Crossed Off the Bucket List!

[Big Sky]

I set a goal quite a few years ago to catch every game fish in Montana. It's taken a while but as of this weekend I only have two fish left. There are around at least 30 different game fish so this takes some effort. I've also caught a pile of non-gamefish along the way as well. Anyway this latest to cross off the bucket has taken some time, effort, and actually more money than I wanted to spend. The money comes from the gear to catch the fish and the multiple trips I've made trying to catch it. There aren't many places in the lower 48 where one can catch the diminutive artic grayling, so I'm pretty happy that I can finally say I've caught one. They aren't a big fish and between the fact they aren't real common below the Canadian border and aren't super easy to catch it's been a challenge. Now I can focus on the two fish I have left, a bull trout, and a tiger muskie. I expect I will get the bull trout before summer is over, that tiger muskie is probably going to take some doing...

 

[devon deer]

Nice one, Grayling, the lady of the stream.
Cheers
Richard

 

[Coyotes-R-Us]

Nice
One of the least tasteful fish a lot like a white fish.
Shoulda talked up sooner.
Tunnel lake off the canal road from Gibson lake to Pishkun is full of them and you can keep one...
Bull trout/ Dally Varden are fun go to lake Koocanusa , monsters.
Basin reservoir is the place for tiger musky.

 

[Big Sky]

Coyotes-R-Us, I hear tale that Ackley has a pretty good population of tiger muskie as well. I'm not too worried about getting a bull trout they are pretty common in a lot of creeks in the northwest. I spend as much time over there as I can, I expect I'll get a bull soon. As for eating grayling, I don't see that ever happening unless I'm starving to death. I don't like eating most freshwater fish with the exception of walleye and ling.

 

[Coyotes-R-Us]

HUMMM
Never heard that Ackley had any.
You know what I think of eating fish !!!

 

[Big Sky]

Apparently they are getting a little size and heft to them in Ackley. I talked to a guy at Don's Sporting Goods in Lewistown that said he got quit e a few last fall. He said he was surprised how fat they were. They must really be tanking up on the suckers in there.

 

[duckhunt]

Thats great. I had no idea montana had grayling.

 

[NC2CO]

Thats great. I had no idea montana had grayling.

I didn't either. Very cool goal though...Good luck on the last two.

 

[whiskeydog]

I caught grayling once in Yellowstone Park, and then again a few years ago in a lake up near Cooke City. No trail to get there and was not exactly a fun hike, but my buddy and I went just for the grayling...caught a couple and hiked out! Between them and the golden trout, they are truly amazing fish to catch!
Just curious on the tiger muskie...why does MT FWP even classify them as a game fish? Aren't they just a sterile crossbreed of a musky and a pike that would die off if not stocked?

 

[publichunter1]

Congrats! I knocked that one off my list last year here in CO.

 

[MKotur325]

BigSky,

That bull should be fairly easy, especially with your skills with a jig. Next time you are out in the western part of the state give your jigs and some bigger baits a shot. Best success I've personally had color wise for bulls is yellow/yellow brown/yellow red and black. Not to say that other colors won't work well. I talked to a few folks in BC who fish them regularly and their favorite thing to throw is a 1/2-3/4oz five of diamonds (yellow spoon with read diamonds). My biggest bull came on a yellow and brown articulated streamer. Best of Luck with the quest!!!

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Congrats, a grayling of any size any place would make me happy. I will get another shot this year on vacation in yellowstone I guess. Wasn't there a thread on here a few years ago where some guy.caught a bull trout in protected waters? Good luck with the bull trout, they remind me of a brook trout on steroids. I would love to catch one.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Thats great. I had no idea montana had grayling.

There are several populations of grayling in Montana. The upper Big Hole River has a remnant population of native Grayling, and the upper Ruby River did at one point hold a small population of transplanted grayling. I don't know if they still exist, this was in the late 90's when I caught some and I haven't fished that portion since then.

FWP spent several years trying to introduce a population of grayling into the North Fork of the Sun River amidst concerns of ESA listing of grayling in Montana. Unfortunately, the river gradient in that basin is not conducive to grayling populations. There are grayling in Gibson Reservoir, and they will migrate up the tributary streams to spawn, but they spend most of their time in the lake itself.

 

[Ben Lamb]

There are still some fluvial grayling in the upper Ruby.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Congrats on getting that much closer to the goal!

 

[Festus]

That's very cool.

 

[50bowhunter]

Awesome. I was recently talking to a buddy about a greyling bucket list trip.

 

[whiskeydog]

4 years ago, I buddy and I hiked into Diamond Lake just to try for a grayling. It's near Cooke City just NE of Fox Lake. Once you get to Fox, you have to bushwack to get there...but, the fishing was awesome! If anyone is looking for a good shot at a grayling, I would definitely recommend it!

 

[bwcatripper]

congrats bucket list fish for me too

 

[Bulldog0156]

Is the white sturgeon considered a game fish in Montana?