Wolf Creek Angler Archives - Page 56 of 67

Mid Week Missouri River Fishing Report 4/15/15

Cooler, cloudier weather yesterday and today has ushered in some solid nymphing action and some prime conditions for streamer fishing.

It sounds like Holter to Craig was the section yesterday with fish congregating in most of the go-to spots. From what we’ve heard the fish are not consistently eating anything in particular so you may have to switch it up often to get them to go. Rainbow Czechs, S & M’s, Hot Bead worms, Military Mays, Green Machines, Sow Bugs, PT’s, Zebras…they are all getting eaten so don’t be afraid to change bugs often.

Streamer action continues to be hit or miss but it’s definitely worth the effort in our humble opinion. Dry fly fishing has been good with a fair amount of BWO’s around and plenty of midges. We saw a lot of fish up in the canyon section on Monday and landed a few on the Parachute Adams/midge rig and even got a couple to go on the bigger bugs.

Sunny skies return tomorrow and Friday with highs back in the mid to high 60’s. Why not use that tax refund and book yourself a $300 Spring Special Guide Trip on the Missouri, you only have 15 days left before regular season rates return on both guide trips and lodging.

Stop by Wolf Creek Angler on your way to the river for everything you need for your day on the Missouri. The hardest working guides on the river, lodging, shuttles, RO drift boat rentals, all-conditions gear from KAST Extreme Fishing Gear, hand warmers, gloves and hats from Outdoor Research and of course the recently expanded largest selection of Missouri River flies ever assembled under one roof in Wolf Creek Montana.
See you in the shop and on the water.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 15th, 2015|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: $300 Missouri River Guide Trips, dry fly fishing, Kast Gear, Missouri River, Missouri River Spring Special Guide Rates, Outdoor Research, RO Drift Boats, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Canyon Report 4/14/2015

Guest Report from WCA Guide Jim Murray

Fellow WCA Guide, Matt Hargrave and I decided to get out on a last minute recon trip this past weekend to see if we could find a few fish in the Canyon. While the wind made the fishing and rowing challenging at times, we definitely put our fair share of fish in the net. The water levels have dropped, while the water temps have risen, and the fish seem to be doing exactly what you would expect in these situations. Moving out of the slow, deep runs, and into shallower, faster runs. We caught a number of fish right on the hard banks in fairly fast water. Shelf lines and current seams, as always, were productive as well.
At times the river was blanketed with both midges and baetis, but not many fish were looking up. That said, for those anglers wishing to target heads, there are pods of fishing working in the right areas, willing to eat a properly presented midge cluster or BWO parachute. The dry fly bite is definitely happening on the Missouri right now, and only figures to get better and better as April turns to May.
Hot nymphs for the day included a Rainbow Czech and a small Hogan S&M. That’s it. We never had the need to try other patterns. We set our rig in the morning and fished it all day, as fish happily ate both flies.
Although we didn’t throw any streamers, we have been hearing mixed reports on those that do. The streamer junkies love to the throw the meat and are having some success, but it seems to be hit or miss. A lot of changing flies, patterns, colors, etc., hoping to find the magic combo that will get the fish into an aggressive mood.
All in all a great day on the water with a great buddy, topped off with a couple of Blackfoot River IPA’s at the end of the day at Izaak’s in Craig. The season is upon us. We’re ready!
One other note: We had the chance to fish the Strike Foundry Stealth Indicator on Sunday, and really liked it. It worked as advertised, and proved very sensitive to help detect subtle strikes. We used the “In Line” rigging method and found that it performed flawlessly. For all you nymph junkies out there (count me in), you might want to give this indicator a try. I know I’ll have a few in my boat this year. Check them out at WCA!

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 14th, 2015|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: Hogan's S & M, Missouri River, nymphs, running line, Streamer Fishing, Strike Foundry, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

The Week Ahead

A day of firsts for Tara. First trout EVER including a couple of nice bows and this brown.

It looks like today will be the nicest day of the week with mostly sunny skies and a high near 70. The breeziness continues with South wind 8-15, gusting to 22.

A good chance of rain tomorrow and maybe even some snow on Wednesday with more seasonable temps hanging in the high 40’s and low 50’s, back into the 60’s by Thursday and Friday.

The action remained solid over the weekend with plenty of fish showing interest in nymphs and dries alike. We haven’t heard too much on the streamer front but a couple of cloudy days this week with water temps in the low 40’s could make for some pretty good action. We’ve got a bunch of new streamers in the bins, come by and check them out.

