This is a great stretch of water for the fly fisher who likes to hunt! Flows changed significantly the day before and while we were there, so it definitely required A-game fishing (much like the Dream Stream). We enjoyed working all of the bends with all different weights & flies. Fished with 5wt - 5xtippet. Could easily fish with a 4wt - 6x tippet... but the wind might have something to say about that! Be prepared to crouch & use some stealth! Easy access and beautiful views all the way to Pikes, with HUGE buffalo in the foreground. Great solitude. Fish were caught all over, banks, riffles, and hugging the bottom. We caught about 8 browns each in the 10" to 17" range, not counting a 20" sucker. Hot flies were blood worms, juju b's, and mercury RS-2's, the smaller the better. Only 1 caught on dry fly for us, but the water is perfect for dries, just wasn't our day for it. Double nymph rigs worked best. No porto-potty, so go beforehand.
Great fishing on the Hartsel property. I fished dry dropper. Most fish were caught on the dry fly. Put a 20” brown in the net! Rarewaters was super accommodating and responsive to all my questions and scheduling. I will definitely go back and book with Rarewaters again. Looking forward to trying their other properties.
Awesome hopper dropper water. We rigged up at the picnic tables and cracked a few beers before hitting the water. The views were awesome and we could see buffalo just beyond the water. The ground was very level and easy to get around. I pulled out some healthy 12-16 inch browns which was super surprising. The conditions were still in runoff so I was skeptical but they were there! You can go past the deep hole and riffle by the broken bridge about another 200 yards then it gets to public and you can fish that too. There were some folks over there so we waited for them to push the fish into our section of private water. They ate top water and subsurface. There are more fish on the upper part of the river, deeper pockets too. We fished hopper dropper with 3-5wt rods. No bathrooms so go before you arrive.
This place is amazing. Some of the best fishing I’ve ever encountered. Rancher is really nice. The scenery is spectacular. Tons of fish in the river towards the back of the property, but don’t over look the creek by the homestead. Big fish for such a small creek.
Stellar property with extremely hospitable landowners who are invested in creating a fantastic environment for trout. Very accessible with lots of fish. Will be back at the earliest chance I get.
This is a great stretch of water for the fly fisher who likes to hunt! Flows changed significantly the day before and while we were there, so it definitely required A-game fishing (much like the Dream Stream). We enjoyed working all of the bends with all different weights & flies. Fished with 5wt - 5xtippet. Could easily fish with a 4wt - 6x tippet... but the wind might have something to say about that! Be prepared to crouch & use some stealth! Easy access and beautiful views all the way to Pikes, with HUGE buffalo in the foreground. Great solitude. Fish were caught all over, banks, riffles, and hugging the bottom. We caught about 8 browns each in the 10" to 17" range, not counting a 20" sucker. Hot flies were blood worms, juju b's, and mercury RS-2's, the smaller the better. Only 1 caught on dry fly for us, but the water is perfect for dries, just wasn't our day for it. Double nymph rigs worked best. No porto-potty, so go beforehand.
Great fishing on the Hartsel property. I fished dry dropper. Most fish were caught on the dry fly. Put a 20” brown in the net! Rarewaters was super accommodating and responsive to all my questions and scheduling. I will definitely go back and book with Rarewaters again. Looking forward to trying their other properties.
Awesome hopper dropper water. We rigged up at the picnic tables and cracked a few beers before hitting the water. The views were awesome and we could see buffalo just beyond the water. The ground was very level and easy to get around. I pulled out some healthy 12-16 inch browns which was super surprising. The conditions were still in runoff so I was skeptical but they were there! You can go past the deep hole and riffle by the broken bridge about another 200 yards then it gets to public and you can fish that too. There were some folks over there so we waited for them to push the fish into our section of private water. They ate top water and subsurface. There are more fish on the upper part of the river, deeper pockets too. We fished hopper dropper with 3-5wt rods. No bathrooms so go before you arrive.
This place is amazing. Some of the best fishing I’ve ever encountered. Rancher is really nice. The scenery is spectacular. Tons of fish in the river towards the back of the property, but don’t over look the creek by the homestead. Big fish for such a small creek.
Stellar property with extremely hospitable landowners who are invested in creating a fantastic environment for trout. Very accessible with lots of fish. Will be back at the earliest chance I get.