Estuaries Open

RAVENOUS FISH ABOUND

Rabid Fishers Hitting The Lake

you should be here yesterday

NEIGHBORHOOD HONEY HOLE - ICE EDGE ON THE MADISON ARM

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.. Both the Madison Arm and the Grayling Arm of Hebgen Reservoir are ice free. The South Fork Arm is almost there as well. Parts of the shoreline along the north shore are open as well.
.. Old Rule: ICE EDGE = HUNGRY FISH. It's mostly neighborhood fishing right now but there were several advanced parties of foreign fishers scoping out the lake over the weekend.
.. Catching is an all day affair with the best stringers arriving after about 1:00 PM. Night crawlers, Panther Martain's, and pink San Juan Worms are the standout attractions of the moment.
.. The most devilish indication of just how good the catching is, is that the local garden hackle supply is dwindling toward the zero point. Another indication is that the seven-day-a-week feather merchants have been closed for several hours each day of  the weekend - and all day Sunday. Something is going on.
.. The bluster in the weather has dribbled to a small nusaince level and there was most of a sunny day on Sunday. Neither the fish nor the fishers seemed to mind the sun and gentle breezes. There will be Spring bluster, (on and off,) for the next 10 days or so. Great for charging the streams with warm water and melting the remaining ice as well.

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.. There are colors appearing in the west side rivers of Yellowstone National Park.


YOU CAN DRINK IF YOU LIKE

.. They remid us of the decorations that infants leave in their nappies. Some fishers refer to the color as tea-stained. We'd rather not drink that tea.
.. Visibility on the Madison River is still around 18" or two feet and clouding up slowly. A few warm days and we'll be letting the lowland fishers know that the great catching is about to end. For now though, this is not what we would call a runoff event.
.. There are infrequent small bugs appearing on the surface of the water. There are more frequent appearances of noses and such. We suppose that there are midges in the bright spots of the warming water.
.. We're going to have some biscuits and gravy.

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LOW, SLOW, COLD, & NEARLY CLEAR MADISON RIVER
AT Mt. HAYNES IN YELLOWSTONE

Declaration

ICE OUT VERY SOON

Perhaps Tomorrow

or next wednesday for sure

A Bit Of Liquid Adorns the Ice At Hebgen Lake

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.. The weather wolverine of West Yellowstone has awakened and seen the water at lake's edge. The official declaration of "ICE OUT" is imminent.
.. Between snow squalls the visiting tourons are dressing for summer and pretending that the faint sun is warm enough for a dream vacation.
.. The neighbors are at Hebgen Reservoir, (sadly without lawn chairs for the moment,) and dragging in trout by the bucket.
.. Visitors from nearby foreign countries, like Idaho, and Utah are planning visitations to the famous fishing frenzy on the rocky shores and beaches of the reservoir.
.. Even the bison are streaming out of Yellowstone National Park to view the unfrozen water, - a rare and short lived sight in these parts.
.. We'll have a full report tomorrow or the next day - catching permitting.

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Can Summer Be Far Behind ?

Gentility Begins

AFTER THE CHAOS

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.. St. Pat's is over. Snowmobile Expo is done. The park is closed. The visitors are few. The streets are bare between dusting's. There are places to park. Grocery prices are down to just 2 x retail. The neighbors are taking the time to visit at the Post Office or anywhere else that they bump into each other.
.. Plutocrats and other wealthy residents are long gone to the less interesting and warmer parts of the globe. Transient workers are on the way out of town or busy seeking employment for yet another season of frenzied busyness.


re-frozen and re-cracked ice = catching

.. Children are loosed upon the village without fear and dogs and cats explore the deposits of foreign critters left behind by inconsiderate and unthinking visitors, (the snow hides it all - huh?)
.. Ice out is still some weeks away but there is some fishing and catching for the neighbors.
.. Leisure is the watchword. Opportunities last only a short time. Gentle meandering along the shores of Hebgen Reservoir allows us to fish the early holes.
.. Little bits of open water, (sometimes less than 50 square feet,) are beginning to appear along the shorelines. The fish find them as soon as they happen. Fishers become catchers as the shifting ice responds to the wind, sun, and currents from the in-flowing rivers.
.. Catching is nearly automatic in these little bits of open water. Any worm, spinner, lure, fly, or bare hook with a bit of flash will take a fish.

"HELLIFIKNOW" is on stage

.. It's a neighborhood pastime that attracts us all. It's not for the visitors from afar.
.. It's an ephemeral phenomenon. The holes open and close as the day progresses. The ice creaks and groans. The clear, thin, skim ice from last night twinkles as it is sundered into gleaming shards.
.. The fish appear and disappear. Scuttlebutt is passed from neighbor to neighbor in the grocery lines, at the hardware store, in the diner, and of course the Post Office. Scurrying is the name of the game. We do it on occasion. The cell phone has aided the endeavour greatly. Such fun.

