montana. Needless to say, they were not indimidated by a snowstorm. We fished the MZ. The hatch was late in coming and the fish only rose for a few hours. They started at about 12 and stopped at about 3. The hatch was size 20-22 baetis. Check out the size of those snowflakes. They were beautiful.

10/13/06-Well, Hoshina and Kuni had enjoyed 3 days of fair to good hunting, but their last day was the best. We hunted lower Benharts with our friends Gunnar Fulsom and Dave Hall. It was another sunny day, but the ducks didn't seem to mind. They came into our decoys all morning long. Which led to alot of work for Gunnar's dog Lucy. She did a great job of retrieving ducks and the crew put together an impressive number of Mallards and even a Wigen and Green Winged Teal.

10/12/06-Back to MZ. We decoy hunted on Smith Creek this morning and had very good hunting. The ducks were wary, and would often circle several times before deciding to come or go. The fishing was slower today it was sunny and the the hatch was light. Hoshina got a couple on streamers in the East Gallatin, but the dry fishing was rough.

10/11/06-Today we tried Depuy's for the cast and blast. If I wasn't there to see it, I wouldn't have believed it....Hoshina dropped 4 mallards in one shot!! I've seen a few doubles in all my years of duck hunting, but 4, I'd never seen anything like it. It was the highlight of a relatively slow day of decoy hunting. After a tasty lunch of "Camo Nabe" (Duck soup) at our friend Charlie Conn's house, we returned to the creek for some midge fishing. The fall colors were fantastic with a background of snow capped peaks and the fishing proved to be very interesting. Hoshina's flies matched the size 26 floating midge pupa perfectly and the boys hooked a number of fiesty fish.

10/10/06-My good friend and fly tying teacher Manoa Hoshina is in town for a cast and blast trip with his friend Kuni. Will Lassiter also joined us for duck hunting and fishing. We spent the frosty morning hiding in a duck blind on Benhart creek. The decoy hunting was a bit slow and we had better luck jump shooting. The fishing was good in the afternoon with pseudos hatching on Benhart creek. Kuni spent a couple of hours redefining frustration point....losing a big one after a good fight and jump. Then he got his first duck in the "lucky jump shoot ditch". Hoshina spent the afternoon testing new streamer patterns and carefully stocking the streams hunting for big brown trout. He caught a number of fish as usual, but no monsters this time, just healthy medium sized brown trout. He also bagged some nice Mallard ducks!

10/6/06-Dr. Degawa and I went to MZ Ranch today. Again it was bright out. We started on Benhart creek and found some good risers in the upper frustration area. Dr. Degawa nabbed a few of these tough fish..again on pseudos. Then we tried the East Gallatin. The water level had risen on the East and it seemed to have put the hatches off. We only found some small and medium fish rising and after catching a few of them, we finished the day on Benhart Creek upstream from Frustration point. The Doctor battled some tricky currents and caught a few more fish. We had the entire ranch to ourselves and it was a gorgeous day in the Gallatin Valley.

10/05/06- We weren't too excited to wake up to cloudless skies, but the weather was cool enough to stimulate some nice pseudo hatches. Again, we floated on the Missouri from Craig to Spite and we found enough rising fish to keep Dr. Degawa busy. These risers acted differently than the fish the day before. They were spooky and selective. Not only did Dr. Degawa need perfect presentations, but the fly seemed to be very important. My pseudo pattern is not the most beautiful fly out there, but it worked well. I designed the pattern specifically for the Missouri after spending some frustrating days casting to selective fish. Especially one memorable trip with Tomonori Higashi and his friends a few years ago. On that trip we were surrounded by fish rising to a near blanket hatch of tiny pseudos. Mr. Higashi and his friends did not like using indicator flies. I had a few patterns that the fish would eat, but the flies were so small and matched the hatch so closely, that they were virtually impossible to see mixed with all the natural pseudos in the water. I knew that day, I needed a better fly for the tiny pseudos. Since then, I developed my CDC pseudo cripple pattern. I tie it on a size 24 hook with 5 feathers of natural CDC and an oversized wing. This bulky, ugly wing enables you to see the fly in the middle of the natural insects. It also imitates the insect closely enough that the fish eat it!

