Flathead? Fishing! Clark Fork? Fishing! Missouri? Fishing! Blackfoot? It’s on! Runoff seems to be done a little early this year? Water is low all over the state. You want to fish dries on a freestone? Lets go! Salmon flies, Goldens, Green Drakes, Hecubas, PMD’s and caddis are all to come on our freestone gems!

The Missouri is fishing good. Nymphing is good, great one day and tougher the next day. Still lots of fish and chances. Where? Look. Keep looking. Look deep, look skinny, look fast and look slow. Chants bugs and depths till you find the groove. Get in it and keep looking for the water that your rig is working in. Caddis, PMD’s, worms, midges and purples are working. Purple lightning bug was hero of the day.
How about dries? Good. PMD’s and caddis wanted dead or alive.
Stop in the shop and get fixed up with what’s going on. Guides trips and gear.. We got you covered!

Local rivers in the fall…. Still a bit out but it might not be far away? Rain? Bumps up the river now but keeps our waters running into the fall…. Nice and cold! Our trout love clean cold water and the rain gives it to them! Where else can you get some cold clean and water that’s not muddy? Right now?

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Head east my friends…. The Missouri is fishing great and its time. Right now… Flows are low…. low…. If you haven’t been in a while or you have never seen this river low…. You owe it to yourself to get over here! The river is full if great water. Pretty much all over the place…. Except a few? Few? Riffles, pools, tailouts, flats, edges, buckets, seems and bubble lines. There here and have fish waiting for food. Food? Midges, scuds, sow, PMD’s and caddis on the menu. PMD’s showing up on the river today. Caddis? Yup.
Stop on the shop or give a call! We got you covered, bugs, lines , leaders, boxes and Winston Fly Rods.

Freestones are coming in to shape pretty quickly. How long will they stay that way? Not long… Rivers will blow out again and we’ll be waiting for another drop.

The Missouri has been fishing lights out! Nymphing is silly and the dry fly game is good. Streamer bite? Slow. Reports across the river of the bite being off. Warm days the caddis are out in almost full force, PMD’s are sporadic…. Like two or three a day? PMD nymphs not working great yet. Caddis pupa and the worm are wrecking it in the nymph world. Stop in the shop to say hi and get more info from the shop guys!

What’s going on with our local freestones you ask? Lots of water…. Rivers were on the drop for a few days but things are leveling out and will probably start to rise again. The next few days show some rain and higher night time temps. Yesterday the Flathead looked more green than brown but I would expect that to change by tomorrow or the next day. How about the Blackfoot? It’s still on the fall, if it continues to fall for the next 3 days it should be in great shape. Keep your eye on the graph! Where to fish then?
Local lakes are fishing great! Bootjack, Rogers, Whitefish, Beaver, Dollar and Blanchard are all fishing good. Even Whitefish Lake is putting out some great Cutthroat. Our local whitefish lake guru hooked a giant cutthroat on the lake a few days ago. What else?

The Missouri of course and it’s fishing great! Nymphing is silly from the dam down to cascade. Nymphs? Baetis patterns are still getting chowed on, zebra’s at the dam, sow bugs, Purple Lightning Bugs, JuJu’s, caddis pupa and PMD nymphs are getting eaten. Nymph set ups are about 4-5 foot from indicator(bobber) to BB Split shot. If you roll with a tungsten lead fly then you might not need a splitty. The fish are not always going to be in the slow deep winter water, start thinking faster summer water. Fish are up in riffles lookig for food. Not getting attention in deeper holes? Fishing deep and still no luck? Shorten that thing up! Sometimes they are half way through the water column and sometimes they are just a few feet from the surface. If your in a fishy spot and your confident in your bugs… Shorten your rig up and fish higher in the water column.

How about dry fly fishing? It’s been great. BWO’s are still hanging around. With the weather forecasted to be cold they might be on the menu longer. What’s next? PMD? Caddis? Coming up real soon! PMD nymphs are getting attention on the lower river as well as the caddis pupa. If we get some warm nights in a row we could see the first real caddis events. Look for the fish to be pretty stupid when they start coming off. Good times!

Lyn braved the snow and was rewarded with a nice Cutthroat!

Woke up this morning and thought it was winter again? 2-3 inches of snow on the ground and cold. How was the fishing today? Pretty good! With the Flathead running at 42,000 CFS and muddy…. Today was a lake day and Roger’s did not disappoint. Calibaetis were all over the lake and fish were eating dries. Parachute Adams, smaller Furminski’s March Browns, Gray Drakes and Chubbies all got attention. Chubbies? Yup… Grayling love them! How about nymphs? Rob’s Little Pony’s, 14-16 Flashback Hare’s Ears, 14-16 Hare’s Ear Caddis and PT’s.

Ed with yet another great Cutthroat.

How about rivers Well.. Everything is on the rise again and and muddy. Yesterday and the day before was the window for the Blackfoot river… But now it’s blown out. There are a few other rivers to think about if you want to fish some moving water. Stop in the shop and we’ll show you a great day on the water!
Are you in town looking for something to do? Always wanted to go fly fishing? Stop in the shop, we’ll get you on the water and catching fish. The shop is also full of great new gear. Winston Rods, Nautilus Reels, Sage Fly rods, Simms Waders, Korkers wading boots, Hatch Reels and Scott Fly Rods. We got you covered. How about the new Umpqua chest and waist packs? How about the new Umpqua Boat Bag? How about free casting lessons?

George with a great Cutthroat From Roger’s Lake. George and Linda put a hurt’n on Roger’s yesterday. I think we need to call in a fish dentist?

 
Yesterday was a great day to be in Montana! Rivers are blown but who cares when the lakes are fishing great! Once again the fly fishing on Roger’s Lake was solid. Lots and lots of fish willing to eat nymphs and dries. Callibaetis are coming off around 1-2 and hold strong for a few hours. They have been around enough that spinners are looming overhead at the same time. Nymphing is best before fish start eating on the surface. Rob’s Little Pony continues to get eaten and so does the large Hare’s Ear. Try your favorite Callibaetis patterns and I bet they will get eaten too. Stillwater nymphs, dragon fly nymphs and damsel patterns are also starting to get eaten. I have not seen any of these adults but the nymphs are crawling around for sure. How about dries? What’s in your box? PA’s? Royal Wulff? Royal Trude? Furminski’s Gray Drake? Throw’m! It seems like it might not matter what you throw… There going to eat it… Probably…. If your not finding fish start looking around the lake. Try different spots. Try a new spot everyday and you’ll be catching fish all over the place. I have not had a bunch of luck fishing under an indicator. I have been running a 10 foot leader with 2 flies on it. Maybe on BB split shot and stripping them back in. Dont be afraid to fish the shallows, 1.5 to 2 foot deep. Some big fish have been cruising in the shallows. Make sure you take the split off if your fishing shallow.
 
Looking for a new fly rod? Looking for a Montana made fly rod? We have a bunch of Winston’s on the rod table. Check out the new B3SX. It has the get up and go your looking for in a slick new package. Blacked out reel seat and guides. A true stealthy fly rod. Grab some trout hunter tippet and your a trout sniper! How about a blacked out reel to match? Nautilus FWX 5/6 in black? Best reel on the market? How about some new floatant? Trout Hunter CDC floatant will have your flies riding high and dry. Smear it on your cdc patterns before they hit the water and your good! Floatant on CDC? Yup…. This stuff works great! Looking for a guided trip? We got you covered. Local lakes are fishing great and we might even have a few rivers up our sleeves? Shhhh…. Dont tell anyone!