Mike Ruggles knows where the fish are and how many of them there
are. That’s because Mike is the Montana Fish, Wildlife, Parks
fisheries biologist for Region XX which includes most of the major
fly fishing fisheries in the Billings area. And now, you have the
opportunity to learn what Mike Ruggles knows at the Tuesday evening,
May 1st meeting of the Magic City Fly Fishers held at the Billings
Rod and Gun Club. Mike is presenting the recently updated results
from the FWP electroshocking studies of the Bighorn River. The
Bighorn data is always interesting, but Mike and his crew also
survey a lot of other water. Now he may not have final results but
you may want to ask questions about the Yellowstone River right
around Billings (yes, he saw trout) or the Musselshell near
Harlowton (recovering nicely from recent drought). Fly tying starts
at 7:00 and Mike’s presentation is at 7:45. The meeting is free and
open to the public. Bring a friend.
The biggest hole in our fly box is effective
baetis emergers during the hatches on the Big Horn or on freestone
streams. Our own Doug Haacke will be our guest fly tier at the May
1st meeting. Doug will be tying the non-CDC version of Jeremy
Gilbertson’s Doc’s Baetis and the hot Baetis Sprout Emerger created
by Bob Brooks. For thoseserious about filling that void we suggest
googling the Sprout Emerger and tying a few before the meeting so
you can benefit from Doug’s demonstration. There are days when those
baetis duns are floating like sail boats in May on the Big Horn when
a dun pattern or a parachute adams will catch fish but often the
take is on emergers and you will miss out on a lot of fun without
some of these emergers in your box.
