Late July going into August tends to slow down a bit as far as visiting anglers go, fishing doesn’t seem to though. I guess it’s all about perspective. Fred and I escaped the shop and fished trico’s to pods all day…well not exactly all day, up until 2:30 when the wind came up at least. The trico hatch is one of my favorites (if you haven’t figured it out yet, any bug hatching on the Missouri is my favorite), it’s a solid hatch, lots of bugs, and it gets the fish looking up. Yes, they (the trico’s) are tiny, but they arrive en masse and you don’t necessarily need a tiny pattern to fool the trout. You can at certain times get away with something big, like a size 14 midge cluster, or griffiths gnat, or something else that is black and grizzly and looks buggy. You might have to rummage around the fly box to find something they like, but mostly, as with any other hatch here, it’s all about presentation. Casting 6 feet above a rising fish will not get it done. Casting well ahead of rising fish will guarantee a nice drag right over the top of that hungry trout. You got to get it right in there, put that fly on their nose and just feed them. When the fish are podded up, they are in rythmn and mostly will not move laterally for your fly. Put it in their lane with a drag free drift and your odds of success are greatly increased.
Some words of advice for you folks out there wading. Often I see people wading way too far out in the river. There are a lot of fish on the edges, and a lot of times I see people wading right in the middle of productive runs casting out to deeper water. Start fishing the shallow shelves, and then work your way out. I tell that to folks in the shop and some have a hard time believing me. That fast mottled water is excellent holding water. That giggly surface provides cover for trout making them feel secure in their habitat. Have you ever realeased a rainbow or brown in that kind of water? And did you notice that when they swim away and hold on the bottom that they almost dissapear? I hear people say the Missouri doesn’t have any structure…5,000 something trout per mile disagree. Yeah it doesn’t have big rocks or downed timber, but it does have lots of structure. It’s just of a different type and you have to think outside the box a bit to see it.
I expect the trico hatch to stick around for a while, hopper fishing is around the corner (I’ve had some success, but I wouldn’t say it’s here), and as usual nymphing is solid…although some days are better than others. I’ve yet to get out and see what’s happening in the evening, but what I hear is that some evenings are good, and some are not. That’s fishing right?—Matt
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