FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The Wade Right Fishing Belt

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Don’t Leave For the Chandeleurs Without It.  I won’t!  Won’t be long now!

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All I have to say about Montana at this point is what a place.  I knew it would be cool after spending time in New Mexico and Colorado, but this definitely takes the cake.  Talk about places to fish, puts Colorado to shame.  More on that later.  We are headed to Yellowstone today on our wolf tracking trip, but first we wanted to head to Whitefish, cruise Glacier, and she got me a one day guided trip for pike on Whitefish lake.  As the rivers are “blown out” with spring run off and rain lake fishing was the ticket.

*****************Fresh or salt it has a place in your arsenal.

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It is in the Doing!

We stayed at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake.  A quick word on them, one of my favorite places we have ever stayed on our travels.  Location, reasonably priced, nice folks, I can not say enough about how great a place it is.  Right on the lake, it fit the bill and when, not if, we get back that way would stay there again.

My guide for the day was Jesse Shively.  Jesse is an Orvis guide who not only does river and lake fishing but also guides bear, deer, and elk.  The weather forecast was for snow, sleet, rain, sun, big wind, you name it, the day had it.  And the forecast was right on.   The plan was to fish big pike, which they have, must be feeding up on all those trout.

Snow/sleet/hail – Call it what you will it was ugly.

So we dropped the drift boat in a small creek way up lake leading into a big shallow bay, classic early spring ice out location for pike.  By time we got in the water at 11:00 the weather was going down hill fast.  But the conditions were no problem, proper dress and it is nothing more than an irritant.  And I have always wanted to fish out of a drift boat, a cool rig.  So he oared us down creek and into the bay.  Conditions were deteriorating fast.

Jesse, though he has a trolling motor, prefers to row to keep good position.  During the afternoon it was real apparent the pike were off.  I had a big one, probably, follow a spinnerbait to the boat, all I saw was a huge boil as I lifted it out of the water.  A while later another nice one followed it to the boat but it was clear they were not to happy with the deteriorating conditions, which obviously were dropping the shallow water temps.  Heck, I even tried to cast a fly to them, but as I suck at that, tossing a big fly was definitely not working for me.

Jesse was a beast on the oar as we had periods of big wind

So with a couple of refusals he suggested we try a little dead baiting for Lake Trout.  And again as the pike did, a weak bite but no cigar.  So as the afternoon wore on we went back to chasing pike.  I started back with the spinnerbait and on a cast it got tangled and as I pulled it out of the water to try to fix it one boiled on it.  So I cranked it in, buzzed it right over the same spot and one got right on it’s ass but did not connect.  So a switch to a chartreuse/white Gulp jerk shad style bait seemed like a good follow up bait, and it was.

Laker number 1.

So after 2 refusals on consecutive casts time for a slower presentation.  As the water was only a few feet deep I was using it fairly fast and the one above rolled on it and did not eat.  So I tossed it right back in there and as soon as it rolled on it again and missed I dropped it and fish on.  That made the day under these conditions.  So we kept after it a while and then it happened again exactly the same way.  One rolled on it, so stop it and let it fall, and in the boat it came.

I just love me some fishing in these conditions.

A word on Jesse.  I have fished with guides in many places, but I had a big time fishing with him.  He worked his ass off to get me fish, in fact he went above and beyond.  I gave him a couple of subtle hints we could quit if he wanted but he was not having it.  He rowed against big wind, along with everything else the weather could throw at us, without complaint.  He has fished with some famous folks, he is guiding a hall of fame football player to bear this month, and has some great experiences and stories to share.  (Plus he politely listened to my nonsense stories all day.)  As far as guides go I give him a 10+ and would recommend anyone who ever wants to fish or hunt in Montana to consider him, you will not be sorry.  His “normal” fishing grounds is fly fishing the Flathead River near Glacier, but he fishes many different rivers and not only for trout.  There is some outstanding smallmouth fishing lakes and rivers and one of his clients broke 6lbs last season, a good smallie anywhere.  And if you want to bow hunt for bear, rifle for elk, he does it all.

The nicest part of the day as we headed to the ramp.

I always say it is in the doing, and today was exactly that.  Catching a few fish at the end of the afternoon was just icing on the cake.  It is all about the experience, and this was a new one for me.  They always say in Texas if you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes, well today Montana had it all, which made the day what it was.  So a big thanks to Jesse, you earned your money and I will be back.

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I want to say something about Colorado, which we love to visit.  Colorado fishing is nothing more than a suck up to the rich.  Buy some river bank and no one can even wade fish, hell you can not even anchor in the river when floating if there is private land.  So what has happened, as I have seen it done in so many different places the last 30 years, folks with money come in, buy it up, and then the rules make it hard for the common man to fish.  So the rich have much of it to themselves and the rest of us, especially shore bound anglers, are left out.  Why I have only fished there a couple of times.

Montana is a completely different story, they want one and all to come and fish.  Some of the greatest trout rivers in the world, not to mention lakes everywhere, and all have tons of public access.  What would have been a 5 hour drive back to Bozeman turned into 8 because I kept stopping at so many access points to lakes and rivers.  The Game and Fish specifically have a working relationship with landowners to make sure we can all fish.  There are literally hundreds and hundreds of public access to all waters, and anything below the high water mark is open to all.  So you can stop at an access point and go to wading, something you really can not do in many areas of Colorado.  I was really amazed at the difference in attitudes, Montana wants you to come and fish, Colorado not so much.  And if you are a do it yourself guy like I generally am, Montana is the place.  So I will be back.

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Here are a couple of pictures of the trip so far.  Sorry have to hurry up and finish as they will be here to get us soon.

All have to day – What is not to like about this!

So we are off to chase wolves and I will try to get something posted later, but we are excited.  I have never been to Yellowstone, and have never seen a wolf in the wild so it promises to be an epic trip.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines