A Little Behind The Ears Please!

Look no further than your backyard!  The river temps have been up and down but peaked at 38 a few days ago. 38? Yup! Warmer that the Missouri. The water is crystal clear, flows are low so you can see the holes. The river has been busy! Lots of people fishing for this time of the year. Boats and guys on foot all over the place! Good times. Be careful where you put in and take out. I almost didnt make it out of House tonight. Chains should be in your program.

The fish are not everywhere, look for the slow winter water. Nymphing and streamers are the ticket. Get down, get down. As close to the bottom as possible. If you are fishing a spot and getting rejected, go deeper…. add more weight. Dont make them work to eat your bugs. Sound familiar? Today I saw lots of predators. Lakers and a few Bulls chasing hooked fish around. That means trout are there in good numbers. G-Bugs, Scuds, Zebra Midges, Princes, black Buggers, Sparkle Minnow’s, black articulated leaches and white buggers all catch fish.

Jack was in the shop a few days ago and got his hands on a new Sage One, Hatch reel and a Rio line! Thats the rig you want! Does it get any better than that? I would guess not! Jack did not waste any time and got to fishing. Here are a few pics from his first outing with his badass rig!

Love Midges! Is That Weird?

Rojo Midge

A Rojo Midge is just a Zebra Midge with a tuft of white coming out the from of the hook, red glass bead(Rojo) and a purple or red thread body. Very easy.
Hook – Dai-Riki #310 16-20 or the #270 in the same sizes.

Bead – Red Glass

Thread – Purple or Red 6/0

Gill – White Antron, Poly or McFlyon

Rib – Ultra Wire Silver X-Small

Thorax – Peacock Ice Dub

 
There are lots of different midges to tie and I could write a book on all the patterns, Wait….. Someone beat me to it. These are just a few. Give the shop a call if you are wanting more or just want to bend our ears about midges.
Here is my first tying video to get you warmed up.

Weather forecasters were wrong about today. No sun, not 47 but the fish did not know that. Piled on the layers and dropped the boat in the water.  The fishing was great! Water temps were at 36 today and the flows were around 3700 cfs. The fish were not everywhere but would eat when you found them. Slow deep water was the key. Rigs running 9′ from indicator to bottom fly worked great. 13 fish to the boat and most ate the black G-Bug. Pt’s also picked up a few fish. Adult midges were on the water but no risers were seen. How about the zebra midge? Hmmmmm……
Today was a great example of not waiting for the perfect day. Old man winter is starting to grab hold of the dopamine production and you need to fight him off. It was 28 degrees on the water and it was not that cold. Yes, I had gloves on, rabbit bomber, 3 layers of fleece pants and three layers on top but it felt like summer. I almost put on sun screen but I was afraid it would freeze to my face. With no snow in the forecast get out and do some fishing!

Montana Wild Fish Reel 2011 from Montana Wild on Vimeo.

Does It Get Any Better?

So whats going on this week you ask? Well… Stonefly Night! Great stuff is going to happen this thursday. Hopefully Dr. Drea will come back and bring everyone a garbage bag full of his dog’s hair.. AKA… Best Stonefly dubbing ever! Everyone is going to have their own patterns to share but here are a few ideas and material lists to think about.

Rubber Legs, check out the tying video at the end for a warm up!
Hook – Dai-Riki #710 size 6-8
Body – Medium Chenille in your favorite buggy color
Legs – Flex Floss and MFC Speckled Sexy-Legs. Yes…. Yes…… I am going to make a run to MFC and get a whole pile of them for your tying pleasure.

Biot Golden
Hook – Dai-Riki #730 size 12
Bead – 5/32 Gold Bead
Abdomen – Gold or Yellow Floss, Gold or Yellow Dubbing, Gold or Yellow Br or Medium Ultra Wire
Tail and Sides – Brown Goose Biots
Collar – Golden Stone Dubbing

Of all the stoneflies I fish the Rubber Legs rules the roost! The first person that figures out “Box Canyon Viagra” Gets an additional 10% off their tying purchase for the night! Or a few beers and materials from Rick’s stash pile. Remember 6:00 and bring your favorite stonefly, beer and tall tales!

Sink The Pink. It's All The Fashion

Why does pink work so well in the winter? There are lots of theories and I dont have the answer for you. If I was a fish, freezing my ass off, sitting in slow water and I saw a pink orb float by… I would eat it!

Here is a materials list.

Hook – Dai-Riki #135 size 10-16

Bead – Montana Fly’s Lucent Pink 1/8, size down for smaller hooks

Underbody – 0.20 Lead Wire

Ribbing – X-Small Red Ultra Wire

Abdomen – Pink Acetone Floss

Tail and Collar – UV Fl Hot Pink Ice Dub

This fly can be tied in and with a variety of different materials and colors. Dont have any Lucent Beads? Use Pink brass beads. No Acetate Floss? Vinyl D Rib or normal pink floss works just fine. Dont get me started on all the different pink Ice Dub’s there are.

Whitefish Lake... Ready For John!

Well, the weather has been cold and the water temps have suffered. The last few days the water temps have been on the rise with flows holding steady. I have heard rummors of a few fish being caught here and there in the river. Slow streamers and big stone flies have been the ticket. Think slow and low. Look for that winter water and tick the bottom.

Ice fishing has been great! Lots of Kokanee being caught through the ice on flies. Large midge patterns and small may flies rule the ice fishing world. What about leaches? Those too!

We all are looking forward to fishing dry flies and I feel bad I dont have any recent local footage of dry fly eats. This great video will have to do!

Foam Night!!!!!

Thats right we are tying foam bugs. There are even rummors that the Foam Master, Drayton Osteen is going to make a guest appearance! What? It’s true! It’s true! Learn some great tricks and tips from Dr. Dray! Below is a short material list for you to think about.

Hooks – Dai-Riki #730′s or any 1-3xl shank. I also like the hooks 1x strong to give it some weight, helps the fly land hook down.

Foam – 2mm foam in you favorite colors. Black, olive, brown, cinnamon and everyones favorite…. Purple

Dubbing – Any dry fly dubbing will work. Ice dub is a favorite

Legs – Any rubber legs work. Flexi-Floss, round rubber legs and MFC’s sexifloss all work great.

Post Material – McFlylon Rocks! Hareline’s Parapost material is also top notch.

Tail – Krystal Flash

Wing – Elk Hair with a small Krystal Flash underwing.

Thread – Any 6/0 thread works great.

Are you looking for some great body cutters? Keep your fingers crossed, we just ordered a few sets of River Road Creation body cutters and hopefully they will be in tomorrow! These cutters are top notch, sharp as a razor blade and will last through 100′s of bodies. They also get Dr. Dray’s vote of approval. Here is a blast from the past to get you fired up for tying night! Remember 6:00 until when ever the beer runs out!