Caviar Scud Archives - Wolf Creek Angler

Predlude to Spring

It’s been a roller coaster weather wise this week on the MO with spring showing up on Monday and Tuesday before another winter smack down in the form of a Winter Storm bringing 6 plus inches of new snow on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

The sun is shining this St Patrick’s Day morning and the forecast looks good with an abundance of sunshine and a high near 42 and south southwest wind just 7 – 11 mph. Definitely a favorable forecast for spring fishing on the MO but you might want to give it a minute as we’re currently sitting at 14 degrees.

And speaking of spring fishing – Monday is the day, the official first day of spring. The current forecast is calling for mostly cloudy skies with a high near 50 and calm winds. If that forecast holds you can’t do much better than that for the first day of spring on the Missouri River.

Between now and then the weekend looks similarly appealing with highs right around 50 each day, manageable winds on Saturday and calm winds on Sunday. No sign of snow in the forecast until Monday night and that chance will linger throughout next week but maybe, just maybe we are past the significant winter weather. A welcome change to be sure!

In spite of the weather ups and downs what has been consistent is the fishing which has been consistently good all week long. Early spring is amongst the very best times to fish the MO if numbers are important to you. It’s already heating up as our fish emerge from their winter slumber. A couple of more ticks up in the water temps and it’s going to go off! We’re still hanging around 34 degrees which is on the cold side but it won’t be long and those spring sun BTU’s will get things moving towards optimal trout temps (44 – 67 degrees).

Best bets for nymphing – Pill Popper, Bubble Yum, Cotton Candy, Pederson’s Sow, Tailwater Sow, Rainbow Czech, Pink Amex, Pink Lucent Bead Ray Charles, UV Yum Yum, Caviar Scud, Radiation Baetis, Zebra Midge, Firebead Ray, Firebead Czech, UV Sow, Soft Hackle Sow…you get the picture. All of these and many more in stock NOW at WCA.

Midge Madness on any given day for those looking to catch that first fish of the season on a dry fly. Try a Griffiths Gnat, Grizzly Midge, Bucky’s Midge Cluster, Black Sipper, Black Midge or even the tried and true Parachute Adams.

We’re a couple of weeks out from Prime Time for streamer fishing but there’s no time like the present to start down that road. Good reports as of late on white, grey and black but that will change with the day depending on water conditions and light levels. Polar Leech, Kreelex, Sparkle Minnow, Skiddish Smolt, Thin Mints, Mod Maidens, Mojo Minnows, MK Ultralite all good on the slow strip. Best bet on the swing would be leeches, buggers, Fruit Rollups and the like.

The shop is stocked up with TONS of Bugs, Simms Waders and boots, a bunch of new sweet sticks from Sage, Lamson, Echo and Redington and all the gear and accessories you’ll need for your day on the water.

We’re open from 8:30 – 4 PM Monday – Saturday and will expand those hours as things get busier.

Stop in for shuttles, fishing licenses, intel, the best coffee in the canyon and so much more.

By Jason Orzechowski|2023-03-17T11:15:59-06:00March 17th, 2023|Categories: Fishing Report, Uncategorized|Tags: Black Midge, Black Sipper, bubble yum, Bucky's Midge Cluster, Caviar Scud, cotton candy, dry fly fishing, Firebead Czech, Firebead Ray, Griffiths gnat, Kreelex, Lamson, midge, Missouri River, MK UYltralite, Mod Maiden, Mojo Minnow, Pederson's Sow, pill popper, Pink Amex, Pink Lucent Bead Ray Charles, Polar Leech, Radiation Baetis, Rainbow Czech, running line, simms, sparkle minnow, Streamer Fishing, Tailwater Sow, Thin Mint, UV Yum Yum, winter, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler, zebra midges|0 Comments

What a difference a month has made

So far so good. Three days in and the cool weather trend we’ve seen so far this spring continues. The month of April worked wonders for the snow pack which has bumped in much of the region up from a somewhat bleak outlook in the 70s and 80’s percent of average to a much more optimistic outlook in the 90s and 100 Plus percent range.

We are in for a short warm spell over the next few days with temps climbing into the low 70’s tomorrow and near 80 on Thursday before we cool down again for the weekend and into next week with highs back in the 40’s and 50’s and overnight lows in the high 20’s and low 30’s. Just the weather we need to preserve that late spring snowpack.

The fishing continues to be consistently good with weather conditions generally conducive to good BWO activity. We’ve been seeing better action below Craig on that front with plenty of midge activity still occurring river-wide.

Nymphing remains strong with baetis nymphs really starting to come on. Stock up on Little Green Machines, Psycho Mays, BWO Magic Fly, BWO Redemption, Spanish Bullets, Split Case BWO’s, Olive Lightning Bugs and various PT’s all in the mix. That being said, don’t abandon the sow bugs and scuds just yet. Pill Poppers, Tailwater Sows, UV sows, Bubble Yums, Pederson’s Sow, Caviar Scud, Rainbow Czech, Amex all still very much in play.

Fish the medium depth (2’ – 4’), fast ish water with or without a split shot starting with a mid-range rig with your indicator 4’-5’ from your point fly. Some are going longer, some are short leashing, both with varying degrees of success but the medium rig is always a good place to start.

