Today we had a guided drift boat trip on the Beaverhead River near Dillon, Montana.

We had about a 12 mile float from 9AM to around 4PM. The Beaverhead is known for its very very large trout in small water. 25'' fish aren't uncommon and trout up to 30'' are caught every year. We were using 3X tippet when we were nymphing! It was all nymphing today. We didn't keep track, but we must have landed about 15 fish. The biggest fish were 17, 15, 14 and another 14. I lost a very nice fish close to the boat that was "at least 20" according to Ron, who was at the front of the boat trying to net it before it broke off. Thats fishing though!

The water probably averaged 25 to 30 feet wide and was actually very deep. Its perfect for big trout - lots of water, lots of undercut banks, and lots of food.

We are out of here tomorrow heading to Ennis to fish the Madison and Gallatin. From what we are hearing around local fly shops, they are both fishing very good. We will see!

Tight lines.

Artie

Greetings from Montana!

This is the first time I have truly been able to update anything because of a bad internet connection that we had at the first place we were staying at.

This trip has been unbelievable so far. We hit the Missouri just right - the night we arrived, it turned on. BIG TIME! We fished the Missouri for about 5 days and we caught 57 fish. The biggest was a 21 inch Rainbow, and our average fish was 17 inches. I would say 80% of our fish came on dry flies and the rest were on nymphs. On the right are some of the better pictures from the trip so far.

Today (Wednesday), we are getting ready to float the Beaverhead River near Dillon, MT. Apparently there are some huge Browns and Bows in there so I can’t wait to see what it has to offer.

I will be updating more consistently now so look back!

Tight lines.

Artie

Poor Artie is having trouble finding a place to stop and download some blog content.  Instead he sent these photos. 

We hope to hear from him soon.

JP
 

Thats right - I'm heading West. Not to Rochester or Buffalo though, but to Southwestern Montana!

The furthest West I have ever been is Chicago, and it was only in an Airport when I was in second grade where we were making our connecting flight to Disney World. To say I am excited is an understatement. I almost don't believe it! I will be in fly fishing heaven.

Here is the plan as of right now....(I am sure things will change a little bit along the way)....

1. Fish the Missouri River for the first 5 days and stay in Craig, MT.
2. The next 5 days will be split between the Madison River, Galltin River, and Beaverhead.

The Missouri River has been running high for a while from what I am told and from everything we're hearing. This is where we'll have to do some research and find some trout in different water!

I am heading out there with my good friend and one of the best anglers I know, Ron Beck. I've known Ron for about 3 years and I have learned a lot from him. He has been out West before so I am sure that the learning won't stop.

I will be DOING MY BEST to keep you informed on the status of my trip. I am taking my computer and 3 cameras. My flight leaves this Wednesday (7/14) around 6AM and I come back Sunday the 25th. This blog will be one of my portals, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

A lot of people tell me that once I go out West I wont come back!

Tight lines.

Artie

Here is a great photo of Steve Smith with a very healthy looking Northern Pike from Colorado. Steve caught this Pike on a Black Bunny Strip Pattern that was about 5 inches long. He was also using one of our sticks - a JP Ross 8wt Fly Rod! Nice job, Steve.

It is always great to hear people getting into some huge fish on one of our fly rods - keep the reports coming!

Tight lines.

Artie

This past 4th of July was a bright sunny gorgeous day. It was one of those days that needed to be filled with some fishing time. Carp was my choice! It was exactly what I was in the mood for - challenging sight fishing.

I pulled up to one of my favorite spots for Carp and was pleased to see about 5 fish in my first "walkthrough". I usually take a quick walk first to see if I can see any fish that are feeding or cruising around. I got back to my car, rigged up my 5wt and tied on a Prince Nymph. I was a little concerned about the wind, which was blowing constantly at about 5-10mph. The sun was perfect - I could see plenty of fish working about a 100yd area.

