Ok some pics. We flew into BZN on Thursday morning, drove to Twin Bridges and up the Ruby Valley and fished there that afternoon. Fishing was good. Also Ima @ben ji because I'm not sure if he reads this thread?
The next day we floated the dam to Pipe Organ section of the Beaverhead River. It's said that there is a 20 inch fish every 50 feet on "the Beav" based on shocking surveys. It is without a doubt the best river I've fished from a size perspective. The first fish is 18" and the second is 20".
Some scenery from the float...
This river absolutely hauls balls at a swift 8 mph. It really moves. We called it Hustle and Flow. Most of the fish are right up against the outside banks so you just pound them the whole time. We float in these little kickboats, a limited run you can't buy anymore.
You sit in them and have fins strapped to your boots and you can kick around to control yourself. Most fishing is done while floating but you can stand up and stop if you want.
The next day we floated Divide Bridge to Salmonfly (Melrose) on the Big Hole River. We wanted to float the upper section but non-residents are barred from that section on Saturday.
Fishing was okay there, I think I got one or two fishing pushing 17".
Then we drove down to Dillon and back over towards Ennis to float the Madison. This is from the pass between Virginia City/Nevada City (which seem like cool places to visit, FWIW).
We ate dinner at the Gravel Bar in Ennis, a local bar/grill frequented by the fishing guides and other locals. Would recommend.
We floated Lyons Bridge to McAtee Bridge on the Madison River, which is a really long float. But that river moves along at about 6mph so we were off the water by 4PM.
There are a ton of guides/clients on this river, and some of them gave us the stink eye because we were farming fish out in front of their clients. I nailed one 18" chunky rainbow right in front of a guided pair, didn't get a picture though because my buddy was a long ways ahead of me. It was my fish of the trip, she was about 5 pounds, and clean in every way, a perfect specimen. Here's a pic of a not so big rainbow my buddy caught right in front of me as I waved him the okay to float through my water. Caught him right in front of me, rough rider.
That night we stayed on Bozeman and holy crap what a great town. We ate dinner at the Bacchus Pub which was excellent and I would recommend. I had the hippie burger (artichoke hearts and avocado). Overall great trip, would like to do it every year.
