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Missouri River Winter Nymph Fishing Success: Shane’s Top 3 Tips

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Missouri River Winter Nymph Fishing Success Shane again with today’s Headhunter’s blog post. We’re starting to see some more consistent warmish weather roll in, and it’s definitely bringing people to the river. I was able to get out last week and do some fishing with my wife, Kelli, and we had some good nymph fishing … Read more

Sage PULSE: The XP Reincarnate

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Sage PULSE: The XP Reincarnate Shane speaking with you today on your favorite Montana fly fishing blog from downtown Craig. Headhunters is my home and the Missouri River is our testing ground. Below are my thoughts from my favorite new Sage fly rod. Throughout my fishing life I’ve accumulated, sold, traded, and held onto … Read more

Ramblings

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Truly a rambling short today on the Headhunters Blog from Shane of Headhunters Fly Shop. Shane might be deep into the Bailey’s this morning as he writes this piece. The holidays is nearly over and we will find a couple months of peace before the beginning of peak season in April sometime. Thanks Shane! Warm … Read more

In the Life of a HEadhunter

In the Life of a Headhunter

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Shop boy Johnny Ewald with this post today from his perspective of working at Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig. 

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]So what is it really like to work for a fly shop located on arguably one of the most famous Blue Ribbon trout streams in the United States?

As loyal followers of The Headhunter blog, most of you may have an idea of what goes on in our tiny fly shop, but to those who want a better picture painted, let me finish the rest of the canvas for you.  To everyone who makes up Team Headhunters, from the owners, the guides, to the shop staff, to the shuttle drivers and housekeepers, we all have one goal in mind: offer new and seasoned clients the best possible, world-class customer service experience that your hard earned dollar can buy on the Missouri River in Montana.

Each and every one of us here at Headhunters pride ourselves in creating a memorable experience for each and every person we come into contact with. And as an added bonus, it doesn’t hurt to be The World’s Funnest Fly Shop!

A typical day for the shop staff during the height of the busy season consists of opening our shop doors bright and early at 6 am. The old adage holds true in our shop, the early bird gets the worm. Or better yet, essentially gets the best flies and first dibs on his/her favorite section of the Mo’. Hot and free, the coffee will be percolating and ready to get your day started with a kick.

From there, the friendly staff will settle you in with your guide for the full day guided fishing trip, set you up with killer flies that will hook you into any willing trout, get your shuttle form filled so your rig will be at your desired boat ramp when you get off the river. The knowledgable staff can also get you set up with new products from Simms, Orvis, Howler Bros., Freefly, Smith, Costa and numerous other brands to fill all your fly fishing gadget obsessions and needs. We can set you up with one of our many demo rods we offer, that new SAGE you have wanted to so dearly wrap your casting hand around.  The staff here is very knowledgable about each and every product we sell. That’s why we are here. We love fondling fly fishing stuff at work and at play!

We test and use our products everyday to make it easier for you as the consumer to feel more comfortable and confident as an angler, the angler you want and desire to be. We are the cure to any ailment or fear you may have about getting out on the water, whether it be your first or umpteenth time casting a fly to a rainbow or brown trout.

In the Life of a Headhunter
Ryan wants to work here, but his wife won’t let him…

The shop staff here spends a majority of our time booking guided trips, lodging, ordering new products, keeping up with inventory, providing the best fly selection in Craig for the Mo’ and answering a very busy fly fishing hotline. We will answer any and all your questions from weather reports, current hatches, hot fly patterns, Missouri River flows and how well the fishing is here for any given month.  Although we work very hard and take pride in the work we do here at Headhunters, we still find time to have a bit of fun.

