Milesnick Spring Creeks
Streamers can be effective on all three waters. Black or olive Woolly Buggers (#8-#10 on the creeks and #4-#8 on the East Gallatin) have produced well and are especially good weapons on windy days when it is difficult to make a graceful presentation. In low-light conditions, streamers can be fished effectively without weight. Cast them across or across and downstream. Usually, however, you will need added weight to sink them to fish holding in the holes and undercut banks on Benhart and the East Gallatin. Thompson has too many weeds to fish weighted streamers or nymphs effectively.
The spring creeks hold many 10- to 15-inch trout, and a 16- to 18-incher could be the big one of the day. The streams have 18- to 20-inch and even larger fish, but few anglers catch them. And the fish are fat. An 18-inch fish can weigh 21/2 to 3 pounds. The East Gallatin has browns and rainbows in a wide range of sizes, and it sometimes gives up large fish over 20 inches. None of the streams have cutthroat trout.
Spring-creek anglers who use stealthy approaches and good dry-fly and nymphing techniques can catch 15 to 20 fish a day, even more during a good hatch. Anglers who use only drys will catch fewer fish. To get more cracks at good fish feeding on the surface, you must conceal your presence as you quietly walk the streambank. The fish are spooky in the clear water, but they will resume feeding if left alone or if you remain still long enough to rest them. How long it takes depends on how much food is on the water and how hungry the fish are. Also, if you put a fish down, you can make a note of its location, continue fishing upstream or downstream, and then return to that fish later with a planned approach and a new fly pattern.
I like an 8- to 9-foot, 3- or 4-weight rod on the spring creeks, with a 9-foot, 6X leader in most conditions. Longer leaders are usually too tough to handle for the short, accurate casts necessary on the creeks. These are narrow waters, and the fish are wary, especially when they’re feeding on top. The best way to fish a dry fly is to locate feeding fish, then figure out how to present the fly to them without putting them down. It is usually best to cast from the bank, and a downstream presentation is often the ticket to success. It’s difficult to avoid lining the fish on a straight upstream presentation, and an across-stream presentation is difficult because of the narrow flow and tricky currents. Adjust your casting to deal with the wind and position the sun behind you without putting your shadow on the water.
On the East Gallatin, if there is a hatch in progress and little wind, you can use the same 3- or 4-weight rod. If there is significant wind or you plan to dredge weighted flies to fish on bottom, use a 5- or 6-weight rod.
If there is no significant hatch on any of the waters, you might find a few top-feeders on Thompson; however, your best bet under those conditions is to fish weighted nymphs or streamers on Benhart or the East Gallatin. The largest fish in both of the latter two waters usually hold with their snouts right up against a drop-off from a riffle into a deep hole.
Benhart and the East Gallatin have sharp drops from shallow riffles to deep holes. If you use just enough weight to bounce your fly along bottom in the riffle, you’ll sail right over the best fish in the deeper pool. If you put on too much weight, you’ll hang up in the riffle. A #14 bead-head with a mini-shot placed a foot above it is usually about right for Benhart. The same fly with at least two BB split-shot above it will work best on the East Gallatin. Place your fly barely upstream of the drop-off lip at the end of the riffle, then coax it over and down the drop-off into the pool. When using a streamer, tumble it over the lip and let it sink to the bottom before beginning a twitching retrieve.
The Milesnick spring creeks are like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania limestoners, except they have more consistent and longer-lasting hatches and mountains for a background. These small, slow, meadow streams require stealthy, well-planned approaches, careful positioning, and accurate presentations. If, as some fly fishers say, Montana’s Paradise Valley spring creeks are a checkers game, then the renovated Milesnick creeks near Bozeman are a game of chess.
For reservations, contact a local fly shop or Tom and Mary Kay Milesnick, Milesnick Recreation Company, 406-388-7001, fax: 406-388-4180.
Harry Piper is a former attorney, a board member of the Whirling Disease Foundation, and a freelance writer. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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