10/4/06-I went back to the Missouri with Masa Katsumata and Dr. Degawa. Finally the weather is changing and we found great fishing under cloudy skies. The fish were rising steadily in all the good areas. Dr. Degawa displayed pinpoint casting and drag-free presentations to a large number of fish. We found that the fish were not overly selective to fly pattern...Timing and drift were the key.

10/2/06-We again split into two groups. Half at MZ and half at Depuy's. Finally the weather cooperated for fishing and we had some nice cloud cover. There was a good baetis hatch at Depuy's and I spent the day with "the candy man" and Masa Shimizu. Masa was the champ of the day landing several nice fish with some beautiful presentations. Hichoo also had some good success. A nice way to end the Sansui tour. I hope to fish with them again next year!!

10/1/06-Another sunny and windy day on the MO. Today I floated with Mr. Sugama and Dead. We found some rising fish, but it was tough. Mr. Sugama got a couple of nice ones on the hopper dropper rig. It was the last day for me in "Big Green" my driftboat for the last 11 years. I bought a new boat this fall and will be selling "Big Green". That old boat has been a part of my fishing for the last 11 years and there are a pile of memories in it. I can only estimate the miles of river that I've floated in it and it has to be thousands of miles of trout water, probably close to one thousand customers and more than it's share of fish. The Sansui group piled in for one last picture of Big Green. A great way to end it.

9/30/06-I had the pleasure of fishing with Mr. Kiyoshi and Mr. Norio. We floated the Missouri River from Craig to Spite. Again the weather was sunny and warm with some wind added in. The fishing was productive on nymphs, and hopper dropper rigs, but the pseudo fishing was only good for about 2-3 hours. Kiyoshi caught the fish of the day in the morning. A healthy 20 incher that put up a fantastic fight. Norio seemed to be catching them all day long. Here's a nice one he nabbed out of my secret "baetis hole" on a size 22 dry.

9/29/06-The first day of the Sansui group's tour. We split into 2 groups today with Masa Katsumata and Robert guiding on the MZ ranch with 4 anglers and Will Lassiter and I guided at Depuy's with 4 anglers. The day was bright and sunny and unseasonably warm. This had a stiffling effect on the seasonal baetis hatch on Depuy's, but was good weather for tricos and pseudos at MZ. I spent the day with Iko and "Dead" the dead head. We found some selective fish rising to midges in the morning and baetis after lunch. The trees were in peak fall colors and it was absolutely beautiful in Paridise Valley. Iko was the champion of the day landing several nice trout and Dead got a couple of tough ones out of the pond.

9/26/06-Another day on the Missouri with the boys. These guys can really fish and cloudy conditions made the day even more productive than yesterday. The dry fly fishing was much better and the risers were taking caddis as well as the small pseudos. Here's a shot of the canyon in the morning sun.

9/25/06- Up to the Missouri with Pat, Steve, Terry and Scott. Greg Falls joined us and put Terry and Scott right in the middle of the fish. The weather is sunny and warm. All methods of fishing are working at different points of the day. We catch fish on deep nymphs, hoppers, droppers, streamers and tiny dries. The pseudo/baetis hatch comes off lightly in the bright sun, but we found some good rising from 2-5pm. Again there were very few other anglers. As my grandfather used to say " A good day to be ALIVE!".

9/24/06- I fished MZ again today with Patrick Eisenhaur and his gang of Scott, Terry and Steve. There were clouds in the morning and the rising was good on both the East Gallatin and Benhart creek. After lunch, the sun came out and the rising all but stopped on the East, but of course there were some tough ones on Benhart. Scott, Terry and Steve had good luck on the East with nymphs and Pat worked Benhart. A perfect fall day in Montana.