Rainbow Czechs, Military Mays, Pink Amex, Red 2 Bit Hookers, S & M’s and Tailwater Sows have all been effective nymphing patterns but the Little Green Machine has once again become the go-to fly on the river. We’ve got bins full of all of them. Short leashing the faster shallow water has been very effective the past few days but there are still fish in the slow deep stuff as well. It’s the Missouri – the fish are EVERYWHERE!

There have been a few BWO’s around and fish are being caught on emergers and cripples as well as the midge stuff. Keep throwing the clusters (Griffiths gnats/buzzballs etc). We haven’t been getting too crazy with trying BWO patterns yet but we’ve got a bunch of them and it certainly wouldn’t be a bad call. If you want to keep it simple a Hi Vis Parachute Adams trailed with a Griffiths Gnat is a great option. Come on in for all the flies you need including some “top secret” bugs which have been on fire.

We’ve got all of our lodging open now and while things are starting to fill up we’ve got plenty of rooms available this week and into the weekend. $99 gets you a cabin or bungalow with full kitchen through the end of April. Motel rooms also available at $60/single and $69/double. Don’t forget $300 Spring Special Missouri River full day guide trips through the end of the month. We’ve got a lot of trips out this week, would love to have more. Give us a call and book yours today. Guides are standing by at the ready.

Dan with a MO River cookie cutter

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 13th, 2015|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: $300 Missouri River Guide Trips, brown trout, green machine, Missouri River, Missouri River Spring Special Guide Rates, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

For Your Sunday Viewing Pleasure

Breezy on the MO this morning with West wind 12-29 mph, gusting to 40. Too windy to fish? Of course not. But if you have the option Monday looks much better with SW wind around 9 mph, partly sunny skies and a high of 68.
In the meantime sit back and enjoy one of our favorite fly fishing film trailers….

Anyone up for Mousing the MO?

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 12th, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: brown trout, Missouri River, Once in a Blue Moon, running line, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Weekend Missouri River Fishing Report

Guest Blog from WCA Guide Luke Koerten.

“What is your favorite time of year to fish the Missouri?” This is a question I often hear while rowing my boat down the river. “April” is what usually comes out of my mouth next without much thought. I have spent a handful of days over the past week floating in the canyon with both friends and clients, and though some days have resulted in more fish in the net, each day has reminded me why I love this time of year on the Missouri River.

Midges are out daily and each new day brings with it a few more mayflies in the air as spring has, well, sprung. Will it snow again? I hope so. We could use the precipitation, and those cold wet days are my favorite as pods of fish feast on the surface with reckless abandon. If you’re more into boat rides on warm sunny days, April has those too. Yesterday was such a day. Despite periods of slow fishing, it’s hard to complain about warm air, no wind, and multiple applications of sunscreen. Catching fish on streamers, nymphs, and dries all in the same day also makes me smile.

As water temps creep towards the mid 40’s we’ve been shortening our nymph rigs to target the fish in the shallower riffles. Heavier flies like a tungsten sow, rainbow czech or rubberlegs 2-4 feet from the bobber with no split shot has been working well with your favorite mayfly or zebra midge off the back. If you’d rather fish the slower deeper runs, add a BB and move the bobber up to 5-6 feet. That’ll work too.

Dry flies are catching fish daily. On bright sunny days look for pods of fish in shady spots. Trees, bridges, high banks and the walls of the canyon are all good shade producers. When the clouds roll in rising fish should be even easier to find. Small singular midge and mayfly dries have been tricking fish. Blind fishing a small purple haze or adams along the bank has worked too. We spotted the elusive skwala adult yesterday on the water, making it easier to fish the bigger bugs with confidence too. Perfect for hanging a mayfly nymph off the back. Green machines, pheasant tails and lightning bugs would all be good choices.

Streamers continue to produce with varying degrees of success. Tie on something you believe in and just keep casting. Olive smolts and kreelex are flies I’ve been tossing around with confidence lately. I have also been speeding up my retrieve rate lately and it seems to be working.

April is a great time to be an angler on the Missouri. Angling pressure is still relatively light most days, and the fish are hungry and waiting to make you smile. Fishing is getting better as we move through the month, but don’t wait too long. You can’t catch fish if you’re not fishing. See you on the river.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 11th, 2015|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: brown trout, Missouri River, Montana, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|1 Comment

FLY shop Friday

Piles of new flies now at Wolf Creek Angler

Piles of new bugs in the bins at Wolf Creek Angler. We spent the better part of yesterday checking them in and rearranging the bins to accommodate all the new stuff.

