DENTRY: Closures increase Gallatin River's popularity

Friday, September 21, 2007

BIG SKY, Mont. - In a year of drought and hardship, Montana's friendliest trout stream took a licking but keeps on fishing.

The Gallatin River is a dwarf of its usual robust self, with flows running about a third of late-summer's normal volume.

But its popular reaches north of Yellowstone National Park stayed open to fishing all summer, while most of the state's famed rivers closed because low, warm flows threatened trout.

In Yellowstone Park, summer was punctuated by a partial fish kill in the Firehole River. Downstream from Gardiner, there were fears that fish might die in the Yellowstone River.

The angling exodus from other destinations boosted the tourist trade along the Gallatin. But it wasn't necessarily good for Gallatin trout, which bore the brunt of Montana's fishing traffic.

"Everybody came here," said Mark McKiernan, manager of Gallatin Riverguides fly shop in Big Sky. "With all the closures, this river got a pounding."

Afternoon and evening fishing bans, and some complete closures, shut down hundreds of miles of Montana rivers to anglers all summer.

The off-limits list included all or portions of the Missouri, Clark Fork, Smith, Yellowstone, Blackfoot, Bitterroot and Madison rivers. Even Rock Creek - a relatively swift, aerated river akin to the Gallatin - had to be closed because of a wildfire.

Montana lifted most of the closures in late August. But some rivers, including Rock Creek, reopened just days ago after a run of frosty nights.

Mandatory, 24-hour fishing bans still remain in effect on the Big Hole River and portions of the Blackfoot.

"I don't think we got an inch of rain all summer," McKiernan said as he studied fly bins for something to recommend to a couple of Montana-deprived anglers.

In these parts, fly selection currently requires leaps of faith. Anglers and guides trust that cool weather and rain, or at least some clouds, will settle in and stimulate certain regularly scheduled bug hatches.

The rites of autumn dictate that blue-winged olive mayflies should start hatching any time now, along with mahogany duns, and that trout will rise accordingly.

The reality down along the Gallatin River was something less. Few fish rose, and most that did rise - to midges and trickles of small, dark caddis flies - were whitefish.

The Gallatin was "bony," as trout fishing lingo has it. The normally jolly river was reduced to a skimpy rock garden swimming with uncharacteristically moody trout. You can't blame them.

Even the wild, red rosehips growing along the Gallatin's banks looked tiny, tired and thirsty.

Two anglers from Colorado didn't harass those hard-done-to fish for long, but just long enough to ensure that they are still there.

Nobody gets skunked on the Gallatin, even in the worst of times. Of all Montana's great trout rivers, the modest-sized Gallatin tends to be the most hospitable and forgiving of fly-fishing errors.

A few small, wild rainbow trout took Pheasant Tail nymph flies drifted through the deeper runs below pocket water and riffles.

The Gallatin's uniquely powerful whitefish seemed unfazed by the warm, low currents. They were even more accommodating than its trout.

In tough times like these, the lowly whitefish deserves credit for saving many days.

As Montana's rivers cool, fishing promises to return to some semblance of normal. Meanwhile - barring sudden emergences of BWOs and mahogany duns - the fishing reports recommend nymphing, floating hopper patterns in the heat of day and waiting.

Few western rivers can match the Gallatin at being worth the wait.

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com