A work/play balance is key to keeping a level head while working for a very busy business.  Daily chatter between cohorts ranges from the exchanging of fishing reports from the pre or post work float to ridiculously off the wall humor and bantering. We all know how to get along here in the shop and out. Although our work ethics exude the seriousness we all take to get the job done, it’s refreshing to not take ourselves too seriously when the shop is quiet, or the doors close and we head over to Joe’s Bar or Izaak’s Restaurant for an evening cocktail, or two…

Life here in the small town Craig is a far cry from the hustle and bustle of city living.  People here seem happier.  And by happier, I mean stress free.  People here smile quite often, walk with their heads up, and have little to worry about other than getting off the water to get to work on time and vice versa.  Being my second season working with Headhunters, I have learned to not take life too seriously, live in the now, not in the past nor the future.

The life of a Headhunter is a lifestyle that has become of part of who I am not only as an angler, but as a person. The people I have met, fished with, and become friends with in this little nook of the world are memories I will cherish until the end of my days. The combination of small town living and fly fishing culture is relative to a little slice of heaven… right here in Craig, Montana.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]

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 [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Don’t want to work at Headhunters? You can rock the World Famous Logo wear anywhere that Headhunters roam…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][us_grid columns=”3″ ids=”4045, 4038, 11322, 11727, 11716, 10983″ post_type=”ids” no_items_message=”” items_layout=”shop_trendy” items_gap=””][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

DamNation Video today from Max

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Patagonia’s documentary film DamNation is now available for streaming on Netflix. I first saw this film last summer and I have to say it is very well done and a must see for anglers. I think the film hits home with me because dams are a big part of our history here in Montana. Not just the big, hydro-electric, job-making dams that we commonly about, but also the harmful, fish-killing dams, whose sole purpose is to fund other polluting activities that are detrimental to wild species.

In 2008, the Milltown Dam on the Clark Fork River, near Missoula, was removed, making Montana home to the largest Superfund Site in the United States. The dam was originally created in the early 1900’s to produce hydroelectricity to fuel a nearby sawmill in Bonner, which cut timber for mine shafts being built in Butte, Montana. Ironically, the dam would eventually hold millions of cubic yards of toxic sediment that it helped produce. Approximately 300,000 tons of toxic sediment was removed from behind the dam between 2008 and 2012.

When the project was finished in 2013, the public was finally allowed to float down a section of the Clark Fork that had been flooded for over a hundred years. I was fortunate enough to be on one of the first rafts to (legally) float down the newly reopened section of river. The fishing was amazing. Dries, nymphs, streamers, they ate everything. Fisheries experts agree that the fishing on the Clark Fork will only improve with time, and has the potential to become a world class trout fishery. Talk to anyone who fishes the upper Clark Fork and they will tell you how much better it is today than just a few years ago.

My dad was born in Missoula, Montana, and lived there until he was about eight years old when he and his family moved upstream to Butte. He spoke at the ceremony the day the river was opened to the public, and in his speech he recalled what the Clark Fork was like when he was a kid. “I remember asking my dad why the river was orange,” he said. The reason was that during the spring runoff in high water years, massive amounts of the rust-colored sediment that had been building up behind the dam for years would finally overflow and dump into the river, causing the river to run a solid orange color and killing thousands of trout in the process. Getting rid of the Milltown Dam, and thus protecting a fishery that is home to Native Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat, as well as Browns and Rainbows, was a milestone in Montana’s state history. It represented the mistakes of our ancestors, who, at the expense of future generations, recklessly polluted the streams that we today cherish and put at risk native populations of wild trout, on their way to creating “the Richest Hill on Earth”.

The film DamNation talks about a different kind of dam; rather than holding toxic mine tailings from entering the river below, this dam is holding back wild fish from reaching their spawning grounds. It argues that these dams are the single biggest detriment to the survival of wild steelhead and salmon in the Pacific Northwest. It touches on the debate of the environment and fish vs. energy and jobs, as well as the wild vs. hatchery fish debate (Montana, by the way, was the first state in the lower 48 to stop stocking its rivers and streams with hatchery trout). These can be heated subjects, for sure, but I think the film makes a very persuasive fish-first argument.

