I just rolled in from Montana last night. It was a great trip. We had very good water conditions and willing fish. The folks at Upper Canyon Outfitters make this trip so easy and enjoyable for the whole group.
Continue on for more pictures and details...
We started the trip with a stop at the "Bale of Hay" Saloon in Virginia City. Virginia City is a true old west town. It was a gold boom town. It is one of the largest free flowing gold strikes in American history. These days the old buildings still hold banks, bars, and post offices. There are also a variety of tourist attractions.
After a bit of fun we started getting serious about fishing. I spent the first few days assisting the guides and helping my clients with some fundamentals of fly fishing. We managed to teach some new skills and were rewarded for it later.
One of the key advantages of UCO's operations is the sheer volume of water and variety of water we have access to, both on the Upper and Lower Ruby. We did not fish any of the same water that my group fished last year, but everything was equally as good. I know some people really like the lower Ruby better, personally, I prefer the upper Ruby. Most of group this year felt the same way.
For those of us who wanted a small break from fishing, UCO was happy to oblige. We took a small ride one morning to enjoy the views from the hills above the ranch.
I love the family atmosphere of this ranch and the staff.
I took several rods out but pretty much just used two. I always take my T&T 6 weight out in case we float the bigger rivers, and honestly I could probably fish the whole week with just this one rod, but that's not much fun. I also brought along a Grey's 11 foot 4 weight for nymphing and brand new Sage Accel 8'6" 4 weight with a Sage 3250 reel for dry/dropper and dry fly fishing. Most of our fish this trip were caught on nymphs.
One thing you can count on in Montana is wind. Most days we dealt with gusty winds. The new Sage Accel did great under these conditions. It had plenty of backbone to push hopper/dropper rigs through the wind yet still presented light dry flies well.
During the last 10 minutes of the last day,I hooked and landed this 19 inch brown trout on the Upper Ruby. It was a great fight as this fish ran us down the river about 30 yards, stayed in the riffles the whole time, and escaped the net a few times before we landed him.
More pictures can be seen via Facebook at:
2014 Montana Pictures
If you are interested in taking this trip either with our group or on your own please contact me at 513-871-3474 or luke@bestgear.com, I'd love to tell you more about it.
-Luke
Delamere & Hopkins
Hyde Park Square
2708 Erie Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45208
513-871-3474
Mon-Thurs 10-8
Fri-Sat 10-6
Sun 11-5
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