We’re already nearly a week into May and things are heating up both literally and figuratively. We hit 80 degrees yesterday and will see low 80’s again today before cooler temps arrive tomorrow with a chance for some precipitation.

Flows on the river have stabilized in the 7400 cfs range with water temps climbing steadily into the high 40’s. The fishing has remained spotty overall but depending on the day and the section we have been putting together some pretty good days out there, mostly on the nymphing side.

As runoff starts to get underway around the state we continue to receive a lot of calls inquiring about the flows on the Missouri and while we can’t tell you exactly what we’re going to be seeing for the season where flows are concerned,  what we can tell you is that according to the latest information released from the Bureau of Reclamation yesterday those in the know are predicting a probable status quo scenario for the next two months with a peak just shy of 8000 cfs in June.

As you can see on the chart above the most probable scenario has us at 4500-5000 cfs for the months of July and August and while there are those who prefer flows in the 3500 range I think most would agree that flows in the 5000 range are preferred. We like what we’re seeing here and hope that it holds true. Even at the Max Probable we’d be looking at a climb to around 10,500 this month followed by a peak of 12,000 in June and leveling off to around 5500 for the rest of the season. This would make things challenging for the wade anglers in June but it would also provide a much-needed flush which would be a tremendous benefit to the river. Minimum probable flows would drop to 5000 cfs this month and then level off at the 4,000 cfs range for the remainder of the season. Any of these flow predictions would be an improvement over what we’ve seen the last couple of years so with runoff predicted to render many rivers around the region unfishable into July you can expect a busy season on the MO’.

Canyon Ferry is currently 83% full which is 109% of the 30 year average. The anticipated inflow for the May through July runoff period is forecasted to be 1,533.0 kaf, or 110 percent of the 30 year average.

So that’s the latest on river flows, now on to the fish numbers.

 

When discussing fish numbers it’s important to remember that even though we might be talking about declines or increases in the population we’re talking about them within the context of over 5,000 fish per mile in the section from Holter Dam to Craig. Amazing numbers to be sure. There was a substantial increase in Rainbow trout numbers which rebounded to 2014 levels  after three straight years of decreasing populations. 2016 saw rainbow numbers of 4,816 fish per mile. Brown trout numbers continued to decrease for the fourth straight season with 269 fish per mile in 2016 which is still a respectable number.

Size wise we’re still looking at a majority of rainbows in the 17″ – 19″ size class….BIG fish!  A fair amount of browns in the 17″-19″ size as well though those number have dropped considerably over the past couple of years. Of note is the large number of browns in the 6″ – 8″ size class….the future looks bright!

All in all we’re very pleased with the State of the Missouri for the 2017 season. A little more water and plenty of big fish. What more could you want?