Turkey Troubles

In Montana, there are many cures for spring fever. Along with a variety of fishing opportunities, there are also spring bear and turkey hunting seasons to make time for. While I don't hunt bear, I do manage to fit in an annual trip to southeast Montana to chase gobblers. Turkey hunting requires favorable weather more than any other variable. Wind makes calling impossible and rain in southeast Montana makes the roads greasy and impassable, not allowing us to get to our remote honeyholes. So, after postponing our trip the previous weekend, we juggled our schedules and grabbed our shotguns. We had received reports that turkey numbers were down, but assumed that we would still find plenty of birds. Our first morning was as perfect as forecasted. No wind, clear skies and moderate temperatures. Immediately after stepping out of the truck, we heard a Tom gobble in the distance. Brian, Ryan and I grabbed our decoys, calls and guns, and sneaked into the Custer National Forest woods. After closing the distance between us and the birds, the two Toms were clearly "henned up", seemingly sharing the four hens between the two of them. One hen started to make her way to investigate our calls, giving us the hope that she would lead the Toms are way. But, not the case.

The rest of the weekend would lead to more disappointment. We put many miles on, by both hiking and mountain biking quietly on trails closed to motor vehicles. Turkey droppings and tracks were noticeably absent everywhere we explored. We only had three responses in two and a half days of calling and none of those were fruitful. Even the number of "backyard birds" that we usually see behind ranch houses and feedlots were scarce. While it was great to get out and be in the woods in May, we all were yearning for that magic moment when an interested Tom comes toward the hunter and a clean kill is made. Unfortunately, that may have to wait until next spring.

Eye Time

Spring walleye fishing can be fickle. The window of opportunity from ice-out through the spring spawn can open and close and open again in hours on Montana reservoirs. When water temperatures creep into the mid-forties, walleyes begin their quest to reproduce and point their noses up rivers and creeks. Anglers also become anxious this time of year, looking forward to that first boat ride of the year and with a little luck, the first 'eye of the season.

The first open-water adventure of 2012 was a complete bust. Dad and I never caught a fish in 7 hours of fishing. The Mighty Mo' was running muddy and cold. I had envisioned having the market corned on large, spawning walleyes, but came home with my tail between my legs.

This past weekend, things had changed. The water was clearer and slightly warmer. Good numbers of walleyes were in shallow water, two to 12 feet deep. Our presentation was simple, just pitching jigs and minnow toward shore, keeping the boat just out of the heavier current.

While the majority of the fish were males, we did catch a few larger females that were pushing 25". We practiced a somewhat-selective harvest, keeping mostly smaller males, but a few females around three pounds also became a very appreciated, new culinary success back home. Walleye season is officially underway.

Big Spring Creek

You would think that current fishing reports pertaining to Big Spring Creek would be a staple of this blog, yet such reports are suspiciously scarce. Montana Sporting Journal editor Jay Hanson resides in Lewistown, within walking distance of the creek. His lack of reporting signals to me that he's either taking this great fishery for granted, or that he's trying to keep it quiet. I suspect it's a little of both.

The only reason that you're reading a report about the creek is because I traveled to Lewistown this weekend to meet with Jay. It was the second leg of an ambitious road trip combining business and fishing (read the full report here).

After wrapping up our meeting Jay guided me to one of his honey holes upstream from town. Upon arrival I was surprised to find the creek running a bit high and off color, the result of low-elevation snowmelt during this unseasonably warm spring. Even so, the spring creek was in much better shape than many of the regional freestones, some of which were too turbid for productive fishing over the weekend. From Brewery Flats upstream, the creek had two to three feet of visibility - clearer up near the hatchery, and dirtier further downstream.

Each of my first two drifts through one of Jay's favorite runs resulted in trout, both took a size-16 pink soft hackle fished deep under an indicator. Over the ensuing couple of hours I worked my way upstream, picking up a trout or two in most of the larger pools and runs that I came to. The aforementioned fly, along with a San Juan worm, accounted for most of these fish. I also spent some time methodically working a streamer along banks with structure. A black sex dungeon affixed to a heavy sink-tip line lured two nice browns, one that I landed, and another that charged out from a rock, but wouldn't commit.

Good numbers of baetis were hatching from about 1pm-3pm, most of them were a size 18, with a few that were closer to 16. The dry-fly fishing was non-existent due to relentless high winds all afternoon. Anglers who find themselves on the creek over the next couple of weeks on warm, overcast afternoons with calm winds should come prepared for baetis hatches and rising fish.

Who knows, perhaps Jay will surprise us all and report on the productivity of a simple Adams (#18) and pheasant tail emerger (#18) combination (fished on 5x tippet with a long leader... hint, hint) in the coming weeks. If you make it up to Big Spring Creek yourself, be sure to drop him a line reporting on just how good the fishing was out his back door.
--
Look for a feature on central MT trout water, including Big Spring Creek, in the next issue of Montana Sporting Journal.