9/21/06-The Konos and I went to the MZ on another day of unsettled weather. The fish were rising in the morning on Benhart creek. They were eating midges in size 20-22. We walked to the East Gallatin in the afternoon and found some fish rising to pseudos. Mrs. Kono had good luck nymphing with midge larva and pheasant tails. We were litrally chased back to the car by a violent thunderstorm and hail. After the storm passed we again fished Benhart creek with pseudos in size 22- 24. Mr. Kono found success at Frustration point.

9/20/06-I floated the Lower Madison in with the Konos. It was raining. The fish were chasing crayfish patterns on the edges of the weedbeds in suprisingly shallow water. Hiroaki landed the fish of the day, a nice brown.

9/17/06-Mr. and Mrs. Kono are visiting for their honeymoon. Montana greeted them with cold temperatures and a strong west wind. We floated the Lower Gallatin today. The morning was cold! The hatches were delayed, but after lunch we found some good fishing highlighted by a 2 doubles the first one Mr. Kono landed a grayling and Mrs. Kono had a nice rainbow. Here's a shot of the second double and the grayling.

9/16/06-We fished the MZ for Gary and Mikes last day with me. The MZ had been having good trico hatches on warm days, unfortuneatly, our day was cold. The hatches were not good and the rising fish were few on this sunny day. Frustration point had some fish rising to pseudos, but it proved to live up to it's name.

9/15/06-Believe it or not, Gary and Mike got back in the boat with me and we floated the Lower Madison in a steady drizzle. It was good fishing with a crayfish and bead combo. The fish landed were in great condition. Mike hooked a couple of bruisers that ran straight upstream, never to be seen again.

9/14/06- We floated the Yellowstone from Loch Leven to Pine Creek. Gary got the big one today! We also landed good numbers of Whitefish.

9/13/06- I floated the Lower Gallatin again today with Mike Barbour and Gary Hancock. I've been fishing with these guys for 5 years, they can really find the big ones! Look at Mikes fish of the day.

9/12/06-Nao and I visited the Skinner Ranch today. We fished the East Gallatin and the trico spinner fall started about 11 am. Every bend of the river held pods of rising fish. The tricos gave way to pseudos about 2pm and the rising continued. Nao efficiently worked the pods and caught a lot of fish. The renegade fly was a favorite, but presentation was the key. Pinpoint casting is essential in pod fishing, because feeding lanes are narrow. Nao was on target.

9/11/06-Nao and I floated the Missouri from Craig to Spite. The conditions were tough!! There was alot of grass to contend with, the fish were spooky and it was bright out. On top of all that, they were selective! We found rising fish from about 8am until 2pm. There was a good calebaetis hatch and spinner fall and in some areas there were trico spinners falling. Summer fishing. We had the river virtually to ourselves and the fishing was very interesting and the day was beautiful. Sight fishing to large selective trout..not a bad way to spend the day.

9/10/06-My friend Mochino Nao and I floated the lower Gallatin today. The river was in prime condition. There were a good number of Tricos and Pseudos as well a few caddis. Of course, the most productive was the hopper dropper rig. Nao and I fished a riffle together. First he fished a single dry fly to rising fish and caught a some healthy medium and small rainbows and browns. After he caught the rising fish, he ran the hopper dropper and caught more fish. I finished fishing the hole and landed a big one on the nymph. It looked like it could be the fish of the day, a fat rainbow 19-20 inches. We jumped back in the boat. On the next bend Nao caught the real fish of the day a 21 incher that slammed his grasshopper!! After fishing we drove to the Missouri River.

9/8/06-Makoto and I floated the Yellowstone River today from Mayors landing to the highway 89 bridge. The fishing was generally slow with mostly small fish eating the dry flies. The day was beautiful with the smoke of the forest fires clearing enought to see the mountains.

9/7/06- Another day in Yellowstone National Park. Makoto and I hiked into the second meadow of Slough Creek to see what the notoriously selective Cutthroats were eating...The answer was terrestrials (small ants and beetles) and a few slate winged duns (size 14 mayflies). The river was very low and gin clear. The slow moving current gave the fish plenty of time to watch the fly before commiting to eat. It was very interesting fishing and Makoto landed some beautiful fish before a thunderstorm sent us hiking back down the trail.

