Sparky’s Garage

While fishing the Beaverhead River this spring, I inquired about recommended restaurants in Dillon. Tim Tollet from Frontier Anglers mentioned Sparky’s Garage (420 E. Poindexter St.) and Pappa T’s. Then I asked the ladies at the Sundowner Motel and they mentioned the same ones. Sparky’s became my favorite. Their BBQ pulled pork sandwiches were great but they also had excellent sweet potatoes fries and sauce. One evening Tori, Kevin and I ordered and extra side of yet to become world-famous sweet potatoe fries because they were so good. The restaurant, as the name implies, has the theme of a garage. Even the napkins are red oil rags. The lights are in gas cans and the entire restaurant, walls, windows, etc. has old souvenirs or memorabilia of an old age car garage. Sparky’s is right across from the University of Montana Western. Yes, Dillon, MT with a population over 3,000 has a university.

Papa T’s is located in uptown Dillon, the center of town (10 N. Montana St.). The restaurant has long tables and round tables resembling a cultural hall. It has slot machines on the side walls, a juke box with pool tables and video games in the back. Nick and I ordered their chicken fried steak and potatoes. It was very good and filling, great after a long day of fishing.

Buffalo Lodge is located across the highway from Clark Canyon Reservoir and has a wonderful view. The best thing I found to order was a bacon cheese burger, if that says anything about their menu. They did have great trophy mounts of moose, buffalo, elk and of course, trout.

Something Big

Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I hooked something big. Up until then I had caught six or seven white fish and expected this fish to be another. But it barely moved. It swam up enough that I could see a flash right when it struck but then stayed right on the bottom of the river to sulk. I would pull downstream; then upstream and it would only move enough to show it was still hooked. I had never had a fish act like this before. It wouldn’t budge. It also didn’t shake its head so I knew it wasn’t a white fish. It did move upstream a little so I knew it wasn’t just a log. Logs don’t move upstream, just downstream. Finally the line broke. My bad! I pulled too hard. I should have gone after it with the net since it was staying put in about 3 feet of water. And I should not have pulled so hard, but rather keep the line tight and wait to see if it would take off. I’m excited to get back to that same spot and try for it again.

A little later after the sun went down, I caught a medium sized brown of about 13 inches, the first trout of the day. I checked what it was eating with a stomach pump – scuds. Exactly what I had been using and what the huge fish had taken.

The Clinch Knot Dropper

Let’s say your dropper breaks off or you’ve changed flies on your dropper tippet a couple of times and the line is now too short to make one more change. What to do? You could tie on some more tippet material with another double or triple surgeons knot. This has the following downsides: 1) looping through the existing fly and slot through your loops as you tie the knot is a pain and 2) now you are left with an extra knot in your leader which could lead to tangles or weakened line.

Looping a new piece of tippet around the leader just above the knot of the previous dropper using a clinch knot solves this problem. Again, six or seven twists use saliva when tightening and leave a small tag. One advantage this method has is that as the dropper line twists around, the knot moves around with it so less line being twisted together. One disadvantage is that sometimes the knot slips up the line.

Drifting in Style or "The Perfect Oarsman"

I’m fishing the Beaverhead with Kevin and Tori. The river below High Bridge is high and off color, so we are fishing a little upstream. There are a few other fishermen drifting by also hitting the upper river. Well, this one fisherman had the perfect set up. He was fishing in the front, his dog was on the seat in the back and this gorgeous babe in a bikini top was rowing. How would it be?

Three weeks later, I’m drifting the section below High Bridge with Nick and Alex, the water has cleared up and I see the same guy drift by. I yell out to him “what happened to the girl you had rowing with the bikini top? He yells back “oh, you were here a few weeks ago?” The guy rowing yells “he kind of traded down, didn’t he?” I had to laugh. This time he had two dogs in the back. You don’t see this everyday.

The Blood Knot

I rarely use the blood knot. There is one condition in which I use this knot; when both ends of the leaders you want to tie together are tied to something else. For example, one end of the leader is hooked to the fly line and the other end already has two flies and split shot. The double surgeons knot would require you to pull the terminal end of the rig’s flies and weights through a small loop twice. Tying the blood knot avoids this hassle.

The blood knot is tied by wrapping one leader around the other 4 or 5 times and bringing the end back up through where the two originally came together. Then, wrap the other leader around the first 4 or 5 times and bring it back through where the two come together but in the opposite direction from the first. Or, just wrap the two leaders together 8 to 10 times. Pull the two lines slightly apart in the middle and run one end up through the hole and run the other end down through the hole. Add saliva and pull tight. Trim the tag ends or use one for a dropper.