Last Ice

When you leave town with your truck full of tip-ups, a Jiffy auger and a bucket of minnows while people are raking their lawns and hitting golf balls, you question the quality of the ice you will be seeking. But, you can’t catch fish from your garage, so you have to go.

Fortunately, the climate varies greatly from the Canadian border to where I reside. While Fergus county area ponds and reservoirs were losing their ice to 60-degree Chinook winds, lakes on the Hi-Line were still holding up fairly well. In fact, I had planned on walking out on the reservoir, pulling out my gear in my Otter sled. But, with a solid 14” of ice, we were able to travel by four-wheeler.

Fishing in March provides an opportunity to possibly catch a behemoth walleye, full of eggs on her way to the spawning grounds. However, we were fishing deeper structure, mostly perch habitat. In fact, the only three walleyes we caught were males. The weather was probably the highlight; fishing in the March sun, with no wind, is a great cure for cabin fever. Don’t tell my dermatologist, but I almost look forward to the first sunburn of the spring, especially if that occurs while fishing on the ice, grilling bratwurst.

As I write this three days later, the ice if vanishing from larger reservoirs such as Petrolia and Fort Peck. The next sunburn will most likely occur while in a boat.

River Report

Winter '12: Sunshine, solitude, and good fishing.

At this time last year my home water – the Gallatin River – had substantial anchor ice, shelf ice, and slush ice throughout its valley reaches. Looking back at my fishing log, the fishing was generally slow, if there was any fishing to be had at all. This year has been a reversal of fortune, in that the river has remained open and fishable nearly all winter long, its banks largely devoid of ice. The unseasonably warm weather has been the bane of hardwater anglers, but has resulted in some very good trout fishing not only on the Gallatin, but on rivers throughout Montana.

My home office is located just a stone’s throw from the lower Gallatin River and lately it has been a rare day when I haven’t managed to get in an hour of fishing during the warmest part of the day, mid-afternoon. Midges are hatching, and on overcast days a few fish can be found rising to them. The nymph fishing has been very productive with caddis larva, midge larva and pupa, grey and pink sow bugs, red worms, eggs, and increasingly, stonefly nymphs… the usual winter line-up.

Streamers have even been producing recently, both with an active retrieve and dead drifted. Reports have been surfacing of quality streamer fishing on the Yellowstone River near Livingston, with conditions even allowing anglers to float the river - an extreme rarity in February.

The trick to good fishing at this time of year is finding the winter holding water. Trout are not evenly distributed throughout a river at this time of year, rather they are congregated in the deepest, slowest holes. Where there is one fish, there are likely to be many more holding in the same location. I was reminded of this fact this past weekend while fishing the lower Madison River, where I caught all of my fish from just two holes along a half mile stretch of river. Repeatedly drifting through these holes produced fish after fish, and when the action died, changing flies (particularly the fly size) produced more fish.

As enjoyable as the winter fly fishing has been this year, I think most of us are ready for a solid dose of winter weather to close the season out - quality summer fishing depends upon it. The Gallatin and Madison watersheds are currently sitting at 70% and 74% of average snowpack, respectively. Old Man Winter has some catching up to do.

FAS Sponsor

We just received our FAS sponsor certificate in the mail. MSJ has adopted Black's Ford FAS, a heavily utilized access point on the lower Madison River.

As part of the sponsor agreement we'll be organizing bi-annual clean-up events at the access site... stay tuned for dates and details.

The Madison River Foundation has been proactive about finding sponsors for FAS locations along the Madison River. Sponsorship opportunities are available for FAS locations throughout Region 3, for more information contact MT FWP.

Perch Are The Prize

I used to fancy myself as a walleye specialist. If I was not catching eating-sized walleyes, in that perfect 1-2 pound range, with the occasional trophy, I was just wasting my time. Northern pike were slimy and perch weren’t worth messing with. While pike can still make a mess of your lines when ice-fishing, I have changed my opinion on perch.

Perch are an ideal winter species. They are great eating (walleye is a member of the perch family) and easy to fillet. Perch are often very prolific in the right fishery and their numbers can swell quickly, making them available and aggressive. When the perch population is robust, a bucket of fresh perch in an afternoon of sitting on the ice is a real possibility. The goal is to find the happy medium between good numbers of perch, but also maintain that “jumbo” quality, not a bunch of stunted fish.

A trip north this weekend was a perch outing on somewhat thin ice with the warm temperatures of late. Once on the lake, it was a matter of finding the proper depth and the right presentation that attracted the larger perch. Eventually, I settled on 29-30 feet of water, with a Swedish Pimple and a minnow head. A full minnow was too large and caused me to miss too many fish on the hookset. A mealworm enticed too many small perch to race to my lure. My Vexilar was worth its weight in gold.

As a result, I brought home about 18 perch to clean that evening. They weren’t perch pushing that coveted one pound threshold, but they were close. Dipped in Italian bread crumbs and fried in olive oil, the white flesh was like candy. Who needs walleyes, anyway?