Fly Fishing Still Edit
Alright here is an edit that I did for my final project in one of my editing classes. All the pictures were taken from a GoPro HD. The video depicts our lifestyle here in Montana. Enjoy.
-Travis
Bitteroot Blowout
Well its that time of year as we know it….. RUN OFF has begun as of this afternoon I believe. I was able to make one last fishing adventure on Saturday with Montana Wild Outdoors friends Aaron Bonsall, Ben Morin, and Stephen Anglin. We fished the Victor Braid and managed lots of whitefish, a beast of a cutbow, and a couple nice browns….. oh and a mystery fish that Aaron caught. Here’s a video of the last couple of weeks before runoff hit. Primarily filmed on the lower half of the Bitteroot and it was phenomenal. Check it out and be sure to bump the quality up to 720p!
First trout of the day and an incredible net job by Aaron. Thanks buddy!
This brown trout was an awesome fight…. He came flying out of the water and took my drag for a ride.
A beauty of a brown trout that Stephen pulled out of some increasingly muddy water. Almost got away, but I managed to net him.
Ben with a nice streamer catch brown trout. Streamers have been fishing well with the rising waters and murky waters.
“We were born to fish.”
-Travis
Hollywood Hole
Had an 8am class on this fine cloudy, overcast/sunshine Wednesday. Turned in my portfolio and walked the short 1/2mile to Hollywood Hole. I think everyone in Missoula and their dog know about this spot, so it is no secret. I ended up landing 5 fish (mostly rainbows or cuttbows), all around 15″-16″. Nothing like going to a college that has a river literally bordering the campus!
Video is finally up. These were some of the fish I caught out of Hollywood Hole and the Bitteroot from mid April. Just a short quick video update to show the fish that are out there!
-Travis
The End of Spring Fishing???
Well the fishing as of late has been sporadic at best it seems. Last Thursday we went up Rock Creek about 12-13 miles to fish. The rainy weather and low cloud cover, matched up with the green moss and grass so well I could have sworn we were in a different country.
- Upper Rock Creek
- Another cold stretch
That day was productive though as I caught a fat 18″ rainbow out of a deep side hole and later on my brother caught his first fish off a dry of the season. Of course I always seem to catch the fatties when I’m alone and thus no pictures. We’ll learn. Soon enough it was dumping snow and hovering around freezing and this pushed us off the river.
- The plank
The next day I made it out was Saturday and the weather was gorgeous.
- Sunshine
Again the fishing was very slow. We nymphed for about 2-3 hours as there was no surface activity. Only one measly whitedog made it to the net but the sun felt amazing after the long winter. Our random spring weather made for up and down conditions and an almost non-existent skwalla hatch. With the warm weather this weekend the rivers are gonna spike and fishing may be on hold until runoff is over. That’s fine by me as I’ll be dusting off the bow or the .300 and seeing if I can’t find myself a bear. I’ll leave ya with a couple pictures of a bird I can’t quite identify but is badass nonetheless. Hawk or golden eagle you be the judge.
- Searching for prey
- Close up
Zack
3 hours on the Bitteroot River
The younger brother (Travis) here logging in my first info into our blog. Had a couple hours between my college classes and my job to check out the Bitteroot on a beautiful Monday. This ended up being a solo mission (fishing is priority on sunny days right?). Finally seeing some sunshine and left the day with a slight sunburn. Water was very clear to my surprise! Saw some large fish in some slower moving water and ended up with my first sucker on a fly rod.
1st carp of the year
This fish actually put up a pretty good fight and measured 23″ in length and barely fit in my net. Waded further upstream and tested some skwalla patterns with no success. 
A couple of rainbows I managed to pull out of a deep hole.
Great day all together and there were fish starting to hit top water towards the end of my excursion (around 330pm). Video up soon…
Travis
Wild Horse Creek
This was our first time testing these foreign waters. Rainbows seem to be the popular species of this creek and I don’t think we ever caught one under 16″. We walked many miles exploring Wild Horse Creek. Along the way we made friends with a deer who lead us to the most deep and hidden holes on the river. We managed to fish numerous bridge pools, and they turned out to produce big fish.
- No trespassing huh
During the few days we spent here this spring we never saw another fisherman and only once was there another car parked at an access site.
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- Great colors here for springtime
Wading fast and deep waters is one of the biggest challenges of the man in charge of the camera.
- The boys trekkin
- Great fishing in the ghetto
- Another look at this great rainbow
- Our river buddies the longhorns
For the best quality and to see all our videos head on over to our Vimeo page @ Vimeo – Montana Wild and our YouTube page @ Youtube – Montana Wild.
- A unique looking rainbow
Wild Horse Creek is a chain of numerous bends and large but sparse fish. Our biggest fish so far this year came out of this creek. Nymphs were the rig for success. We found that rubber legged stone flies and san jaun or copper johns all proved to catch fish. The land in this area consists mostly of farmlands and buck brush. Trying to avoid prickers was impossible, for the lined both sides of the river. Hopefully more management of agricultural use of the river can take place to ensure more consistent habitat for fish. Look for future Wild Horse Creek edits in the following months.