The One That Got Away: The Sequel

Note: If you haven't read the previous post yet, Beaverhead River: The One That Got Away, read it first. This is part 2.

Nick and Alex drove out to Salt Lake from Cincinnati 3 weeks later. Naturally I took them back to the Beaverhead. This time the water was lower and clear. I used a stomach pump on a couple of smaller trout I caught to see what they had been eating. Guess what? Yep, still worms, along with some small black mayfly nymphs and crane fly larvae. So, in accordance with the “match the hatch” theory, I tied on a San Juan Worm again.

I pulled the drift boat over at my favorite stretch again. Near the end of the run, in the middle of the river where the water was deep just starting to get shallower, I hooked a nice fish that immediately started taking out line. I wasn’t having any luck bringing it toward me or to my side of the river so I made my way toward it and waded across the river to try and land it on the far shore. There was a pretty spring entering the river that would be a perfect spot to land a trout.

Lo and behold, it was my old friend from three weeks before, the rainbow with the deformed mouth. He sure looked pretty against the moss and water cress from the natural spring. He measured in at 19 and ¾ inches. What a prize. I was very gentle and careful to give him a good release in some calm quiet water. He slowly swam off and I said goodbye to a favorite fish.

Beaverhead River: The One That Got Away

Last May I was invited to fish the Beaverhead River in Montana with Kevin and Tori. Being early spring, the water was high. There was also a landslide just above High Bridge which made the water even more off color. A San Juan Worm seemed the best fly for the given situation. A slightly larger split shot and strike indicator were also called for. We started the float at High Bridge and wade fished as we moved the raft from spot to spot.

At what has become my favorite stretch of the river, I hooked a large trout. I was able to bring it close to me quite easily for what I thought would be a quick release. I noticed this rainbow had a peculiar deformed lip. This was surely a casualty of a previous catch and release experience it had had. Well, as soon as it saw me reaching down for it, it instantly shot off downstream. Despite the deep water, I went chasing after it. It brought me around the next bend in the river where I finally go it close to the shore, twice. With the water so high there was not an even sloped bank on which to land it. Remember the post I wrote entitled Nets? This was the time a net was desperately needed. As I reached down to grab the fish, it took off again. This was a strong, hard fighting rainbow. Again I went chasing down the river, not wanting the line to break from both the strength of the fish and the fast current. The next time I brought it close enough to grab, with the line held tight against the rod handle with one hand and reaching down for the fish with the other, it broke off. Just then Kevin comes around the bend of the river with a net.

This is the excitement that fishing trips are made of. And stories are told of the one that got away. Back at work Kevin was telling me “I wish we could have landed that one rainbow that took us so far down river and broke the line.”

Grand Slam on the Weber River

Have I mentioned that fall is my favorite season for fishing? Yesterday evening was no exception. I tied on a yellow glo bug as my point fly and an orange glo bug as a dropper. The water is a bit lower now so I put on a smaller split shot and a smaller thingamabobber (brand of strike indicator) than I usually use.

Within an hour I had caught 9 white fish. I was happy with the number of fish but puzzled that I hadn’t caught any trout. Then the sun went down. The next fish I caught was a 17 inch brown. I proceeded to catch a few more browns, including a nice one that jumped three times, a rainbow and one more white fish. The last brown I caught was small and I brought it in too fast and it really tangled up the line wiggling in my hand. After it settled down and I was able to remove the hook from its mouth with a pair of hemostats, I noticed the dropper line was tangled up more than I wanted to deal with, with it being so dark. I cut the dropper line off, tangle and all. I turned around to cast with just the one fly left on my line. It was then that it dawned on me that my sun glasses were still on. I removed my sunglasses, letting them dangle loose around my neck on the lanyard. Amazingly, it wasn’t so dark after all. There would still be time to fish around the next bend in the river, if I hurry.

I cast up under a large tree where the water was deeper with what would end up being my last cast. I hooked what I could tell was a nice fish. After a short fight I brought it to shore. Wow! A cutthroat…Grand Slam!!! I had managed to catch, in the last hour before dark, all the species of fish available in this section (between Echo and Rockport Reservoirs) of the Weber River: brown, rainbow, cutthroat and of course white fish. At least on of each was 16 inches long. With a smile on my face, I picked up some garbage that I noticed on the shore and hurried back to the car just before darkness set in.

