It’s been an awesome early spring on the MO’ with cooler temps and plenty of overcast skies, ideal conditions for BWO’s as well as for streamer fishing…two of our favorite things about spring.

We continue to see precipitation in the form of both rain and snow and with the cooler conditions continuing to persist around the state the snowpack is being maintained and is actually increasing in many drainages.

It looks like it’s going to be a good water year in the region and it looks like the Missouri is going to be a busy place once runoff ramps up and brings us all those seeking fishable water.

It appears as though we’ll get our first real taste of warm weather this season as temperatures hit the high 70’s and into the 80’s beginning on Thursday and lasting through most of the weekend before things return to more normal temps for early May. We’ll see plenty of sunshine throughout the week but expect the overcast conditions to return on Saturday.

Good BWO activity being reported daily though the fairly consistent abundance of bugs has not necessarily meant consistency where rising fish are concerned. When you do find rising fish they’ve been fairly willing to take a well-presented fly so keep those dry-fly rigs at the ready. I’ve been running a parachute Adams along with a Wilcox’s Micromay BWO and haven’t had any real reason to abandon that setup though a Brook’s Sprout Baetis and a Quiqley’s Film Critic is another combo that’s hard to beat. There are still gazillions of midges out there as well so midge clusters should definitely be a part of your dry-fly arsenal right now.

Nymphing is still in the transitional stages. Wire worms, Rainbow Czechs, Pink Amex, Ninch’s Bubble Yum Scuds and Rainbow Weight Flies have all been good options trailed with a sowbug or a mayfly nymph. Tailwater sows, Ninch’s Pill Poppers and Firebead soft hackle sows have been more consistent for me but Green Machines, 2 bits, S & M’s, Psycho Mays, Juju’s, purple lightning bugs and the lot have also been getting plenty of attention.

The canyon still seems to be a better option for numbers right now but there are plenty of fish throughout the system. We’ve been skipping the dam to Wolf Creek stretch as of late but there are plenty of fish being caught up there in the places you’d expect them to be. The same can be said for the Wolf Creek to Craig stretch which has been consistently solid though perhaps not as productive as you would expect it to be but it should only get better from here on out.

We’re continuing to have better luck fishing longer rigs in the deeper slower water but the short leash in shallow fast water has definitely gained momentum over the past week (especially in the canyon).

It’s a great time of year to do it all. Chase bobbers or chuck streamers until you find rising fish.

There have definitely been some tough days and the flows have undoubtedly contributed to this but overall it’s been good enough to make it worth your while. We’re currently looking at 7510 CFS with a water temp of 45 degrees.

We’ve been slammed at the shop this past week with a lot of last-minute spring special trips as well as the start of the arrival of our spring regulars. A huge thank you to all of you who took advantage of our spring lodging and guide trip special. This was by far the busiest we’ve been with spring special guide trips.

We’re booking up weekly with the majority of our guests doing the Thursday – Monday routine leaving plenty of availability both for guides and lodging during the mid-week. We shouldn’t have any problem getting you booked for lodging and/or guide trips for the next couple of weeks but once we hit late May things tend to get challenging. That being said, we do have openings here and there and cancellations do happen so please give us a call and we’ll do our best to get you in.

Official shop hours are still 7:30 am – 5 pm daily though coffee is generally on right around 7 am. If the blinds are open and the lights are on come on in.