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It's game on. All the local waters are fishing well.

7/18/10- Doug, Bill tried the Yellowstone with me today. We had decent action on the dry dropper rig. Some spots produced good numbers....some spots had nothing. The wind blew us off the water in the early afternoon as a thunderstorm blew through. It was a enjoyable float and good to be back on the Yellowstone.

Here's Bill hooked up...whitefish not pictured.

7/17/10- Doug Albright and Bill Bush hit the Boulder with me today. Fishing was good to great. The weather was perfect and we had a blast floating down the crystal clear water waiting for the next hookup.

7/16/10-Despite sunny and hot weather the rising was again fantastic on the Missouri. PMD spinners and spent caddis littered the water surface and fish were easily found...but as always on the MO not easily caught. Small feeding lanes make pinpoint casting a must. Here's Kawabata..one of the Budweiser Brothers.

7/15/10- Robert Stewart joined our group today on the Missouri. The flows have dropped to 8000 and the fish were rising non-stop today. We had the best luck in the early evening. The caddis hatch in the late evening was a near blanket. There were so many naturals, it was difficult to get the fish to eat your fly.

7/14/10- The Pescador group worked the PMD hatch at Depuy's today. The hatch is dwindling, but we found good rising from 12-4. The fish are getting extremely selective. 7X was a must and CDC spinner patterns as well as the Haarop No Hackle were our best bugs.

7/13/10- Mr. Fukiage from Pescador Fly Shop in Osaka is in town with his two friends Shioji and Kawabata. We tried MZ Ranch today. The fishing was typically tough with precise first casts required to get the fish. There was a good PMD spinner fall mid day with a some good fish up on them, but they were spooky! Wind forced us to try some nymphing. Kawabata hooked 6 big ones in one hole on a PMD splitcase nymph.

7/12/10- High winds and sunny skies made the Missouri a different angling world today. We found a pod of rising fish before the wind blew the spinners to Cascade. Doug made the most of it. We then resorted to nymphing. Jackson's rock produced 7 doubles and a couple of singles. Hard to beat that.

7/11/10- Doug Albright and Bill Bush are on their annual pilgrimage to Montana. They started it out with a bang today on the Missouri. Flows are 10000 and it was calm and cloudy this morning. We found plenty of fish rising to PMD spinners. During the peak of the spinner fall (about noon), fish hammered the indicator flies two to one and the buzzball was on in the riffles. We floated the canyon in the evening hoping for a caddis frenzy. We found nice views and nothing but small fish rising.

7/9/10- Will Lassiter and I guided 6 anglers on Depuy's today. The fishing is getting tougher with drift and fly becoming absolutely critical. We had a great day with the gang with success varying from 1 fish to 19 caught. It's good, but never easy at Depuy's.

7/8/10-Tadashi joined me on the Boulder to change things up. We had good fishing and a relaxing day rafting down the Boulder valley.

7/7/10- A bright sunny day made fishing tough on the MO today. Add a bit of wind in the afternoon and we had to work for the fish. Most of which we found slurping in back eddies swimming in circles making for moving targets. Caddis are swarming the banks though.

7/6/10-Yuichi, Tadashi, Fumiko and I woke up to light rain and cloudy weather. It was great fishing with rising fish easily found for the first 4 hours until the sun came out. We rested and floated the lower river in the evening gambling on some brown drake action. We saw lots of caddis and PMDs, but only a few drakes and a few rises. The fish we did find were hunting down the drakes exclusively. They all turned downstream to eat the big drake patterns with awesome takes!

7/5/10-The Missouri continues to stay high, but produce big fish on dry flies. Yuichi Araki joined Fumiko, Tadashi and I in the boat. We had to do some long floats to find rising fish, but it was rewarding.

7/4/10- Fumiko and Tadashi Matsunaga are here again for another Montana run. We started at Depuy's today with anther fantastic day of fishing. The PMDs continue to hatch in good numbers and there are tons of fish in the creek with some really big ones cruising the flats. Fumiko always catches a lot of fish at Depuy's and this year was no exception. Tadashi got his share as well using a bamboo rod he built for the occasion.