9/6/06-Yellowstone National Park! It's always fun to fish in the Park. You never know what kind of wildlife you will see. Our destination was Cache creek, but it took us a while to get there. We stopped at Blacktail Deer creek and Makoto caught a beautiful 6" brooke trout in spawning colors. We continued down the road past large bison herds in the Lamar valley and stopped at the Lamar trailhead to begin our 3 mile hike to Cache creek. Along the hike we again got sidetracked and fished about a mile of the Lamar River through a canyon area. There are springs bubbling up all through the river and the multicolored rock of the canyon was a perfect backdrop for the slow and suspicious rises of the cutthroats. Makoto caught most of his fish on ants or beetles. At the mouth of Cache Creek we found some grey drakes hatching as well as a slate winged dun size 14 with a dark olive body. Cache creek was very low, but the deep pools held lots of willing cutthroats ranging in size from 6-16 inches. Satisfied, we hiked back to the truck in hopes of fishing the evening on Soda Butte. We fished Soda Butte creek from 6-8pm and again found nice numbers of cutthroats. Here's Makoto on the Lamar. Four creeks in one day. We were tired.

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9/5/06- Makoto and I went to the Milesnick Ranch today. We fished the East Gallatin. It was smokey in the valley again today and I think the fish thought it was cloudy. The fish rose heavily for several hours. They started eating Trico duns about 10 and moved to Trico spinners about noon, and then the pseudo's started hatching from 1-3. The fish were rising, but they were far from easy to catch. The fish eating tricos were in the slow, flat water and were often cruising...tough. The psuedo eaters were often in soft riffles and were a bit easier to catch. Another good day at MZ.

9/4/06- Back to the well of the the Lower Gallatin with Makoto Fujie. Makoto is an excellent caster and he fished the dry dropper and single small dry fly rigs. The fishing was again good to great with a strong trico spinner fall in the morning bringing alot of fish to the surface. Most of the rising fish were small, but Makoto found a few in the 14-16 inch range. The dropper rig was more effective for the larger fish. Makoto landed this one on a tungsten pheasant tail. Nice fish! 20 incher.

9/2/06- Floating the Yellowstone today with a group arranged by Tony Valleriano. The fishing was good on hopper dropper rigs, but the paradise valley was choked with smoke from local forest fires. It was so hazy you couldn't see the mountains at all.

9/1/06- I decided to take Charlie Walne and Bennie Kenny to the Lower Gallatin. The fishing was good. We used a hopper dropper rig and landed a bunch of small and medium fish and a few bruisers. The fish were all fat and healthy and fought like mad. Here's Charlie's rainbow landed on a hopper and Bennie enjoying the day. A beautiful day on the river!

8/31/06- A research day of fishing with my friend Don Daniels. We floated the Lower Gallatin. What a nice suprise. The river is lower than I've ever floated it and as a result is crystal clear. Don and I caught alot of small to medium browns and rainbows and didn't see another sole. We caught fish on all methods: streamers, big dries, small dries and nymphs.

8/30/06- I fished the Yellowstone River today with Margret Ward and Sara Pilgrim from Wilsall Montana. It was a day marked by high winds and raging wildfires. The wind was steady in the morning and just got stronger as the day progressed. It was a challenge just to keep the boat from blowing into the banks. Margret and Sara never gave up and even landed some fish in the 45-50mph winds. Here's a picture of the Big Creek fire blowing up behind Sara.

8/23/06- Back with the Bittner family today. We floated the Yellowstone again. Sam and Mike took the morning shift and Pam and Will jumped in at lunch time to fish the afternoon. The fish were chasing the hopper dropper combo in the morning with most of the fish hitting a small pheasant tail nymph. After lunch they were after the big dry fly and we cut the nymphs off. The boys put a fly on their hats for each fish they reeled in. Judging by their hats, it was a productive trip (25 + flies)!!

