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!

Rivers are raging right now! If you are around the Flathead in the next few days please exercise some caution. Floating is not a good idea unless you know how to handle big water! How big? 45,000 big… I would venture to guess that we will see 48,000 before a little drop. How about 50,000? Not sure? Day and night time temps are going to drop a bit in the next few days so we will have to wait and see? Water temps are awfully warm for spring time runoff. Peaking at 46. How long will all this last? At this point only Mother Nature knows. We could speculate that snow packs are low, high country is going fast, mid country might be almost gone and we could be fishing on the Flathead in month? Dont be fooled! This is still Montana! We will keep you filled in as the saga continues.

Dan Hooked Up For The First Time!

With these horrible river conditions you might wonder if there are any fish to be caught? Of course! The Flathead Valley is full of fish! Maybe more fish than humans? Just a guess….. We have been fishing Roger’s Lake a bunch. It’s full of Grayling and also has some nice Cutthroat swimming in it. This is a great place to learn the basics of fly fishing. From casting, to mending if the wind is blowing, hook sets and fighting fish. It’s a super fun day and everyone loves it. How about for the folks that have caught tons of fish on a fly rod? Still a fun day! More catching than fishing. You would be hard pressed to not have a good time on Roger’s Lake. What the hot flies? Rob’s Little Pony(Thanks Larry!) is wrecking fish all over the lake. Large Hare’s Ears and callibaetis nymphs are also getting lots of eats. Stillwater nymphs, princes, orange scuds and small leaches are also getting eats. Dry’s? PA’s in all sizes, Purple Haze, Ants, midges and foam bugs are also getting eaten.

Tammy With A Great Grayling!

Are there any rivers fishing? Yes…. There are a few rivers that are fed by lakes and they are also putting out some great fish. These rivers are super special places and should be treated as such. If you are interested in a river trip and want to see some special places give us a call and we will show you what it is all about!
How about the Missouri? Great? Silly? Ummmmmm….. Yes?
Stop in the shop and check out the new gear that is filling in every day! We are loaded with Winston Rods, B3SX? Great new stick from Winston. It’s a fast action rod that will not disappoint Winston fans. This rod has power to spare and loads smooth as butter! Throw in the back anodized reel seat and snake guides and you have a trout catching machine! Sage Approach packages, Reddington Torrent light line series, Nautilus FWX Reels, RIO Trout LT fly lines, Trout Hunter CDC floatant. What? CDC Floatant? Yup! If you fish CDC you should be using this stuff. It’s the best CDC floatant on the market and you wont be disappointed. Put it on before you fish your cdc bug and your on top of the world! At least the water world!

Is it summer? It’s starting to feel like it… But dont get to comfortable yet. It’s only May and we still have June to get through. For now… Lets just enjoy it! The Main Stem of the Flathead is blown out.

The river is on a steep rise and flowing at 28000 cfs with water temps at almost 46? It seems like the water temps should be dropping with this runoff but they are still on the rise. The Middle Fork has plateaued. It seems to be holding at 10,500. Lets see what happens on the Middle Fork over the next few days to see if it might clear up. Sounds a little crazy to me but you never know. Would I waste me time on the Flathead River System? You will want to look for clean water and I be you’ll find fish. the key is clean water.
 
Whitefish Lake has been fishing pretty good. The North end is starting to see some color from Swift Creek but there are still trout to catch. Cutthroat and Lakers. Although reports from our resident Whitefish Lake Pro are that the Lakers are not consistant yet. Give it a few more weeks for the water temps to creep up and they will move into shallower water. Rogers Lake is also fishing great. Lots of nice Grayling being caught all over the lake. With even a few Cutthroat thrown in the mix. Bring flashy flies seem to get the most attention. Dries? Midges and PA’s are all you need.
 
How about the Missouri? It’s fishing great and is only going to get better. There are still lots of fish on their spawning beds. As I was driving the river I would catch glimpses of silver flashes in the water. I was not looking for them but they caught my eye in lots of places. That means that soon those fish will be off there beds and looking for food. You can expect to find fish in all kinds of water. Deep slow stuff seems to be slowing down but there are still a few fish hanging around. Shallow quick insides are holding fish and medium depth water with current also are holding fish. If your not finding them nymphing keep trying different water. Screw with your depth and weight. Some spots the fish seem to be suspended and some not. The good news is the dry fly fishing is solid on the right day. Clouds, Clouds… Can you say clouds? Look for fish to be up when the sun is covered up. Piles of BWO’s and March Browns on the river. I even saw March Browns above Craig. Dont forget about the spinner falls. A few weeks ago Justin had a great evening Spinner fall and they had their way with a bunch of trout. Whats next on the MO? Mother’s Day Caddis. I love the Mother’s Day Caddis. The dry fly fishing can be pretty spotty but the nymphing is silly. With lower water levels this year and water temps on a good climb we might see some Mother’s Day dry fly action. Lets hope?
 
There you have it! Just a brief outlook on whats going on. Stop in the shop to check out our new gear! Stripp’n Fly Wear, Helios 2 Fly Rods, Superfine Fly Rods, Orvis Digi Camo hats, MFC Trout print fly boxes, Caddis Pupa, new tricked out PMD bugs and Scott Fly Rods!

