Bridges of Madison County (Take #4)

There is absolutely nothing in this blog about the movie Bridges of Madison County excpet the ideas of the choices of Love, Saddness, Life and Death.
Looking at this photo of a fly coming to see what time it was on my TagHeuer watchband, I casually pulled out my phone and took this pic. There was a day when a 3 inch bug of any sort would send me into sheer panic and jumping around screaming in a high voice.  The only photo then would be of a squished bug.  Well, I watched a video years back by Madison River guru Craig Mathews on the Madison river. ( I still watch it in the dead of winter).  In a section this giant bug lands on him and crawls up his shirt across his face and plants itself in the shade under the brim of his hat.  Craig is fishing and filming and saying how these Salmon flies have no teeth and can not harm you. They are like a good dog. They just want to be next to you all the time. Ok, that would take some getting used to I said, and yes, it did and I'm ok with that.

Being at the Madison or anywhere in MT when this hatch takes place is an act of God. No timing, no planning ahead. Usually only the locals and very rich with lear-jets make it out for this short hatch.  I reckon it to the fishing version or storm chasers.. Instead of tornado's, they're looking for the Salmon Fly.   One day they crawl out of the earth or rocks and river and voila' it's Christmas for trout. More protein in one bite than a few hundred other bugs.  Yes sir the big boys who hide deep and in the shade all day till night time, come out and play during this frenzy by day...

Now here's a stretch of the W. Madison I walked to one evening. I sat here on the bank for a half hour enjoying the sunset and waiting for the fish to get active, and used to me sitting in that space doing nothing.  Fish are very away of everything above them in the river and any movement sends them down and "silent". It's why you try to fish from beneath and behind them. In wind and current it's just easier to fish above them and drift flys into their windows, but you have to sit and get them used to you in that space.  
Well I had looked at the salmon flys carefully around and crawling all over me. Under that brown top is a special color of orange  and a certain length of fly.  I had matched size and color perfectly at the local fly shop the night before and by God I wasn't gonna miss my chance because my flys' weren't a match on the only time I may ever fish this hatch.
I had been fishing  a 1/4 mile of bank that afternoon in the heat with little success, and had run into a bran new drift boat parked in my path on the rivers edge as I walked and fished . Well, it was three guys from MN.  Golden Valley, Uptown and Shakopee.  And yes they each dressed appropriately for their suburb of choice.  :)  They bought that beautiful drift  boat the day before in Billings and I was wondering where they were gonna store it.. You see most Midwestern fly fisherman travel by Air and hire guides on these waters..  Now the one from Uptown was using a 13ft Tenkara rod. PERFECT.... Only a few folks will get the irony in that one and I'm still laughing. Tenkara are the new "zen" flyfishing Japanese style rods. One piece with no reel...  Yup, like the old 15ft canepole you used for sunfish as a kid with a red and white bobber except now you spend 1,000. for one in the latest customized graphite.:)

Well I sat on the river edge there when an older fella looking like Burl Ives comes out of the high grass and says hello.  Unlike the busy streets of the world, where you're afraid to say hello to anyone in fear they might wanna fight you, on a river, every ones your brother "in rods".
  "How long you been fishing these waters" I say.  "Oh, bout 40 years here i guess".. (Geesh this guy even sounds like Burl Ives in this cool night with the sun starting to turn orange hues in the west).. "Since I quit my job in California and came here in '74 and never looked back.  You know the salmon flies are coming but nothing yet the last two nights here. I'll be coming here till the run is over."
 I wanted to ask him if he'd seen Rudolph and the other reindeer but instead I said thanks as he continues to point his finger. "Yea those three rocks there (in the above pic). I get some monster Rainbows from behind those rocks every year. Never on #4 Salmon Flies but only small #18 Caddis" he says. Hey, I said, if this is your spot sir, I'll move down stream.  Nah, and with a ho, ho, ho laugh he turns away. "I'm walking up stream tonight to sight fish, and he slipped off through the high grass.
I look back at the riffle in front of the first rock and then look at my salmon fly and begin a conversation.  Ok I said, this guy says its caddis and I should cut this off and put one on but I'm gonna throw you three or four times down that seam and then put you away. Folks, I may pray and talk to myself alot on rivers, but I don't actually talk to my flies. Well not unless the wind moves them sideways in a forward cast and they embed themselves in my head or arms or fingers. Then I call them suckers. More like "YOU SUCKER", followed by a deep breath and the pulling out of pliers to push them through and cut the barb off if possible. 
Long time blog followers may remember a blog over 10 years ago when I put a hopper in the back of my head on the SodaButte river and had to go the hospital in Yellowstone to get it yanked out cause we just couldn't get the light wire to come back out of my head skin. And I mean yanked with a capital Y.. at the hospital. 

