NEWS OF THE MADISON VALLEY MT as of October 1, 2013

Howdy Montana Fans!

Fall is coming, the snowbirds are going, and yet there are still people discovering Montana for the first time and finding their "dream" properties right here in this area.  The natural beauty is spectacular, but the hidden treasures of this valley are the people.  They are warm, friendly and welcoming.  Newcomers find they soon have more friends here than they did where they came from!  It's truly amazing.  Here are excerpts from my latest newsletter.  You can see it in it's entirety with photos and more on our website at http://www.arrowreal.com/pdf/newsletters/Arrow_Newsletter_152.pdf.

NEWS  of  ENNIS  and the MADISON VALLEY,  MT

for the month of SEPTEMBER 2013

Trout live in nice neighborhoods

MADISON VALLEY “HAPPENINGS” → September is always one of my favorite months. Most of the Snow Birds don’t leave until October or even November.  But more people must be staying around because, according to the Montana County Population Projections, Madison County has grown from 6,894 residents in 2003 to 8,020 in 2013.  The expected population in 2023 is 8,755!  I hope that doesn’t mean we will need our first stop light, somewhere in the county! Read the Madison Co. Comprehensive Plan at http://www.madisoncountync.org/downloads/zoning/Madison_County_Comprehensive_Plan.pdf.   →  The big event for the month was Willie’s Distillery put on their First Annual Fall Jamboree Pig Roast with music and Montana Moonshine in abundance.  Go to their website at www.williesdistillery.com for more information. → Moonlight Basin will continue offering access through Jack Creek for Madison Valley Ski club members. Contact mbart@moonlightbasin.com for info. → Talk of replacing the beautiful, old historic bridge over Blaine Spring Creek and the Varney Bridge over the Madison River has turned into an official project with local, state and federal funding.  The bridges may be put up for “adoption.”  Start of work on Blaine Springs will begin in 2015 at the earliest.  Read more about it at: http://www.madisoniannews.com/group-closer-to-bridge-replacement-construction/. 

COMING OCTOBER HAPPENINGS → Hunting Season begins!  The bow hunters have already been out in the woods, but the general season is October 26 – December 1. Check it out at http://fwp.mt.gov/ and click on General License Cheat Sheet. → And remember to come hungry to our 28^th annual Hunters Feed and Chili CookOff held the Friday afternoon before the start of hunting season.  → Not much else happening except for the start of football season and the Ennis Mustangs are going for the state championship if they keep up their winning streak. You can follow the team at http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/ennis-mustangs-%28ennis,mt%29/football/home.htm.
                                                                                                               

MONTANA NEWS →  Energy costs in Montana may be going down soon if deregulation is reversed.  NorthWestern Energy Corp. made its pitch Friday to investors on its plans to spend $900 million to buy back 11 hydroelectric dams that were sold off to PPL Corp. during deregulation. Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/montana-utility-undo-deregulation-woes-20399137. → If you’ve ever wondered what to do with the animal you’ve hit and killed with your vehicle, the recently passed Road Kill Law takes effect Tuesday.  Later this month the Montana FWP Commission will meet to start finalizing new rules to allow people to salvage road kill for meat. The Legislature authorized the panel to allow law-enforcement officers to issue permits to salvage animal carcasses of certain species that are struck and killed by vehicles.  Supporters argued it would help clean up road kill that can impede traffic and simply rot on the roadside. The commission is scheduled to meet Oct. 10 to discuss it.  Yum! → U.S. Senator Max Baccus hosted the 6^th Montana Economic Development Summit in Butte where several thousand business leaders gathered. Keynote speaker, Safra Catz, president and CFO of Oracle Corporation said they began doing business in Bozeman in 2011 after being drawn to Montana in part because of the national exposure of past Summits.  Oracle purchased Right Now Technologies who was a leading provider of cloud-based customer service, based in Bozeman, and now Oracle plans to make Bozeman its “global cloud center.”

