Hi, Angie from Bob Ward & Sons here in beautiful BUTTE & BOZEMAN:

Butte says open banks on the Big Hole and Beaverhead Rivers, void of ice shelving, have exhibited great fly fishing opportunities this past week.

Whitefish were plentiful north of the 1st Pennington Bridge access.  Dark Brown and Green Whitefish flies in a size 8 or 10 are excellent choices!  The brown trout in that same part of the river eagerly awaited a weighted San Juan Worm or Powerworm.  Red or Red/Brown patterns were most effective.  Hare’s Ear Flashbacks or Prince Nymph Flashbacks are wonderful choices to fish a wide run or ripple.  The Jefferson River has been good fishing at the Hells Canyon, Silver Star, or Waterloo accesses most days, when clear of ice jams.  Anglers continue to drive South to Clark Canyon for an opportunity to land a nice Rainbow in the 3 ½ to 5 lb. range.  Night Crawler harnesses and jigs have been most effective.  Delmoe and Georgetown Lakes have both been good fishing this past week with a changing barometer.  1st light is the best time to be on the water.

Discovery Basin Ski Area west of Anaconda has reported another inch of new snow and has skiing on groomed and packed powder.  There are 65 runs open on 90% of the terrain.

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Bozeman reminds you that even though the weather has been very inconsistent, there is still some good fishing going on….just check out these reports:  UPPER MADISON RIVER has some great fishing.  Try out the area near Ennis, it has some very decent holding water…use nymphs, as they have been the most effective..LOWER MADISON RIVER has the fish feeding heavily on midge larva and pupa. Midge hatches have made for good dry fly fishing on the cloudy days this past week.  YELLOWSTONE RIVER has enjoyed some stellar overcast conditions in general, & the fish are feeling comfortable and eating. Nymphing should be good with stonefly-small beadhead dropper rigs…the GALLATIN RIVER is low and gin clear right now. The fish are starting to stack up in the slicks and runs with some depth, & with slow to medium speed….best fly choices are nymphs with a smaller baetis pattern. On HYALITE, we have no new reports, but suspect some thin ice…give it your best shot, just use caution.

Snow fall is still being predicted in the upcoming days.  Get out there and take advantage of the great snow!  BRIDGER has a 65 inch base depth with new snow… surface conditions are packed powder and machine groomed. BIG SKY is sitting pretty with a base depth of 56  inches, with trace amounts of new snow in the last 24 hours, & MOONLIGHT has a base depth of 59 inches with surface conditions of  powder, packed powder and machine groomed.

Final  week for our progressive sale, we are at the lowest we will go with amazing deals at an additional 40% off.  While you’re in shopping, grab a 2013 Fishing Regs pamphlet & be up on all the latest.  We’ve got them in stock for you.  We’ll stock you up with more great fishing in the areas next week!