the browns, bows, and a bull of fall

I have been sitting on this video for a while. It is a compilation of video that I have recorded since late August. It consists of fall fly fishing throughout western, southwestern, and central Montana on the Big Hole, the Beaverhead, the Marias, Rock Creek, and Fish Creek. The video includes shots of a 23" Big Hole brown trout that my friend Bucko caught (see at 4:53) and a 20" rock creek bull trout that I caught (seen starting at 1:09). Please excuse the poor camera work associated with both of these monsters. I think the excitement of both moments got the best of me. Watch in HD.

green drakes in paradise

About two weeks ago, the rivers here in western Montana were still a little bit higher than normal due to rainy weather in May and June. I went to visit Fish Creek, located 40 miles west of Missoula, a favorite stomping ground of mine that I fished quite a bit last summer while learning the basics of fly fishing. Utilizing the creek's relative solitude and lack of heavy fishing pressure, I took my time fishing familiar holes throughout the past summer measuring my progress in fish and casting accuracy. While I have frequented the more famed Rock Creek quite a bit this year, I decided to give fish creek a go. I was rewarded handsomely. With a bevy of mayflies hatching throughout the course of the day (pale morning duns in the AM, green drakes in afternoon, and pale evening duns in the PM), I fished this familiar water with fantastic results. I caught a 21'' rainbow, a 19'' cutbow, two 18'' cutbows, and two 16'' cutbows, and a handful of smaller, less engorged fish. I found success primarily with green drake dry flies in the heat of the day and I pulled a couple more out with some huge streamers. In a repeat performance of last year, the largest trout I caught to date was in my net for a couple seconds only to escape and return to the creek without being photographed. I was searching for my camera when it bucked its way out of my brodin ghost net. Stay tuned to yukon goes fishing over the next couple weeks. I have a couple of trips planned that I hope will be quite productive including a trip up to Eureka this coming weekend, to Yellowstone National Park in two weekends, and a float trip down the Yellowstone in the foreseeable future. Enjoy the video from my banner day on Fish Creek.


Green Drakes in Paradise from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.