trout along the tracks

Posted on May 18, 2024 by troutondries.com

Springtime road trip. Montana. It’s always a great feeling to have the time to roam around the west and visit rivers. Before you know it days turn into weeks. When fly fishing all sense of time gets blurred or lost. Moving water contributes to this by being so hypnotic.

I camped with a puppy. We got up at dawn and called it a day at sunset. We were out all day. All four seasons were experienced on the road trip: from Summertime sunshine and warmth; to heavy Spring rains; many Fall frosty mornings and heavy cloud cover; and even a bout of Winter sleet and snow.

snowing in hills

The fly fishing on the large tailwater river I visited was outstanding, There were dense BWO hatches daily and even some March Browns on the lower river. I also had morning action on midges when it was calm. The river was covered with bugs most afternoons into the evening. As always, low wind and cloud covered days were best and I had many. Fish continually showed themselves by feeding on emergers and dries. Every time I visit the river I say to myself: “This is the best dry fly river I’ve ever been on”. Fly selection is always important which adds to the challenge and intrigue.

I spent two weeks walking railway tracks to access different river sections. I hung-out in side channels and around islands when the wind blew. Even in full sun I was usually able to find some rising fish.

It was hard to leave the big river but eventually I drove further south to visit a little spring creek I had been on many years ago near Dillon. There were less bugs there. And I saw few rises. The creek is “pretty as a postcard”. I made just a few very good connections on heavy cloud days, mid week when fewer anglers were around. It’s mainly a Brown trout fishery, which is why I visited it. I discovered the creek gets a lot of angling pressure. Most anglers seem to nymph all the deeper holes/pools. Conditions have to be just right for the trout to show themselves on the surface. Too many anglers passing through and it doesn’t happen.

spring creek

Dillon is a great little western town. Several fly shops. Great services. Character architecture in the old town area. It’s totally manageable. I will return to fish the bigger river nearby, which I spent one day exploring. The flow rate was too high for the way I like to fish while I was there.

spring creek

I hiked a lot of railway tracks to access different river sections at both angling locations. Some of the best rivers that I have fished have train tracks running along them.

Some images of rivers, trout and tracks. Just about all he trout were caught on small dries, mainly on size 18 BWO patterns. A few were taken on larger March Brown patterns, size 14/12.

writing in thick frost on tent

home

sleeping on backpack

some color

clear water

trout on olives

Posted on June 12, 2023 by troutondries.com

Overcast skies, rain, Blue Winged Olive mayflies and some trout on size 18 dry flies and emerger patterns…

cottage sign

Posted on June 7, 2020 by troutondries.com

“For as long as I can remember, my nickname was Dusty. I remember my Dad naming me that because of the streets where we lived”.

Dusty Rhodes

I PURCHASED a neglected old Miners home in SW Alberta 17 years ago. I’ve been working on it since. It’s tiny and really just a cottage. The best thing about it is that it is in the the heart of Trout Country: right near the Crowsnest river and many other spectacular flows. You would have a hard time finding a better fly fishing location anywhere in North America. Winters can be brutal (that’s Canada) but most summers are picture perfect on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The rivers are clear, insects often hatch and trout rise, and there is a great fly shop (Crowsnest Angler) just down the street. For years I’ve wanted to name my home and have a sign made. Time flies! Seventeen years later here it is. The cottage is small, it’s a faded blue color and has a lot of green foliage around it in the summertime. I named it after a hatch on my local river…the “Blue Winged Olive Cottage”.

Autumn

Posted on October 9, 2017 by troutondries.com

Sun. Rain. Gale force winds. Snow. The weather has been all over the place and so have I. I’ve been driving around trying to find a regional river that has some bugs and rising fish. It’s been challenging.

reel insnow

oldman stumps

snow

My local tail-water river is running real cloudy…not good. Water management has also been drastically reducing flows resulting in several significant water drops. I found some stranded Parr (juvenile trout) in a puddle 20 feet from the river and transferred them in a plastic bag back to the river.

parr4

parr2

parr5

parr1

puddle where Parr found, snow-covered boot foreground

This tail-water river usually fishes very well in inclement weather. No dense baetis hatch occurred and therefore very few large fish up. However, I covered a lot of water and managed to find a couple.

brown trout

brown trout

abby

Another tail-water river I’ve had some success on this summer also had few bugs even on cloudy days. I did manage to hook up with a few great fish. This rainbow took a foam beetle.

rainbow SW Alberta

chewed-up beetle

bestbowlong

beetle flies, car top frost

I decided to rocket down to the Missouri river for two and one half days. The first day (the half day) was incredible. Cloudy, little wind and tons of bugs. Trout were up everywhere on tiny baetis may flies. Opportunity knocked and although I didn’t fish well, I did fool a few on size 20 olives/baetis. The next morning the sky sort of cleared (Chinook Arch) and high winds came in. I tugged down my hat and gave it my best but got blown off the river and all the way back to SW Alberta.

searching for a released trout

Missouri rainbow

Missouri river side channel

Missouri bow

sidechannel (2)

molong2

I fished a lot in the past two weeks. I was on holidays for one of them and managed to get out most afternoons. I hung in there with the varying conditions, put in my time and made some connections with dry flies.