On Saturday, July 6 th , Tim Graham, Glenn Haake, Charlie Trankler and Jim Craig (me) headed out to fish the rivers around Twin Bridges, MT. Tim and Jim knew from two previous trips to this area the chance for netting big rainbows and browns would be in our favor this time of the year– especially when you work in two days of guided float trips with Joseph Lema out of Frontier Anglers in Dillon, MT. Yes, the same Joseph Lema who was our host on the March trip to Belize. Tim and Jim met Joseph when he was their guide during a Sept 2022 trip to this area. They have fished with him every year since and plan to do so in the future.

Very early flights that Saturday allowed the four of us to rendezvous at the Bozeman airport before noon. Glenn and Jim flew in from St. Louis, MO, Charlie flew in from Austin, TX, and Tim drove his truck 12 hours from his home in Windsor, CO. From there, Jim rode in Tim’s truck. Charlie and Glenn picked up a rental car.

Our first stop was the Bozeman Costco to buy a weeks-worth of groceries. Tim had planned a great menu for meals each night and a nice selection of snacks. His shopping list ensured we did not forget anything. There are very few restaurant options where we reserved our VRBO in Twin Bridges, MT.

Twin Bridges, MT, was less than 2 hours from Bozeman. Our VRBO, titled the Combat Cabin on the VRBO and Airbnb websites, could easily sleep 5 people, had a well-stocked kitchen, and a big living area with a TV and dining room. We had plenty of room to spread out after a day of fishing. We arrived at our VRBO mid-afternoon that first day. After unloading, we headed to the Frontier Angler fly shop in Dillon, MT. We knew Joseph wouldn’t be there because he was guiding that day. But, he left word with the guys in the shop to get us the right information on which rivers to fish, the right flies to use, and the right nymphing rigs. The fly shop guys, Collin and Collin (yes, two guys with the same name), did just that.

The next day we headed out to the Upper Beaverhead with the specifically recommended #16- #20 PMD nymph flies and drop-shot nymph rigs ready. Drop-shot nymphing is the standard way to fish this river. The rig is made with 3x tippet, two 4x dropper tags about 18” apart and from one to three large split shots on a line about 12” below the bottom fly. You can fish this under an indicator set at about 10’ or tightline it with a Euro rod. The goal is to have those flies always close to the bottom. Snags were not a problem because the river bottom was mostly gravel.

This was our plan of attack most days, whether we waded or were in guide boats. We booked guided float trips with Joseph and his guiding partner, Will Larson, on Monday and Thursday. Both days we floated parts of the Beaverhead, and both days we caught lots of big fish.

Highlights of the trip:

• The Combat Cabin VRBO was perfect for our needs.
• The average size of the fish throughout the trip was 18-19”. Tim caught the biggest, a 24” brown. Jim’s biggest was a 22” rainbow. Charlie and Glenn also caught big trout in the 20+” range. They weren’t as “particular” as Tim and Jim about measuring their fish. However, Charlie is credited with catching the biggest whitefish at 18+”.
• The fish were big and powerful. They fought long and hard, and netting the fish required help from a buddy.
• When the air temps reached into the 90’s, wet-wading was a treat.
• We fished the Big Hole River a couple half-days. It was a beautiful river (with a big bull moose), but the slime-covered rocks made wading ridiculously treacherous. The abundant white fish were hard fighters, and some nice rainbows and browns were landed.
• The second day of guiding we spent time targeting large browns with dry flies. It was exhilarating, and frustrating. We had several takes but no hook-ups. This reminded us of how challenging it is to effectively present a dry fly with wind and variable currents all made even more challenging by our somewhat less than perfect casts. Thank goodness for patient guides.
• To avoid the forecasted heat, one day we headed to a higher elevation to fish Grasshopper Creek near the ghost town of Bannack, MT. The people weren’t the only ghosts. It was a beautiful stream, but we saw virtually no fish and only caught a couple small ones. We later learn this might have been one of the high-altitude creeks where Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks conducted a fish kill as the first step in a strategy to reintroduce native cutthroat trout to these waters. As Tim Graham says, “It is not an adventure until something goes wrong.”
• After our second day of guiding, we took Joseph and Will out to dinner at a fun and popular sandwich/grill/bar in Dillon, MT. These guys worked their butts off for us.
• Little flies catch big fish. But, the big fish often spit the fly, bent the hook or broke the 4x tippet during the fight. We probably netted only 50% of the fish we hooked.
• The rib-eye, spaghetti, hamburger, shrimp-scampi, salmon and grilled chicken thigh dinners we prepared were awesome. All these guys had solid kitchen skills. No one lost any weight.

Great fishing + great guys + great guides + beautiful setting = A great time.