dry fly fishing Archives - Page 28 of 28

Mid December

Countdown to Christmas at Wolf Creek Angler

Well we’re halfway through December. The fish are plentiful, the anglers are not. The weather has beat expectations throughout the fall with most days being more than fishable and some days being down right unseasonable with temps in the 50’s. The trend continues this week with sunny skies and high 30’s through the weekend, climbing back into mid 40’s next week. Disappointing for those hoping for a white Christmas but an awesome gift to those lucky enough to have easy access to this incredible fishery year-round.

Christmas break has begun for the college students and they are starting to arrive in Wolf Creek. We are booked through mid-week but do have vacancies for the coming weekend. If you’re going to fish the Missouri during your break make Wolf Creek Angler your first stop for shuttles, bugs, cold weather gear, RO drift boat rentals, lodging and much more. College students receive 15% off total purchase with valid college id – now through the end of the year.

Nymphing has been the most consistent method as of late with Rainbow Czechs, Pink Lightning Bugs and all kinds of Firebeads leading the charge. Zebra midges in black and purple and tailwater sow bugs and scuds in pink and grey should not be overlooked.

Those committing to the streamer are still having respectable days on the swing or with a SLOW retrieve. Polar Leeches in Olive and Olive and Copper continue to be effective. Black buggers are reportedly also getting some attention but we prefer some flash and I think the fish do too.

There are midges around and there are fish eating them. I haven’t taken a dry fly rig along recently but it certainly wouldn’t be a bad call if that is your game.

If you are still shopping for the fly fisher on your list stop by the shop or give us a call and let us help you find the perfect gift. Maybe it’s a new fly rod or new cooler. Maybe it’s a full day guide trip. Maybe it’s a WCA gift card loaded with a year’s worth of shuttles or a loaded Missouri River fly box. Maybe it’s Wolf Creek Angler logo gear, an excellent choice for your friends around the country and around the globe. Whatever it is, we are here to help you find what you need and we will gladly do whatever we can to simplify things for you. We are happy to mail gift cards or ship merchandise anywhere in the world. Call (406)235-4350 or toll-free 1-800-800-4350.

Wolf Creek Angler Gift Cards are available in any amount, are re-loadable and can be used on EVERYTHING.

The shop is open Wednesday – Saturday from 8 am – 4 pm and if the weather is nice we are usually around on the other days as well. We are open and available for lodging and guide trips every day. Don’t forget our $395 full day guide trips while the snow flies.

See you in the shop and on the water…

~Jason O.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:03-06:00December 16th, 2014|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: Christmas, dry fly fishing, Missouri River, Missouri River Winter Fishing, Montana, running line, Streamer Fishing, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Father and daughter Sam and Samantha had a great day on the Missouri. The right hat will always bring success on the Missouri!

Things have gotten a little quiet on and around the Missouri this week. Angling traffic is way down and we’ve certainly had busier days around the shop but the big news is that trico fishing continues to consistently produce in a BIG way, the hopper bite is starting to come on and will only improve from here on out and best of all, you can have vast stretches of water to yourself right now as the Peak Seasoners have in large part disappeared.

With few exceptions the dry fly action has been like clockwork. According to WCA lead guide Neale Streeks the trico fishing is the best it’s been in a decade and while the caddis game hasn’t really materialized we are having some of the best dry fly fishing of the season. Plenty of bugs and plenty of willing fish up have made for some spectacular mornings and while things tend to slow in the middle of the day there have been enough fish willing to eat a hopper to make a terrestrial afternoon a real option. There are even some of us making a day of the hopper game. A trailing ant or a nymph will keep things interesting. We’ve been having a lot of luck the last few times out with a #16 purple or gold weight fly below a purple or pink More or Less.

Hopper-Eater

Fred with an outstanding Missouri River Dry-Fly eating brown.

Nymphing in general has been a little slow as the weeds take hold and the fish continue to do their part to keep you guessing. Even the dam has had some tougher days as of late but again, the good news is you can ditch the bobber for a hopper and cut your weed cleaning time in half. If you decide to stick to chasing bobbers weight flies, flashback pt’s, black zebras, micro mays and peep shows have all been producing depending on the day.

Trico wise we’ve been doing very well with a #18 double wing trico and also with a #18 or #20 indicator spinner. Keep an assortment of caddis and pmd’s on hand as well as sometimes they aren’t overly interested in the tricos. We’ve got everything you need for dry fly success so stop by and let us get you dialed in.

Despite the solid fishing things are a little quiet around the lodge. It’s a good time to take a break and catch our breath after a crazy July but even so, we are more interested in taking care of customers than catching our breath so we are offering special rates of $99 on our cabins just for the month of August. It’s a great time to be here. Come fish the mornings and join the rec floaters with a leisurely float down the Missouri on the sunny and hot Montana afternoons.

Stop by the shop and see us for up to date fishing reports, shuttles, the best selection of bugs in Wolf Creek and all kinds of Wolf Creek Angler swag you can’t live without. We are fully stocked up on hats and shirts including a couple of great new t’s from Strip n’ Flywear and we’ve got Simms summer logo gear to move to make room for fall gear arriving soon.

The Competition…

735 746 758 747

See you in the shop and on the water….

~ Jason O.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00August 6th, 2014|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: brown trout, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, indicator, Missouri River, nymphs, running line, tricos, Wolf Creek Angler|2 Comments

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

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00July 31st, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: brown trout, craig montana, dry fly fishing, Missouri River, tricos, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

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

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00July 27th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: brown trout, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, Missouri River, rainbow trout, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

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

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00July 12th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: brown trout, caddis, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, Missouri River, Montana, rainbow trout, RIO, simms, tricos|0 Comments

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

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.

Let the good times roll—Matt

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00July 3rd, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: brown trout, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, Missouri River, Montana|0 Comments

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 Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00June 30th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: brown trout, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, Missouri River, Montana|0 Comments

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 Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00June 26th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: brown trout, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, Missouri River, Montana, pmd|1 Comment

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