8/22/06- I floated the Yellowstone from Mayors Landing to the Highway 89 bridge today with Diane and Harrison from New Jersey. They caught some beautiful rainbows. Harrison and his brother Garret also did some great swimming on a hot summer day!

8/21/06- I fished with Mike Bittner and his boys Sam and Will today on the Yellowstone River. The fishing was good with the fish keying in on terrestrials. We had good luck on hoppers, ants and beetles. Sam and Will did the reeling in and Mike took care of the hooking.

8/20/06- A family day on the Yellowstone. I floated with my parents, John and Lynn and Leslie and Emma. We had a great day floating and picnicking in the paradise valley. Emma and Lynn made some sand/mud castles, John caught some nice fish and we all enjoyed the sun and peaceful day on the river!!

8/18/06-8/19/06- Back on the Yellowstone with Emory and Christina Clark. The first day was highlighted by a nice cutthroat caught by Christina and the second day ended with Emory catching the biggest fish of the trip...a rainbow on a hopper.

8/16/06- I fished the MZ again with the William Fishcher family. It was the first time fly fishing for Williams wife Yamiko and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Endo. It was the perfect day to start. The weather was warm and cloudy in the morning and the trico hatch was fantastic!! The East Gallatin was literally boiling with rises!!

8/14/06-8/15/06- I floated the Stillwater River with Emory and Christina Clark for two great days. The fishing was good to great using Golden Stoneflies and pheasant tail droppers.

8/13/06- MZ Ranch today with Rika and Dr. Kamitani. We were also joined by Mr. Kajita, and Mr. and Mrs. Hara. The cool night and rain caused the trico hatch be be slower than usual and the fishing was very difficult. Rika was the champion of the day with the most and biggest fish. I got a good picture of Dr. Kamitani hooking a big rainbow on the East Gallatin.

8/12/06- Rika and Dr. Kamitani went to the Burnt Leather Ranch on West Boulder River with me today. The river was low and the water was gin clear. The fish were spooky!! The afternoon was rainy and cloudy. It was a great day to be sightseeing and fishing the West Boulder area.

8/11/06 I went to Depuy Spring Creek with my good friends Rika Kawanishi and Dr. Kamitani. The PMD hatch is almost over for the season, but there were some PMDs in the morning. We found some fish that were rising occasionally and had very good fishing. The fish that were rising, would eat a properly presented CDC dun almost every time. After lunch the wind picked up and Rika decided to take a nap while Dr. Kamitani and I tried the lower creek...Rika knows!! She had a nice nap and Kamitani got a nice cutthroat.

8/10/06

I was at the MZ Ranch today with Mr. Ro. The East Gallatin was fantastic fishing in the morning. The trico spinner fall was in full swing when we arrived at 9am and lasted until 1pm. There were lots of rising fish and lots of bugs on the water. It was all about pin point casting to get the fish to eat your fly. Their feeding lanes were narrow and the biggest fish were cruising in circles sipping mouthfuls of trico spinners. We spent the afternoon fishing Ben Hart spring creek in the frustration point area. There was a sparse pseudocloen hatch and Mr. Ro caught a nice rainbow in one of the toughest areas!! A great day at MZ.

8/8/06-8/9/06

Patrick Eisenhaur, Dan Goble and I fished the Missouri for 2 days. The crowds are gone and the river was quiet...probably because the fishing is really tough. The fish are eating Tricos in the mornings and we had plenty of targets, but they were spooky!! This is challenging fishing at it's best, everything had to be perfect for the fish to eat the fly and often it had to be the first or second cast. Here's a picture of Patrick with one.

8/7/06

Bob Rider and Bruce Keene floated the Yellowstone River. The fishing was good with some good sized fish eating the hoppers in the Afternoon. Bruce caught a 19" rainbow on a nymph in the morning and Bob matched him with some nice ones on hoppers.

8/3/06

Jeff Hiss, his friend Margret and I floated the Yankee Jim section of the Yellowstone today. It was Jeff's birthday and he set the goal of catching an 18 incher or 18 fish. We came up a little short due to windy conditions. Jeff only landed 15, but he did get a nice fat hen Brown trout on a big hopper.

