There was some speculation that Buzzard Lake's winter killed off the area due to the dismal reports for the first week after the opener. The area fish bio felt the same way, but he told me he had restocks coming. Well from the reports and from what I've seen, I'm not sure that was the case completely. Fishing has been picking up a lot there and the size of the fish would indicate that there was some carry over and not a complete kill off. I had a chance to make a quick trip there and I was not disappointed. The couple of fish I landed were over 16" and in good shape. In talking to some of the other anglers there, they were having similar results. Some report rainbows around 20", but then again you know how us anglers are so good at measuring fish. A black squirrel leech and a Thinmint were the flies that seemed to bring the most action ...

Smallmouth With the recent warm weather, I knew the Smallmouth Bass fishing would be awesome to say the least. The forecast called for a maximum of 5 mph wind, and 70 degree weather. Check Out Current Water Temps & Flows Here. Simply a perfect day to troll for Kokanee, and fly fish for bass. I trolled Garfield Bay for a couple hours along the shoreline with consistent Kokanee action. The fish were never deeper than 20 feet, and seemed to be hungry the duration I was there. It was never hot and heavy, but enough action to keep someone interested. I eventually caught my limit of healthy Kokanee, and was already thinking of the soon delicious dinners to come.    Points Just Outside the Bay... Immediately after I caught my last Kokanee, I pieced together my Sage Approach, and made a run for the points just outside the bay. In th...

In my mind, June 1st ranks right up there with Christmas because it marks the start of a new season on the Spokane River below Monroe Street Dam. I woke up this morning at 4:15 and was on the river about 45 minutes later. My very first cast was greeted by a healthy rainbow that struck a size 6 Pat’s Stone. This process was repeated several more times over the couple hours, with the fish definitely keying in on the larger Pat’s Stone instead of the smaller Prince Nymph dropper. Like any pre-work fishing session, the clock was my enemy and I made my way off the river around 7:45 so I could be in Coeur d’Alene by 9:00. Will I be tired tonight when I’m driving home? You bet, but I’ll still have a smile on my face from this morning’s outing! On a more serious note, while I consider Spokane to be a beautiful city for numerous reas...

June is here, heralding summer weather and summer bugs. PMD’s and caddis are in the water, in the air and on the water again. Missouri River fish are eating the PMD nymphs and caddis pupa sub surface. They are eating the emerging bugs and the returning adults, both egg layers and spent. In order to be successful this time of year, you need a variety of patterns for each stage of these bugs. It’s not rocket science, just fishing by the numbers. The higher the numbers of a particular bug or stage of that bug, the more fish will be feeding on it. Complications arise when you have hatching bugs, egg layers, PMD spinners and spent caddis all at the same time. Further complicating the problem is the fact that there may be several different caddis of varying size, color and behavior in the mix. Whether you view this as a challenge or it mak...

This year Echo has taken one of its work horse rods and made it better... Like a lot better. The new ION XL replaces its old ION model with a new look and strong back bone in a lighter rod. The old Ion was a good rod, but it was heavy, and while it was a work horse and a great price, it lacked feel. Last year at our annual fly shop summit, I made two cast with the new one in the parking lot. I looked at Brandon Prince, our Echo representative, and I couldn't even recognize it as the Ion series. The Upgrade The new ION XL still has the strong back bone in a medium-fast to fast action, depending on what size rod it is. The rod is powerful, can easily be used as a saltwater rod when it needs to. It comes in two rod lengths: nine-foot and 10-foot. Line weight range from six weight to 10 weight. The eight weight and nine weight have the power...

The Coeur d'Alene River continues to fish well. The Memorial Day weekend produced some favorable bug hatches. The river flow continues to drop with it, now at about 1330 c.f.s. (Check out today's flows here). The golden stones have made an appearance in full force. Big bugs are producing some solid action. Every willow bush we floated by on Sunday had adult golden stones climbing all over them. Anchoring just off these bushes and chucking olive and yellow "chew toys" under the branches produced several exciting eats. Pats rubber legs, brown cheater belly size 10, seemed to be the nymph of choice. Stroli's dimmer stone was also a hot bug for the day sub-surface. Several may flies were also in the air. Yellow sallies and pmd's fished in the flats landed us a few fish as well. With the river projected to keep dropping, the time to float is ...

Montana has a unique tie to ranching and livestock, and this was no more apparent to me than when I started researching brands. Montana became a territory in 1864, two years after the Homestead Act. Prior to 1873, the registration of brand information was left up to individual counties. This wasn't a functioning system because news and registrations spread more slowly (or not at all) during this time period. So down around Yellowstone you could have a ranch running the same brand as a ranch up by Glacier, and they wouldn't find out till they drove their cattle to market. This was remedied when the state enacted legislature in 1872 that centralized brand registration held by the Department of Livestock. Side note: Montana is a lot different than Idaho and Washington--because the state passed legislation designating a central housing place...