This was a family vacation, so the “no fishing on family vacation” rule applied. Mostly.
I did manage to sneak away from 6:00pm – 10:00pm Friday night to the upper Harriman Ranch area. I don’t know how many of you have fished Harriman Ranch (Harriman Park, The Railroad Ranch) before, but it consistently kicks my butt. It has been the hardest place for me to consistently catch decent size fish.
There are some prolific hatches that come off that I have been there for (an incredible caddis hatch about 10 years ago was the last major hatch I’ve been in). And I’ve been there when good hatches have come off. This time there was no major hatch.
One thing is consistent—there are lots of bugs for fish to choose from. This time there were PMDs, another mayfly I couldn’t identify and a couple of varieties of caddis. The mayflies were emergers, duns, spinners and spent. A fish would rise, then quickly cruise the surface picking of two or three flies, then disappear for 10-15 minutes. Then several minutes after the initial first rise another fish would do the same somewhere else. Usually these rises were just out of my comfortable casting range. I would move within range, but by then the fish would have stopped rising.
I worked my way upstream several hundred yards chasing these risers. Several times I was within range and could actually cover the fish, but that seemed to put them down. I could never really see what they were taking, but if I had any, I would have tossed some spent or emerging PMDs. I tossed my closest imitations, but the spent wing was a couple of sizes too large and the emerger a couple of sizes too small. I had no real takes until late (about 9:45) in the faded light. I did have one fish smack at it (or something close to it). No set hook though.
These were some decent risers, in the 16″-19″ range. A couple of them looked like they might have pushed the 20″ mark. I’d love to spend more time fishing there as I would like to figure it out, but pretty much every time we go it’s a family thing, so I’m relegated to just a few hours fishing one time. Never really long enough to gather data, tie the flies, then try again. I’ve never put too much stock in the suggestions or selection from local fly shops (cynic that I am).
The hardest part of the trip was the day we went to Quake Lake and Hebgen Lake. We were on the river between the lakes. The Golden Stones and Salmonflies and large caddis were all coming off. I didn’t have a Montana license, but I was sure having a hard time leaving the fly rod in its case. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to fish so much, but couldn’t, in my life. My daughter had fun catching the flies though.
I like to hi the Madison at least once a year, but it wasn’t this trip. Maybe in a few weeks, we’ll see.
Glad you found some water time. The salmonflies would have been pure torture to watch coming off and not being able to fish. Were you able to at least witness some of the trout gorging on naturals?
Luckily, we didn’t spend a lot of time there, so I tried to avert my eyes as much as possible. I saw one nice take. The picture with my daughter in it is her trying to throw the salmonfly into a hole so we could watch a fish take. She was using her left hand, but she’s a righty, so the salmonfly just fluttered away instead of hitting the water.
Digging the big springs shot. I was up there a few weeks ago. Did you see the big trout lurking under the bridge that could eat the gulls as an appetizer?
They were mostly hanging out under the bridge. But somebody skipped the fish food at the bridge and brought their own corn. When they tossed it upstream of the bridge, oh my–there were a couple of bruisers shouldering each other for the food! I was fresh out of gull patterns, but I’m surprised those birds had the audacity to dangle their feet so near the fish!
How big is that salmonfly? It looks huge, but a bit smaller when I realized that was your daughter’s hand.
The rumors about Idaho look treu in those photos! Great shots.
That salmonfly was just about 2″ long. Idaho=beautiful. Considering the part I was in is the western border to Yellowstone, you pretty much expect a pretty place.