7/2/10-Yuki's no rookie either, and on this trip I dubbed him the "first cast master". He put his first cast over the fish more often than not. Usually Yuki holds his fish with one hand for photos as shown below at Depuy's. He had to make an exception for this monster.

7/1/10- More of the same on the Missouri. High water, big fish and a few afternoon thunderstorms. As always, when the clouds come through, its easier to find a rising fish.

This guy's no rookie. Koji's 15th year....Sharpshooter!

6/30/10- The Missouri is still flowing 16000cfs, but caddis and PMD hatches have been intense. Yuki, Koji and I searched backwaters and side channels for risers. We found enough targets to keep busy. The fish are rising in really technical water and generally when you catch one, they are big...

6/29/10-Yuki and Koji are back for their 15th season. Our theme this year was going to be return to the scene of the crime. We planned on hitting the PMD hatch on the spring creeks and Missouri. Today we hit Depuy's spring creek and it was as good as it gets. The PMDs rolled off from 10-3 and we had some cloudy weather to boot. The boys put on a clinic with most any PMD pattern working for them.

6/27/10-Armstrong's Spring creek was the venue today with my parents, John and Lynn. The PMD hatch was great and we had some fantastic fishing. Here are the standard images of the day. Taking turns.

6/26/10-My father, John and I hit the Lower Madison today hoping to get in front of the tuber hatch. The fishing was slow, but we hooked a handful of nice fish on a beautiful summer day in Montana.

6/25/10-Dean and Karren Umemoto brought their 3 grandsons: Nick, Timmy and Ryan to Montana for some spring creek fishing. I fished the MZ Ranch with them today and all the boys caught fish. Here's a the Motley crew with friend Bruce Copeland.

6/24/10- The PMD and caddis hatches continue to intensify on the MO. Barney, Cooper and I found some rising fish today in a big back eddy. Nice to see them and we'll only see more each day as the river drops into dry fly shape. Meanwhile, here's what the Mid Cannon access looks like.

6/23/10- More fun with Barney and Cooper. We floated down in the canyon today. Barney threw the mouse for an hour after getting tired of catching fish on nymphs. No takers, but it sure is fun to watch that thing skate...it's only a matter of time.

6/22/10- Barney and Cooper Scollan are back in town to fish the Missouri. Last year these guys hit the peak of the PMD hatch and didn't use a dry fly in 3 days. This year is different...very high water and the only dry we used was Barney's mouse. The nymph fishing was again outstanding with the standard worm and scud or caddis rig...and we did the now standard portage in the channel now known as "big brown town".

6/19/10- Tom and Geoff had to leave early today, but they did enough damage by noon. These guys hit some of the nicest browns I've seen back to back. Awesome fish. Great anglers.

Here's a slab of brown trout with prerequisite smile. and Geoff's bandaged hand.

6/18/10- The river hit 18900cfs today before leveling off at 18500. Same result. Great nymphing in the soft water and big fish. Geoff and Tom could get used to this.

6/17/10- Tom LaChance and Geoff Sanderson hit the Missouri with me today. Just when you think the river was going to start dropping, a major rain event on the tributaries sent the river up again 17500cfs today and rainy. The fishing was again great with the deep nymph rig. I can't say enough about the size and quality of the fish. Tom and Geoff put on a clinic. We had to portage a low bridge, but felt it was worth it.

6/15/10- Carl and Ray hit er again today. We woke to pounding rain and the forecast looked bleak. The weather held out and we stayed dry until 3:30 when we got run off by a thunderstorm. Again the fish were willing and the water was high. Here are the boys and a pic of the Spite Boat ramp 3 feet under.

6/14/10- Carl Westphal and Ray Greenwood hit the Massive and Mighty Missouri (16000cfs) today. I don't remember ever catching many fish in water this high, but it has been great nymphing. The fish are stacked in the slow runs and when you find them, it's game on. They are gorging on worms and scuds and are like rockets when you hook them up. Ray can attest to that.

