Crossing the Big Void for Risers

 

 

 

I grew up in southern Quebec where the countryside is full of trees: maple forests, birch...thick stands are everywhere. It rains a lot there and it's humid so things root and quickly grow skyward. Rural roads are fringed with trees. Homes have trees around them. Even the parks in downtown Montreal are full of trees. Small streams and creeks are often canopied by broad branches. Trees are always around you. They are company and make the world seem smaller, more intimate. Trees create boundary lines and delineated spaces within a larger space.

When I drive south of Lethbridge into Montana I always feel uneasy. No matter where I look it is just stark open space. Treeless. Like a big void. There are few boundary lines, especially in the Winter time when it all seems so colourless and lifeless and the grey land blends with the muted sky, and a horizon doesn't even seem to exist. When I'm out there I feel that I might just disappear; that the space will somehow inhale me. I look for pronghorn antelope or coyote just to see if things can survive without being swallowed up by all the nothingness.

I feel relieved when I approach the town of Great Falls, Montana because I see structure: homes, large buildings, and of course trees. I pass through and drive further south along the meandering Missouri river edged by comforting cottonwoods and mountains in the distance, and feel even more confident. I have made the crossing intact.

This past weekend I drove south of Lethbridge to get an early start on the angling season. I braved the crossing and the cold as I knew trout would probably be rising on the other side. And they were. When the wind took a break and the water calmed, trout surfaced for midges. And I caught a few. I caught trout in mid March when Winter refused to give way to Spring. I caught them on minute size 20 dry flies on a river over two football fields wide. I caught them after braving the big void.

midge fly

walking the plank to an island

 

midge hatch

if they don't rise for small dries, I shoot them

 

flat water side channel

Midges Saved the Day

high plains hwy

missouri river rainbow

 

I spent last weekend on the Missouri River. I was on a budget so I slept in my vehicle and brought snacks. The river fished well. November can be a good time on the Missouri. If the wind lays low then some great surface action can be had. On Saturday it didn't blow too hard and the fish were on Olives in the afternoon. I caught several on dries. On Sunday I got an early start, around 9:00 am. The fish were up and already very active on midges, mainly emergers. Fall is considered Baetis(Olive) time (afternoon hatch) for the dry fly angler but experience has taught me that the midge fishing can even be better. The key is that it tends to be very calm in the morning and with the river surface being glass-like, trout are often found actively feeding on midges...a tailwater staple. That is exactly what I experienced on Sunday morning. By noon the wind was full throttle and the Baetis hatch never really developed and therefore I spotted few surface fish. With the morning midge activity I caught nice fish on midge dries but had more success using an emerger pattern fished just inches under a Griffith's Gnat (dry). The rainbows were concentrating on the rising swimming emergers. I had to angle my cast downstream at a bulging fish and skate or wake the tiny dry with dangling emerger in front of the fish to get a response. Often they surged at the emerger and inhaled it. Midges saved the day.

missouri river

The whole river valley was full of  life: Ring-Necked Pheasants, Hawks, a Bald Eagle, many Coots in the side channels, Beaver, Muskrat, Deer and Antelope, and of course bulging and sipping Trout. I saw several good sized brown trout on redds. In mid afternoon the temperature hit mid 50's F. It was a great way to spend an early November weekend.  I caught my first trout of the 2012 season on a dry fly in early April and possibly my last this past weekend: November. The small fly season can truly be a long one. The key is river selection (water type). Here are some pictures of the trip.

 

butte near cascade montana