How’s the fishing you ask? Not sure… But the catching is great. From the Flathead, Clark Fork, Blackfoot to the Missouri. It’s all good!
For the last week the Main Stem of the Flathead has fished amazing! From none to Dry or Die… It’s all good. Nothing has been solid all day long. G-Bugs, PT’S Hares Ears, skwalla nymphs, pink bugs and princes. Sounds like a generic bunch but it’s not! Freestone….. Freestone….. March Browns, Skwallas, BWO’s and Big Stones. That’s what the fish are seeing for dinner. What better than a G-Bug and a size 14 Flashback PT? How about the Dry Fly Fishing? You could start out Stonefly and an Adams and blind fish all day long….. And catch fish. Big stones, small stones, Skwallas, parachute Adams, Furmsky’s March Brown and the secret slayer….. Furmsky’s Gray Drake. Not seeing many Gray Drakes but the color of the fly matches the naturals pretty good.

Clark Cork you say?Goooooddd! The morning dry fly fishing seems to be slow but the nymphing is really good. Dry dropper or indicator will catch fish. Bigger G-Bugs, PT’s, Copper Johns, smaller princes, Skwalla nymphs and Robs Little Pony are getting eaten. How about the Flame Egg? Do I need to answer that? Starts with a Y? Ends with a S? Dries you ask? Lots of bugs on the water. Smaller March Browns, followed by big March Browns, BWOs, Skwallas, Gray Drakes and the ringer…… Mothers Day Caddis! Not lots of them but enough to fish a small black caddis? Just Say’n? Fish are not focused on top all day. But when the bugs are on the water… give it awhile and start fishing dries. Rogue River Skwalla, Gypsy King, Parachute Adams, Purple Haze, Furmsky’s March Brown and Gray Drakes, Mothers Day Caddisare all getting chowed. How about the spinner falls? What? As the day wears on start looking for spinners. Yesterday there were lots of BWO spent wings on the water with localized clouds of them down the river. Can you say Parachute Adams? How about Rusty Spinner?
How about the Missouri? Good? Yes. Nymphing is great and BWOs ate everywhere. Fish are happy and eating dries. Happy? You know the ones…. Good rhythm and not skipping a beat. Get that fly there first with no drag and there probably going to eat it. Nymphs? Well never made it past the sow bugs.

Where did April go? Gone, Gone, Gone! It’s May and were ready for more fishing! The last month has been great and we have lots more on the way! A few days ago the Flathead blew out and is now on a solid drop. The river was green today and could be great tomorrow, if…. the Middle and North Forks continue to fall. It looks like they will. Night time lows are going to be 24 tonight. Full sun tomorrow with a high of 66? Could be good. I’ll let you know tomorrow night. What if the river is still not in shape?
 
Time to hit the lakes! Rogers is fishing great and today was no exception. It was windy and kind of chilly but the Grayling were playing nice! Midges are on the water and fish are looking up to them. Yesterday in a full on blizzard we had fishing rising to midges on top. Did they care it was snowing and windy? Nope, just like the Honey Badger…. They dont care!
 
How about the clark Fork? It’s leveled out after the big rise…. Last week there were piles of March Browns, BWO’s and Skwallas on the water. Fish were chowing like crazy! Big fish! Browns and Cutts….

Starting tomorrow we are going to see some warm temps. Highs in the low 70′s by sunday. This is going to blow out our local rivers. While I’m not one to claim I know everything…. I’m pretty sure that we are going to see mud and not be able to fish the river. So… It’s local lake time! Whitefish Lake is going to be super fun for the next few weeks. Cutthroat trout are on the prowl with lakers starting to think about moving into the shallows. Rogers lake will continue to get better and better! Midges and Callibaetis are on the move. We still need a few more degrees of water temp to get the Callibaetis to want to move to dry fly stage. How about rivers?
 
Tailwaters….. If you want to fish moving water think tailwaters… Or lake fed rivers. The Missouri is only going to get better and better. How can it get better? Wait till those creatures spawning in the tribs move out and back into the river. Can you say hungry? Can you say Baetis? Can you say Caddis? How about midges? Hope so….. Dry fly fishing has been great on the right days and even the wrong days. The weather has turned for the better… the crazy winds have gone and we have some dry fly weather on the way. Friday and Saturday look like great dry fly days. And every day from here till.. .Well…. When ever… look like great nymphing days. Dont forget about late afternoon baetis spinner falls! The adults have been around for plenty of time to mature and return to lay eggs for the next generation of bugs. Parachutes are solid producers during spinner falls…. For now…. Whats next on the MO? Mothers day is around the corner and caddis are next. Mothers day Caddis can be unbelievable on the MO! Dry fly fishing can be spotty but the nymphing can be crazy! Big numbers of super hot fish all day long! Hot? You know… Hot… Like you dream of? Eat it, pull hard and fly out of the water, pull hard and out of the water again. Repeat all day long! Just say’n.
Here are a few bugs to think about on your next fishing trips.
 

Rob’s Little Pony is a Roger Lake killer!

Extended Body BWO? MMMMM!!!!!! Gets’m on the Missouri!

Like Purple? It’s getting chewed on… The MO!

Stop in the shop for the latest in gear, flies and info. The shop has a bunch of great new fly boxes from MFC, new reels from Nautilus, Trout Hunter Tippets, Rio fly lines and Strip’n Fly Wear shirts and hoodies! Looking for fishing guides in Kalispell? How about Whitefish? Are you in town for a few days? Always wanted to go fly fishing? Always thought it was to hard? Nonsense! We’ll get you in fish before you know whats going on! Were open 7 days a week and were all about helping you catch fish!