6/13/10- I spent the afternoon with my daughter, 2 neices and 3 other kids fishing a secret pond near Livingston. My neice Nora (age 2 3/4) got her first rainbow. Here she is and another pic of Michael Brandner working another 17 inch rainbow over with buddy Tyson hooked up in the background. The fly of the day? ...an egg pattern colored brown with a sharpie...just like a pellet.

6/11/10- Patrick's nephew Steve and his new bride Natasha are celebrating their honeymoon in Montana. These are not rookies. They showed up with rods rigged, waders on and assorted adult beverages in hand. Steve and Natasha met on a fishing trip and have both guided in Colorado in the past. They are a couple of fishing magicians. They were hooked up most of the day and we even coined a new phrase "Brian Botano that sucka"...meaning use the 3 and 4X florocarbon to it's fullest and skate the fish in as fast as possible, then get after the next one.

6/10/10- Patrick and Linda braved another day on the rising Missouri ( up to 14000 today). We had a slow morning and good afternoon. Here's a Craig ramp fish that Linda caught with fantastic style.

6/9/10- Patrick Eisenhaur and his lovely wife Linda hit the Missouri with me today. The flows have come up from 6000 to 13000 and the fish seemed to be displaced a bit. We found our fish in the softest seams and runs. There was a lot of driftwood and debris floating down in the afternoon as the water rose about 5 inches. The fish are as strong and healthy as can be. Here's Patrick with a dandy.

6/6/10-Nao and Yuko Mochino are in Bozeman for their honeymoon. It was Yuko's first time fly fishing today. MZ Ranch proved to be just the right place for the day. By the afternoon Yuko was hooking into fish and landing her share. Nao stayed busy landing fish on Thompson spring creek. One memory will last a long time; Yuko jumped into the creek to net Nao's fish and fell in. She was laughing so hard it took her a while to get back out. That's giving your all for the new husband!

5/29/10- Greg Falls and I hit the Mighty MO today for another day of fun in the rain. The fishing was slower than expected, but the fish we caught were unbelievably fat and healthy. It's going to be a stellar year on the Missouri with the biggest fish in the last 10 years!

5/28/10- Robert Stewart and I hit the Lower Madison today for some research. It rained all day....I mean had to pump the water out of the boat 2 times in 4 hours rain. The fishing was solid with worms and caddis pupa being our best rig. Robert nailed a nice rainbow on a Yellow Panther Martin as he worked on his spin casting. He's a shot of the Red Mountain Fishing Access site complete with Memorial day campers. Check out the flood lights...you could light half a football field with those. Glad I'm not camping next to that crew!

5/27/10- I fished MZ Ranch today with my friends Tom Harms and Steve Klotz. The fish are strong and fat this year. There were good numbers of PMDs mid day and a few dry fly options, but nymphing was the most productive with small mayfly immitations.

5/21/10- Living the dream.

I don’t have a clue what’s been going on in Southwest Montana for the past 2 weeks.  What I do know first hand is that the Ayu were aggressive and fishing was productive at the Okitsu River on the main island of Japan.  Ayu fishing has been a dream of mine ever since my buddy and client Manoa Hoshina described it to me 9 years ago.  It’s not your ordinary sort of fishing.

My experience started at 3:56 am when my friends Kenji and Hoshina picked me up.  We had an hour and a half drive to the Okitsu River and were leaving at this ungodly hour to beat the crowds to the good spots and get our pick of the live decoys sold streamside….that’s right decoys.

To get the jist of Ayu fishing you have to know a few things about the target fish.  Ayu are a trout species that have a one year life cycle.  They hatch in freshwater rivers in the winter, migrate to the ocean and return to the rivers in the early summer season.  They feed on aquatic algae and are considered an absolute delicacy in Japan….this ain’t catch and release fishing.  In the late summer the big ones are up to 13 inches, but the fish we were after in May were 6-8 inches.

Ayu eat algae off river rocks and are fiercely territorial.  How do you catch them?  There are 2 methods that have evolved over the years in Japan.  First, snagging was in vogue and there are still a few who practice this method, although frowned upon.  The true sportsmen use a method called “tomo-tsuri” roughly translated as “friend-fishing”.

