July 31st Fishing Report…

fredbrown

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

Late July Fishing Report…

bernie143

Well here we are in late July. It’s been a while posting, neither myself, Jason, or Fred have had a day off since the solstice. Fishing has been good with trico’s primarily being the hatch of choice, although we’ve seen an occasional head scratching flush of pmd’s come out of no where and lead us to reach for flies we thought were done for the year. Caddis have been skinny. I think that is due to the low water year last year. The caddis didn’t have a great opportunity to create more caddis last year and we are seeing the effects of that this year.

Flows are currently at 4,420 and holding. We’ve gotten litte pulses here and there, but nothing dramatic. I expect the river to stay at this level for the remainder of the season.

We have had a cooler than average summer which has made it so the weeds have stayed mostly down. Some sections of the river are weedier than others, but overall not bad. The days I’ve seen it get real weedy is when they release more water at the dam or we get a good gully washer that flushes junk of the banks. If the weeds get you down just pick up and move somewhere where they aren’t a problem. Fish those skinny inside corners that have current.

Haven’t seen much in the way of hoppers, but some people have been fishing them and getting an eat here and there. Nymphing is good in the mornings and later in the afternoon. It seems the trout are taking a midday siesta sometimes. But overall, the guests at the lodge and the clients in the boat have been having fun, which is what fishing is all about. I think the trico’s will hold strong into August, and who knows what else is going to pop up…you have to be here to find out.

Flies

Dries
Tricos…
Double Wing Trico in 16-20
Buzzball in 18
Hi Vis Trico Dun in 18-20
CDC Trico dun in 18-20
Trico Sparkle Dun in 18-20
Hi Vis Parachute Adams in 20
Griffiths Gnat in 14-20
Royal Trude in 12 (Have faith)

PMD’s
Rusty Spinner in 16-18
Hi Vis PMD Spinner in 16-18
Parachute PMD in 16-18

Nymphs

I was on a 5 boat trip Friday and then a 3 boat trip yesterday and between all those boats there were probably 12 to 20 different nymphs being dead drifted (most of the time). Everyone had success, although not on every single bug, but a lot of different stuff works.

Micro mays, zebra midges, gold and purple weight flys, rainbow czechs, pt’s, hare’s ears, little green machines, peep shows, wire worms, rainbow warriors, purple or gold lightning bugs, and probably at least a dozen other patterns work, at the right time, and right place, and right depth.

Interested in something different? The freestone streams are in great shape right now. I hiked into a blackfoot tributary last week with a friend and had a great day. We didn’t see another soul and had 13-14″ westslope cutts crashing an Amy’s Ant all day. Great days to be had for sure. Wolf Creek is within a short drive to some truly wild and unique small stream fishing. Have fun out there—Matt

Little Black and White Bugs…

fredbow

The latest news is trico’s and the water dropping. As of right now the flows are 5510 and dropping. I think the word is it’s going down to 4,500 or so. It’s just a number and at this point really doesn’t affect much. It could keep the water cooler for the hottest month of the year, which is a good thing.

On to trico’s. I had to drop a boat off at the Dearborn ramp this morning. When I passed the Spite FAS I could see funnels of trico’s over the willows for maybe half a mile. Not a complete wall, but enough that it would probably take a lifetime to count them all if you had too. Trico’s are an early game. Probably wouldn’t hurt to be on the water at daybreak. Pick your favorite trico pattern and have at it.

Evening reports have been good. Caddis and spinners are on the menu.

Nymphing has remained solid, with bug choices still leaning to caddis pupae patterns, little green machines, weight fly, peep show, etc, etc.

Streamers…still an option.

What’s on the horizon? Trico’s for quite a while, hoppers in a couple of weeks.

We have been restocked with Trouthunter tippet. 3X-6X in flouro and nylon, including 4.5X and 5.5X if you want to get all techy.

Favorite new product of the summer so far? Rio Perception WF5…just an awesome line, maybe a review later. Another fave is Air-Lok strike indicators. They screw on to your leader instead of pushing a loop through the eye and then over the bobber. Eliminates kinked leaders and is faster to adjust depth. Have to throw in the Wolf Creek Angler branded Simms Solarflex shirt. Very comfortable on a hot day, and still looks good after a couple of nights wearing it to bed, and then again the next day (don’t judge me)—Matt

Missouri River Flows…

Goofy is a good description of what’s been going on around here flow wise. We’ve seen a bump from 4,220 on Friday up to it’s current rate of 6,900 cfs. In a nutshell, the bureau of reclamation was preparing for a wet spring and held back flows. Then when runoff peaked they dumped a bunch of water that brought us to 11,000 something cfs last month. Then when they (the bureau) saw runoff tapering down, they closed the gates and took us down to 4,200 to fill Canyon Ferry. Canyon Ferry was at 75% capacity when they dropped the river down. It looked like it was going to take a while to fill, but then we got a fair amount of rain and some high elevation snow. The Missouri at Toston was around 7,500 cfs and then climbed back up around 10-12,000 cfs with the new precip. Canyon Ferry filled much quicker than expected, and in a move to evacuate extra water they brought the Missouri up to 6,900 cfs.

Whew…while the flows do not affect drift boat fishermen, they do affect the wading folks. While wading is not out of the picture at all, it’s just that you can’t quite get to every spot on the river. There is good news on the horizon though, the graph for Toston looks good.

Good looking trend

Good looking trend

And more good news. The weather is heating up, mostly high 80’s all week with chances of thunderstorms. Not much precipitation forecasted for the future. I don’t expect to see flows go much, if at all, any higher than 6,900, and I expect them to start coming down soon as well.

