The Big Hole is open and on fire! Mike from the shop got out yesterday and floated from Melrose to Browne's Bridge. Fishing was good from the get go on stonefly nymphs, and there were even some random fish rising to midges. The ice is mostly gone, and the river is flowing low and clear. We do have some cold temperatures forecasted in the near future, so fishing may slow down for a fwe days or so, but the fish are eating now and they're in good shape after a mild winter. We've also gotten good reports from the local guys fishing the Big Hole around Glen, with San Juan Worms, Stonefly Nymphs, and Midges taking the majority of fish.
Also, for you Big Hole enthusiasts... Abel Reels will be producing a very special limited edition Big Hole Grayling reel with artwork by James Prosek. There will only be 100 of these reels made, and proceeds will go to help the Big Hole River Foundation in their efforts to protect the Fluvial Arctic Grayling and restore crucial habitat in the upper Big Hole River. Frontier Anglers will have 5 of these reels, which are slated to become available sometime in May. Please call us ASAP if you would like to be put on our waiting list for one of these reels.
Clark Canyon Reservoir - March 17th, 2010
supplied by: Tim Tollett's Frontier Anglers RECORDED:55 °FISHING: Good
Every day we are getting more and more phone calls about the ice conditions on Clark Canyon. There is open water at the south end and along the east shore, but the north shore near the dam still has a decent amount of ice. We'll start updating more often to keep the guys who are chomping at the bit to get up here and do fihsing well informed. Give us a ring at the shop at (406) 683-5276 if you have any questions or would like an up-to-the-minute report.
Missouri River - March 15th, 2010
supplied by: Big R Fly Shop RECORDED:60 °FISHING: Good
The Missouri is still nymphing well up high. Switch up your nymphs alot, many of the classics are not producing like normal. The water is low and clear and lots of midges are the water, finding heads is spotty but doable. Streamer fishing seems to be good on the lower stretches. We fished Craig to Mid-Canon and started getting streamer grabs by the Dearborn... so if i were to do it again I'd either fish high and nymph/look for heads. Or fish low and put in at Stickney or Dearborn and roll streamers low. Fish seemed to chase the Yellow Yummy the best yesterday.
Blackfoot River - March 14th, 2010
supplied by: Big R Fly Shop RECORDED:40 °FISHING: Good
Floated Cable Car to Waystation yesterday. The water temp. is still very cold (was around 37 at 2pm) up here. We fished the river with one intention and that was to bring the biggest fish possible to the boat. I had two bull trout that were 24"+ boil on a woolhead and one other brown that was 20"+ swat at my streamer. Total, we landed four bull trout, two browns, and two cutties, all on slow moving streamers. We could of easily had a 20+ fish day if we nymphed the winter holding buckets. This river is on the verge of becoming very good. Give it a week or two of warmer nighttime temps. and it will be fishing big.
Bitterroot River - March 8th, 2010
supplied by: Big R Fly Shop FISHING: Good
This river is finally waking up after its winter slumber. I fished this river on Friday and Saturday last week and caught fish on nymphs, streamers, and dries. The first of the skwalas have begun to hatch. Although you tend not to see many naturals on or off the water, that doesn't mean the fish aren't keyed onto them. We had around a dozen takes on low-profile skwala dries, all of which were big fish. Give it another week or so until the fishing is strictly a dry-fly deal. If you're looking to catch fish on bigger stonefly patterns, focus your efforts from Florence to Hamilton. Look for the emergence of march browns and bwo's to happen in the near future as well. There are also neumoras, little black stones, and midges on the water. Look for this river to really turn on by next week sometime.
Suggested patterns include: Blooms skwala, godzilla skwala, hammerhead skwala, chernobyl style skwalas, griffiths knats, pulsating midge emergers, red copper johns, princes, red san juan worm, bh pheasant tails, red headed step child, epoxy back skwala nymph, 20"ers, JJ's, sculpzilla, sleezburgers, and buggers
Beaverhead River - March 3rd, 2010
supplied by: Tim Tollett's Frontier Anglers RECORDED:48 °FISHING: Great
You know, those of us who are within driving distance of the Beaverhead really have been lucky this last year. As of today, flows are about 100 cfs coming out of Clark Canyon dam and the Beaverhead is open below Pipe Organ Bridge. Fishing has been great on some of these warmer days and ok on some of the cooler, windy ones. For most of the winter, flows have been between 100 cfs and 200 cfs, and the trout in the Beaverhead are showing the benefits of having good water and bugs all winter long.
Mike from the shop has been sneaking around the public lands below Pipe Organ and putting a hurting on some fish which have been ranging anywhere from 6" on up to 20". Mike got out yesterday and brought about a half dozen fish to hand, including his first one of 2010 on a dry. A few fish were rising in isolated pockets and side channels, and the dry fly action should only get better and better as the water warms and midges, BWOs, and Mother's Day Caddis get increasingly more active over the next two months. The fly of choice, however, was an old faithful brown woolly bugger fished aggressively through some of the slower water. Its always good to have a few different flavors handy, with olive, brown, and black buggers being the most productive this time of year. All of the fish landed, and some of the ones that weren't, were in fantastic shape said Mike. They were good, deep fish with bright colors as opposed to long, snaky fish that have been common some springs after low winter flows. This is a great time of year to hit the Beaverhead. Stop by the shop on your way down and pick up some BWO or midge patterns because it is going to be anyday now when things break wide open on the Beaverhead!
The Ruby River below the dam is open for catch and release fishing right now, but there is not too much water coming out of the dam. At only 33 cfs, the Ruby is very wader-friendly right now and you can access most of the river from either of the two access points below the dam or at Alder. Remember to stay within the high-water mark! Midges, BWO nymphs, and streamers will take the majority of fish these days, although we have not heard of any BWOs hatching just yet. Some anglers are opting to give the fish in the Ruby a rest because of the low flows, but so long as you land the fish quickly and try to minimize the time spent out of the water, the fish should be just fine.
Bighorn River - March 1st, 2010
supplied by: Big Sky Fly Fishers FISHING: Good
Yesterday was a long awaited day of fishing for me. The river traffic was relatively low. I floated the 3 mile-Bighorn stretch of the Bighorn River, and saw 5-7 other boats. The water temp is cold, in the upper 30's. I saw the expected bug life, midges (occassionally in clusters), and a handful of baetis duns in the afternoon. I pumped some fish to find worms, sowbugs, and hundreds of tiny cream midges.
The nymphing I would decribe as O.K. We were able to catch some fish everywhere we tried, and on a wide variety of nymph patterns, but had to work fairly hard for them. I streamer fished my behind off to move just a few fish. The best part of the day for me was the midge fishing in the morning. I was able to get on a pod of eager fish, while throwing a simple midge single dry fly with a tuft of CDC pointing upwards (what's called the "Smokejumper"). It's easy to see, and seamed to be all I needed to catch the risers I could approach.
We had a good time, and enjoyed some sunshine and a nice variety of successful fishing.
The river's low. The flow is listed at 2,000 cfs, but looks even lower as the river bottom is so clean (no moss displacement).
Please note that the warm weather had caused some low level runoff, and muddy water existed below Mountain Pocket (below the Denver Club's cabin), and Soap Creek. It looked like you'd want to avoid fishing the right side of the river all together downstream of Soap Creek.
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