Destination Fishing Trips

Capt. Rick Grassett’s Montana Fly Fishing Trip Report for 8/12/2019

I hosted a group of friends and clients on a destination fly fishing trip in southwest Montana during the past week. This is an annual trip for me and was my 18th year fishing in Montana. I traveled from Sarasota to Bozeman on Sunday, 8/4 and made the 2-1/2 hour drive to the lodge with Marshall Dinerman, from Atlanta, and Steve Coburn, from WI. Mike Perez and Stewart Lavelle, from Sarasota met up with us at the lodge after fishing the previous week in British Columbia and Dennis Kinley, from IN, drove out and also met up with us at the lodge.

We stayed at Medicine Lodge, on a 100,000 acre working ranch near the Beaverhead River, outside of Dillon. Equipped with an industrial size kitchen and a large dining room with ranch style seating, it was a great place for our group. Chef Annie Kubicka spoiled us with hearty Montana meals and desserts!

We fished the Beaverhead, Big Hole and Madison Rivers, a couple of lakes and a spring creek with guide Dave King, owner of King Outfitters (406) 596-0209 in Dillon, and his excellent group of guides; Dan, Mark and Tommy. I’ve fished with these guides for many years since I started fishing Montana. They work hard, do a great job and know their fishery well. We had great action on 5 and 6-weight fly tackle with brown and rainbow trout to more than 20” on streamers, dry flies, dry/dropper and nymph rigs. We also did some still water fishing on a couple of lakes and had good action walking a spring creek, catching and releasing brookies, browns and rainbows on dry flies with 3 and 4-weight fly tackle. The dry fly action was with a variety of grasshopper patterns, sometimes with a nymph dropper, or with a smaller dry fly and a few other bugs. Like fishing everywhere, there were good days and slower days but overall it was great!

The weather and scenery were outstanding with temperatures ranging from a very comfortable high 40’s in the morning to the mid 80’s in the afternoon with only 15% to 20% humidity, a welcome relief from southwest Florida’s heat and humidity in August! In addition to beautiful valleys surrounded by rugged mountains, the wildlife is amazing! We saw whitetail deer, moose, pronghorn antelope, bears, hawks, eagles, ducks, geese and sand hill cranes.

Back in Sarasota catch and release snook fishing around dock lights and bridges and trout, jacks, blues and more on deep grass flats should be good options. There should be tarpon in upper Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay. Juvenile tarpon in canals and creeks may also be a good option. You might also find them in a few places mixed with snook in dock lights. Our natural resources are under constant pressure from red tides fueled by industrial, agricultural and residential runoff, freezes, increasing fishing pressure and habitat loss and degradation, please limit your kill, don’t kill your limit!

Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
FFI Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Orvis-Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide at CB’s Saltwater Outfitters
Orvis Outfitter of the Year-2011
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
www.snookfin-addict.com, www.snookfinaddict.com and www.flyfishingflorida.us
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
(941) 923-7799

Capt. Rick Grassett’s Mars Bay Bonefish Lodge, South Andros, Bahamas Fishing Report for 11/7/2018

I hosted a group of friends and clients at Mars Bay Bonefish Lodge in South Andros, Bahamas during the past week. Stewart Lavelle from Sarasota, FL, Kirk Grassett, from Middletown, DE, Nicholas Delle Donne, from Lancaster, PA, Bill Crelin, from Milwaukee, WI and I drove from Sarasota to Ft. Lauderdale last Saturday where we met up with John and DJ, from NY, and traveled to Congotown, South Andros on Watermakers Air. Jerry Poslusny, from Rochester, NY, met up with us at the lodge via Nassau.

Kirk Grassett with a big Mars Bay bonefish.

Stewart Lavelle Mars Bay Lodge bonefish.

Jerry Poslusny with a nice Mars Bay Lodge bonefish.

We fished hand-picked tides on the quarter phase of the moon, low tide in the morning progressing to slightly later each day throughout the week and it paid off. We did a lot of wading and fished everything from large schools of bonefish to cruising or tailing singles and doubles. Conditions were good and action was also good, including quite a few fish in the 4 to 8-lb category and a couple double-digit fish. John caught and released a bonefish of a lifetime, 33” and an estimated 14-lbs! Top producing flies during the week were Peterson’s Spawning Shrimp, Mars Bay Special, Ververka’s Mantis Shrimp, Gotchas and Gotcha variations. Like fishing anywhere, there were some great days and some slower days, but overall it was a great trip to a great lodge!

DJ with a nice Mars Bay bonefish.

John’s 33″, 14-lb bonefish.

Mars Bay Lodge guide Dingy with a nice South Andros ‘cuda caught by Kirk Grassett on a plug.

Bill Howard, the resident owner/operator, does a great job making things run smoothly during our stay at the lodge. We dined on a variety of excellent authentic Bahamian dishes including fresh fish, lobster and conch. One of the best things about Mars Bay Lodge, the southernmost lodge on South Andros, is fishing the vast sand flats and scattered mangrove keys to the south. South Andros has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth! This trip as well as my Montana trip, are annual trips, so if you have an interest in any future trips contact me or go to the Destination Trips page of my web sites.

Capt. Rick Grassett with an estimated 8-lb South Andros bonefish.

Back home in Sarasota, night snook fishing and tripletail and Spanish mackerel in the coastal gulf have been the best options depending on conditions. Fish peak tidal flows for snook and look for bait schools, diving birds or breaking fish to find mackerel or albies.