700 some dozen yesterday and many more on the way making the largest selection of Missouri River flies ever assembled under one roof in Wolf Creek Montana even larger.

Streamers, nymphs, dries…..we’ve got em. Everything you need for Missouri River success including plenty of Little Green Machines, Peep Shows, Amex, Payczechs, Circus Peanuts, Kreelex, Military Mays, S & M’s, Polar Leeches, Magic Flies and many more.

Stop in and see what the buzz is about at WCA.

Streamers Aplenty at WCA

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 10th, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: Amex, Circus Peanut, Hogan's Military Mayfly, Hogan's S & M, Kreelex, Little Green Machine, Mason's Peep Show, Two Bit Hooker, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Blue Sky Blues

Made it out yesterday for a Wolf Creek to Craig float with our good friends Dan and Tara and while it was a gorgeous (but breezy) spring day the fishing was less than stellar.
Following recent reports we rigged up with Rainbow Czechs and Little Green Machines and prepared to start crushing fish. After hitting a couple runs with nary a drop of the bobber we decided to stop and pick apart an area which has been consistently yielding fish. One brief hook up and several bug changes later we moved on in search of more productive water.
As we worked through my favorite spots we got a few hook ups but failed to find much happening on subsequent row arounds. Dan finally landed a fish on the Little Green Machine so we returned to the original set up and started to see a few more hook ups and a couple of fish to hand as afternoon approached.
The water was covered with blankets of midges for the better part of the day but rising fish were few and far between. We stopped for lunch and finally did find a productive run with fish willing to play and cooperating with the row around game.
Traffic on the river was very light with just a few other boats in the section. Good bugs for the day were the aforementioned Rainbow Czech and Little Green Machine and we also managed to get a few to go on the dark Peep Show and the Tungsten Tailwater Sow. Miscellaneous Firebeads and Pink Lightning Bugs were not effective.
I chalked the slow fishing up to the bright sunny day and while we would have loved to have had a little more action, spending the day in a drift boat floating down the Missouri River is NEVER a bad way to pass the time regardless of how it’s fishing.
Today looks to be another beautiful bright and sunny blue sky day…why wouldn’t you spend it on the MO? Stop by WCA on your way to the river for everything you need for Missouri River Fly Fishing.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 9th, 2015|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: green machine, Missouri River, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|1 Comment

Back in Action

Fully Stocked with more arriving daily! photo by Wolf Creek Angler

Back to work today and arrived this morning to find a shop full of goodies that weren’t here a week ago. Lots of new flies, a bunch of Fishpond and Loon tools and accessories, the best selection of fly lines we’ve ever had, eyewear from Smith Optics, more Kast Extreme fishing gear, Simms logo wear, fully stocked Rio and Trouthunter leader/tippet inventory, Hydroflask cofee flasks, watter bottles and growlers in all kinds of cool colors….just to name a few.

The shop has never looked better and we invite you to stop in and see what the buzz is about.

Traffic on the river is still relatively light though that will begin to change from here on out as things heat up out there.
Flows continue to hold around 4000 and water temps are currently hanging in that low 40’s range – perfect for this transition period as we move from targeting slow deep water and the semi-lethargic fish holding there to faster shallows and flats and fish willing to chase and ready to put up a fight.
We’ve got a chance for rain and snow each day this week with highs in the 50’s which could make for some great fishing whether you’re looking for dry fly action or you prefer the sub-surface game. We’ve heard good reports from the last couple of days on both.
Hot bugs for today in no particular order have been Pink Amex, Grey LGM, Parachute Adams, Olive Smolt, BWO Magic Fly, Rainbow Czech, Juju Baetis, Hi-Vis Griffiths Gnat, Brown Polar Leech, Beadless Black Zebra and Tailwater Sowbugs…all available at Wolf Creek Angler.

Plenty of lodging available this week and don’t forget to book your $300 Full Day Spring Special Guide Trip through the end of the month. Make Wolf Creek Angler your first stop on the way to the river – we’ve got everything you need for Missouri River fly fishing and we are closer to the Holter Dam and Wolf Creek Bridge access sites than ANYONE.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:55-06:00April 7th, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: $300 Missouri River Guide Trips, dry fly fishing, fly fishing, Holter Dam, Missouri River, Missouri River Spring Special Guide Rates, RO Drift Boats, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments

Home

Happy to be home!