Travis
One day on Rock Creek
March 27, 2011
Considering it was a Sunday and often you’ll see some people fishing on the Creek, we decided to head out a little earlier than usual. The drive out and the first hour of fishing we were in falling snow and temperatures in mid 30s.
- Gearing up for a day on the Rock
- The setup. St. Croix rods and nymphs
The fish sure weren’t shy on this day. Travis started off with a string of 3 or 4 fish out of just the first hole and it was on.
- 1st of the day
- Nymphing this log where the water pushed off it proved to be very productive
I originally set a goal of 10 fish combined but we blew that out of the water. In the end we caught around 20-25 fish between the two of use with at least five or so kicking off before the net.
- Lining up on what proved to be an elusive fish.
Check out our edit below of the day. Be sure to see my freak out at the end. Filming does put pressure on you to “bring em home” and I showed it haha.
For the best quality and to see all our videos head on over to our Vimeo page @ Vimeo – Montana Wild and our YouTube page @ Youtube – Montana Wild.
Zack
“Fly of the Month” – March
Here ya go. Tons of success with this stonefly nymph. Early season I caught maybe 15+ fish on the same nymph. I should have retired it before I lost it.
- Stonefly nymph
Zack
Rock Creek – March, 15
March 15, 2011
Well I had 3 exams this week but lets just say fishing is priority number one especially when it’s been this good. The water on the Blackfoot and the Clarkfork was a little muddy from lower elevation run off and so Rock Creek was an easy choice even with 3 people fishing.
- Travis drifting a nymph
After gearing up and getting to the river I quickly landed 3 fish out of the same hole and had one kick off. I caught a nice brown to start it off. I waded back out and BAM!! sure enough I had another fish on which turned out to be a respectable rainbow. I then proceded to catch a bull trout. Doesn’t get a whole lot better. I caught all three on a stonefly nymph (see image below) which I decided to declare my fly of the month considering I’ve caught fish with it on the Root, Rock Creek, Blackfoot, and Wild Horse Creek.
- First fish of the day
Ian and Travis both caught fish today also so overall it was a great day on the river. Check out some of our fish and Rock Creek in our edit below, enjoy!
http://vimeo.com/21945342
For the best quality and to see all our videos head on over to our Vimeo page @ Vimeo – Montana Wild and our YouTube page @ Youtube – Montana Wild.
Zack
Spring Fishing the Blackfoot
Weekend of March 12+13th, 2011
Today myself, Travis and Ian headed up to the Blackfoot for some early season fishing. Our first stop was Johnsrud and after parking we heard a beautiful sound. The sound of my tire loosing air. Wow my luck with automobiles in the last year is stunning. We said screw it and we headed out to fish. Immediately Travis had one on.
- Ian and Travis with the 1st fish of the day
Later I ventured a couple bends up and caught a spunky bow in some riffles. This area of the river was pretty choked full of ice and climbing out of the river required about a 10 foot ice climb.
After throwing on the donkey donut and a quick bite we headed on upstream and got the rods out again.
- Travis and Ian taking it in.
Soon Travis had a “just a lil guy” on. Caught on a san juan worm.
- Travis first fish on the upper river
- Upper Blackfoot
After some missed hits we loaded up the break-down king and drove back downstream. This was a new stretch of the river for us this year and we’ve been pretty successful here when the water was clear and this weekend it was. We pulled a good number of fish out of here over the weekend with basic stonefly and san juan nymph rigs.
For the best quality and to see all our videos head on over to our Vimeo page @ Vimeo – Montana Wild and our YouTube page @ Youtube – Montana Wild.
The next day I headed back up for a couple hours by myself and strictly threw streamers. This was my largest of the day, and also the first, caught on a brown wolly bugger.
- 1st streamer catch on the blackfoot for 2011
So far the spring fishing has been awesome. This warm weather and the heavy snowfall in the mountains surrounding the Blackfoot is bringing the river up and blowing the water out some so look for us to be heading up to Rock Creek soon.
Zack
The start to a new season: 2011
With the Montana archery season spanning about 4 1/2 months, we hadn’t had a chance to think about fishing. This turned out to be a great thing because the time off made me appreciate the chance to get out an fish even more. The first day of the year February 19. This turned out to be about two months earlier than we had ever made it out on the river. With the weather hovering around freezing and the sun trying to poke through the clouds we headed out from the car.
- Travis searching the river for his first fish.
We decided upon the Bitteroot River outside Florence. After a short walk and some time feeling out our fishing after a long break I hooked up on my first fish. That first fish made me feel like I was filming a modern day “A River Runs Through It.” He gave me a couple jumps at an attempt to shake the fly but I wasn’t having it.
- Bald Eagles keeping watch.
Reading the water definitely changes from winter and summer and once I got this figured out I landed a few more fish. The fish I found were slow chest deep moving water and when they got on they were fighters.
- Wading to a new spot
Travis got to test out his brand new St. Croix Legend Ultra 8’6″ 5wt. rod and G. Loomis Venture 5 reel. Unfortunately he didn’t bring any to net today but I’m sure he’ll be making up for it soon.
- Travis searching the river for his first fish.
Soon a snowy front had pushed over the Bitteroots and we decided not to fight iced guides and a snowstorm. Despite the cold, iced up guides, and slow fishing we had a blast and we look forward to some great spring fishing.
Zack