Cash to Cast: Fishing Paradise Valley's Spring Creeks

Published April 12, 2007 in Outdoors section of Chronicle and Summer 2007 Intermountain Angler

By JOSHUA BERGAN

PARADISE VALLEY — At the crack of dawn, a groggy angler might believe he'd died and gone to heaven when he lays eyes on the pools next to Nelson's Spring Creek’s parking lot. Known for being challenging for even the superior fly angler, it's the last thing he would expect to see at one of Paradise Valley's spring creeks. Twenty-plus-inch trout, stacked on top of each other, splashing like attention-starved children and eager for food. It'd make any fisherman giddy.

Back in reality, levelheaded anglers realize these ponds are not part of the creek but are part of Nelson's hatchery business. But for a moment, it's crystal clear why anglers pay good money for this opportunity.

So why do so many anglers pay between $40 and $100 per day to fish these spring-fed streams, especially with the world-famous Yellowstone just a stone's throw away, and the world-class Madison River within a half tank of gas?

"I think it's the option of not having to fish shoulder to shoulder," Roger Nelson, owner of Nelson's Spring Creek said. "With this population boom, the Yellowstone, the Madison, it's getting crazy."

"The warm water allows for hatches to come off that water year-round," Justin O'Hair of Armstrong's Spring Creek said. "And it's not over-fished."

Along with the lack of crowds comes an abundance of nature. Herds of deer frequently plow neck-deep through the creeks in the early-morning sunlight. Peacocks strut through the O'Hair ranch, squawking at the intruding fisherman. Massive herons speak their minds and soar overhead. And weed beds as green as center field dance in the creeks’ current.

What's more, the owners provide the shelters for picnicking, bathrooms and parking areas, not to the mention the hospitality only a Montana ranch family could provide.

Angler Jamie Locke said he had lived in Montana for three years before giving the creeks a chance, thinking it was a waste of money with Montana's permissive stream access laws. But after his first experience, he was hooked.

"The fishing to rising fish in glassy water is my absolute favorite," he said. "It's a great way to refine techniques, practice, great place to field test flies and equipment and it's cheaper than driving to Silver Creek in Idaho (a Nature Conservancy preserve where anglers sign up to fish a spring creek, free of charge)."

The creeks are also an asset to the Valley's economy.

"Fisherman come from the all over the world to fish these springs creeks," O'Hair said.

Added Nelson: "Ask any fishing guide around here about the economic value, about how much difference it would make (not to have them)."

And then there's the actual fishing.

From the moment an angler gets his feet wet, he'll see trout darting from hole to hole. By mid-morning, they're cruising worry-free, breaking the surface from bug to bug.

O'Hair says that the trout generally run from "pretty small", up to 24 inches.

"The biggest one I know of was about 36 inches," he said. "There's guys that are pretty good fisherman that will take a couple 20-inch fish."

The creeks are natural waterways and therefore fall under the state's stream access law. Technically, if a fisherman stayed within the high water marks, he could hike up from the Yellowstone River to the creeks and avoid the fee. But Nelson explained that experienced fisherman understand an unwritten rule.

"My family, for five generations, has paid taxes on that land," he said.

"I think most people respect the property here as it is," Jerry O'Hair of Armstrong's added.

In the past 10 years, the creeks had started to become a less-than-desirable destination. The landowners poured thousands upon thousands of dollars into riparian habitat restoration. What resulted is a trout's equivalent to the Yellowstone Club, with ideal runs, riffles and pools. Thanks to the care and maintenance of the landowners, the creeks are again living up to their legendary reputations.

Livingston fishing guide and worldwide angler Donnie Williams once told Justin O'Hair, "I'll guarantee, you can go anywhere in the world and not see anything as unique as what you have here. There's nothing that compares to these."

"It's a wonder of the world, really," said Jerry O'Hair.