Armstrong's Spring Creek - August 22, 2009

Armstrong's Spring Creek, Livingston, MT

The Chief could not believe that he could have had better fishing than he had in the Lamar Valley. But he did. Floating the Yellowstone River with friend Matthew Long of Long Outfitting, the Chief caught more trout than he deserved. He caught trout throughout the float using only two flies, a Club Sandwich and a Hi-Vis Brown Ant. But the best fishing came on the Chief’s last day. He decided to fish Armstrong’s Spring Creek on the O’Hair Ranch south of Livingston, MT in the beautiful Paradise Valley. He had never fished this section of the famous spring creek. He had fished the DePuy stretch several times with the Fair Maiden.

Matthew said that the spring creek bookings have decreased substantially this season due to the closing of one booking agency and the thirty percent decline in local fly shop sales and guide services this year. Matthew has not experienced this decline and is busy as ever. You would know why if you have ever fished with him.

Matthew and his father Bill prepared the Chief well for the day’s fishing. Bill provided his #22 Biot Sulphur Sparkle Dun, bits of tactical advice and suggested areas to fish. Matthew suggested the no nonsense tactic of throwing hoppers and ants.

O'Hair Ranch Horses

The Chief forgot his well stocked beer cooler back at the B&B and had to go back. He didn’t begin fishing until 10:30 AM. A very large cuttbow took the #22 Biot Sulphur Sparkle Dun on his very first cast. But he snapped it off on the hook set as he was not accustomed to using fine tippet after throwing those huge foam bugs on 4X in the Yellowstone River.

Spring Feeding Armstrong's Spring Creek

The PMD’s and the Paradise Valley Sulphurs, actually a baetis, began to hatch and the dumb trout began to show themselves. The Chief dropped a tiny RBF Pheasant Tail off of a RBF PMD Sparkle Dun and hooked numerous average sized browns and an occasional rainbow. The emergence waned and he moved up upstream to the area below the corrals. The Chief's heart started to pound when he spotted several large rainbows and hybrids cruising eating ants and hoppers.

He tied on a Hi-Vis Brown Ant and quickly hooked a very large hybrid. The dumb trout performed a tricky maneuver in the weed beds and broke off the Hi-Vis Brown Ant. The Chief continued to fish the Ant switching occasionally to a Chaos Hopper. All in all, Chief caught twelve beautiful trout before lunch on those contraptions.


Kate Long provided a delightful shore lunch including elk burgers. The Chief grilled the burgers and just sat and took in the scenery while drinking numerous fine Montana Ales.

Before the Storm

After the late lunch, the Chief continued to catch fish until a mighty storm blew across the valley. He donned his L. L. Bean rain gear and Sunday Afternoons Cloudburst hat, sat and watched the storm. After the heavy rain and hail, he caught fifteen more rainbows and hybrids mostly with the Hi-Vis Brown Ant. He was getting tired after eight long days of fishing and was ready to quit when a swirling wake appeared twenty feet out. The Chief quickly cast out the Hi-Vis Brown Ant.

He hit it and the fight was on. The Chief skillfully turned on his camera and securely placed it in his wading jacket pocket. He netted the beast, estimated at just under 24 inches, after an epic battle. The beast had two Hi-Vis Brown Ants in his mouth! That’s when the Chief noticed that his camera was in the water! He skillfully retrieved the camera and released the magnificent fish but not before snatching the lost Hi-Vis Brown Ant!

It was a bitter sweet walk back to the Surburban. After thinking about that magnificent trout, the Chief set the Surburban's heater on 90 degrees and placed his camera on the defroster vent. The camera was fully operational the next evening!

It was a very good day on this very beautiful spring creek. It is not often when one can fish over trout averaging 14" with plenty of willing trout 16" - 24".

A 14 oz. Montana Rib Eye at the Stockman in Livingston and Kate's Caramel Brownies back at the B&B completed another wonderful day in Paradise Valley.

SIDE NOTES – Armstrong’s Spring Creek has larger fish than DePuy. There may be more trout in DePuy, though. The water types are more diverse on DePuy. The upkeep on DePuy is much better. Daryl mows the paths and there are plenty of benches to rest.

Sunset in the Paradise Valley, MT

Miners Saloon & Casino, Cooke City, MT

After on long day on the Lamar River, Miners Saloon & Casino was the place to be. A band from Missoula was playing Hank Williams, Jr. tunes and the Chief was devouring a 20" pizza and downing numerous fine Montana brews. The bartender was so impressed the Chief didn't need a "box" for his pizza that he honored the RBF Pro Staff on the famous beer cooler in this famous saloon.

Yellowstone National Park - August 14-19, 2009

Soda Butte Creek Cutthroat - Round Prairie

The fishing was absolutely fabulous! Snow in Cooke City, MT on August 16. It never got out of the 40's for the first few days. The gray drakes, flavs, and olives provided incredible action often for more than two hours! When the fish were not rising, a Chaos Hopper, Hi-Vis Brown Ant or X Caddis would catch more than you could imagine.

Two grizzly bears were seen; one on the Soda Butte Creek and one along the Lamar River. Trout Lake lived up to its name. All of the fly shops were reporting disturbing crowds in the Lamar Valley. It was found not to be true. Later in the week, I learned that there were four members of the Lloyd Wilson Chapter of TU fishing the Soda Butte Creek in the Round Prairie on August 19. We never crossed paths! I believe I did see Skip from a distance, though.

Down with old....

Well it’s been a busy summer at the Rossiter lodge. We are still managing to land a few trout in the outhouse beat. Although high water has limited my fishing I still manage to at least wet a streamer.

This past weekend consisted of removing the old chimney ( snake central ) and installing a new chimney.

Down with the old…

Somehow I always end up doing all the roof work.

Here’s a nice shot of the new window I installed 2 weeks ago.

With all the high water this summer I haven’t been making it to my favorite brookie streams, but hear is a shot from late June



P.S.

I’m hoping for a nice fly tying weekend at the Rossiter Lodge in November. I’ll keep everyone updated.

Hunting Trip

I wanted to throw up a quick photo of my latest conquest. We went to this remote island, where the quarry were these genetically engineered squirrels. Big bastards too. Here we are posing with our trophy. I'm the one on the right.... Pretty exciting stuff....Enjoy!

Spanish Nymphing

The Spanish Youth Fly Fishing Team introduced me to Spanish Nymphing. I introduced them to the chicas. The team taught me how to long line nymph. They laughed when they told me that the Frenchies claim that they developed this method of nymphing. Actually, it was developed by the Catalans for fishing the beautiful, crystal clear mountain streams of Catalunya.

The first chica that the Chief introduced to the boys was this tanned, long legged babe.

Notice Wade's mentor in the background

She was quite noticeable at the awards ceremony. Even the Chief took notice. “Eduard, introduce that chica to us’” pleaded Jonathan. I did. She enjoyed the Spaniards’ attention.

Jonathan, Chica and Sergi

The Frenchies, the Portuguese and couple of Americans also got into the act

Later that evening, I introduced the English and the American chica to the boys