7/30/06

GUIDE'S DAY OFF. I fished with my oldest fishing partners today. My brother Spencer and cousin Dewitt. We've been fishing together for 33 years...not much has changed except Spencer now prefers to fish with no hooks on his flies. He likes to see the fish eat the fly, but doesn't like to hook and fight them anymore....We put him on the oars on the Stillwater River and Dewitt and I had a blast casting out of the raft. It was the first time fishing the Stillwater for all of us (I've guided there for years, but have never fished it myself). I lost count of the fish in the first hour and we laughed all day!

7/29/06

I picked up Joe and Silvia early to beat the crowds and heat and we floated the upper Yellowstone from McConnel to Joe Brown. Wow! The cutthroats were on the prowl early and often. We fished double dry flies and I counted at least 4 times were two fish hit the double rigs at once. Hoppers, beatles and my special spruce moth immitation were the most productive.

7/28/06

Another nice day on the Yellowstone with the Phelps group. Katie and Doug floated from Grey Owl down to their house in the morning. The fish were actively rising in the right spots in the morning. There was an assortment of food on the water with PMD spinners, Tricos and spent caddis as well as golden stones and yellow sallies. I picked up Joe and Silvia at lunch and we had decent hopper fishing down to the takeout at Mallards rest.

7/27/06

More rafting on the Stillwater River today. I floated with Curt and Jacob from the Novacore group. The fishing was outstanding!! The day was hot (over 100) and sunny and the fish were whacking hoppers like they were going out of style. We even turned some big fish for the stillwater 16-18 inchers.

7/26/06

Will Lassiter and I did some whitewater rafting on the Yellowstone with the Grace and Geoff wedding party. The cutthroats were tight to the banks and looking for hoppers!!

7/24/06

I floated the Yellowstone with the Rich Rorem crew. It was a 6 boat extravaganza marked by high winds, 2 swimming incidents and some very good fishing. I spent the afternoon with Rich and Miles. Rich nabbed a big rainbow on a tar baby, it was the fish of the day no doubt!

7/23/06

I fished the Yellowstone today. The weather was very hot, but the fishing in the morning was good with standard attractor patterns. There was also a good PMD spinner fall and the bigger fish were sipping them. The afternoon provided spotty action on hoppers.

7/17/2006-7/18/2006

I had the pleasure of guiding Kenji Sugisaka and his friends Masakatsu Yamamoto and Hirotaka Ishikawa on the Missouri River for 2 days. The weather was hot and sunny..so we decided to fish the morning Trico hatch, then rest until the evening caddis hatch. The Trico fishing was spotty. Although there was a good hatch, there were relatively few fish rising to them. The evening fishing with caddis and PMD's was outstanding with many fish aggressively feeding. Mr. Sugisaka displayed his amazing fishing skills and caught some very nice trout...meanwhile "Hiro" and "Masa" had some success stories of their own as well as some lessons learned from the difficult Missouri trout!

7/16/2006

Mr. Fukiage, Yamma-chan and I fished Depuy's Spring Creek today. Yes, I fished!! They kindly asked me to fish with them today and not guide. We had a great time fishing the PMD hatch in the upper part of the creek. The fish were actively rising from 9 am until about 3pm. I had the best luck using spinner patterns, while Fukiage and Yamma-chan were taking fish on cripple and emerger patterns...just another lesson in "it's the presentation more than the fly" even with the often difficult Depuy fish.

7/15/06

Mr. Fukiage and Yamma-chan floated the Yellowstone River today. We mostly wade fished and were able to find some nice rising rainbows and cutthroats in a few places. There were PMD's, Yellow Sallies, Caddis and a few golden stones hatching. The side channel fishing was very interesting.

7/14/06

Another great day on the Boulder with my friends Mr. Fukiage and "Yamma-chan". We floated and wade fished the river and the fish were really after dry flies and there were lots of healthy rainbows and browns in the 16" range.

