Montana Steel

A steelhead sized rainbow trout was caught somewhere in SW Montana. This is that 28" trout.

Montana Steel from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

____ in a Barrel

Fill in the blank. This edit/video/film is decidedly longer than any of my recent edits/videos/films. There is a reason for that. On Monday, the fishing on the Ruby was in a word, epic. As such, the edit/video/film is epic (in terms of length).

The combination of overcast skies, cloudy water, and a healthy brown trout fishery produced the best day of streamer fishing a fisherperson could ask for. Bucko, who has fly fished for 9 years, agreed. Sometimes trips are about the journey, the experience, the surroundings. This trip was about all of those things, but mostly it was about some stupid good fishing.

From 11 am to 6pm, the Ruby River's brown trout threw themselves with reckless abandon at our streamer offerings. Often times following the streamer from bank to bank, then breaching the surface to mash on some articulated goodness.

Around six in the evening, the fishing was interrupted by a massive thunderstorm. Following the storm and a little dinner, we returned. Fish were rising. Rainbows and browns were boiling at the surface. Trout were everywhere they should be and they were seemingly eating anything that was well presented in front of them. Bucko and I doubled up at least five times that evening. Then, as if it could have gotten any better, Bucko landed a 27" brown trout. The longest of his life.

I had too much footage from this trip. I had enough footage that I included the misses and my bleeped reactions to said misses. Enjoy in HD.

____ in a Barrel from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

twenty five inches of "$%@! you, high water" brown trout

The Clark Fork, the Bitterroot, Rock Creek, the Blackfoot, the Big Hole, everything local is running high and muddy. Runoff is upon us. It is no where close to peaking with plenty of snow left in the mountains. The fluvial geomorph nerd in me is hoping for a whopper of a runoff. Whatevs. Back to the task at hand - fishing. Bucko and I went back to some familiar ponds and ran into some nice fish. I caught a 20 inch brown and was feeling pretty good. Bucko caught a 25 inch brown. $%@! you, high water. Watch in HD on vimeo.

Biggest Trout of My Life

I am not going to dilly dally around the events of this weekend. It was great. Went to the Madison River, the Ruby River, Warm Springs Creek, and some name-redacted ponds and caught fish in each body of water. The weekend started with the biggest trout of my life. A brown trout, 4+ pounds, between 22 to 25" inches (a guestimate), with a massive head took the M&M's streamer that George Kesel tied up for me in some ponds. While, the fishing could only go down from there, I was able to manage some solid fish on the Madison, despite the 40 mph winds and gusts of 60+ mph. The Ruby River, which has been described as a mini-Beaverhead, certainly proved to be worthy stop on our trip as it's browns were healthy and hungry. It was a great weekend of fishing. Check out the video (in HD). I am fully aware that I have two pairs of sunglasses on in portions of this video.


fly fishing the madison, the ruby, and some ponds from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.

Side Note: Clif from the Lunker Hunt recently spent some time out here in Montana on the Big Horn River. Check out the video, posts, and pictures from his trip. Looks like it was a good one.