 

HUNTING REPORT → Hunters are optimistic about their chances of filling their freezers this year, as more elk have been spotted lately.  But FWP states, “The odds of killing an elk in Montana: Over the past two decades, the statewide average combined annual success rate for bulls and cows has been roughly 20 percent. That means that each year, one of five hunters kills an elk. On average, successful hunters in Montana spend 10 to 12 days hunting before killing an elk.” →  And now, if the FWP get their way, grizzly bears will be reintroduced into the Tobacco Root mountain range.  Read more on this controversial plan at: http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/grizzlyBear/default.html.  Sportsmen, ranchers, outfitters, home owners, recreationalists and media were invited to a public meeting held in Twin Bridges on September 23^rd to let their voices be heard.  What did we learn from the wolf reintroduction? → On a happier note, they are also preparing an environmental assessment for the proposed release of bighorn sheep in the Madison Range at Indian or Wolf Creek.

FISHING REPORT →  The latest fishing report is from John Way, The Tackle Shop, as of October 1, 2013, “October is here and the last blast of good fishing is upon us. There is no more beautiful time in the Madison Valley than fall.  The leaves are turning colors, the first covering of the white stuff lies on Sphinx Mountain, and the brisk mornings just beckon anglers to the river.   Most of the crowds of  the summer madness are long gone and those you do see on the river keep their distance as solitude is just as important to them as it is to you. 

Streamers and nymphs are the name of the game right now.   The larger brown trout are making their yearly trek up the river to spawn.    The silver sided browns of spring are replaced with the butter yellow spawning colors of fish headed to the party.    Most of the larger fish become aggressive and will readily attack any intruder into their space.   The streamer game is a fickle one and one that rewards those that experiment.   On any given day the fish are looking for Olive, black, yellow, white or natural colored streamers either dead drift, twitched or stripped fast.   If you’re not getting the response you want change up the size, color, or retrieve.    Some of our favorite’s streamers of fall are the Exasperator Sculpin, Sculpzilla, or Shelia.  Most fish these with a floating line on a short stout leader say 7ft 2X.   To double your chances try two streamers of different colors or a trailing nymph of a copper john or prince.  

For those nymph-a-holics out there feed it to them and they will eat it.   We have been having the best luck lately with a large Pats rubber leg in size 6 or 8 with a Present tail or copper john trailer in size 18. This rig should catch fish all month long.   By the end of the month try an egg pattern.  Along with the browns, the whitefish are spawning as well and they are a broadcast spawner so the eggs are readily available to waiting trout.   We like peach or flesh colored egg patterns in size 14. 

For your dry fly guys there is still fish to be had.   On overcast days expect a blue winged olive hatch about mid-day.   A parachute BWO or even a purple haze in size 16 should do the trick.   Also midges will be hatching in large numbers.  A high-vis parachute midge in size 20 should get any risers.  Concentrate on calmer water behind boulders or on the inside of turns.   Right now the fishing is as good as it gets and you will not see fishing like this till next spring so get out and fish.   The largest fish of the year are always caught in October.  Stop by the shop for the latest info, a cup of coffee as well as great end of season deals.   Right now 30% off all in stock waders, boots and Costa del Mar sunglasses. ”  John Way

The Tackle Shop’s report at http://www.thetackleshop.com/fly-fishing-report-Madison-River.asp.

Check out other fishing reports at:

       Madison River Fishing Company at:            
       http://www.mrfc.com/MadisonRiverMontanaFishing/MadisonRiverReport.aspx.

       Dan Delekta, http://beartoothflyfishing.com/flyfishingreports/uppermadisonriver.htm.

       The Madison Valley Ranch at http://www.madisonvalleyranch.com/blog/

       Joe Dilschneider’s Montana Trout Stalkers at http://www.montanatrout.com/

       Yellowstone Fly Fishing at http://www.yellowstoneflyfishing.com/madisonreport.htm.

