It was another beautiful day in Paradise Valley, just South of Livingston, Montana. It seems spring would like to change its tune from 2011 and try and make a very early appearance. However, as most long time Montana residents will tell you – well you never can tell.
This gave us another opportunity to do some more winter fly fishing. Highs were in the mid-40′s and with light winds and warm sunshine it was quite pleasant.
There was a steady hatch of midges on the Yellowstone River from about noon till 3pm. We fooled a few Rainbows with a Harrop CDC Midge and a few Whitefish fooled us as well. Overall, for fishing the Yellowstone River in February it was a great day.
That sunset certainly warmed the soul as well.
Well at least the weather has been getting better in Montana, we don’t feel like we guiding in Alaska any more (no more wearing rain jackets everyday). However the fishing is very inconsistent. One day it’s good the next not so much. We had the McCord’s from Houston Texas up for the last several days and we’ve seen both mediocre and great conditions.
Day one was on DePuy spring creek which was good but the fish were extra picky, mostly due to a light PMD hatch (and the afternoon hail storm). Day two was one of the best dry fly days in recent years on Armstrong spring creek as the PMDs poured off the stream from about 9am until 2 pm. Meredith caught this taped 18″ on a No Hackle dry at about 1pm and it gave us a beautiful fight. That evening we ran up to the Missouri River and after Watching the Fly Fishing Film Festival in Craig, Montana we spent today working hard to boat about a dozen fish. The fish up here are spotty mostly due to the 20,000+ cfs of water they are releasing from the dam. It’s not that the fish aren’t used to big water, it’s that they, like some kind of stability. When the boys at the dam keep upping the flows every day the trout aren’t super happy. Regardless the fish can be caught and when the dozen or so fish you land average about 16″ and extra fat the day still seems like a better day than you could spend working in an office
Well that’s all for now, but we’ll post some more reports again soon seeing as it’s full on go time for fishing.
- somewhere near the water via iPad
Well it was yet another cold and rainy day on the Missouri River. We decided to wait and see if the heavy morning rain would let up a bit. It didn’t. Regardless the fishing was still pretty good. If you could handle being wet and a bit cold the trout were still eating the in the soft water.
Currently the Missouri River is at 14,100 cfs but the Little Prickly Pear is over 2,000 cfs (and muddy) and the Dearborn Is over 5,000 cfs. All the rain has made fishing below Craig very difficult as the water is very dirty. However at the moment there are relatively few boats on the water and boating 20+ fish a day is pretty common.
Our best bugs are a variety of sow bugs, scuds and as always the worm. Fishing is still all deep nymphing at about 8 to 10 feet with a big 3/0 split shot. Not super fun to cast but with a good guide rowing the boat, keeping pace with the indicators hooking up on big rainbow and browns is worth it.
Also it’s currently the only fishing in the state.
- somewhere near the water via iPad
We’ve been up on the Missouri River in Craig, Montana for the past several days and despite the less than stellar weather (read as cold and rainy), we managed to have some pretty successful fishing. Currently the Missouri is 14,600 cfs, which is fairly high water flows, but the nymphing is still good – 20 to 30 fish days are doable.
The Dearborn River is still muddying the lower river so Dam to Dearborn accesses are the only real options for fishing at the moment. The predicted warm weather is probably not going to improve the high flows in the near future.
The technique is pretty much the same deep nymph rigs of 9 to 10.5 feet fishing the inside corners in the soft water. Flies are San Juan worms and Czech Nymphs in medium sizes and small size 18 sow/scuds bugs like the Tailwater Scud or beaded headed Ray Charles. Split shot should be at least a big AB or 3/0.
We’ll be back up here the middle of next week but in the mean time we are heading back to Livingston for a couple days of private lakes and spring creeks.
While the new Fish Pimp Palace is great it’ll be nice to sleep at home for a couple days.
- somewhere near the water via iPad
The water is high and expected to be higher by tonight, but the fishing was pretty good – if you consider 20 healthy trout in the boat a good day. Be warned, if you are planning on coming up the river is at 13,500 cfs and expected to go another 1,000 cfs tonight. It’s a nympher’s dream at the moment and a dryfler’s nightmare, with the high flows the river is pretty cool and the changing water levels aren’t conducive to the surface feeders.
It’s not pretty to cast, but a 10 foot nymph rig to the AB split shot followed by a San Juan Worm, Czech Nymph, Hot Head Sow Bug are the best bet. Hit the soft water from the inside, casting out toward the soft side of the seam. Don’t be afraid to get deep and heavy!
We’ll be up here till the weekend so give us shout for more specifics.
- blogging somewhere near the water via iPad
Our fishing…
The Yellowstone River has been a tricky one to figure out this spring, with cooler than normal temperatures we are still about a week or two behind our normal schedule. The March Browns and Mother’s Day Caddis hatches are still yet to pop, but this week we’ve seen some good action on streamers as you can see on our latest video.
Our Prediction:
We are still guessing that by this weekend we’ll start seeing some significant hatches of both Caddis and March Browns so if you’re in the area get out there. The weather looks fairly warm and as soon as those water temperatures hit 52 to 54 degrees it’s going to go off! We’d also predict that the Yellowstone River won’t blow out until at least early next week, so get some fishing while you can.
The Highlights:
Yellowstone River:
Streamers have been our best ticket in yellow and black fished slow against the banks and in the slower water. The other good option is a shallow bead rig 2′-4′ below a small indicator in the foam holes with 14-18 Pheasant Tails & Midge pupa.
Spring Creeks (Armstrong, DePuy, Nelson):
Midges and baetis have been very good on the cloudy days especially when the breeze is light. Take advantage while you can with the early season discounted rates until June 14th.
Madison River:
The Lower Madison River is off color from Ennis Lake and Cherry Creek spilling in off colored water. There are baetis, midges and caddis are right around the corner. The trout aren’t consistently keying on the dry flies so it’s a nymphing and stream thing right now. The streamer fishing, dragging a Bow River Buggers and small baetis nymphs dropped below are the best ticket right now. Look for the fishing to pick up with the increased hatch activity. The Upper Madison has been a bit trickier so be warned.
Missouri River:
The Missouri is getting much more consistant with nymphing and occasional dry fly action. The nymphing from our reports is best with sow bugs and bright flies or baetis and midges. The streamer fishing is still hit and miss mostly due to the higher flows for this time of the season.
Got any good fishing reports from the area? Then make sure to leave a comment and let us know.
It was another beautiful day in Paradise Valley, just South of Livingston, Montana. It seems spring would like to change its tune from 2011 and try and make a very early appearance. However, as most long time Montana residents will tell you – well you never can tell.