Has it affected fishing? It has, the last couple of days PMD’s have been sparse. Dry fly fishing exists, although not as much as we would like to see. Nymphing has been solid, and streamer fishing is a fun alternative to chasing a bobber. Regardless, it’s fishing and it’s a lot of fun.

There are plenty of opportunites to find these guys around.

Nacho, Brown Trout, and Chad, midday meet and greet.

Nacho, Brown Trout, and Chad, midday meet and greet.

Let the good times roll—Matt

By |2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00July 3rd, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

June 30th Fishing Report…

Courtesy of Dave Brown

Courtesy of Dave Brown

Fishing has been good latley. Of course it’s all perspective. The DIY wading folks have been liking it…mostly. They like the water level and the bugs and the fish. They didn’t like the wind that much. They have a different perspective on why they fly fish and they come out here for various different reasons. Some guys like to find that picky fish laying in a tricky current, others are here to get the fish in the faster stuff, etc, etc.

If you like fishing out of the boat and you’re more of an all around type, you’re going to like it a lot. You can nymph down until you see heads, throw streamers at the bank or on shallower flats until you find fish looking up, or just go on a boat ride until you find what you’re looking for.

River traffic has been manageable. The Bozeman and Missoula crowd are starting to stay closer to home with their rivers coming into shape. We haven’t seen the heavy summer traffic yet. The pleasure floaters are pretty sparse right now as well.

Have not seen as many PMD’s as previous days, but I think that had more to do with the wind than anything else. Down in the canyon I’ve been seeing tons of caddis. Fairly large clouds of caddis swirling just above the surface. They are not on the water yet…hopefully soon though. Few little yellow sallies. We may see more this week as the mercury begins to rise. Not that the LYS is a major food source for the Missouri River trout, but it’s cool to see them filling the sky.

I finally got a chance to do some fishing on my own. Went out with my buddy Dave Brown Saturday. It was windy, but you gotta go if that’s the only chance you’re going to get for a while. Dave is a mad scientist when it comes to fishing. I learn new stuff every time I go out with him. Streamer fishing started off slow. We did the cast to the bank strip-strip-strip back to the boat. Then cast to bank, strip-strip pause back to the boat. Finally Dave says, “I’m going to try something new here on the retrieve”. And of course it works. We fished this unorthodox retrieve all day and caught enough fish and had enough grabs and flashes to make it fun. Dave’s a fun guy to fish with, he’s been guiding and outfitting for twenty something years and he stills giggles and laughs just thinking about how he’s going to catch the next fish.

Fly selection hasn’t changed much from previous post. With the exception that a light Peep Show has been getting it done for me. But, different flies work for different people.

We may see another bump in flows, nothing crazy. Canyon Ferry is full so they may (or may not) evacuate some water for space.

Going to be a good summer here on the Missouri! Be sure to stay tuned!—Matt

By |2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00June 30th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Dry Fly Time on the Missouri…

Dry Fly brown

Dry Fly brown

I’ve been finding myself telling folks calling asking for a river report that “this is my favorite time of the year”. It’s kind of become a cliche, as I have a couple of other “favorite times of the year”, just like the PMD hatch is my “favorite hatch”. It is my favorite, but so is the BWO, caddis, and trico hatch. Clear as mud?

Late June brings PMD’s, it also brings warmer weather and some rainy days. These are the days we long for in the depths of Winter. These are the “shoulda been here yesterday” days. You never know when it’s going to happen, but you really should be here when those big size 14 PMD’s pop and the trout get absolutley dumb on them.

June is a dynamic time to be here. It’s a transitional stage where the river is starting to get into its summer shape. For the most part the river fishes well all month long. Of course early in June the best tactic is nymphing…not for everyone, but lots of fun to be had. Towards mid-June (depending on water levels) you can expect scattered days of excellent dry fly fishing. As we roll into July, the dry fly bite becomes stronger and more reliable. And of course July is July–there’s a reason why lodging and guides are booked a year in advance.

Flies fish are eating…

Dries
#14-16 PMD Dun…take your chance on the dun, I don’t have faith in them but others do.
#16 Helen Keller…great name, great fly. Cripple pattern that produces.
#14-16 Rusty Spinner…classic proven pattern.
#14-16 Flash Cripple…another killer cripple pattern.
#16 Hackle Stacker…Quigley pattern, need I say more?

Side note: Not a lot of caddis around, but they’ll eat caddis patterns. A few yellow sallies around, they’ll eat those too, riffles and slackwater.

Nymphs
#18-20 Little Green Machine (pt or grey)…that bug that keeps on getting them.
Pick your favorite size Worm…STILL!
#14 Tung Dart…Caddis pupae, buggy, riffles and grass flats.
#14-16 Weight Fly (Gold)…another caddis pupae, hmmm some kind of pattern is forming.
#18-20 Red Headed Step Children…trout eat them becasue they like shop guys to tell customers that fish are eating red headed step children.
#16-18 Trina’s bubbleback emerger…trout are moving into faster zones eating pmd nymphs.

Streamers
There’s a barbourous group of anglers roaming the Missouri throwing meat into pods. It’s working. They’re also throwing them at banks and stripping hard back to the boat. My advice for streamer selection…go small, clouser style with dark colors. I’m thinking floating line with 5 feet of 12lb tippet should get it done. Shallow, fast, choppy water.—Matt

By |2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00June 26th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment

Go to Top