2003 marked the third year of Blue Ribbon’s April Mayfly Tours, and what a year it was.   As usual we had great groups of clients, wide-ranging weather conditions, and some terrific fishing.   Here’s a run down of some of the highlights.

Southwestern Montana experienced some good old-fashioned, scuzzy weather this spring.   We saw rain, sleet, snow, hail, and, yes you guessed it, wind.   Overall, the month of April had above average precipitation, and below average temperatures. However, there was one week when we put aside the rain-gear and the fleece, at least for part of the time.   With the mercury rising to a record high of 72 in Bozeman , the week of the 10 th through the 15 th gave us a nice warm break from old man winter, or spring in this case.   While this abundance of wet, cloudy weather isn’t always great for morale, it is perfect for spring dry-fly fishing, as Baetis mayflies, the headliners of April fishing, will emerge in much larger numbers over a much longer period of time on skuzzy days.

      We managed to find great fishing throughout the entire month everywhere from Dillon to Livingston .   Of all the blue ribbon trout streams that we visited, the Beaverhead, Madison , and Armstrong’s Spring Creek emerged as the stand-outs.

      The Beaverhead is an especially fun river for us to fish in the spring, because the low water levels allow for infinitely more access to the walk-wade fisherman, and the baetis activity prompts some of the only consistent dry-fly activity of the entire season.   This year’s cloudy conditions gave us several excellent afternoons filled with rising fish.   Unfortunately, Clark Canyon Reservoir turned over at the end of April sending brownish green water into the river.   The off-color water wasn’t a total bust, though.   We managed to find some good fishing to baetis on our last visit to the stretch below Pipe Organ Bridge.   A few good fish were also caught on the almighty pink San Juan Worm.

      The Madison River offered up some spectacular fishing for us this spring in several different sections.   The stretch below the Beartrap Canyon started off slow this spring, as the strong winds of March stirred up Ennis Lake sending greenish water in the river below.   But after a week or so the water cleared and the fishing picked up.   We saw several good days of baetis fishing in the stretch above the highway 84 Bridge, and some great caddis days floating from the highway bridge to Black’s Ford.   Cam and Mike had one day in particular floating the lower Madison with Mike Gerhart, Lewis Lanza, David Porter, and David’s wife Ruth in which several fish over 20 inches were boated!   The upper Madison (above Ennis) also fished well from McAtee Bridge to Ennis.   The early fishing was productive with midges and baetis , with mother’s day caddis picking up by the first week of May.   Chuck Cadman had a memorable afternoon catching a few big fish below McAtee Bridge with Stimulators, and Jay Amberson will certainly never forget the 21 ½ inch brown that he took above Varney Bridge with a big, black Rubberlegs.

      Armstrong’s Spring Creek is always a great spot to hit in the early spring, and this year was no exception.   Baetis began emerging in late March and lasted well into the first week of May.   Early morning midge fishing was more productive this year with quite a few nice fish taken on Miracle Midges and Griffith ’s Gnat Emergers.   John and Tonya Chinuntdet will attest to the fact that there were slightly more fish in the creeks this spring.   They spent the better part of an entire afternoon fishing side by side in one riffle with more rising fish in front of them than you could ever catch in a day.

      So, another year of April Mayfly Tours are in the books.   As usual, we had a fantastic time this year.   We saw every possible type of weather that you could imagine, had excellent fishing in over five different drainages, and made some great new friends.   I would like to extend a special Thank You to the following people for making this another wonderful spring.   We’re already looking forward to next year’s trips.

Cline Hickok         Larry Haberman       Jim Murphy         Eric Woodstron

Joseph Luppino     Kinn Elliott             Mike Banks         Anthony Fortner

Scott Lightfoot     Mark Smith            Marc Doyle         Chuck Cadman

Mike Metzler         Ken Orloff              Jim Johnson        Mike Smith     

Monty Smith         Jim & Amy Ray        John & Tonya Chinuntdet

Mike Gerhart         Lewis Lanza           David & Ruth Porter                     

Charlie Woods       Jay Amberson         Rich Francis        BobWhitmer       

John Whitmer        Mitch Greenberg     Dan Greenberg