Montana, Part 2

Up from Yellowstone and Wade Lake we went, to the wilderness of Glacier National Park.  Unlike Yellowstone, which has a great system for handling high traffic, Glacier is packed in the places you can park, not to mention there's only one main road in the park.  That is, one road that stretches all the way across it, there are other roads that cut into the park but they do not connect.  And for good reason:

                           

Good luck getting a few connecting roads through that...but beautiful scenery.  Don't let the parking scare you away, if I had to choose, I would go back to Glacier over Yellowstone in a heart beat, believe it or not.

The park has, if I recall, 700 miles of trails in it.  Fishing the the mountain creeks and lakes, glacier overlooks, and enough hiking to last you till your feet came off!  The first day in Glacier, we went to Avalanche Lake, supposedly a two mile hike.  What felt like 10 miles later, we made it to the lake.

The lake is mostly inhabited by cutthroat trout.  It's shallow for the first couple feet and then drops to 40 feet (as I was told), very quickly.  The water is so clear and blue, surrounded by mountains, it was fantastic.  However, me and my floating line were presented a problem.  How to I get my flies to sink?  Turns out one trout made sure I didn't have to worry, as he kept coming up for bugs on the surface.  I made a perfect cast to where he had been feeding and put a beetle right in front of him.  Side note, if you've seen The Lego Movie where Batman tries to hit the button with his batarangs, and tries about a 100 times, that was me attempting the perfect cast.  Not gonna lie.  Might have taken me 10 attempts, not sure.  Anyway, he took the beetle, and I was able to bring him in, a trout from a high mountain lake in Glacier National Park:

That's a Captain America shirt, not Cowboys

If you want to fish surrounded by great scenery, Glacier, in my experience, second to no one.  Behind me are cold mountains with snow on them...in August.  In front of me, behind the camera, is a cliff face with waterfalls that are feeding into the lake.  It's such a majestic place.

We spent a couple more days in and around Glacier and Whitefish, but sadly, we had to leave.  There was so much more to explore, I merely got a taste of what's there, and I want to go back.  There's a small lodge on top of a ridge that makes a for a good place to take a break on a 7 mile hike, only to walk the last 4 miles almost all downhill for a total of an 11 mile hike. That was a rough last 4 miles.  But there was so much to see and explore, pull off trails leading to Glacier overlooks, Two Medicine Lakes, Many Glacier, so much to see, so little time.  It was sad moment for me as we lifted off from Bozeman airport.

Until next time Montana.

On the banks of the Missouri River

Montana: Part 1

It's nearing dusk as the wind starts to whip the surface of the water.  I had to move to a protected area to have a hope of casting any distance, or at least have the wind help my cast versus push against it.  My little ultralight pole with a 6 pound mono wasn't quite the gear you'd imagine for this fishing, but it'd have to do.  My weedless spoon out in the water, all I could do is wait for a bite.  And I got one.

Around early to mid June of 2018, my parents and I planned a special trip for me for a location of my choice.  My choice of location: Montana.  Montana has been on my bucket list for a while, mostly for an elk hunt I want to do in the future.  But Montana also has some great scenery and fishing, so that also added to why I wished to come up.  I bought my license, got my gear ready and packed, and a day after my summer college semester ended, we headed out.

We stayed at a house overlooking Wade Lake in south-western Montana near the (apparently world famous, I would find out) Madison River.  I didn't know at the time, but it's famed for it's trout and for it's "50 Mile Riffle".  A river or stream is normally broken up into natural riffles, runs, and pools caused by the flow of the water.  Riffle is fast, shallow water.  Run is a steady flow of deeper water.  And a pool is slow moving water deeper than the run.  However, the Madison has a riffle that is nearly 50 miles long.  Unless I am wrong, a riffle that long is almost unheard of.  No matter, it was fun to fish.  I didn't have any luck there on the chances I had, but that's ok, I have a feeling I'll be back someday.  I did see a really nice trout, but that's not quite the same as catching it!

The Madison River, this is part of the 50 Mile Riffle

Wade Lake was an interesting one.  I fished it with my spinning rod versus my fly rod.  I did manage to catch a nice rainbow there, but during the day a lot of the shoreline was crowded, as it is a good kayaking/paddling lake, and has a campsite.  Which does make it a good weekend vacation spot I'd say.