We’re loaded up with all the aforementioned bugs as well as AirLock strike indicators in all sizes and colors. Like most everyone else we’re SOLD OUT of Oros indicators but hope to see some product back in stock later this month.

What we do have plenty of are Fishpond and Rising nets in all sizes and colors, SA, Rio and Airflo fly lines for every application, Yakoda caps and fly boxes, rods and reels from Lamson, Redington, Loop and Echo, Redington waders and wading pants, boots from Simms and Korkers and FINALLY the new Simms G3 waders are starting to trickle in.

Lodging is busy from here on out. There are some openings here and there throughout the month of May but overall we seem to have arrived at PRIME TIME for lodging on the MO. Similar case with guide trips. We’ve got a pile of them out this week, next week tapers off a bit for us but overall guide season has fired up on the MO.

It doesn’t hurt to check availability for either as we have been known to have some success with last-minute trips. Sometimes we’re sneaky good that way. A better option would be to up your odds of success by booking those fall dates very soon. Spots are filling quickly and it’s a safe bet it’s going to be a busy fall on the Missouri.

Spring shop hours are Monday – Saturday 7:30 AM – 5:00 pm and 7:30 AM – 2 PM on Sundays.

By Jason Orzechowski|2022-05-03T13:02:46-06:00May 3rd, 2022|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: bubble yum, BWO Magic Fly, BWO Redemption, Caviar Scud, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, green machine, Lamson, Missouri River, Pederson's Sow, pill popper, Psycho Mays, Rainbow Czech, running line, simms, Split Case BWO, Streamer Fishing, Tailwater Sow, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler, Yakoda|0 Comments

Winter on the Way

Well it had to happen sooner or later.

Following weeks of mild weather with well-above average temperatures winter is about to arrive in Western Montana.

The 40 degree days we’ve been enjoying are soon to be replaced with single digits so count yourself lucky if you were able to make it out fishing over these past several weeks and if you didn’t you’ve got a couple of days left before the arctic blast hits.

Today looks to be the last best day but temperatures will linger in the 30’s for the next couple of days before plummeting into the teens on Sunday and colder yet early next week. The coldest day looks to be Tuesday with a high of -8 and a low of -17. It starts to tick upward later in the week and looks to be back to around 20 by next Friday. We’ll see if that turns into a warming trend or not but I wouldn’t plan on doing any fishing next week.

We’ve been getting a lot of calls from folks wondering if there is any ice on Holter Lake (which there isn’t) but that’s likely to change next week. We’ll keep you posted.

For those looking to make it out before the cold hits you need to know that the past couple of days have been the best nymphing action we’ve had in weeks. We can’t promise you that this will continue to be the case over these next couple of days but I think there’s a good chance it could be.

Winter bugs, winter water….as easy as it gets.

We did our first guide trips of 2020 yesterday and the day did not disappoint. This same group fished with us on January 3rd of 2019 and had a similar day so they really know how to hit it right.

Wolf Creek to Craig, deep buckets, pink bugs, hungry trout, and rods bent. That is the report from yesterday and the previous several as well.
Days like these make winter nymphing the worst kept secret on the Missouri. The wind can be a nuisance but outside of that, when it’s on like this it doesn’t get much easier. The choice of bug is typically not critical. Pill Poppers, Pederson’s Sow, Amex, Bubble Yum, Cotton Candies, Tailwater sows, Caviar Scuds…all the same stuff we’ve been pushing for the past month or so. Again, when it’s ON the specific bugs don’t seem to matter all that much which makes it nice because you can roll with the same rig all day rather than feverishly swapping out bugs and racking your brain trying to figure out what they want.

Run deep in the buckets with a bb split or two and hot spot your way down.

We did see a few folks around yesterday but for all intents and purposes the river is VOID of traffic which is another reason winter fishing can be such a blast.

Again, we can’t promise you great fishing every day but at just $400 for a guide trip you can’t beat the price and as is always the case with winter trips, if the weather turns or if you simply change your mind, no harm no foul…NO CANCELLATION FEE! You won’t find a better deal ANYWHERE so why not book a winter day on the MO with us now? You’ve got absolutely nothing to lose.

If you prefer the wait and see approach that’s ok too. We can generally accommodate your request with as little as a day’s notice. Keep in mind we can also provide quality lodging at an affordable price so you can spend your time on the water, not on the road. $99 (plus tax) for a cozy bungalow with full kitchen and private bath. Bungalows sleep three very comfortably.

Hunker down for the coming arctic blast and then make a plan to get out and fish the Missouri this winter when things warm up.

We have shifted into our winter schedule at the shop. We’re open from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM Wednesday – Saturday and 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM on Sundays BUT there’s a very high probability that we will be closed on days when the temperature is at or below 20 degrees so please call ahead on those really cold days if you’re planning on us being open.

Accordingly, we will likely be closed most of next week or will just be here for limited hours.

That being said, we are open for lodging and guide trips EVERY day and calls are forwarded when the shop is closed so don’t hesitate to give us a call any day to book.

By Jason Orzechowski|2020-01-08T19:31:44-07:00January 8th, 2020|Categories: Fishing Report, Uncategorized|Tags: Amex, bubble yum, Caviar Scud, Missouri River, Missouri River Winter Fishing, pill popper, running line, Tailwater Sow, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Predlude to Spring

Welcome to May Days on the MO

Winter on the Way