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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
August 29, 2004
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Crane Meadow Lodge, MT Fishing Report for 8/21 through 8/28/2004
The temperature was 39 degrees on Friday morning. Southwest Florida? Not hardly! We were beginning a float on the Beaverhead River at the base of the Clark Canyon Reservoir Dam. With long johns, waders, winter jackets, gloves and stocking hats it didn’t seem like an August morning, but it felt good. A sign along the road above us said “You are at the 45th parallel-Halfway between the equator and the north pole”. It was cool for August. We had some rain during the week and the mountains surrounding the Ruby Valley were capped with snow!
I traveled to Crane Meadow Lodge in Southwest Montana last week and met up with a group of 9 other fly anglers from across the country. It was the third trip that I had arranged to this location and like the other trips-a wonderful mix of good fishing, breath taking scenery, wildlife and mountain air!
We fished the Beaverhead, Ruby, Jefferson, Madison and Big Hole rivers. We also fished several spring creeks and sloughs that connect to the Ruby River on the Kennedy Ranch, where Crane Meadow Lodge, an Orvis-Endorsed operation, is located. Nick Reding, Bob Harness and Bob Reynolds made the trip from St. Louis, Dick and Rich Walden flew Dick’s new twin engine Cessna airplane from Arizona, Jim Breckenridge came from Connecticut, John Hayes from Boulder, CO and Mike Perez from Richmond, IN. Young Nick Reding, from New York City, spent the previous week fishing other areas of Montana with a couple of friends and rendezvoused with us at the lodge.
We caught mostly brown and rainbow trout on streamers, nymphs and a few dry flies. Popular flies were Zonkers, Muddlers, Wooly Buggers and Pepperoni streamers with a bead head or Copper John nymph as a trailer. We did some nymphing with a pair of nymphs or a streamer and a nymph under a strike indicator. There was also some fishing with hoppers or ants with a nymph dropper. There were a few good days and a couple of slower days for most of the anglers.
Mike Perez and I were fishing partners for the week. We had a great day on Thursday fishing sloughs of the Ruby River on the Kennedy Ranch. We caught and released more than 25 trout. All were rainbows except for two big browns, a 21” fish that I caught and a 27” pig that Mike caught, which was the largest fish of the trip. Probably ½ the fish were between 18” and 23”.
Other anglers in the group also caught trout to 21” or 22” on various rivers. These fish might not sound big to seasoned saltwater anglers, but on a 4 or 5-weight fly rod in fast water, they are great fun! As in previous years, the Ruby River fished the best. Bob Reynolds and Bob Harness spent a day on the upper Big Hole River catching brookies on 2 and 3-weight fly rods. They also fished the upper Ruby with Nick Reding one day and they all caught grayling.
I look forward to this trip every year. The wildlife that we see on this trip is incredible-whitetail and mule deer, moose, coyotes, sandhill cranes, Canadian geese eagles and hawks. Ever wonder where the white pelicans that winter in Florida come from? They were there, too. Good friends, good fishing, good food and cool mountain air-it doesn’t get any better!
Next week’s tides are favorable for reds and snook on the flats and snook at night. Snook season will reopen on Wednesday Sept. 1st. Tarpon continue to be an option in Sarasota Bay and upper Charlotte Harbor. Hopefully, Hurricane Frances will stay away.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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