You use a live Ayu as a decoy attached by a nose ring and tail hook which has a razor sharp treble hook stinger trailing about 3 inches back from the “decoy’s” tail.  The nose ring is rigged with +- 30 feet of 8-10X titanium based tippet which is attached to a 30 foot graphite rod. 

The object is to have your decoy naturally swim through a wild Ayu’s territory.  The wild Ayu becomes enraged and attacks the decoy; hooking itself on the treble hook.  When this goes down you can feel the commotion on the ultra sensitive 30 foot rod.  And the bad asses like Hoshina, lift the fish out of the water in one graceful motion and swing them in the air straight to the net at their side “flying fish” style…not a rookie move.

In a flash you want to switch the old decoy out, nose ring the fresh one and send ‘em out again.  Fresh decoys are key as a tired Ayu doesn’t move around naturally enough to piss off the locals.

Hoshina predicted the prime time fishing would be from 10-2 when the sun was highest and the water warmest.  As I mentioned, Hoshina is not a rookie.  During my stay in Japan there was a lot of talk about the Ayu fishing crowds which have a reputation as being intimidating and even occasionally violent. Hoshina dismissed this reputation. At 6am we stopped at the 7/11 and Hoshina stressed the importance of a well stocked cooler, “Ayu fishermen need beer for lunch…then happy times in afternoon”. With the 3:56am start, fortified by rest station, vending machine curry; we didn’t make it ‘til lunchtime.  The first beers were cracked at 8:30…happy times!

The fishing is an absolute trip.  With the huge rod and ultra light tippet, the goal is to free swim the decoy through as much prime territory as possible without making it look like it’s being drug around.  The masters can steer the fish like a rider on a horse. 

When I retire from guiding in Montana, I’ll be headed to Japan for the Ayu tournament season.

Here are a couple of shots from the day:

4/24/10-"Return to the scene of the crime." That's what we dubbed it. Joe and Rich are no rookies when it comes to Burns Lake. Most of my memories of Burns involve them and the people they roll with. Like Rich's son Alex, who landed the first and only turtle in my boat (got it with his hands). Oh yeah, they've caught more than their share of fish on Burns too. Name the method and we've gotten them on it, from streamers on sinking lines to dries on 6X. Today it was windy and there were some impressive waves out there. Dries were out, and the nymph rig didn't look good bobbing around in the waves. We slow stripped a damsel immitation called the Komiyma Caddis. It did the trick.

4/23/10-This time Rich and Wayne were with me on the Lower Madison. The weather was beautiful and fishing was good enough. Here's Rich with a nice bow.

4/22/10-Joe, Rich, Wayne and Scott are back for another round of spring fishing with Anglers West and Matson Rogers Outfitting. Joe and Wayne were in my boat today on the Stillwater. We were hoping to fish some clear water and did for a few hours before the snowmelt hit us. We had tea colored water when we got on and brown water with 1 1/2 feet of visibility when we hit the ramp in the evening. As you'd guess, the bite dwindled. We were a day late. We did see good numbers of caddis and march brown spinners.

Here are some shots of Scott and Joe a day later. No fun at all.

4/16/10- Steve Pollard's group hit the Yellowstone today with Robert and Greg Falls guiding with me. James and Mike were in my boat and we enjoyed the warmest day of the year, until lunch when a 20-25mph east wind battered our faces, casts and boat. The fishing was relatively good considering the tough weather. We got em mosting shallow nymphing. The wind limited any dry fly opportunities.

4/15/10- Will Lassiter and I went to McCoy Spring Creeks to check them out. I fished McCoy's about 9 years ago, but I'd been hearing about changes the new owners have made. The stories were true, there are some hefty fish in these creeks.

4/12/10- Ski season is over...time to fish. Robert Stewart and Phil Sgamma joined me for a short float on the Yellowstone today. The Baetis and midges were hatching in good numbers. There was a stoubt east wind in the mix which made fishing on the move challenging. We found a few spots where the bugs were being blown into the banks or coves and the fish were voracious. Here are the boys hard at it in the foam.

2/12/10- Jeff Hiss is here to kick off the fishing season again this year. We fished hard and had comfortable weather, but the fish were not on the bite. "Good fishing, bad catching" is Jeff's quote.