You really don’t want to learn about Montana’s Salmon Fly hatch.
Montana’s mystical Salmon Fly hatch is really only a tired marketing gimmick; it’s highly overrated and only happens in even-numbered years when the national budget is balanced.
And don’t forget right now it’s the middle of winter, right after the holidays, the nation is teetering on the precipice of the fiscal cliff and just about all the purchasable guns and ammo in Montana was bought up weeks ago.
Those people telling you that a famous fly fisher, long time Montana outfitter and guide Dave Kumlien, is going to talk about the Salmon Fly hatch at this week’s MGTU meeting are probably the same guys telling you that spring nymphing with a gob-o-worms is fair game.
It just isn’t so.
(OK, so I’ve heard DK speak before – he’s good – and he probably forgets more on the river in an afternoon than most of us will learn in a season or two.
I had the chance to speak with Dave on the phone last year researching Madison River issues. I asked for 10 minutes of his time; he called me right back and we chatted for well over an hour even though he didn’t know me from Adam. We agreed that the bulk of what we ended up talking about would have been too potentially inflammatory at the time so it didn’t make the blog, though I sure as hell appreciated Dave’s insights.
Besides outfitting in Montana for over 30 years and co-founding the Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana (FOAM) he spends a bit of time do other worthwhile things such as serving as the Executive Director of TU’s Whirling Disease Foundation.)
Just don’t plan on fishing Salmon Flies this season.
In fact, fly fishing in Montana is forecast to suck the whole year. You’re better off heading somewhere else.
I hear South Dakota has some really big browns……
