fly fishing Archives - Page 45 of 48

February on the Missouri

February Midge Madness on the MO – photo by Wolf Creek Angler

February can be an excellent time to make a trip to the MO and while the weather can sometimes be a challenge if you hit it right you could experience some absolute spring-like conditions and some great fishing. While nymphing is by far the most productive and widely utilized technique during the winter months don’t overlook the streamer action (swung or slowly stripped) or the dry-fly action as the fish target the tiny midges that are present more often than not when the sun is shining on the Missouri.

It looks like we’re in for a pretty decent stretch of weather starting on Thursday with temperatures climbing into the 50’s and near 60 on Friday. As it stands now the long-range has us holding in this weather pattern through the middle of the month so it’s the perfect time to plan a trip to Wolf Creek Montana. We would love to take you fishing.

As if the spring weather weren’t enough to bring you here, we’re offering an awesome deal this month only where if you book a full day guide trip at our ridiculously reasonable winter rate of $395, we’ll throw in a night’s lodging in one of our bungalows for $59! A guided day on the river includes expert instruction from one of our world-class guides, all the flies you need, a hot lunch and hot and cold beverages and transportation to and from the river. Take advantage of this offer while it lasts and don’t worry about being locked in. If the weather is unfavorable or if you just decide you don’t want to do it you are free to bail with no penalty.

Not looking for a guided trip? Come stay with us at Wolf Creek Angler and do it yourself. Our warm and cozy bungalows are priced right for the winter at $99/night. Start your day with a hearty breakfast at The Frenchman and then stop in the shop for a shuttle and whatever you need for your day on the river. We’re loaded up with winter bugs, cold weather gear, terminal tackle, licenses, RO drift boat rentals and some great deals on merchandise we need to move to make way for spring shipments.

No need to rush – you are just minutes from Holter Dam and the Wolf Creek Bridge. Spend your day on the water and return to your home-away from home where you can either utilize the full kitchen in your bungalow and make your own meal or head to The Frenchman for a night out in Wolf Creek. Don’t miss Uncle Joe’s Oasis for a night-cap and stop by the Canyon Store for provisions including an excellent selection of Montana Microbrews.

Wolf Creek is the place to be for winter fishing in Montana and Wolf Creek Angler is proud to be your full service Missouri River fly shop. Book your trip today!

Wolf Creek Angler is your full service Missouri River Fly Shop – photo by Wolf Creek Angler

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:01-06:00February 3rd, 2015|Categories: Montana Fly Fishing, Uncategorized|Tags: dry fly fishing, fly fishing, Holter Dam, midge, Missouri River, Missouri River Winter Fishing, Montana, RO Drift Boats, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Spring-Like temps in late January have brought the crowds back to the MO.

Busy Sunday on the MO. Lot’s of people around today enjoying ridiculously warm weather and, from most of what we’ve heard, ridiculously good fishing.
Most are nymphing and doing extremely well in the slow deep runs. The hot sellers yesterday and today were tailwater sows, Pinkalicious, Tungsten Warriors, firebead soft hackle sows and pink lightning bugs followed closely by firebead steelie worms. It sounds like it’s all working and it sounds like many of the go-to spots are stacked with hungry fish willing to eat just about anything as long as it’s pink!
Wolf Creek to Craig seems to be the section to fish right now though there are a fair amount of folks doing the dam float as well and some even venturing below Craig.
If you’re coming out don’t forget your streamer rod. Heard one report of yesterday being an insanely good streamer day with fish willing to chase and even surface smacking streamers as they landed. Sorry I missed that…we live for that stuff.
Fish streamers, fish nymphs, fish slow deep water, fish fast shallow water…it’s on…or at least it was yesterday.

Above average temps will continue this week. Come on out and fish. We are booked through Monday but will have lodging available again starting Tuesday. Why not take advantage of the nice weather and the winter rates and book yourself a room for $99 and a full day guide trip for $395. Spring-like fishing conditions on the cheap. Call (406)235-4350 and book today.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:02-06:00January 25th, 2015|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: fly fishing, Missouri River Winter Fishing, Montana, nymphs, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Happy 2015 from Wolf Creek Angler

Best wishes for the new year from all of us at Wolf Creek Angler. 2014 was monumental for us, being our first year in business and we believe 2015 is going to be even better!
The numbers are in and we had a fantastic first year which in many ways exceeded our expectations. We will build on the success of our first year and continue to grow our business in ways that will hopefully exceed your expectations and keep us moving in an upward trajectory. Our goal will always be to provide you with a first-rate Missouri River fly fishing experience and we will continuously re-evaluate our business in an effort to evolve and improve and redefine for ourselves what this means. The bottom line? You should expect great things from Wolf Creek Angler in 2015 and beyond. Expect continuous improvement rooted in a committment to customer service.

We will always offer a great lodging value and our intention is to become your Missouri River fly shop and guide service of choice. We are dedicated to expanding our inventory to include the products you want and you expect your fly shop to carry. This is definitely easier said than done as there are a myriad of hoops to jump through in order to stock the products we want to offer our customers but we are definitely working on it and we are confident you will find more of what you want at Wolf Creek Angler every time you visit our shop.
We are also committed to building what we intend will one day be the best guide service on the Missouri. Change has come to Wolf Creek and we are proud to announce a brand new guide team built with the future in mind. We will be introducing you to our guides in the weeks to come. They are not new to the Missouri but they have been hand-picked by us because we feel they best represent what Wolf Creek Angler is and what it will grow to be.

Why not book a trip today and find out for yourself why we picked this guide crew? We have no doubt that they will play a huge roll in continuing to put Wolf Creek back on the map. We are currently offering $395 full day guide trips through the winter and we are also offering winter lodging rates of $99/night. Stay tuned for spring specials starting in March.

Now through February book a guide trip for the 2015 season (May-November) and receive a $25 Wolf Creek Angler gift card good for everything we sell. Be sure to mention this offer when you call us at (406)235-4350 or toll-free at 1-800-800-4350.

Thank you all again for making our first year a great one. Here’s to a fishy 2015!

Thinking about summertime… photo by Wolf Creek Angler

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:03-06:00January 3rd, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: fly fishing, Missouri River, Missouri River Winter Fishing, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Deep Freeze on the MO this week – come out and have the river to yourself! – photo by Wolf Creek Angler

Winter has arrived in Montana this week with temps in the single digits and wind chill values as low as -30 tonight. When we decided we were going to remain open and also keep limited lodging available for the winter these were the types of conditions we were concerned about as most of our buildings are not exactly designed for winter use. So far so good! If we make it through the next couple of days without having frozen plumbing we will know that we are on the right track. That being said, it’s all a gamble as these are not ideal conditions for fishing the Missouri so we will definitely need mother nature’s cooperation to make a go of it this winter. We do have guests staying with us this week and they reportedly did pretty well yesterday during the early part of the day but we’re not sure how long they will stick around as it appears we’re going to be stuck in single digits at least trough tomorrow. Teens through the weekend and a warm up on Sunday. The way it looks now we should be back to comfortable fishing conditions by the first part of next week. Might we see some BWO’s next week? We hope so but there are plenty of other options including throwing streamers which has been good and getting better over the past week or two. Our WCA Polar Leeces, particularly in Olive/Copper, have been moving a ton of fish and we’ve also been doing well with the Gold/Brown Kreelex and Sculpin Sparkle Minnows – all available at Wolf Creek Angler. Nymphing has been hit or miss with the go-to’s still being Rainbow Czechs, Green Machines and Tailwater Sows. Heard of a few guys doing ok on the hot bead wire worm as well.

Flows are back up toi 4460 today after dropping below 4000 for the past few days. The water temperature is at around 49 and dropping.

Stop by the shop for bugs, shuttles, boat rentals, lodging and cold weather gear from Outdoor Research and more. It’s not too early to start your Christmas shopping and we’ve got all kinds of gear for the fly angler in your life. Wolf Creek Angler gift cards can be purchased in any amount and are good for everything from merchandise to shuttles to lodging and guide trips. We’re happy to send gift cards to anywhere in the world so give us a call at 800-800-4350 and purchase one today.

After careful consideration we have come up with the following winter schedule. The shop will be open from 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM Wednesday – Saturday with lodging and guide trips available any and every day at special winter rates. Should things get really fishy we will be here on Mondays and Tuesdays as well and should we see a bunch of single digit weather this winter we may NOT be here on some of the stated days. It would be a good idea to call before you come in but again, if it’s fishy weather we will likely be here. We will be closed on Sundays for the winter months.

We are anxious to see how things go this winter and we would love for you to make Wolf Creek Angler your year-round Missouri River fishing and lodging destination. We’ve got a busy winter ahead and have a lot of things we will be working on for next season and beyond.

Stay Warm!

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:05-06:00November 11th, 2014|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: Christmas, fly fishing, green machine, Missouri River, Missouri River Winter Fishing, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Fall nymphing on the Missouri River – photo by Wolf Creek Angler, LLC

Guest Blog by Wolf Creek Angler guide Jim Murray

It’s not just the golden rule of real estate, but of nymph fishing the Missouri as well.

There’s a lot of fish in the Mighty Mo, and those fish like to eat (shocking I know). Luckily for all those fish, the Missouri ecosystem produces A TON of food for them to eat. And while this is great for the fish, it can sometimes be less than ideal for the fisherman. Let me explain.

This great amount of food (insects, worms, crustaceans, etc.) flows through the river constantly, giving these fish a buffet table of food to choose from. As a result, these fish don’t have to travel very far to get a bite to eat. What this means for the fisherman, is that this river fishes very differently from many of our great freestone rivers in this state. Fish in small streams, and even some of the larger freestone rivers are very opportunistic feeders. They will move, sometimes even a few feet, to eat a morsel of food that they see pass through their window of opportunity to get a bite and fill their stomach. The residents of the Missouri do not need to do this. They tend to stay in their prime feeding lies, rarely moving unless forced out. As a result, they will not travel far to eat your fly. They don’t have to.

When fly fisherman, myself included, start struggling to get a lot of eats on the river, the first instinct is often to change the fly. Micro May not working? Let’s try a Green Machine. Size18 not working? Let’s go to a 20. Worm? Sow? What are they eating?!?

More often than not, it’s not the fly, but the location of the fly. The next time you aren’t catching the amount of fish you feel that you should, change the location. This means both depth and range. If you are fishing deep, shorten it up. Already short? Go deep. Add some weight. Take some off. One of my good friends, and probably the best nymph fisherman I know, Bob Glassen, states that he “changes depth constantly”. He’s not satisfied until he’s found out where they are in the water column. Also, if you float through a good run that you are sure is holding fish, don’t be afraid to go back up, move over 3 or 4 feet and run it again. You will often be surprised by the results. A few feet on this river can be the difference between a great day in the boat and a slow or average one.

This isn’t to say that fly choice doesn’t matter at all, but It’s been my experience that if you put the fly in front of the fish, they will eat it. So the next time you aren’t getting into them like you should, remember the old real estate adage, Location, Location, Location, and adjust accordingly. You’ll be happy you did!

Give us a call at (406)235-4350 and book a trip with Wolf Creek Angler today.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:06-06:00October 27th, 2014|Categories: Fishing Report, Montana Fly Fishing|Tags: fly fishing, green machine, indicator, Missouri River, nymphs, running line, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Perfect Autumn morning at Wolf Creek Bridge. Photo by Wolf Creek Angler

Fall colors are in full swing on the Missouri River. Photo by Neale Streeks

Fishing has been improving steadily over the past few weeks as we make the full transition to fall. We’ve had summer-like weather for the most part save for one day of snow showers early in the month and while it’s made for some beautiful days on the water we would prefer some cooler, cloudier weather to get the bugs going. Tomorrow could be the day with a chance of rain and snow showers and highs in the low 50’s. Sunny skies return on Monday and Tuesday but with temps dipping into the high 30’s at night hopefully we will see a drop in the water temp which should usher in the big bugs everybody is waiting for.

The fishing has been pretty solid depending on the day throughout the system with the possible exception of the Holter Dam to Wolf Creek Bridge stretch which, after giving it up consistently for many weeks, has gotten relatively quiet. The usual suspects (zebras, sow bugs, pt’s, green machines etc.) will still pick up a few fish on any given day up there but we haven’t seen the consistent action like we were seeing a few weeks ago. The cray fish has also gone quiet after a spectacular run, though I wouldn’t hesitate to try one if nothing else is working.

Below Wolf Creek Bridge it’s a different story with dries, nymphs and streamers all getting it done. The browns are on the prowl and will hammer a streamer right now. Good patterns for us have been Coffey’s Sparkle Minnow in Sculpin, polar leeches in black, copper and olive/copper, olive smolts and the gold/silver Kreelex. Change your bugs, change up your strip and be patient. The Streamer game is not a numbers thing and you may go a long time between chases and may go all day without a hook up but the anticipation and the occasional hog on the chase will keep things interesting, at least for those of us who are into that sort of thing. We are stocked up in the shop with a great selection of streamers that work and we are always happy to share our secrets with you.

Big Autumn Browns colored up and on the chase on the Missouri photo by Wolf Creek Angler LLC

The nymphing game below the bridge has been good with the Little Green Machine leading the charge most days. Other hot bugs have been WD 40’s, Rainbow Warriors, Chezch nymphs, sow bugs, PT’s, Dark Peep Shows and all kinds of baetis stuff including Angel Case Emergers, Bubbleback Emergers, Magic Flies and juju’s. Some days it’s a short rig – other days not so much. Air-Lock Strike Indicators continue to fly off the shelves due to the ease with which you can change depths in no time by simply loosening the nut and sliding the indicator to the desired depth. Long known for our skepticism of gimmicky products – the WCA guide crew has fully embraced this technology and we are proud to endorse Air Lock Strike Indicators as our official indicator of choice on the MO.

Air-Lock Strike Indicators always available at Wolf Creek Angler

Plenty of fish up on any given day as well and many willing to play. We’ve been liking a Parachute Adams or a Purple Haze with an RS2, CDC Caddis emerger, zebra midge or Juju trailer but a #14 Sloan’s Outrigger Caddis coupled with a #22 pseudo isn’t a bad call either. Plenty of options as we await the BWO’s. Stop by the shop for all of these bugs and more along with as much or as little instruction as you would like on the where’s, when’s and hows.

Lodging is busy right now but we’ve got a few vacancies here and there so give us a call. We are the only full service fly shop in Wolf Creek with lodging, guides, shuttles, RO drift boat rentals and a shop filled with everything you need for Missouri River fly fishing success including the greatest selection of bugs ever to be assembled under one roof in Wolf Creek Montana. Stop in and see us and find out for yourself if all the things you’ve heard are true. You’ll be glad you did.

See you in the shop and on the water. ~ Jason O.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:06-06:00October 11th, 2014|Categories: Fishing Report, Montana Fly Fishing|Tags: Air-Lock Strike Indicators, brown trout, fly fishing, green machine, Holter Dam, Missouri River, RO Drift Boats, running line, Sloan's Outrigger Caddis, streamers, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler, zebra midges|0 Comments

September fishing…

california island

Over the past week we have experienced a taste of Autumn. Temps dropped, with some days not reaching the 50 degree mark. We got our first snow of the year, and correspondingly our first frost. Some trees and willows are starting to change colors (I’m not ready for that!): bowhunting, and bird hunting are beginning to enter into the nightly conversations more than going back over the days fishing.

What the weather has done for the fishing is good. Those gray days we had last week saw Psuedo’s on the surface by the millions, the apperance of a larger, olivish mayfly that I don’t feel confident calling a baetis, and a fair amount of caddis flitting about.

Some of the rising fish are a pain, eating just subsurface. Your best bet is to throw something at them, but expect for them to ignore it. Again, find the fish that are showing the cotton white of their mouth and fish to them. They will be eager to eat your bug with a good presentation.

Folks have been succesful with caddis patterns on those fish that are up and in rhythm. A purple haze or a parachute adams is also a good choice.

Nymphing has been really good-fish are holding in seams and along rock banks. I’ve been running a shorter rig, and just about anywhere there’s a fast and soft edge I’ve been finding fish eating. There is a wide variety of nymph patterns that are productive right now. Black zebra midges (sometimes red), little green machines, red-headed step child, mat’s autocad, crayfish, the worm, czech nymphs, peep show, olive wd-40’s, etc, etc…

Streamer fishing is an option, not your most productive, but it’ll work if properly commited to.

Caddis eating brown

Things are starting to get really good here, light pressure, and great fishing, call now to reserve your room or your guide! 406-235-4350!–Matt

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:06-06:00September 14th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: baetis, brown trout, caddis, dry fly, fly fishing, Missouri River, Montana, Wolf Creek|0 Comments

Our favorite time of year. Cool fall mornings at Holter Dam on the Missouri River photo by Wolf Creek Angler LLC

Autumn is starting to take hold on the Little Prickly Pear – photo Wolf Creek Angler LLC

Fall day at Wolf Creek Bridge photo Wolf Creek Angler

Join us all this weekend as we bid farewell to our first summer with huge savings on everything in the shop where we are clearing space to make room for new fall merchandise arriving daily. Twenty percent off everything storewide. Flies, rods, reels, waders, hydroflasks, Simms logo wear, fly lines, leaders, tippet – everything is on sale!

It’s been a great inaugural summer for Wolf Creek Angler. We’ve met so many great people over the past 5 months in the shop and on the water and out and about at various community and industry events. We’ve learned a lot since April about what works and what doesn’t and we’re making changes as we go. Look for constant growth and constant improvement and a constant committment to customer service from Wolf Creek Angler.

The cool weather and the rain last weekend flipped the switch on the MO and the fishing has been crazy good – downright ridiculous at times. The crayfish craze has been in effect for a couple of weeks now and we’ve done extremely well dead drifting various crayfish patterns in tandem with zebra midges at the dam and a whole host of bugs below the Wolf Creek bridge. Peep Shows, Little Green Machines, Micro Mays, Soft Hackle Sows, Shop Vacs and flashback PT’s have all had some strong showings over the past few days. The fish are where you would expect to find them and also where you might not expect them to be. Hit the water you like and the water you don’t – it’s all good right now.

There are still plenty of tricos around and there have been a few heads up here and there for the DFO’s to target. We’ve also had moderate success on hoppers, especially below Craig. We like to trail with an ant or drop a weight fly to bump the odds.

Fall lodging and guide trips are booking up quickly – especially for October so don’t wait too long. We are a little sad to see summer go but we’re ready for fall in Wolf Creek. Awesome days of fishing the MO followed by dinner and libations at the Oasis and/or the Frenchman followed by a good night’s rest at Wolf Creek Angler – does it get any better?

Rooms, boats, bugs, shuttles and all the terminal tackle you need along with rain gear, wading gear, layering gear and more all at Wolf Creek Angler – minutes from Holter Dam and Wolf Creek Bridge. Nobody is closer!

Axel with one of the prettiest Missouri River rainbows I’ve seen

Brad Turner aka The PM Angler from Baldwin Michigan got a good taste of what the Missouri River has to offer

Father and Son Dan and Paul had a great day on the Missouri River with Wolf Creek Angler guide Jim Murray

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:06-06:00August 30th, 2014|Categories: Fishing Report, Montana Fly Fishing, Uncategorized|Tags: fly fishing, green machine, Holter Dam, Missouri River, nymphs, rainbow trout, running line, tricos, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler, zebra midges|0 Comments

The famed Blackfoot River

Being that things are a little slow around the Missouri right now, Fred and Matt and I have all taken the opportunity to get out of the canyon and visit some different waters. We love the Missouri but it’s always nice to get out and see other parts of this beautiful and amazing state we call home. I was able to spend a couple of days this week fishing west of the divide with my son and spent the day Thursday in Yellowstone checking Slough Creek off of the bucket list.

Last summer I convinced my son to go wandering with me so we threw the tent and the sleeping bags and the rods in the car and ventured west. We ended up camping at River Junction on the Blackfoot and had a great time despite the fishing being a little slow. I worked on my teaching skills and he worked on his casting skills and we were able to tolerate one another for the most part. I had hoped it was the start of fishing together with some regularity but once school started a week or two later things got busy. Once we bought the shop things got even busier so here we are a year later, summer is waning and we haven’t fished much so we decided we would at least continue the tradition of a day of wandering and fishing and a night of camping. We again found ourselves drawn to the Blackfoot, this time camping at Russell Gates. As we watched the rafts taking out that night and launching the next morning we talked of an overnight on the river next summer. We shall see! My son is not crazy about fishing, in fact I think it would be fair to say that he tolerates fishing. We don’t have a lot in common right now. He is a 13-year-old kid with 13-year-old kid interests and we don’t spend a lot of time together so to have the opportunity to hang out together meant a lot to me and hopefully to him as well. We fished some great small waters, caught some cutthroats, worked on casting/mending/line control and were lulled to sleep by the soothing sounds of the river flowing outside of our tent. We fished a bit the second day but spent most of our time exploring the back roads in and around the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Worked in the shop Wednesday morning and then made my way south to Gardiner to meet up with some friends from back home. On Thursday we headed into Yellowstone to fish the legendary Slough Creek.

The Legendary Slough Creek. Everything you’ve heard is true!

Brad Turner www.pmanglercom and his wife Lasha hail from Baldwin Michigan where Brad guides on my home water, the Pere Marquette River. Brad taught me much of what I know about fly fishing years ago and has been a huge influence on me over the years. Time spent on the water with Brad over the years certainly contributed to the decision to pursue this dream here in Wolf Creek MT and it’s always a pleasure to fish with the Turners.

Today marks two years since my wife, our son, our dog and I walked out the door of our home in Ludington MI for the last time and headed west to pursue our dream. It was shortly after we arrived in Helena that the Turners came out to Yellowstone on vacation and I met them there with intentions of fishing Slough Creek. Being new at that time to living in a state where we share the land with critters like grizzly bears I was a little apprehensive about venturing into the wilds of Yellowstone. As luck would have it we had no grizzly encounters but did have an encounter with a bison who decided to charge us to keep things interesting. We did not venture beyond the road accessible parts of the creek and the fishing was challenging to say the leas. I left Yellowstone having failed to catch a fish.

The Turners didn’t make it out last year but we’ve been planning our return to Slough for over a year now. We did the research and discovered that the only way to fish Slough is to hike into the meadows. As we began our trek yesterday morning I commented that there was no way I would have made this hike the first year because of the aforementioned critter anxiety so I feel like I’ve come a long way. Over six miles each way, we did a BIG hike through some very Beary looking country. The plan was to hike until we found water we would have to ourselves. There were several anglers at the first meadow so we hiked on to the second where we found a great stretch of water where we had a couple of hours of outstanding cutthroat fishing. With a several hour hike ahead of us we cut the fishing short and headed out. It was a day I won’t soon forget.

Beautiful views of the valley on the hike out

So what’s happening on the Missouri? Steady as she goes. Tricos in the morning, nymphing coming back into shape and hoppers getting it done. More details to come as I shift gears and get back on the MO in the next couple of days.

Stop by the shop and see what’s new. We’ve got everything you need for the Missouri and beyond. Bugs, shuttles, terminal tackle, rods, reels, rooms, guides and all kinds of Wolf Creek Angler logo gear to suit any taste. Friendly service and honest reports and advice always.

See you in the shop and on the water.

~ Jason O.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:16:07-06:00August 15th, 2014|Categories: Fishing Report, Montana Fly Fishing, Uncategorized|Tags: Blackfoot, fly fishing, Gardiner MT, Missouri River, Montana, Pere Marquette River, running line, Slough Creek, tricos, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler, Yellowstone National Park|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…

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