Back in Montana this morning, still six hours from home. I’m anxious to get back to the shop on Tuesday and see what I’ve missed. We’ve received a lot of new product while I was gone last week and all I’ve been hearing from our guides is how great the fishing has been in my absence. Definitely anxious to get back on the oars this week!

I was thinking sometime during the 1600 miles of road time over the last couple of days that our one year anniversary came and went on Wednesday, April 1st without mention. It was one year ago on that day that we opened the doors at Wolf Creek Angler and we couldn’t be happier with our first year in business. From day one we’ve gone about doing our thing, our way with one mission in mind – to do everything we can to serve you, our customers, in any way we can and to earn your business and hopefully your loyalty. The response has been awesome and we’re excited to continue to grow and to improve and to find new ways to become your go-to Missouri River fly shop and guide service.

A huge THANK YOU to each and every one of you who has shopped with us, stayed with us, done guide trips with us, LIKED us on Facebook and on and on. Thanks to all of you also who read our blog and give us feedback on our content – it means so much to me every time I talk to someone on the phone or in person about something they read in the blog and while it’s sometimes a challenge to come up with meaningful content on a daily basis we are committed to being your source for all things Missouri River fly fishing and more. We’re certainly not the only source for information on the river but we like to think that our fresh perspective brings a refreshing voice to the Missouri River lexicon from the point of view of someone who is still amazed by this place every moment of every day and who has yet to be bogged down by the complacency that can creep in over time, a result of routine and familiarity. We invite you to join us as we continue to explore and to learn and to share with you our journey.

Here’s to another great year.

Good fishing ahead this week.

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:56-06:00April 6th, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: Missouri River, Montana, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|1 Comment

Weekend Update 4/4/15

WCA guide Matt Hargrave is ready to put you on some Missouri River bows. Photo by Luke Koerten

Got a chance to get out and fish with fellow WCA guide Luke Koerton on Thursday. It was spur of the moment, having received a text from Luke early that morning. My schedule was open for the day, which isn’t too unusual, as my hours of employment are few and far between during the shoulder season. And of course, I rarely pass up the chance to go fish. The weather looked fairly decent, mid 50’s, small chance of precip, and little to no wind. Typical weather for early Spring.

One thing I truly appreciate about being on the WCA guide team is that we are all buddies. When we fish together we are constantly comparing notes. We all have our different fishing and guiding styles, and we learn from each other whenever we fish together. Maybe there’s a little bucket that Jim, or Nick, or Luke knows about that I don’t. The same is true for them. Or maybe there’s a stretch of river where I’m not very successful on, and they are, and then we show each other how to find and catch fish in that particular spot. And then there’s the places where everyone agrees to avoid, which is reassuring to know that it’s not just you that doesn’t catch fish there. It’s a team effort for all of us, we don’t hold back information, we encourage the success of our fellow guides, all in preparation for the day that you step into our boat.

Since we were getting a late start, Luke and I did Wolf Creek to Craig. Nymphing was gonna rule the day, but just in case, dry fly and streamer rods were brought. Luke picked up a fish right away on a PT Little Green Machine. The next two fish also fell to the same bug. The top fly was being ignored, so we changed it to a wire worm. The fish starting eating that. When they turned off on the wire worm, we switched up to a Pink Lightning Bug and that worked for a while too, with a grey Little Green Machine becoming a player as well. Where we could, we would do a row around just to make sure it wasn’t some fluke that we picked up a fish. For the most part, the fish were where we thought they were, and eating bugs we thought they should. They’re starting to spread out a bit, still holding in soft, deep, inside shoulders, but also hanging out in waist deep, walking pace straight aways.

The dry fly bite wasn’t really happening, the wind picked up and we could see snow heading our direction, so we figured it was best to keep moving and focus on nymphing. All in all another successful day on the river. I think between the majority of us here at WCA we’ve already got a seasons worth of fishing under our belts. Ready and raring to go for when the “official” season starts—Matt

By Jason Orzechowski|2016-10-25T16:15:56-06:00April 4th, 2015|Categories: Fishing Report|Tags: fly fishing, green machine, Missouri River, Montana, running line, Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Angler|0 Comments