When they Tell You "You Can't" Do it Anyway

Wow, that's depressing, it's been since December that I've had an opportunity to sit down and piece together a BLOG posting, but pretty soon here we'll have an entirely new system and all of our BLOG entries will be on our own website, with richer imagery, video's, gear reviews, and of course BS about fishing... Until then I'll try and be a little better about getting something up and on here!

I figured that with a mild winter and not a whole lot of crazy stuff going on that we'd shake things up a bit and talk about a topic that the Troutfitters crew loves to chat about - fishing a little bit outside of the box... If you are a purist turn away now, and really what the hell were you doing on here in the first place if you're a purist, haha...

One of my personal favorite things to do when I'm out fishing is to buck the conventional wisdom and try things out that people around fishing circles will tell you "don't ever work." One of the best places to do these odd ball things is on places traditionally thought of as "sacred places" like Spring Creeks, or famous dry fly fisheries. The other fun thing to do is to try out tactics at different times of year when fishermen will tell you "that only works during blank time of the year," and do exactly the opposite. You'll be surprised at how often things that "don't work" actually do, and how often the time of year is irrelevant.

Over the years there's been all sorts of "conventional wisdom" that I've put to the test, for instance one of the first things I heard when I really started fishing a lot was that fish on Spring Creeks are very selective and you need gentle presentations with fine tippet sizes and long leaders so that you don't spook the wary fish in gin clear water. For years growing up I floundered around in the creeks trying to make these subtle presentations, fishing only long leaders and small tippets and flies to rising fish with mixed success. At times this approach is extremely effective, and you can certainly make a name for yourself in the fishing world by dissecting rise forms, studying trout behavior in heavily pressured waters and making all sorts of fancy flies and leader formulas for picky fish.

This view of fishing was way too myopic for my tastes. After all, why would fish in Spring Creeks act completely differently then every other fish in the world? Why would they not react like any other animal and chase down prey if presented the option? Why? Well because of conventional wisdom. Too many fishermen over the year's wrote about the difficulty of catching these fish, but all of them were taking the exact same approach, trying to mimic minute food sources in small water to pressured fish. All I could think was why not try something everyone else isn't doing, and so I set about just trying out different techniques on Spring Creek waters in situations that called for something completely different according to the "How-to Manuals."

One of the most memorable times that I tried this buck the trend theory out was probably the better part of a decade ago, and I'm not claiming that I'm the first one to think of this. But, I'm pretty sure I was the only one I knew of fishing the Milesnick's Spring Creek with a 7 weight rod and a type 6 sink tip line with a 8 inch long articulated sculpin pattern in the middle of a blanket PMD hatch. That day I had already tried with varied success matching the hatch and catching fish on spinners, cripples, emergers, soft hackles, floating nymphs and duns and at that point had seen enough fish refuse or ignore my fly that I was sick of trying to match the hatch. So I walked back to my truck, grabbed my big river rod that was all rigged up from fishing the Yellowstone with 15lb test tippet and a giant articulated sculpin and decided I'd slap the water and see what would happen.

The first hole that I came down to and pitched that bug into I pulled out a 22" brown trout that probably had been feasting on those same size 16 PMD Cripples. Yet when I chugged this large piece of bunny fur through his home, he ate it with such ferocity you would have sworn he was trying to kill it first and eat it later. I chalked it up to dumb luck and went on down to the next bend where there were several fish podded up rising. I put a cast just below where the biggest fish of the bunch was rising and stripped it through as quick as I could and that fish hammered the streamer and tore all over the pool - when I got it to hand I put it on a measuring tape and it was a shade over 23" and had to be over 5lbs. The manner and expediency with which he forgot all about the PMD's and chased down that streamer changed the way I thought about trout behavior in supposed "picky" fishing situations.

One of the recent things I've been wanting to put to the test has been the theory that trout only eat mice during the warmer months of the year, and that they will only eat them late in the day or at night or early mornings. I think that gives too much credit to an animal with a brain the size of a pea that I've watched eat cigar butts during a salmonfly hatch. So the last several years I've gone about fishing some mice patterns in some places at some times of the year where people told me it wouldn't work. The first time I tried this theory out was last March over on the Beaverhead on a marginally overcast day and to my fishing partner's surprise, I whacked around a dozen fish swinging and stripping mice. They chased the pattern down with wreckless abandon, oftentimes jumping out of the water after the foam backed clump of rabbit hair and rubber legs. I've since fished mice on various other bodies of water with mixed success, but one common strand was that time of day didn't seem to matter,
There's been countless other times of the year when I've tried things through the middle of hatches that "shouldn't have worked" that ended up working wonders. I've thrown stuff in places where I've been told "they don't eat those things here" and caught piles of fish, and big fish too. I've gone out during times of the day or year when people have said "they won't eat blank at this time of year," and had fish chase blank all over the place and eat it with reckless abandon. The point of all of this is when someone tells you "that won't work" don't get discouraged, give it a try maybe it will work, maybe it won't. But it's a helluva lot of fun when you're wrecking fish somewhere on something that someone told you wouldn't work than it is to get skunked using everything that everyone told you would work!