Wade Lake Rainbow

While down in southern Montana, we visited Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.  The views in Grand Teton were amazing, and I would definitely go back there.  Yellowstone, was also a great destination, though I think it felt different compared to the other national parks I've been to since the traffic and commercialization of the park have affected it in some ways.  A great place to visit, yes, but if you ask me, I'm probably going to Grand Teton and Glacier National Park(s) before Yellowstone again.  But, you won't be disappointed with any of them.

View of Grand Teton is the far left peak

Next up, Glacier National Park!

Drury Outdoors Video Highlight

How's hunting going for everyone?  NC Central rifle season starts tomorrow!  Even so, I'm still tempted to try with my bow.  Maybe I will.  We shall see.

Anyway, this is the highlight I have for today.  The video is from Drury Outdoors Heartbreaker series. 

It truly is a hunting heartbreak.  To chase a deer so long and to hope for a even better deer the following season only to have the deer die of disease would really disappoint.  But, this is hunting.  Not all stories end in success, and this is a great example of a great story that still had "a silver lining".

Deer Society "Mr.Maybe" Video Highlight

As I sit here on a Friday evening listening to the rain pour down on the North Carolina countryside, and thinking about the buck I saw in the front yard this morning, I got an itch to watch some hunting videos.  Yeah yeah "you might be a hunter if (fill in the blank)".  That may be a good idea to try sometime, let me know in the comments if you have a "You might be a hunter if..."!  But seriously, if you can't hunt during deer season, do the next best thing: watch footba, I mean, hunting videos.  So, here's a thought.  I'm going to be posting some video's of hunts/stories with the tactics they use to get the deer, and provide my thoughts.  With my own story of Prince last year, I may do a little video of my own if that appeals to anyone!  I don't have any hunt footage, but I can share pictures and narrate my story!

Normally the video's will be fairly short, though this one is a little more than 10 minutes, but worth the watch to me.  So here's my video highlight pick, a video by Deer Society of a buck called Mr.Maybe :

The tactic of using buck scent, in addition to the water source, is a fantastic setup.  Given the conditions of drought, in combination with the fact he was a dominate buck, just shows how a little ingenuity can tip the odds in your favor.  Being the dominate buck, he would need a challenger to face him for him to even be interested.  But he knew all the bucks in the area.  So by using unfamiliar scent in his core area, it nagged and annoyed the buck.  Which was the bucks undoing, and the arrow that shot him literally had his name on it.

Hope you like this new spin on things.  I plan on bringing out a couple more video's in the future, in addition to telling you about my trip to Montana back in the summer!  Keep hunting!

Fishing Shallow Rivers

Recently I've started fishing the local Haw River at different spots and the adjoining creeks, such as the Great Alamance Creek.  And when I went looking for tips on shallow water fishing, and even specifically the Haw, I came up with little.  So I've been exploring and fishing and experimenting different spots along the river, trying to learn about this local resource. While fishing in rivers is still new to me and I have plenty of room to perfect my performance, here are some of the things I have noticed that may come in handy for those who fish the Haw.  And it's likely that some of the things here apply to other small/shallow water bodies as well.

Fish the pools, not the main current
While trout may enjoy the main current of a stream or river, many fish simply do not.  Target calmer areas of the water made by rocks or sandbars.  Those calm pools and eddy's will generally house more fish.  This is especially true when the faster moving water, as is the case with the Haw, is particularly shallow and does not allow bigger fish to swim in those areas.

Try smaller lures
When fishing the shallower water, a surface lure can do the trick.  I like to use a Heddon Teeny Torpedo and I catch decent brim.  The smaller fish are especially fun on light tackle.
Another lure I like to use is a minnow with a spinner blade, such as Mepps Comet.  This will especially attract the smaller fish, such as brim or pumpkinseed.
One thing I would tell you?  Give fly fishing a try on smaller rivers, it's a blast.

Different spots for different fish
May sound a little obvious but hear me out.  Depending on what you want to catch, how much you want to catch, or in some cases WHO you bring with you (such as little ones) you need to try different spots to suit your desires or audience.  Smaller pools generally house the brim, which are fun for fishing newcomers and kids especially.  Those fish are fun, don't discount them.  AND, it provides an experience different than a cliche lake or pond to take new fisherman to (not saying in any way lakes or ponds is bad, they're a blast, it's just different than the norm).
If there are islands in the river, try the downstream side where there is generally a much bigger area of calm water.  That is where you will find fish such as bass or catfish.
If there is a slower moving creek (or if the river splits) with features such as big rocks or logs, try in those areas because bass be in the slower moving water and cover.

Caught this Pumpkinseed on a minnow jig