It amazes me every trip to the Weber or Provo Rivers how great the fishing is just a half hour out of my way on the way home from work.

Clinch Knot

The Clinch Knot is my knot of choice for tying the fly to the tippet. It is easy enough to tie that there is no problem tying it in low light or with cold fingers. It is also very strong and dependable.

To tie the clinch knot simply put the tippet through the eye of the hook, twist it around itself 6 or 7 times, bring the end through the loop that these twists made right next to the eye of the hook and pull tight.

I do not use the improved clinch knot. I feel it adds an unnecessary step that makes the knot more difficult to tie. Instead I add one more twist and leave a small tag. For several years, OK…decades, I used the improved clinch knot. Then I noticed one of my guides not doing the final step of the improved clinch knot. This surprised me and got me thinking. As a kid I never used the improved version and never had a problem.

I use 6 or 7 twists, never only 5. I never scrimp on the amount of leader I use to make the knot. I make an ample loop before twisting so it will be easy to put the end through it. Pinching the loop between your thumb and forefinger helps in this regard. One thing critical with this knot is to moisten it before pulling tight. I hold the tag end against the fly itself as I pull tight. Help the twists cinch up by pushing the twists toward the eye of the hook when beginning to tighten. This helps make the line not have any kinks in it near the knot.

Knots / Surgeon’s Knot

Knots are usually the weakest link between you and the fish in your terminal tackle. Knots are extremely critical in your success at landing your fish. Take care to tie them properly. I’ll explain each of the types of knots I use and provide tips on making the best of them.

Surgeon’s Knot

The surgeon’s knot is one of my favorite knots. It is very easy to tie and is strong and effective. The knot is just an overhand knot repeated two or three times. I use this knot when tying two pieces of leader or tippet together, like when tying 4X fluorocarbon tippet to your 2 or 3X monofilament leader. It even works well with different diameters of leader.

The surgeon’s knot is easy enough to tie you can tie it in low light or with cold hands. The double surgeons knot is usually adequate. When I’m using this knot with a dropper, I use a triple knot. I use the top end of the added tippet material to tie on the dropper fly and then trim the bottom portion. This makes the dropper stick out slightly from the leader and causes less twisting.

As with most knots, lubricate when pulling the knot tight and make sure you pull on all four parts, including the tag end you will trim. I trim the tag all the way on this knot.

Glo Bugs on the Weber

One of the most exciting times for me to fish is the fall. The streams are less crowded and the weather slightly cooler. More importantly though, the fish seem hungrier or maybe just more feisty. The brown trout and white fish start their spawn. After using small nymphs all summer, tying on a glo bug with a hook larger than a size 18 is refreshing.

Yesterday evening was one of those days. I caught an 18 inch cutthroat right off the bat. I also caught plenty of white fish to keep the fishing exciting. I caught a few smaller browns (16 inchers) and in the end caught about 10 fish the first hour and 5 the next hour.

After releasing one particular big fat white fish, I bent down to tighten up my boot laces when my line started going out. Apparently my line was dangling enough in the water that I had accidently caught another fish while I was messing with boot laces. These are the kind of experiences that make you just smile with wonder. Try doing that on purpose.

I took pictures of the llamas in the field next to the river and pictures of a muskrat swimming along the opposite bank. It was too dark to take pictures of the deer in the field on the drive home. While changing out of my waders, a friendly kitten came and brushed up along my legs…A perfect autumn evening. Did I mention that fall is my favorite time of year to go fishing?

My Typical Nymphing Rig

My typical nymphing rig starts with a 9 foot 3X tapered monofilament leader. Umpqua and RIO are the usual brands I use. This tapered leader is tied to the fly line with a needle knot.

About six inches from the end of the tapered leader I tie on a 4 to 6 inch dropper of 4X fluorocarbon tippet with a triple surgeon’s knot. I use the top end of the tippet to tie on the fly and trim off the bottom end. So tie it with the long end going back up the tapered leader. This way the dropper stays out away from the leader better.

At the end of the tapered leader I tie on one more piece, about 15 inches long, of 4X tippet material to be used for another dropper and for the split shot. This piece is tied on in the middle with another triple surgeon’s knot. On the upper end tie the fly and on the lower end, place a double overhand knot at the end. Place the needed spit shot right above the overhand knot. Ideally the upper end with the fly should be 5 or 6 inches long and the lower end with the split shot should be 6 to 9 inches long.

The flies I tie on with a clinch knot. I place a strike indicator about 1.5 to 2 times the depth of the water above the split shot.