My 2nd cousin Matt from Alabama visited for a few days of fishing this week. I taught him to fly fish when he was 9 years old back in the 90s and over the years he become a quite accomplished angler. This week we hit a local ditch a couple of times chucking streamers and made a trip to the channels section of the Madison where he connected with dozens of fish and a least 5 rainbows hitting the 19” mark. The last day of his trip was dedicated to a float on the lower Yellowstone with guide Chris Fleck of Stillwater Anglers, Columbus, MT. Chris is a retired Marine Lt Col and one hell of a guide and I’ve known him for a while with some TU connections. Our float took us from Greycliff to Barretts, approximately 8.5 miles. It was my first time fishing that far down on the Yellowstone. It is a much wider and shallower river down there. It was sunny most of the day, but it didn’t seem to adversely affect the streamer bite. My cousin Matt who had the Front Boat Advantage (FBA) all day connected on a lot of fish including some hefty browns, remarkably using the same fly all day—a #2 black pine squirrel bugger. Most of the fish came from tight to the deeper banks with strong flows and deeper water. The long sinktips and unwieghted flies did the trick all day.
It was also a pretty decent wildlife day with bald eagles, a curious mink during lunch and a moose at the put-in.
It was also a pretty decent wildlife day with bald eagles, a curious mink during lunch and a moose at the put-in.
