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Missouri River Brown Trout- Fungus Report

Warm Fall Spawns Trout Fungus

November 22, 2010 Posted by troutguys | Montana Fly Fishing, Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Trips, Fly Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing Montana, Fly Fishing Equipement, Fly Fishing | Comment (0)

Mahoganies and Montana Fly Fy Fishing

Better Late than never, just like the rest of our great hatches this season, the Mahoganies are about two weeks later than we have seen in recent years. This is on of our best hatches and is found in both spring and fall on all of our Western Montana Rivers. You have two shots at this hatch: spring and fall. Unfortunately, many anglers miss the first opportunity in April and May because either the rivers are swollen with runoff, or anglers totally focused on blue-winged olives and salmonflies.
Although mahogany dun nymphs spend much of their lives in fast water, they migrate to the quiet margins as they mature. Thus most hatches occur in slow, almost slack water near shore. Because the hatches are usually sputtering, sporadic events and because the duns drift a long while in slow water, trout will rise eagerly but not aggressively. For that reason this is a difficult hatch to fish well.
Nymph fishing can be productive beginning an hour before the hatch, but you need to take considerable care with your presentation and in how you approach the trout. Because you're fishing slow water, fish have time to examine everything, from the quality of your imitation to your leader to you. Sneak up on the fish and keep yourself hidden as much as possible. Make your presentations subtle, not splashy.
The real delight, however, is during the hatch itself. Trout rise lazely to sip the duns near the bank, so all the action is at your feet. As with the green drakes, don't cast until you know where a feeding fish is lying. A downstream presentation is usually best because the trout sees the fly before the line or leader. Duns sometimes emerge just below the surface, a situation that suggests an emerger or floating nymph pattern.
Spinners can be important from dusk to dark. Mahogany dun spinners tend to land with their wings upright, rather than the typical spread-eagle posture. So a dun imitation can do double duty. Note that male and female duns have very different appearance.
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Grab N Grins

Matt Holmes won our latest Grab n Grin drawing with this nice Cutthroat Trout caught on the Bitterroot River. Thanks for your entry Matt. A very fine fish indeed. Come by and see Chris at our Shop in Florence, Mt or give us a call and order your 2 dozen FREE trout flies. We will be doing one more Grab n Grin photo drawing this month, so send in a fish pic for your chance to win 2 dozen free trout flies and your chance to win our final drawing of a Free guided fishing trip for this October. Remember, this is not a BIG fish photo contest. Its just for fun! If it happens to be a big one, thats great too. grab n grin ---------------------------------------------------------------

September 21, 2010 Posted by troutguys | Montana Fly Fishing, Guides, Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Trips, Fly Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing Montana, Dry Fly Fishing | Comment (0)

Dry Fly Fishing Montana

Dry Fly Fishing in Western Montana has been pretty darn good til as of late. The hot days and warmer overnight lows have turned things off a bit. The weather outlook for the next week looks better. The evenings will drop to the upper 40s and lower 50s which is much better than the 60 degrees we saw the past couple nights.

When fishing your dry flies this time of year, start thinking about using ants, beetles and little hoppers. Yep, its terrestrial time. During the afternoon if the wind picks up a bit, these little guys get blown into the river. That said, start lookin for fields with high banks and tall grasses, these banks will likely provide great dry fly opportunities from now through the end of the summer.

July 27, 2010 Posted by troutguys | Montana Fly Fishing, Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Trips, Fly Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing Montana, Dry Fly Fishing | Comment (0)

Holy Bumper Boats

Well folks looks like the West Fork is really getting busy out there. Please be nice out there, it is supposed to be fun! Now the main river is fishing it is time to get everyone spread out and maybe the fish on the West Fork can eat a meal is peace. We have had very littl traffic on the main river.................

Reports from top to bottom have yielded dry fly action. Best bets on fly patterns are Green Drakes, Yellow Sallies and Golden Stones. Flows are still a bit big, so look for those softer banks and move on by the heavy stuff.

June 27, 2010 Posted by troutguys | Montana Fly Fishing, Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Trips, Fly Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing Montana, Fly Fishing Equipement, Fly Fishing | Comment (0)