My first few attempts to hook a carp were unsuccessful. No one was interested! I finally got the fish in the picture to take after a cast where my Prince Nymph landed directly in fron tof his face. He backed up a hair, or might have just stopped, then took very very slowly. My hook set sent the fish running into weeds that made me think my 4X was going to break, but I ended up landing this fish - only one of the day.

I hooked two other fish - one of them was a hog - but they both broke off when they took me deep into the weeds. That is the game we play! I would have switched to heaveier tippet, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice hook-ups because lets face it - if the fish don't take, worrying about the weeds is pointless.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. If you have any fishing stories be sure to share them with us on our Facebook page!

Tight lines.

Artie

This morning when I woke up I had one goal: catch a trout on a Bamboo Fly Rod.

I knew that one of the local creeks in the area was finally at a good level after the recent rains, so I started out early in hopes of some fish on nymphs. It didn't take long for me to accomplish my goal - I would say it only took 5 or 6 casts before a buttery 13'' Brown jumped out of the water in front of me after taking my Pheasant Tail Nymph. Fighting fish on a Bamboo Rod is interesting. It doesn't have the response of a graphite rod, but for some reason you still get a great feel of the fish. I guess you would know what I am talking about if you have fished with one before.

I landed a couple more fish in the pool I started out in, then I decided to move upstream where I love throwing a dry and dropper combo. I parked my car and looked over th bridge and saw a few fish sitting close to the bank sipping something off the top of the water. I had almost 100% confidence that at least one of those fish would take a beetle. Problem was, the fish were on the same bank you walk down to the pool on. I crouched down and made a cast right on top of the fish - he swam back with the fly for a few inches then took! It was exciting having everything come together like that.

Most of my fish after that came on my Prince Nymph dropper. I landed one of the most beautiful Browns of the year for me that was about 12''. The red on the spots were so deep and the top and bottom of the tail also were deep red. The adipose fin was almost completely red, along with red spots on the dorsal (which I read is pretty rare?). The picture doesn't do it justice!

Look for more Bamboo fun coming up - I am leaning towards going after Carp with it!

Tight lines. Have a great 4th of July Weekend!

Artie

Here is a video from a recent Smallmouth Bass Exploration Trip Jordan and I went on. Enjoy!

Tight lines.

Artie

Hey Artie,,, this is JP.  Awesome video man.  Now keep this spot to yourself.  You can only go there with our old pal Kim Ernst.

JP

Hello all!

I have not been blogging much lately, but I am still fishing and busy as ever! I have been giving a lot of thought to carp on the fly lately, especially grass carp. The video at the bottom proves that it can be done...

I am also looking forward to my Montana Trip coming up in about 2 weeks. I will be spending 10 days out there - the first 5 are going to be on the Missouri River, then the next 5 split between the Beaverhead, Gallatin, and Madison. It should be a great time and I even purchased a video camera to try and get some of the action on video.

I am giving beginner fly fishing classes up north on a weekly basis - this week it is at French Louies Sport Shop in Inlet, NY at 10:00 AM. Price is $10 a person.

The West Canada is high at the moment from the rains we recieved but when it gets to fishable levels it should be fishing good.

Check back here soon for some interesting reports!

Tight lines.

Artie

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eHGWoegANXI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eHGWoegANXI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

You know when you have one of those days on the water where everything just clicks and you have a great day of fishing? That is exactly what happened to me on the West Branch of the Delaware River recently. There was an extremely thick hatch of Sulphurs, and the fish were locked into them.

I landed a total of 14 Browns, with 6 ranging from 16-19''. Most of them were taking a sulphur emerger I tied up the night before, but one took a sulphur dry and I landed a couple at dusk during the spinner fall on rusty spinners.

I actually met up with fellow blogger Craig Dennison for the evening down at the Delaware River. We were doing something new for me - working bank feeders! It was a rush to see high quality fish in such shallow water and it will definitely change the way I fish and look at water. Im not talking about opposite bank feeders, but bank as in right where you would start wading.

