Just got back from a week of fly-fishing in Ennis with Jana and another couple, Crissy and Brian. We did a couple days of guided floats on the Madison River, explored Virginia and Nevada City, enjoyed a day at the golf course, and managed a quick trip to Yellowstone. The remaining time was spent fishing the Madison right outside our cabin,
Spring Creek Retreat, which was situated on a really nice side-channel of the Madison with absolutely spectacular views. The cabin was an absolute gem. Here are a couple of views from the front yard of the cabin:
The side-channel outside the cabin was fun to fish, particularly for about a couple hour stretch in the evening when the Caddis and Pale Duns were hatching. It was a side channel with a bunch of braids mixed in, so there was all kinds of water conditions to fish. I worked mostly a dry-dropper setup (big caddis & FBPT) or a double-dry setup (caddis and pale dun). My first fish of the trip outside the cabin was on the 3rd cast with the dry-dropper setup -- a nice 16" brown took the FBPT in a braid that was no more than 6 feet across and 2 1/2 feet deep. I didn't spend as much time as I should have on the water outside the cabin, but for the 3 or so hours I spent out there in the evening, I managed quite a few fish, mostly small, but I did have a big brute break me off after stalking and casting to him for about a half hour when he finally took my fly. I was only fishing 5x -- probably should have been 4x.
Fortunately for us, our timing was perfect this year for the Salmon-fly hatch, since run-off was much later than prior years. This made for a bunch of choices on our guided trips. We fished with
Eaton Outfitters (the usual crew on previous Ennis floats). Chris wasn't able to float with us this trip because of some scheduling conflicts, but I ended up fishing with
Charlie and Jack and they were both fantastic. Charlie completely busted-ass and we had a ton of laughs. We fished almost every technique imaginable: dry-dry, dry-dropper, double-nymph under indicator, streamer-nymph under indicator, and stripping streamers. I think I caught at least one fish on every technique. We had a nice stretch with the dries earlier in the float where the fish were looking up for the monster salmon-fly. Fishing was tough in the afternoon, but I probably managed about a dozen fish, including a nice bow and plenty of smaller fish thrown in too:
However, my best fish of the trip was with the salmonfly and dropper. The legit 21" beast of a brown took the dropper of all things and provided an awesome fight with a couple aerials:
The float with Jack on the second trip was enjoyable from a couple of different angles. He actually guided Chrissy and Brian the first trip, and he happened to be lined up to fish again on the second trip, so Jana and I fished with him on our last guide day. Turns out Jack actually lived in North Bend for quite a while, close to the MF of the Snoqualmie, so we had an instant connection, talking about fishing all the local haunts around North Bend. He was also a great teacher for Jana and, by the end of the float, she was casting a heavy, double-nymph rig with her 8 ft, 5-weight rod in the wind with ease -- it was really an impressive progression she made in a day, which speaks to Jack's patience and teaching ability. He's a funny guy to boot with some legendary stories. Oh, and he also got us into some nice fish, including Jana's beautiful 'bow, which, by the way, we caught right in front of Chris Eaton, so we made Jack look good in front of his outfitter. We nymphed for most of the day, after dialing in using a streamer and nymph under and indicator:
An awesome trip, but just don't ask how I got this:
'Till next time,
-Josh
The side-channel outside the cabin was fun to fish, particularly for about a couple hour stretch in the evening when the Caddis and Pale Duns were hatching. It was a side channel with a bunch of braids mixed in, so there was all kinds of water conditions to fish. I worked mostly a dry-dropper setup (big caddis & FBPT) or a double-dry setup (caddis and pale dun). My first fish of the trip outside the cabin was on the 3rd cast with the dry-dropper setup -- a nice 16" brown took the FBPT in a braid that was no more than 6 feet across and 2 1/2 feet deep. I didn't spend as much time as I should have on the water outside the cabin, but for the 3 or so hours I spent out there in the evening, I managed quite a few fish, mostly small, but I did have a big brute break me off after stalking and casting to him for about a half hour when he finally took my fly. I was only fishing 5x -- probably should have been 4x.
Fortunately for us, our timing was perfect this year for the Salmon-fly hatch, since run-off was much later than prior years. This made for a bunch of choices on our guided trips. We fished with Eaton Outfitters (the usual crew on previous Ennis floats). Chris wasn't able to float with us this trip because of some scheduling conflicts, but I ended up fishing with Charlie and Jack and they were both fantastic. Charlie completely busted-ass and we had a ton of laughs. We fished almost every technique imaginable: dry-dry, dry-dropper, double-nymph under indicator, streamer-nymph under indicator, and stripping streamers. I think I caught at least one fish on every technique. We had a nice stretch with the dries earlier in the float where the fish were looking up for the monster salmon-fly. Fishing was tough in the afternoon, but I probably managed about a dozen fish, including a nice bow and plenty of smaller fish thrown in too:
The float with Jack on the second trip was enjoyable from a couple of different angles. He actually guided Chrissy and Brian the first trip, and he happened to be lined up to fish again on the second trip, so Jana and I fished with him on our last guide day. Turns out Jack actually lived in North Bend for quite a while, close to the MF of the Snoqualmie, so we had an instant connection, talking about fishing all the local haunts around North Bend. He was also a great teacher for Jana and, by the end of the float, she was casting a heavy, double-nymph rig with her 8 ft, 5-weight rod in the wind with ease -- it was really an impressive progression she made in a day, which speaks to Jack's patience and teaching ability. He's a funny guy to boot with some legendary stories. Oh, and he also got us into some nice fish, including Jana's beautiful 'bow, which, by the way, we caught right in front of Chris Eaton, so we made Jack look good in front of his outfitter. We nymphed for most of the day, after dialing in using a streamer and nymph under and indicator:
'Till next time,
-Josh
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