MADISON RIVER, Mont. (AP) – Abby Montgomery grew up fishing for cutthroat trout on the Blackfoot River not far from her home in Helena. After graduating from high school, she moved south to Bozeman to attend Montana State University and to explore the waters of southwest Montana.
Montgomery, 21, has a year to go to finish her degree in fish and wildlife management. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday are filled with labs, lectures and lots of studying, but Thursday is special.
On Thursday, there is no class. On Thursday there’s just quiet rivers and the promise of trout.
“I’ve been out 12 days this winter,” Montgomery said when we met at the Bear Trap Canyon trailhead recently. “There’s less people fishing this time of year, and since the weather has been so nice, the fishing has been a lot better.”
Montgomery is one of a hardy contingent of anglers who don’t shy away from the river when the snow flies.
“Fishing can be great this time of year,” said Toby Swank of Fins & Feathers fly shop in Four Corners. “It is always pretty busy on the Gallatin up by Big Sky and on the lower Madison. The Yellowstone is great, too.”
Mild winter temperatures surely contribute to an uptick in angler activity, but the handful of anglers on the water still pales in comparison to the summer months. Swank said solitude can frequently be found around the next bend.
“When it is 50 degrees and the wind is not blowing, well it is Bozeman, Montana, and there are a lot of people here that fish,” Swank said. “It is busier than people think it will be, but it doesn’t take much effort to get away.”
Into the canyon
Just before noon on a Thursday, Montgomery set out on the gravel trail leading into the heart of Bear Trap Canyon. The week before she’d caught 15 trout on midge patterns below Madison Dam and was hoping to find some risers.
“They were taking Parachute Adams and Purple Haze,” Montgomery said. “The smaller the better.”
Beyond the Lee Metcalf Wilderness boundary, Montgomery dropped off the trail to explore a boulder garden.
The wind had kicked up in the canyon, and the hopes of casting dry flies faded as sheets of water lifted off the river. Montgomery rigged her line with nymphs and an indicator and cast into the gale.
“(Winter fishing) is a different scene, different bugs and the trout hang out in different water,” Montgomery said. “With fewer hatches going on, the trout are trying to conserve their energy. Generally, they are in slower water.”
Powerful gusts of wind ripped down from the canyon walls as Montgomery cast, rattling cones from the Douglas fir trees and stirring the sagebrush and curl-leaf mountain mahogany. The surface of the river rippled with each gust.
“The wind is hard in this canyon because it seems like it comes from all directions,” Montgomery said. “I just keep moving upstream to find some shelter.”
Winter water
Montgomery rose from the river and followed the trail below the towering rock facades of the canyon. Wind blasted the landscape, gusts strong enough to stop Montgomery in her tracks. Carrying her boat bag and fly rod, she pressed further into the canyon.
During the summer months, on break from her studies at MSU, Montgomery guides for Glacier Anglers in West Glacier. She leads five-day outfitted fishing trips on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River in the Great Bear Wilderness. On top of getting clients into fish, she navigates rafts through Class IV and Class V whitewater.
The cutthroat fishing can be fantastic, but summer is a long way off.
Just below Bear Trap Creek a channel of the Madison beaks from the river to create a small slough. The current line below caught Montgomery’s eye. Surely, there would be fish feeding in the choppy seam downstream of the island.
We hadn’t seen an angler for more than an hour. In fact, with the exception of a single trail runner, we hadn’t seen anyone at all.
“I was surprised to see cars in the parking lot,” Montgomery said, “but it is to be expected when the snow is bad. I haven’t used my Bridger Pass nearly as much as I should this winter.”
Montgomery dropped off the trail and worked up the bank toward the head of the island. She waded into the Madison and crossed a shallow riffle over a rock bar to the island.
Rod in hand, Montgomery cast into the riffle.
Tomorrow would be filled with books and studies and class, but today the quiet solitude of the Madison River and the promise of a trout was all that mattered.