7/12/06-713/06

After a long wait, I finally fished the Yellowstone River for 2 days with Ronald Mason and the Novacore group. The first day we fished the upper river in Paradise Valley and had some fantastic dry fly action with golden stone immitations. The cutthroats were really looking up! The next day we fished east of Livingston for a change of pace and a chance at some bigger fish....Ron landed a 21" Brown!! Big fat and healthy. That fish gave a huge fight.

7/10/06

I spent the day with my good friend Euichi Araki today. We hiked into the West Boulder meadows area. The scenery there is breathtaking and the fishing is always interesting and challenging. When we arrived at the meadows, some fish were rising to PMD's, and we could see some the the big browns (well over 20") cruising and eating nymphs. The water is crystal clear, deep and slow. These fish define spooky and the big ones are probably the most difficult fish to catch in the area. We had a blast stalking them and testing our skills before a large thunderstorm rolled in and sent us back down the 3 mile trail to the truck.

7/9/06

Doug Albright, Bill Medlock and I floated the Boulder River today. It was "fast and furious action!" The rafting was part of the action, but the fishing was the fantastic. Doug and Bill started catching fish shortly after leaving the boatramp and Bill caught the last fish of the trip within sight of the takeout. The bigger fish were chasing large golden stoneflies and other big dry flies, and we had steady action dropping a tungsten beadhead pheasant tail below the dry.

7/5/06

Back from the Missouri again. This time I was with Tadashi Matsunaga and his mother Fumiko. The weather was hot and sunny and the fishing was good in the mornings and evenings with the middle of the day being slower. The evening caddis hatch was outstanding with caddis swarmng all over. The fish were becoming more and more spooky here too and during the brightest part of the day, they were spooking on the first cast...You have to make that first cast a good one. During the evening rise, the fish were not spooky at all, but there were so many naturals on the water, that it took alot of casts to get the fish to eat. Fumiko landed a 20+inch rainbow by oversizing the fly by 2 sizes. The naturals were #16s and her fish moved over to eat a #12 caddis.

6/26/06

MZ again today. The PMD's were good again. The fish are starting to separte into two groups. One group of fish is extremely spooky and will often run away even on a good cast. The other group of fish are becoming more tolerant of casting, but are very selective. They will often ignore poor casts and continue to feed on specific life stages. You need good flies and perfect drifts to catch these fish. It was good and interesting fishing!!

6/23/06

Toru Enokida and I have been making the rounds. We started on the Missouri where the caddis and PMD fishing was fantastic. As good as it gets. The fish were feeding in pods and I saw rising fish for 15 hours one day!

Next we went to the MZ ranch on a bright and sunny day. There were plenty of fish rising to PMDs, but they were incredibly difficult to catch...often spooking on the first cast. Challenging fishing.

We finished the trip with a whitewater rafting trip on the Boulder River. It was a sharp contrast to the MZ and Missouri where we used small dry flies to catch large selective trout. On the Boulder we used large dry flies (size 8 golden stoneflies) and nymph droppers to catch lots of aggressive rainbows and browns 8-15inches long. The best part of the day was that we only saw 2 other people in 8 hours...pure Montana bliss.

06/19/06

I just returned from 3 days of fishing on the Missouri River with my friends Kouji Ootani and Yukio Aoike. The weather was windy everyday, but the fishing was great! The PMD hatch is in full swing and the caddis hatch is getting heavier each day. Koji and Yukio are skilled casters and had little problem casting into the wind. The highlight of the trip was a double landed in a small side channel on single dry flies. Yuki caught a nice rainbow on a caddis and Koji nabbed a brown on a PMD.

05/26/06
Fishing up on the Missouri River is starting to get very good. Today we picked up a couple of very nice fish including a 25 inch brown trout! See Milesnick' Ranch

05/13/06
Spring is here and the fishing can be at it's all time best. We've had good fishing with caddis flies and streamers the last several days. However with the warmer temperatures the rivers have come up with the melting snow. For the next month or so we'll be fishing the spring creeks and tailwaters in the area.

04/11/06
Great fishing on the Yellowstone today with midges and BWOs