Whether it's a golf course pond, or a blue ribbon trout stream, we all have local water that satiates our thirst for a quick fix. There's something special about getting to know a body of water intimately, learning her many moods and what makes her tick.
When I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona my home water was Oak Creek, and after moving to the Grand Canyon I frequented Bright Angel Creek. I spent countless hours with these beautiful trout streams, falling in love in the process.
Now that I'm living in Bozeman, Montana my home water is the Gallatin River. She's the girl next door, an easily overlooked and underrated trout fishery just west of town. She tends to be overshadowed by her more glamorous neighbors: the Madison to the west and the Yellowstone to the east. I've fallen hard for her, she's a beautiful, complex freestone river that has everything a guy could ask for. I want to explore every inch of her, from head to toe. The curves of her lower valley call to me, but it's difficult to overlook her tight, canyon mid-section and of course there's no denying the surprises that her upper meadow reaches hold.
I've decided to make a commitment to the Gallatin this summer, she's certainly deserving. Yes, she's convenient, but more importantly I enjoy spending time with her. She understands that our relationship isn't exclusive, yet doesn't hold it against me.
Right now we're still in the honeymoon phase, things are new and exciting, but I have no reason to believe that it won't continue like this forever. With the longer days I've been getting out on the Gallatin 2-3 times a week after work, as well as on weekends. Recent outings have regularly produced a score of fish per rod (of course many are whitefish), including some nice browns in the 14- to 17- inch range and numerous rainbows. The fish are taking dead drifted stonefly nymphs, pheasant tails, shop vacs and soft hackles with reckless abandon. Baetis are beginning to pop and some small stoneflies (nemoura?) are inviting a bit of surface action on the lower river - rumor has it there is even a bit of skwala stonefly activity on the lower river as well. Streamers are taking trout and will weed out the whitefish, but expect to lose some flies to underwater structure.
I'm not usually one to kiss and tell, but then the Gallatin is no secret. I've had to share her with others - bait fisherman even - that's just the way it is and I've come to terms with it. Of course I like to think that she doesn't divulge her deepest secrets to just anyone...
Where's your home water?
There has been a lot of talk of the weather between me and my fishing buddies lately. It may not be the deepest topic of conversation, but it's weighing heavily on our minds as we approach the launch date for a 6 day Smith River trip. We knew that a launch of 4/27 was risky business, potentially inviting runoff into the equation. And sure enough, unseasonably warm weather over the past few days has blown out the rivers with snow melt. Of course it's not all bad, the warm weather also has mini-skirts out in full force around Bozeman. The Smith went from 200 cfs a week ago, to over 800 cfs yesterday. Fortunately there's a glimmer of hope in the forecast...the next few days bring cooler weather and with it, hope that the river will drop and clear. Plan B is a multi-day float on a remote tailwater river in MT, but I'm hoping it won't come to that. Wish us luck.
I haven't been out fishing much this week, deadlines for Montana Sporting Journal and Trout Magazine conspired against me. My most recent outing was on the upper Madison, where we spent an afternoon floating from Varney to Burnt Tree. The fishing wasn't spectacular from a numbers standpoint, but we caught some good size fish. With the exception of a whitefish or two, every fish we caught was a rainbow. I like to think that they were all resident fish, but some of them may very well have been interlopers, up from Ennis Lake. Most of the fish took golden stone nymphs, but a couple fell for a trailing pheasant tail or shop vac. This reach of river has some great looking water, including some very inviting side channels. We spent more time than we should have on the upper couple of miles, stopping to wade at nearly every good looking location, of which there were many. My buddy had a hot date back in town that night, so we had to cover the last few miles in a hurry. About mid-way through the float I eased up on the oars, gazed at the Madison Range, felt the warm sun on my face and realized that it just doesn't get much better than this.
