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Sign of the times?  Maybe... BNSF will be using the railcars being stored on the Mo due to demand...
"In the coming weeks, BNSF Railway Co. is putting some 1,100 railcars that were parked idle between Helena and Great Falls back to work.
Some of the cars have been sitting on the rail line for as long as three years because of the global economic downturn.The company has seen increased demand for moving freight and is now planning to move 11 or 12 miles of the idle cars starting in the next two or three weeks, spokesman Gus Melonas said. About 100 railcars can be stored on a mile of track, though Melonas said the size depends on the type of car.There are about 32 miles of railcars being stored on track between Helena and Great Falls, including cars used to haul shipping containers and those used to transport timber. One-third of the cars are stored north of Cascade and the remaining cars are in Wolf Creek Canyon.The cars in the canyon drew particular ire as many tourist-related businesses said the empty flatbeds detracted from the area's natural beauty. The stretch of river draws anglers from across the country.Melonas said that in the next two to three weeks, half of the cars parked in Wolf Creek Canyon will be removed and put to use.  Texas-based BNSF, a division of BNSF Railway Co., is storing about 10 percent of its idle cars in Montana. At the peak in April, some 87 miles of Montana track were covered in railcars.As recently as January, BNSF was storing 28,247 of its North American fleet of about 100,000 cars in Montana. (Great Falls Tribune, March 30, 2010)"

Check out this new online publication called "Sleeping in the Dirt."  Really great photography and stories.  Click the picture to be directed to the mag.






































 

We keep hearing a lot about Costa Rica, and they have always been fabeled by their Tarpon near Rio Colorado. However, the fishing opportunities in Costa Rica have some how remained more mysterious than other giant Tarpon locations. Wait4itfilms found one here...

We drove up to Missoula area this weekend in search of a Skwala hatch, however, extremely low snow pack has left the area with low and warm water which has made the Skwala's hatch much earlier this year.  On the Bitterroot the heavy part of the hatch was already near Darby.  With more boats on the water than Skwala's, we decided against a longer drive/boat traffic.  On the way up we stopped briefly on the Blackfoot.  The water looks good, saw a few fish rising in the evening.  However, didn't see any stoneflies around but we were only stopped very briefly. 
Stopped in at a local fly shop for a shuttle and we got three numbers, 1 of which didn't work, 1 was disconnected, and the last one the person doesn't do shuttles... so uh... yea.
Lower Clark Fork had been fishing well, lots of March Browns around but didn't have time for that long of a float.  The Bitterroot in town was experiencing unbelievably large amounts of boat traffic.  So we headed for Rock Creek with plans to dump the boat in at "Valley of the Moon"... and take out at Schwartz Bridge... recommendation from the guy at the fly shop again, and actually looks like a cool float.  However, not doable right now with the amount of water, fisherman, and logs in this stretch... well maybe doable but not fun and doable at the same time.  So we drive up river past all the wade fisherman to the Dalles.  Here, we don't find a lot of fish, although we didn't get skunked.  However, we did find stoneflies, very few other fisherman, and a nice day.  The water is still cold up there though, lots of shelf ice on the banks yet but should be heating up in the next few weeks. 

This could be an adventure. 
"The name of the village Oromomo — the access point to the Pluma and Itirisama Rivers in Bolivia — means "Devil's Gold." Apparently, the elders who named the village felt that riches of the region were somehow cursed. But for fly fishers "Devil's Gold" reflects brightly, referring to golden dorado, one of the wildest of freshwater fish. Castaway Films spent a week on location shooting deep in the Bolivian jungle at Untamed Angling's Tsimane Lodge to capture this seven minutes of video, which is some of the best there is on dorado fishing.

Grant Wiswell, the film's producer, says of the video: "We came for Dorado, PERIOD. Ever since I watched an old Larry Dahlberg video on the subject, I haven't been able to get these magnificent fish off my mind. As it turns out, the Tsimane experience completely trumped anything I had previously seen or heard about the Golden Dorado. Not only are these fish numerous and willing, the warm water is clear as can be, which makes for fantastic fishing. I'd estimate that we sight-casted to at least 80 percent of the fish we caught."

Director and Producer: Grant Wiswell
Second Camera: Ryan Davis
Sponsors: Untamed Angling, Tsimane Lodge, Simms, Targus Fly and Feather, Rio Products, Smith Optics, Cliff Outdoors, AquaTech Underwater Imaging
Producer of Music: Nathan DeVore of David Vanacore Productions"

We just received a new shrimpment of EP Spawning Shrimp in the shop.  The EP Spawning Shrimp has been a go to pattern for Permit, and especially in Belize.  We have in stock in the smaller sizes in tan, olive, and rootbeer for $2.99 a bug.  EP flies are time tested in the salt, look great, fish well and are durable.

Other bugs to ponder for the salt...

Bunny Gotchas... we got them in multiple colors and down to size 8's which are difficult to find since most bonefish bugs are made for the Bahamas it seems like.

The San Pedro crab... small crab patterns are also difficult to find.  We are going to San Pedro...if this thing is called the San Pedro crab...it's got to be good.  We also are going to be stocking EP's new Turneffe Crab which will also be a good choice.

Don't forget Tarpon/Snook flies...and Cuda flies for this trip.  We have Cochroaches, Deceivers, and poppers in stock with more coming.  EP is sending some called the Campeche Toad which is brand new for us to try for the trip...stop by and get some before you leave.

We are working hard on our saltwater selection this year, and are going to make it the most no nonsense, "here are the flies you need", well tied fly selection for saltwater there is.

Belize - always fish size 8's for the most part, which are sometimes more difficult to find because of the large Bonefishing market of Bahamas where sizes 4-6 are more common.

Gamakatsu hooks sizes are messed up...if the fly is tied on a Gamakatsu (which are great hooks) they are larger than normal.  A size 8 looks more like a size 6 in a standard saltwater hook.  Except for the Gamakatsu black bonefish hooks which are true to size ... and the only black saltwater hooks on the market and EP uses these on many patterns.

*** no matter what flies you bring, the guides will tell you don't have the right fly and you need to bring something different, so still bring your vise***

Our friend and factory representative for Scott Rods just got back from a month long trip to Australia.  He sent us a few shots today that made us more than envious.  Looks like the new Scott salt stick works...S4s?

 A couple of buddies and myself have made a tradition out of skipping Friday classes and floating the river (we're in college and even the professors know that Friday is part of the weekend to us).  Lately we've focused our efforts on the Bitterroot, which has been fishing relatively well (not red hot yet) with skwalas, neumoras, midges, and BWOs.  This last Friday, we chose a stretch of water on the lower river to try and avoid some of the skwala-hyped crowds.  For those of you who have fished the lower Bitterroot (Florence down), you know that it holds healthy populations of pike that are becoming a big threat to the trout populations.  So I had one goal in mind; Friday night pike fry.  So, as my buddies spent the day tossing dries on their 5wts, I spent the day tossing 7" of white and red bunny on my 7wt (it would be a complete lie if I told you I didn't fish a dry).  Because of the length of the float we were on and the fact that I was out numbered 2:1 in favor for fishing for trout, we were only able to fish a couple of the sloughs on the float.  Overall, no pike were boated, but many were spotted.  I'm confident that if we would've fished all of the sloughs, many pike would have been landed.  I did manage to land a 3lb. largemouth bass, which I'm still pretty stoked about.  Crappy pic. was taken on a phone...its all we had.

We have decided that all models of Loop Tackle must go to make way for new gear we have on the way.  This is a huge savings on Loop Tackle.  This will go pretty quickly at half off already marked down pricing.