Now back to the Madison.  On river banks, there is always trees and brush and grass and and and.. to get your back casts caught on, and ruin your moments of brilliant casting:)  This is the best way to learn to hate fly fishing. Novices should only fish where there is a clear back throw and no wind.. It's the only way to develop any confidence. We develop right and left hand casts, roll casts, side arm casts, bow and arrow, straight up and down, and then there's the mending of the line based upon current to achieve a 2sec. good drift over your spot...  There are days a spinning rig would be a whole lot easier, catch a lot more fish, and allow you to put a beverage in your other hand.. Never! That's for the trolling midwestern Lund laden electronic fitted alumicraft sportsman.

So I strip the line out of the reel I think I need,  and begin roll casting away from my target to get it in length and on the river with no room for a back cast.  Ready now I roll cast into the lane I wanted and I had a good drift of about two seconds when pow...  fish on.  Funny thing is, you know that your first cast is your best chance over any fish window,  but it usually takes a few casts to get it there and you're never really ready on that first cast. I had tied on a shorter leader with 4x tippet (5lb test) instead of the usual 4 or 3lb test we use that is so hard to keep a fish from breaking but necessary to thread small flies and not be seen by the fish. 

Not until the Rainbow jumped did I get a flash of Holy Crap and a wave of panic through my body. Any fish over 19" and 3lbs scares me. Honestly I've only caught one fish over 19" out here in all these years. I'd like to get them, but it seems the 12 to 17" trout are my mainstay and I'm quite happy with that.   Ok, now Craig,  where are the submerged tree limbs he's gonna try to pull down to, to dislodge. or deep rocks hide under and make me snap the line.   I jump in the river and start heading down stream trying to keep him from the trees and into a place I can land him.  I had a new net from a couple in Wisc. and I was gonna find out if he fit in it..  Well, not easily without curving.
 Trying to land fish and then take photos that don't look stupid while tryin to save a fish but not lose them by holding them gently with one hand and trying to take a pic with the other hand is way complicated. Oh yea, be sure you have a waterproof case on your phone in case you slip or it slips out of your hand into the water and you hopefully get it before it floats away...

 So this rainbow is under 20".  19 and 3/4 to be exact,  but was the fattest heaviest trout I'd ever caught. Remember friends that you can click on any photo in these blogs and pull up full size versions in a lightbox setting. It is one of the things about "blogspot" that I appreciate.   Now as you can see, this old boy took that salmon fly with such a vengeance that he pulled it fully through the bone on his upper jaw. If you click on the photo you can see the underside orange of the fly pattern I was talking about. 

So I landed this fish and took some pics and that's all I'll say about this fish ;)
I sat on the bank, put my rod away and took the slow walk back to my truck and then slow drive back to the home base tent camp.  

The next night before dark I decided to try out some replacement oars I'd found n Butte for my drift boat. Bigger waters on the Madison, I thought this would be a good chance to see how they did. Well I made the 2mile float in 45min and hardly fished at all.  So many submerged boulders that could send you flying or worse that the whole time was mostly spend trying move into position to avoid the rocks and river turns.  And the oars... I was amazed they made it 45min.  I'm guessing they are all made for use on lakes. So back to Bob Wards in Bozeman for a return and on to Sportsmans Paradise to hopefully get a set that would work better.  And I did and they did and in the next segment we'll head up to Langhor Camp on the way up Highlite Canyon South of Bozeman in the Gallatin Forrest where we'll float our boats on a high mt. Reservoir lake for the first time.  


Oh yea, and in case you're wondering if we eat fish... Here's and fantastic tasting brookie from the Big Hole I grilled on the fire in those rocks. And the grape juice was great with it:)

Headed back to Langhor now this afternoon. to prep camp for my bride who's flying in tomorrow for the next 6 days and my partner Bruce heads south into West Yellowstone and the Madison Valley again, in search of those "Ahhhhhhhh" moments with the God who hangs out in Montana.



Till I get some photos taken and write (Take #5) installment, pass this on to your fishing friends who wonder a bit about what the west is like out here.  PS. we went to an old historic theatre last night to watch a new B&W digital version of Gary Cooper in "High Noon" with Grace Kelly, Loyd Bridges and a host of young famous actors.  What fun. And the crowd may have been alot of blue hairs, but they at least new when to clap and when to be quiet:)

The greatest part of waking up is Espresso / French press in your ....jetboil....  cup.
 At 50 degrees, alot of dew, 6,000. feet and after bathing in a river at 40 some degrees like Adam, this is about as good as it gets friends.