This past weekend my friend, Craig Dennison, filed this report from the West Branch of the Delaware River. Thanks for the Report Craig.
Just a friendly summer reminder to my angling friends that one of our Crown Jewels of Angling (West Branch of the Delaware), continues to fish well during the early summer months. On Saturday morning I enjoyed fishing a riffle stretch w/ a few trout feeding on caddis. Fun to pick off several fish in faster water on the surface. The rainbows really run and are acrobatic in the Delaware!
Later in the afternoon, I fished the Lower Trophy Water and enjoyed nearly four hours of solid sulphers, from size #16 to #20. Long leaders, accurate casts, numerous pattern hanges (cripples/emergers/duns) and I landed several quality fish from 12″ to 21″. There were times my fly couldn’t compete w/ the dozens of nearby naturals. I won’t be able to fish it again for a few weeks, but wanted to let you know that there can be some great riffle and sulpher fishing over the next month. Hope that you have a chance to check it out.
This was a bad weather day. Very windy overcast threatening snow and rain. We put the boat in at Windy Point and came out at Ruby Creek. I caught 2 small browns and Al didn’t catch anything. After Ruby Creek, Brian, our guide took us to Raynolds Pass.
Raynolds Pass is a beautiful location with some nice deep riffles. This area seemed be protected from the weather. Things were quite a bit warmer and less windy. Al caught the first fish. It was a 12″ Rainbow. That got things started. I ended up catching 3 Rainbows 12″, 14″, and 16″ and Al caught another nice Rainbow 14″ long. Thanks to our guide and his persistence he saved the day for us at Raynolds Pass.
The evening at Papoose Lodge was very interesting. Al and I got a chance to meet Craig Mathews and his wife Jackie from Blue Ribbon Flies. They are such nice people and are very passionate about fishing and conservation. We talked about conservation, his business, Gary LaFontaine and how Craig and Gary used to snorkel in the river to have a better understanding of what fish see when they are looking at nymphs and flies. We really enjoyed talking to Craig. We also got a chance to meet Tom Brokaw who Craig was guiding on the Yellowstone. Tom had a lot of nice things to say about our hometown, Rochester NY, and his late friend Robert Wegman, founder of Wegmans Grocery stores. Tom seemed like a very interesting and sincere.
We had another great dinner at Papoose and then we were off to bed looking forward to another geat day in Montana.
Woke up had a great breakfast, packed our lunches and went off to meet our guide. The lodge reserved our guide from Blue Ribbon Flies. Our guide was newly hired Brian Wurley. Brian used to work for Madison River Fishing and has been guiding this part of Montana for about 12 years. Brian took us down to Lyons Bridge and got us ready to head out for the day. The Lyons Bridge boat launch is an interesting place in the morning. A lot of the guides and their patrons spend time talking about what happened the previous day. There is also a lot of funny story telling.
Brian started our drift off by anchoring the boat and giving us some instruction. It wasn’t long and we were off and fishing. My father-in-law, Al, was in the bow of the boat and me in the back. Initially we spent a lot of time tangling our lines but Brian was very patient with us and got us working together casting to the right spots on the river. Al was the first one to hook a fish. It was a nice 17″ Mountain Whitefish. Shortly after that he hooked another whitefish on a caddis emerger. After that he caught his first Rainbow on a Fly Rod. It was a lot of fun to be there for that one. We were nymphing and I was not having any success so Brian switched me over to a Trude dry fly with a caddis emerger. When I did that I started to catch some Browns. They were all at or under 12″ but fun to catch.
Overall it was a good day but I was expecting a bit more from the Madison. My hope is for a better day tomorrow.
Well I finally made it to Montana. The flight was pretty easy from Rochester to Chicago then to Bozeman. Flying into Bozeman I could see all the mountains but I could also see a few rivers that looked very muddy. I began to dread picking a date so early in June to fish Montana. I was wondering if the Rivers were really ready to fish. Once we arrived one of the first people I ran into was a guide (Salmon Fly in his hat ) who reassured me that the fishing would be okay and that the Madison would be fine.
After getting the rental car, a Jeep Wrangler, my father-in-law and I made our way to Ennis. After getting lost for a short period of time we found our bearings and made our scenic way to Ennis. When you go down route 84 to Ennis you go through some beautiful countryside and then you come across the northern part of the Madison River that is above Ennis Lake. What a beauty! It is really exciting to see everyone fishing. You really feel like you have entered a special place for Fly Fishermen.
Once we got to Ennis we were both pretty hungry. We went to the local diner and had an okay lunch but found out later that the Ennis Pharmacy was really the place to eat. Oh well, maybe next time. After eating we took a manditory stop at the Madison River Fishing Company. They have anyting a fly fisherman could want. After dropping some coin here we hopped back in the Wrangler and made our way down the valley to our final destination.
About 45 minutes later we arrived at Papoose Creek Lodge. We were greeted by Madeline Alkire who helped us book our trip. She gave us a tour of this beautiful place and introduced us to the staff and some guests. She made us feel right at home.
After some futile attempts to hook a trout in the lodge pond, my father-in-law and I had a great dinner prepared by Chef Michael Showers and then were off to bed.
Four more days until I am in Montana. My father-in-law and I have been planning a trip to the Madison for a number of months. We have never been to Montana so we are both very excited and are looking forward to the experience. We are going to stay at a place called the Papoose Creek Lodge. It looks like an amazing place, but most importantly they use fly fishing guides from the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in Yellowstone. I have heard nothing but good things about the Blue Ribbon guides from all my friends. I will let you know how everything went when I get back.
Lastly I would like to thank Josi Etter for letting me use one of her beautiful pictures of a rainbow trout for the header of my blog. I really like the concept of her business, Sketch & Release. If you send her a picture of a fish that you caught, Josi will create a wonderful watercolor painting of your fish. The paintings make a special gift and a really nice addition to your office, den, or showcase.
That is all for now. I will make another entry when I get back from Montana.
several quality fish from 12″ to 21″. There were times my fly couldn’t compete w/ the dozens of nearby naturals. I won’t be able to fish it again for a few weeks, but wanted to let you know that there can be some great riffle and sulpher fishing over the next month. Hope that you have a chance to check it out.
This was a bad weather day. Very windy overcast threatening snow and rain. We put the boat in at Windy Point and came out at Ruby Creek. I caught 2 small browns and Al didn’t catch anything. After 
) who reassured me that the fishing would be okay and that the Madison would be fine.