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Sledheads have run out of snow in town. Mud and slush are great fun - huh?

EEEEEGAD!

THE TIME IS NOW

Ice Disappearing Rapidly

fish are ravenous

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES

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.. 70° F is a bit warm for this time of year; just ask the fish. They've gone nuts. The ice on Hebgen Lake is about to vanish along with the "EDGE-OF-ICE" fishing opportunities.
.. The fish are so confused by the rapidly vanishing ice that they are eating anything and everything in the water that fits in their mouth. This won't last long.

.. Between the Lakes is the current favorite destination for 'combat fishing.' Bring your elbow pads and protective goggles. With any luck at all you'll be able to add several new license plates to your Spring sightings.
.. If you have some new and obnoxious ring-tones for your cell phone bring them too: they are useful trading material. They may even get you some casting room.
.. If you are an Android user you can track bears with the "WHERE'S A BEAR" app. Try it - you'll like the crowds.
.. The Boat Ramp at the head of Quake Lake is producing so many fish that even the garden hackle fishers have abandoned it in favor of a more sporting proposition. They've moved to the outlet of Quake Lake where they have time for a sip of beer between fish.

.. Lawn chairs and tank tops were the fashion yesterday at the lake. It promises to be the same today too.
.. Some of the neighbors will be chasing the edge of the ice today with canoes, drift boats, kayaks, tin boats, aluminum boats, and other floating devices. There's no word about float tubes - we wouldn't put it past some of them.
.. The whole Madison Arm is clear of ice. Sled-head-fishers report that the South Fork Arm is well into the lake.
.. The bison, giving birth, on Horse Butte are even thinking of becoming omnivores right now. The swamps and willow brambles at the point are being trampled into an interchange of fishing trails. To say there is a frenzy would be to understate situation.
.. Offerings to the fish include anything in the box. Float it, Sink it, Strip it, Splash it, or present it in any novel way that you can think of - the fish will eat it. Don't let them see your fly box - they've been known to leave the lake and devour them whole - right out of your hand.
.. Get here yesterday. Bring the whole family, (everyone else is,) and enjoy a few days of silly-stupid catching. Hell, I even caught some.

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Double Dealin' Mother

ICE GONE - RIVERS UP

What's A Fisher To Do?

the worst is just around the corner

THERE'S LAWN CHAIRS ON THE POINT
AND 300' OF ICE AT THE DAM

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.. Mom has been both loving and cruel this Spring. First she gives us a good snow year that promises to have our rivers running cold well into the summer. Then she throws us a warm spike that takes away a goodly amount of the snow pack. Then just as the ice begins to leave the shores Hebgen Lake she presents us with a rare east wind that pushes the thin ice out of the estuaries.
.. Lately she's been toying with us in a new and wonderfully sadistic manner. The diurnal temperatures have been in the high 40's, while the nocturnal degrees have not dipped much past the mid 30's. Afternoon on Saturday reached 50° F. So the rivers continue to flow freely and the clouds keep the sun from encouraging the bugs, (no it's not quite dreary enough for those other bugs either!)
.. The rivers were so high on Saturday that several roads were closed. The most significant was Highway 191 going to Bozeman. Greek Creek expanded to the point that it was not only out of bank, but out of control as well. It flooded the road and caused a road closure for most of the day and well into the evening.
.. The Madison River is running at a high seasonal average. The Firehole River has slowed to seasonal discharge. The Gibbon River, on the other hand, is being frisky and flows are all over the place.

It's not a fly but it's hot right now

.. So is there a place to fish? Certainly not down-canyon where the Gallatin River is hitting 3,000 cfs and growing. How about using a boat on the lake? It's still good near the ice, and just normal where you find the fish. Trolling a small Kastmaster has galled a couple of reported 24" Brown Trout, (cell phone picture verified.)
.. How's the fishing between the lakes? Glad you asked!
.. It's fair right now, (and crowded,) - BUT - Hebgen Reservoir's Flood Control Pool is full. Discharge is a moderate but fishable 1,250 cfs.
.. The "BUT" is that inflow is 2,200 cfs, and there's only 7 feet left to the spillway. Things are looking pretty bleak for the near future.
.. The only good news to be had is that with the rising lake levels the junction of tributary streams and the lake receeds upstream. Technically some places where the neighbors are fishing are illegal. Practically, if you wade the muddy willow bottoms of Grayling Creek, Duck Creek, Cougar Creek, or the South Fork, you deserve the catching - if there is any.