WEATHER → September is a magnificent time to be in Montana.  In her speech this week in Butte, Oracle President Safra Catz claimed that “There are no better working conditions than Montana in September.”  In late August, the weather experts claimed that the lack of rain combined with hot, dry weather had resulted in severe drought conditions and that Madison County was the driest in the state.  Many creeks and ditches were drying up and the Ruby Reservoir was way below normal.  But then September brought the clouds and showers, giving us 2.38”of precipitation – the average is just .97”! The recorded high for the month was 90° with a low of 28°.  The average high was 72° and the average low was 36°.  We’re hoping this cold spell is just a “tease” before our beautiful Indian Summer shows up.

FEATURED PROPERTY OF THE MONTH:  ONE-OF-A-KIND, UPSCALE, RUSTIC, MONTANA LOG “CABIN” on 20 acres, with end-of-the-road privacy, spectacular views and a private creek-fed, 3-acre lake full of trout!  This beautiful, remodeled 2,310 SF home has 3BR, 2 BA, rock FP, landscaping, greenhouse and is offered FURNISHED for $1,150,000.  (MLS #193736). Watch the amazing aerial drone video at http://youtu.be/uAzaoJ4FmBw.

LOCAL REAL ESTATE MARKET STATISTICS → September continues to bring new people to town and buyers are more serious as we head into winter.  Maybe it’s a “nesting” thing and they want a home before winter.  Hunters don’t usually take time to look at real estate when they come here to fill their tags, so we focus on a broad range of buyers in the fall.  The Southwest Montana Multiple Listing statistics for the Madison Valley area (including Ennis, Cameron, McAllister, Norris, Virginia City, Harrison, Pony, Whitehall and Cardwell), through the month of September 2013 are as follows:

LAND:  313 vacant lots listed ($7,350 to $2,490,000), 8 pending sales ($54,900 to $1,500,000), 43 lots have sold in 2013 ($28,800 to $400,000) for a total value of $4,689,209.  

HOMES:  170 homes listed ($67,000 to $3,350,000), 15 pending sales ($105,900 to $450,000), 50 homes have sold in 2013 ($61,200 to $825,000) for a total value of $14,743,197. 

RANCHES:  5 listed ($695,000 to $14,999,000), 0 pending sales, 1 ranch sold in 2013 ($2,290,000).  

COMMERCIAL:  19 listed ($42,400 to $2,950,000), 0 pending sales, 8 commercial properties sold in 2013 ($75,000 to $1,150,000) for a total value of $2,737,500.

TOTAL # OF PROPERTIES CURRENTLY LISTED:  507, VALUED AT $176,256,723.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE FROM MONTANA WHEN … you head for the local bar to find out what’s going on in town, to find your friends, to find a local subcontractor, and in many cases, to find the best food in town.  It’s a place where people get together, along with their kids and dogs (and sometimes horses!).  Like the English pubs, local bars in Montana are the focal point of the community.  Many people may object, but I can find no law on the books in Montana restricting people younger than 21 from hanging out in a bar, so long as they aren’t drinking.  It is an extension of people’s living rooms and for some folks, bars take the place of church.  Amen.

MONTANA TRIVIA → Did you know that Helena (pronounced “Hell-a-na”) is the capital of Montana?  While nearby Virginia City was our territorial capital for 10 years, Helena prevailed and has been the capital since 1875. Like Virginia City, it was founded by miners during the gold rush days.  Helena's glorious past can also be seen in the spectacular 19th-century mansions, historic Last Chance Gulch businesses, and restored pioneer dwellings. The Last Chance Tour Train features informative, entertaining tours of the city. A one-hour train ride provides a spectacular tour of the Capital City, complete with a lesson in Helena's colorful history. Other impressive historical landmarks include the St. Helena Cathedral, an imposing edifice, overlooking the downtown area, modeled after the cathedral in Cologne, Germany. Go to http://visitmt.com/listing/categories_NET/City.aspx?City=Helena to read more about this beautiful and historic capital.

Toni and Don Bowen, both broker/owners with nearly 75 years of real estate experience, between them - covering residential, commercial, land and ranches.  They are in the business of "match making," where the perfect fit of buyer and property is the most important goal.  The Bowen's pride themselves on being the quality "boutique" of local real estate, providing personal attention and professional service.