Continued from Waters We Fish

Milesnick's MZ Ranch

...as best they could, praying that the Milesnicks would keep them open to the public. George Anderson has
enjoyed fishing on the MZ Ranch since 1965, but told only a few close friends about it! These streams always had the potential for producing some very large fish that would run up from the East Gallatin. 3 to 5 pound fish were pretty common over the years. George once caught and released a 7 1/2 pound brown on lower Thompson, not more than a long stone's throw from the Milesnick's barn.

The fishing was always great over these past 35 years, but excess siltation from the cattle operations and flooding from the East Gallatin often reduced the amount of good holding water in both streams. Fish populations varied in direct proportion to the available holding water.

In 1998, the Milesnick family did considerable stream improvement work, especially on Benhart Spring Creek.

Many pools were deepened, and nice undercut banks were created, especially in the less productive downstream water closer to the East Gallatin. A vast amount of new holding water for big fish was created, and quickly inhabited by wild trout, moving up into the streams from the East Gallatin River. The fishing now is simply outstanding.

George Anderson landing nice rainbow on Benhart Spring Creek

Both Benhart and Thompson Spring Creeks flow into the East Gallatin River on the Milesnick property. These spring creeks are similar in nature to the larger Livingston spring creeks. The water wells up directly through limestone aquifers at a constant temperature year round. These spring creeks are incredibly fertile, producing wonderful mayfly, midge and caddis hatches throughout the season. Unlike the Livingston creeks, the major hatches seem to come slightly earlier in the season. The PMD hatches will start in early June, a couple of weeks before we see them on the Livingston creeks. In addition, both Benhart and Thompson have good Trico hatches starting in late June and early July. Unfortunately, our Livingston spring creeks do not experience any fishable Trico hatches.

The MZ Ranch spring creeks are small streams with a lot of flat water. The fishing can be extremely challenging. A few bad casts and you'll put the fish down a lot more easily than on Armstrong or the other Livingston spring creeks. The good news is that there is now a whole lot more fishable water on Benhart—more than two miles of fishable water from the upper reaches to the East Gallatin.

Sight fishing to rising rainbow on Milesnick Ranch spring creeks

The Milesnick portion of Thompson Spring Creek is much shorter, slightly less than a mile but does include the best lower water, just above the confluence of Thompson's and the East Gallatin. Hatches on Thompson are similar to what you can expect to find on Benhart.

In addition to both of the spring creeks, a couple of miles of the East Gallatin flows through the Milesnick Ranch. The East Gallatin is a small freestone stream but many small spring creeks flow into it, creating a very fertile fishery. Some huge fish have been caught in the East Gallatin over the years. For several years running, Fish, Wildlife & Parks crews had shocked a 13 pound brown in the water above the MZ Ranch but as far as we know, no one ever caught it! There are lots of 12-18 inch rainbows with the occasional nice big brown. The East Gallatin is easy wading and very pleasant fishing. The fish are usually easy to catch on both nymphs and dry flies. This is easier fishing than the spring creeks and you won't see many other anglers on the MZ stretch.

The MZ Ranch allows 6 anglers per day—the daily rod fee is $75 in June, July, and August and $50 during the rest of the season. Unlike the Livingston spring creeks, the Milesnick Ranch creeks are NOT open all year.  These streams fall under the standard fishing season that runs from the 3rd Saturday in May through the end of November. There are no set "beats", so anglers spread out daily on a first come, first served basis. With all the new improvements, there is certainly lots of water to fish for everyone.