It felt great to slam fish down there on flies that I tied. It was a day I won't forget!

Tight lines.

Artie

There is a special time of year when the West Canada Creek at the base of the Western Central Adirondacks just comes to life... this is that time.  Right now there are March Browns, Green Drakes and even Sulphers hatching at the same time.  If you are looking for a time to catch a big fish on a dry fly, this is the time on that river. 

Please beware that the land owners on the trophy section, let us walk on their property, so please pay respect to that.  Also, if you see trash, please pick it up. 

Hatches usually start around 7:00 PM but peak just before 10pm. 

Remember, at JP Ross Fly Rods we understand what a prescious resource the West Canada is. Our intentions are to protect the West Canada so it will always be here!  Protecting the river also means Promoting the River so that when the big power companies step up, the people can respond and prove that the river is a valuable resource.  The river needs an ambasador for itself so that it will remain for generations to come.  JP Ross Fly Rods and the FFAA is willing to carry that cross.  Please call us if you have any ideas to help conserve the river and also help in any way. 

Enjoy and good luck.

Alright here is the first blog on how to snap your own photos of fish. I know I am not the best photographer, but I'll give you some advice that works for me.

The first picture (Picture 1) in this blog is from Steve Wohlford who was fishing out in Montana. Steve did a great job with this picture. He got the rod (a JP Ross!) and reel in the shot, giving us a scale of the size of the fish, and he also got the entire fish in the picture - great shot! This is a classic shot. Rod, reel, sometimes net in there, and the fish. It looks great all of the time and is a great way to remember your fish. Sometimes the fish flops around and it is nearly impossible to do, but that stuff just happens!

I fish alone alot, so when I catch a good fish I always try and get a picture of it. There are two things you can do with the fish. You can lay it down next to your rod and reel like Steve did in Picture 1, or you can use that tricky ten second timer! Picture 2 is a shot I used with the ten second timer this winter for Steelhead. With this method, rocks and sticks are you friends! Find anything level to set the camera up on and make sure you click the button to take the picture - this starts the countdown. Most cameras will start to blink for a while, then start to blink faster or beep when it is about 2 or 3 seconds away from actually taking the picture. This is key information! You don't want to just sit there in your pose for 10 seconds holding a fish out... it might flop out of your hands and back into the water, leaving you with a shot like Picture 3! I usually leave the fish in the net/water with my hands already set up to hold a fish and once the fast blinking starts I hold it up, and let the fish go. MOST of the time the picture comes out just fine. It takes some playing around with your camera to get used to it so I suggest practicing!

Hands. You all see it. You all might do it - I see people holding fish up all of the time for a picture, but you see 80% of hands and 20% of fish - maybe the head? It doesn't give us a good scale of the fish, and often times you're covering up some great colors of the fish. Here are some general rules I use. Lets say that this is for Trout......the hand the supports the head of the fish is always going to be underneath the body with my 4 fingers, and thumb behind the fish supporting it. The other hand near the tail is tricky. You can fully grasp the tail, but again, this covers up the fish, or you can form a C with your index finger and thumb and just let the fish set in the gap you just formed. Backwards C with your right hand, correct C with your left. You can also grab the top and bottom of the fish's tail with you index finger and thumb. Most of the time you will need more than just your index finger, and they will show up in the picture, but that is OK - with this method you have a SOLID hold on the fish if it tries to get away. Look at Picture 4 for a good hand placement on a fish.

You can also hold the fish out of the net with one hand, then snap the picture with the other hand. I use this method alot, usually after the 10 second timer so I get a couple different angles on the fish. In a picture like this too, remember to keep your hands out of the way! Picture 5 is an example of this method.

Remember, don't show the belly of the fish when you hold it up for a picture! Show the sides!!

Hope this helps....

Tight lines.

Artie