Here’s what’s on the hook in the Butte & Bozeman areas!

Once again, a fierce winter storm just NICKED Butte & totally MISSED Bozeman, leaving us with open, relatively slush-free water on the local rivers and enough low temps to keep the ice steady on the lakes! Don’t know how long this can hold out, but the fishin’ is GREAT in the meantime! Dry flies have been in use on both the UPPER & LOWER MADISON, on the BEAVERHEAD, the MISSOURI & even on the BIG HOLE near Melrose & Brown’s Bridge—midges are hatching nicely and nearly a month early, so in addition to your winter worms, rubberlegs & eggs, keep your midge emergers on hand! Or try a San Juan with a Pink Scud Dropper…this combo is working for us!

You won’t want to miss the Stan Shafer Memorial Fishing Derby Jan 21st on the CLARK CANYON RESERVOIR…tickets are $6 at the lake til 2 PM. NO vehicles on the water, however, PLEASE. The ice is still thick & nice at GEORGETOWN LAKE (with a COUPLE of exceptions, which I’ll get to in a moment), HYALITE RESERVOIR & LAKE DELMOE, tho we’ve heard reports that DELMOE fish numbers aren’t as “happening” as they were, so it may take a bit longer to catch your limit! Get out your vertical jigs, or stick with chartreuse glo hooks with maggots or grubs for best luck on the ice! At GEORGETOWN, use extreme caution in the Denton Springs area, & other bays where there are springs nearby…we’ve heard of 5 fall-thrus this week!

On the slopes, MOONLIGHT & BIG SKY added another 4-5” this week, & are fully open & operational…also, altho this last storm missed Bozeman again, EAST of here got some significant accumulation, making RED LODGE RESORT a great bet! And DISCOVERY Resort outside of Butte got 8” in the last 24 hours, so the powder is flying there!

More next time, friends!

This report is brought to you by ANGIE from Bob Ward & Sons.