I traveled to Crane Meadow Lodge in Twin Bridges, MT on Weds, 8/27 to host a group of friends and clients on our annual trip to the lodge. Nick Reding, Jim Ewoldt and Howard Curtis, all from St. Louis, MO, Dennis Kinley, from NJ and Mike Perez, from Richmond, IN and I all met up in Bozeman on Weds afternoon and made the 1 ½ hour drive to the lodge. It is a nice change to have cool, crisp mornings in the 40's and afternoon high's in the 70's and low 80's with only about 25% humidity as opposed to Florida's hot and humid climate in late summer.
We fished the Madison, Ruby, Jefferson, Big Hole and Beaverhead Rivers as well as a couple of spring creeks. One of the best things about Crane Meadow Lodge is the variety. Although this was my 8th trip to the lodge, I still managed to fish parts of the Big Hole, Jefferson and Madison Rivers that I hadn't fished before. We had more water this year than on previous trips and heat wasn't as much of a factor. We had access to all rivers, all day long which gave us numerous options. We found the fishing to be good in all rivers except the Ruby, which was cloudy due to water being released from the dam. However, fishing the Ruby above the dam was good.
Although every day can't be a banner day, we had numerous great days. The best action and biggest fish for me were on the Beaverhead River. Mike Perez and I started at dawn one day and had great action "skating" Crane flies for big browns. Watching them blow up as the fly wakes across the surface is as exciting as a snook blowing up on a popper!
Dennis Kinley and I fished the Big Hole one day and caught some quality fish on dry flies. We also caught 3 grayling. The Big Hole is one of the few rivers in the lower 48 states that has a population of grayling. Dennis and I also waded the Beaverhead and Stone Creek, a spring creek on private water that Crane Meadow Lodge has access to. We caught browns up to 24" on hoppers in both the river and the spring creek-a great day! Dennis and Mike Perez fished the same area another day and caught big fish (up to 25") again!
Howard Curtis and I floated the "Jeff" one day and caught some quality fish. Howard is a beginning fly angler and he did great on the trip! Jim Ewoldt and I floated the Madison on the last day and caught some quality fish. Jim had the hot rod that day, catching and releasing several big browns and rainbows on a Zonker/nymph combo.
Although there were good days on all of the rivers, the biggest fish came from the Beaverhead or Stone Creek. These areas consistently produce big browns up to 25". One of the nicest things about fishing and staying at Crane Meadow Lodge is the variety of water to fish. You can do something different every day and the scenery is breath taking! This is an annual hosted fishing trip for me every August or September. For more info on fishing Crane Meadow Lodge, you can contact me or contact the lodge directly at www.cranemeadow.com .
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com