Winter Fishing Pursuits

Apologies for the lax updating on the BLOG. That's what happens when kid #2 is on the way any day now! Doesn't leave much time for the misses to let me out of the house for fishing...

But before the year comes to a close I thought it would be fun to share a little article that only scratches the surface of why I enjoy fishing in the Winter as much as I do. Check it out, enjoy and I'll be sure and get on the river as soon as my daughter arrives and my wife lets me out of the house!!!

Since this will be the last article I pen for the season I thought it appropriate to take a little look forward to the next few months when so many anglers across the area will be retiring their fishing gear until next spring.

Now, I’m not one of those folks who puts my fishing gear away at the sign of the first freeze, oh no. When everyone else is getting their skis or boards polished up for the season I’m throwing on an extra layer or two and heading to the river for a few hours of solitude and winter fishing bliss. November can’t truly be considered a “winter” fishing month, but when December and January roll around and snow hits the ground, that’s when crazies are separated from the casual fishermen. As a member of the former and not the latter category, I’ll admit that my fishing habits borderline on “insane” as my wife often remarks. There’s something simple, calming, and refreshing about spending a brisk day on the water in the deep of the winter watching fish do their dance across the wintery backdrop of Montana’s rivers and streams. If you enjoy spending time in nature with very few people around, then you just might have what it takes to enjoy winter fishing. For those of you crazy enough to read on I’ll gladly share some winter retreats and a few tips on what you should be prepared with.

Winter: When What you Wear is Important
For the vast majority of the fishing season I contend that you can fish in a t-shirt, shorts and sandals if you like, not the case in the winter. If you plan on doing any winter fishing at all you are going to need to layer up just like you were going to go to the ski hill and find yourself some nice socks too because nothing kills a day of fishing faster than cold feet. Some sort of headgear is always necessary for fishing to protect the melon from flying hooks and something with a brim is nice for allowing you to see better on sunny days. For warmth purposes there’s a ton of “jeep caps” out there these days and if you can stand to look like Radar from MASH you’ll be a lot better off during the winter. As for gloves, some love ‘em, some hate ‘em, personally, I don’t fish in the winter without some sort of mitten or glove… Make sure that you’ve repaired the leaks in your waders, and if you plan on doing a lot of winter fishing consider investing in a studded rubber soled wading boot – snow clings to and builds up on felt but not rubber. Finally get some good polarized sunglasses – there’s no worse glare than that coming off of snow and water in the winter.

When to Go, When to Stay Home
Now that we’ve fully hashed out everything you need for winter fishing consider the timing of your pursuits next in line of importance. The best times to go during the winter are during the middle of a warm front. If it’s been sub zero for 3 weeks, don’t pick the first warm day to head to the river, there will likely be ice flows and frozen river to contend with, neither of which are safe or productive for fishing. I personally try to find days where temps are into the low 40’s, but as long as it isn’t too far below freezing you can fish in spurts if you’re willing to endure the temps. Line will freeze and so will your guides on your rod, so if you go when it’s too cold, plan on picking ice out of your eyelets, there is not a paste or product that works to keep your rod ice free when temps are below freezing. Another word from the wise – check the wind forecast, wind in winter is brutal and really messes up a day of fishing.

Places to Head Besides the Ski Hill
If you are looking at a place to head to during the winter, look at tailwater fisheries first. Tailwater rivers flow out of dams and maintain more consistent and warmer temperatures during the winter, this is key to finding open water during the cold spells. Rivers like the Missouri, Bighorn, Beaverhead, and Madison are all tailwater fisheries and all of them tend to have far less ice on them than their freestone counterparts like the Big Hole, Gallatin, Yellowstone, Boulder etc. Spring Creeks are another good winter option – Livingston, Montana sports 3 of the most well known Spring Creeks in the world and all of them provide an excellent winter fishing option with consistent water temps and rich bug life in the dead of winter. Wherever you do decide to head to during the winter make sure and tell someone where you’re heading and exercise caution when wading – ice flows are dangerous and fishing in the winter by yourself isn’t for the novice angler.

What to Stuff in Your Flybox
If you’ve ever found it difficult to decide what flies to use when you head to the river, then winter will be a welcome change. There’s really only about a half dozen different things you’ll need to take with you depending on where you are going. During the winter a trout’s diet consists mainly of aquatic insects and worms, thus you don’t need to bring along a ton of dry flies. Midges, worms, eggs and maybe some leeches or stoneflies and you’ll round out a fly selection for most rivers in the winter. Don’t over complicate things, bring split shot, indicators, short stout leaders and maybe a flask filled with something that hints of cinnamon…

Winter fishing is oftentimes nothing more than an excuse to drive a long distance on terrible roads to the middle of nowhere where you will find very few other sensible creatures besides a few birds and hopefully some fish. Perhaps I’ll see you out on the water this winter, if I do I’ll happily share a bend of river with you and toast to being a little off!