The west is wild.

The west is wild.
Brogan Jayne

The 4th of July has always held a special place in my heart. It is one of my favorite holidays for several reasons including freedom, family, friends, fireworks, and dry flies to name a few. Last summer I was fortunate enough to spend the 4th with my family and lovely girlfriend near the town of Basalt, CO. Some may have heard of this small fishy town, just 20 miles from Aspen, CO. This area is prime trout habitat as the Frying Pan dumps into the Roaring Fork just south of town. We hit it just right last year as the green drakes were going off in huge numbers, and I literally caught a fish every cast from dark to dark 30. If you’re into trout like I am, early July is an ideal time to plan your vacation out west as I would bet my Sage you’re going to run into a lot of hungry fish in addition to the most prolific hatches of the year. I couldn’t imagine a better 4th than I experienced in 2013, but the Madison River just outside of Ennis, MT proved to be just as good if not a better place to celebrate America’s birthday.

I was particularly excited about this year, as my older brother Austin and wife, Erin, of Signal Mountain, TN would be joining us for their first trip to Montana/Idaho. I used to follow him around as a little kid catching bass, crappie, stripers… you name it. He taught me everything I know about traditional fishing, so at the age of 13, knowing I’d never catch him in the bass fishing world, I picked up a fly rod. I began fly fishing for trout back in 2002 and haven’t looked back. I’ve taken him fly fishing several times throughout the years, but was excited to show him what the infamous trout waters of Montana/Idaho had to offer.

We flew into Great Falls, MT on July 1. On our way to Ennis, MT, where we would call home for the next four nights, we made a stop in Craig, MT to fish the Missouri River. The Missouri had always been a bucket list river for me, but simply had never fished it. I knew the fishing would be good, but didn’t expect the numbers and size that she produced. I quickly realized the average fish in this river was about 17-20 inches!! BTW, that’s ridiculous. I did my fair share of research before hitting it, but had confidence in my approach, as most tailwaters fish more or less the same. We picked a pull off that looked promising, and jumped out of the truck to throw our waders on and rig up. Needless to say the fishing was epic, and in the few hours we fished, we managed to land a couple hogs, with a few getting away of course. Day 1 was a huge success as Austin had landed a 20 incher on the first day of the trip. We proceeded to make the beautiful drive south, through the capital city of Helena on our way to Ennis, Montana.

Ennis has and will always be my favorite Montana town, I think… The green government sign as you are pulling into town boasts “Ennis, MT – population 1,100 – trout population 11,000,000”. I’m pretty certain there are more fly shops than restaurants, and there are no bars, but only saloons. We spent the next 4 nights on one of the most beautiful ranches I have ever seen. It didn’t hurt that the Madison was only about a mile from the cabin. Simply put, I couldn’t have had a better time over the next several days. From my girlfriend/family, to the Ennis rodeo, to the 4th of July fireworks in Virginia City, to monster trout sipping size 6 dry flies, I was in heaven.

So now we can talk flies. The Salmon fly hatch is probably the most popular and well regarded hatch of the year in the Madison River Valley. Fly fisherman and dry fly enthusiasts travel from all over the country and world to fish these big, gnarly flies on the famous “hundred mile riffle”. When the salmon flies hatch out of the bushes, these bugs are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. In addition to the salmon flies, we also experienced overwhelming evening hatches of caddis. Bugs everywhere. Curious as to what was going on sub surface; I quickly reached down into the river and picked up a stone a little larger than the size of my hand. The underside of the rock was loaded with stoneflies. Several days later, these same bugs would make their way from the river bottom to the bushes, and eventually back into the river. We caught countless fish over the next four days on a variety of flies and techniques. The Madison never disappoints!

On July 6th, we packed our bags and said goodbye to Ennis. We would spend the next four nights in Victor, ID. Victor is about 25 miles west of Jackson, WY. This too was a cool little town nestled deep in the valley below the Tetons. World Cast Anglers is located in town and a great place to go for advice and flies. The salmon flies continued to hatch, and we continued to catch fish. We focused our efforts primarily on the South Fork of the Snake River near the Idaho/Wyoming border. This river was full of wonderful surprises. Monster cutthroats, browns, and rainbows (or hybrids as the locals call them) call these waters home. I lost more big fish in this river on 4X than one could imagine. But don’t worry, I landed my fair share as well. Ever been into your backing on a 4wt reel? Me neither, until hooking into some of these beasts.

It was time to go home, but I wasn’t done fishing yet. We were flying back out of Great Falls early on the morning of July 11th. Naturally, on our drive from Victor to Great Falls, we hit 3 Dollar Bridge one last time around lunch. Crushed some nice fish on the Madison, and then headed towards Craig, for a little evening fishing on the Missouri. The fishing on the last night was the hands down the best of the trip. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that many bugs hatching, so many that even a decent drift would get hammered time after time. At one point, I remember laughing at myself because I was setting the hook on air. There were so many fish rising, it was difficult to distinguish a trout eating my fly or one of the real ones. What a way to end the trip.

Until next time, Montana.

Stay fly.

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Fish porn.