.. The lowland Madison River is fishing good. The catching is fair. The color is O.K. and bugs are available. Nymphs and streamers are still in play and shoreline catching is as good as drift boat catching.
.. Everything will go to hell quickly if they pull the plug at the dam. It could happen. Or, with current repair crews still working on the intake structure they may just let it fill to the spillway. That could happen about the time the Madison River discharge hits it's maximum: this year projected to be near 2,000+ cfs. That's double what it is now.
.. We're headed to a little stretch of the Gallatin River that is way too cold to fish. It's that little bit of water between the Yellowstone park-line and Taylor Fork Creek. It's so cold the fish are having trouble holding on to the flies. It's so cold that they are eating anything that seems eatable: sticks, leaves, flies, bare hooks, etc. It's so cold that everyone that fishes there tells you it's too cold to fish!

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THE VORTEX IN HEBGEN RESERVOIR IS CAUSED WHEN THEY PULL THE PLUG

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Overnight Surprise

ICE OUT - IN A FLASH

This is going to be quick

do it now - right now

Rapid retreat of ice leaves fishers running toward the dam

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.. It was going to be a gentle day probing the open spots along the shore of Hebgen Lake. Instead, it turned into a fishing frenzy until the zephyrs turned into howling banshees.
.. Friday was nice, Saturday was beautiful, Sunday was glorious until about 5:30 PM. By now you should already be packed and headed toward the door. The last four days of sunshine and warm temperatures have brought an instantaneous ice out to Hebgen Lake.

Clear open water in the Madison Arm

..It truly happened over night. Saturday morning there was fog and there was ice clinging to the shores of the Madison Arm.
.. The Madison River is running at about 450 cfs above the seasonal averages and it's plenty warm. It has pushed it's estuary water into the lake proper.
.. By Sunday morning the ice had receded from the shore all the way to the Happy Hour Bar.
.. Fishing guides and neighbors, headed for the lowlands, saved enormous amounts of fuel money and halted their fishing trip at the edge of the lake.

Osprey hovering at edge of ice

.. It was not a total surprise, but the easterly winds pushed all the thin ice ahead of them and cleared the whole Madison Arm in a matter of hours.
.. Catching was as good as the fishers were. The edge of the ice moved constantly under the persistent shove of the winds.
.. The folks with boats had it almost as good as the birds. The ospreys hovered above the fishers, at the edge of the ice, all day.
.. Shore bound fishers found themselves moving rapidly along the shoreline as the ice pulled away from its anchorage.

Moving to stay in touch with the ice

.. There were very few lawn chairs and even fewer ice chests. There was nothing leisurely about this weekend. The ice moved, the fish appeared, the fisher folk followed: fat trout met their demise, or were reprieved - depending on the sentiments of the angler.
.. As many fish are released by gear goofs as by fly flingers in this ritual of Spring. Mom cooperated, water was available, and until late afternoon on Sunday the most perfect fishing in all the world was on the shores of Hebgen Lake.

Some scuds do look like this

.. Although fishing and catching will continue to be spectacular for the next week or two, the easiest catching at the edge of the ice will disappear rapidly over the coming few days. It's already hard to cast to the ice with a fly rod, (unless your name is Steve Rajeff.) The gear and bait fishers are also bemoaning the rapid recession although the lead-carried lures and baits are in the "fishy zone" more often than not.

Pack it up and move on

.. Fly fishers are using Scuds, Woolly Worms, San Juan Worms, Gob-O-Worms, and large double dropped Prince Nymphs.
.. Over at Rainbow Point, (yes it's easily accessable now,) they are using Chamois Leech imitations. About 3" is the size on a #8 or even #6 2xl hook. Banging 'em dead they are!
.. This is the first time in more than ten years that the thaw has hit with such rapidity. And this is the first time that we recommend that you re-cultivate you friendship with a boat owner this early in the season.

All alone? Needs a friend!

.. There will continue to be an ice edge to fish. The fishing and catching will be best at the edge of the ice. It will be farther from the shore than any time in recent memory and fishing in a boat will gather up way more fish than fishing from the shore.
.. If you're mobile and have waited for this announcement - don't tarry. The celebration is on and the fish are glutenous. If you're not out the door by now you just may miss it!
.. There is some good news and some bad news from Yellowstone National Park. Stay tuned and we'll let you know.
.. Right now it's time to put some vinegar on the sunburn. It's also time for some Crêpes folded over Prosciutto, Brie, and thinly sliced Cantaloupe. It's the perfect midnight snack. We may even burn some rum on them and add powdered sugar.

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ICE BE GONE

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