One point that I would like to make very clear is that this film does not support the removal all dams. David Montgomery, Professor at the University of Washington, offers his insight in the film:

“Like all constructed things, dams have a finite lifetime. It’s not time to pull out every dam in the country. That would be economically foolish. But it would be just as foolish not to rethink every dam in the country and try and decide which are the ones that actually still make sense in the 21st century, and which are those that we can get more value, both economically, culturally, aesthetically, morally, and ecologically out of a river system by sending it partway back to a state that it was in naturally.”

Amazing film, the best documentary I’ve seen in at least a year. Grab a pizza and a six-pack this weekend and checkout DamNation, you won’t be disappointed!

Watch the DamNation Trailer here.

 

DamNation – Trailer from Patagonia on Vimeo.

Stickney to Palace

Stickney to Palace. A shuttle driver’s story

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Stickney to Palace: A shuttle driver’s story

Max brings us this story from inside his brain. He and John fished yesterday, Monday, and endured the cold weather. Max penned this Sunday morning…

 

With winter weather moving in I think it’s safe to say that yesterday, Saturday,  was the last super busy shuttle day of the fall. We did a November-high 19 shuttles on Saturday. Dudes got after it Saturday, and for good reason. A full blown shit-storm is blowing in this evening, gusting over 30 mph and bringing with it one to two inches of snow.

If the over/under for combined shuttles on Monday and Tuesday is five, my money is on the under. The temperature in the early part of this week could get as low as -10, almost a 70 degree drop from our upper-50’s afternoon Saturday.. That said, I’m sure there are some diehards who would love to prove me wrong and float The Mo in sub-zero temperature this week. Maybe I should take the over.

All things considered, it’s been an interesting fall to say the least. High temps in October generally stayed above 55 degrees and it was not unusual for it to be 70 degrees and sunny. Not your ideal conditions to catch the fall baetis emergence. I think I heard Helena had its warmest October on record in 2014 (time to start trading in those gas-guzzling, drift boat-hauling pickups for so,e sort of Hybrid?). Jokes aside, it has been an odd month of fishing here.

The streamer bite, although picking up daily, has been very inconsistent. I’ve heard fantastic reports of 40 streamer eats on a sunny day, and terrible reports the next day under an overcast sky. We had what I would call really good streamer fishing this week on the upper river. Some awesome eats on the Dali Lama, my favorite Missouri River streamer. So the chase is definitely on… for now. Dry flies? They’ll eat it ’em for sure, but it’s slower than we’d like.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve enjoyed answering the question, “Are the baetis going yet?” The answer is still unfortunately, “No, not really. They’re out there; you’ll see a few. But they’re not really going yet.” Hopefully this cold front gives them the kick in the ass they deserve for making us wait so long. You know what they say though, good things come to those who wait, and wait, and wait some more.

If so, will you be the one who floats The Mo’ this Tuesday and breaks the bank for all the suckers like me who took the under bet on shuttles? I’ll be here in the shop, staying warm, drinking coffee, and talking trout, football, and rutting mule deer.

*On a side note, have you seen the bucks this week? Mule Deerdefinitely swollen at the neck and coming into the rut big time. My prediction for peak rut activity is one week from today. Whitetails still two weeks out.

As I’m typing on this warm Sunday morning, I’m thinking that if you’re not out fishing today then you’re missing your last chance for mid-50’s weather of the year. Fall is coming to a quick end and winter is approaching. The snow will probably fly sideways tonight and tomorrow morning I will probably feel like staying in bed a little longer than usual. Time to put the Muck boots and Simms Bulkley jacket to good use.

Stay warm this week and don’t be that guy on your street who gets into a fender-bender because he forgets how to drive in the snow.

Cheers,

Max Mattioli

 

Ed Note: Max, you did beat the odds for Monday Tuesday. You bet the under and won.

Do it All Fly Lines

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Do It All Fly Lines? Rio Indicator Line v. Rio Perception In early October, John Arnold wrote a great Headhunters blog on fly lines for the fall.  John called some of them “Floating Do-It-All Lines” and that really caught my attention.  I seldom use a boat, so I’m always wading around with one rod.  I … Read more

Big One

A Big One Got Away | Bob Glassen

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I was beat.  I’d been in the water at first light, hunting heads as the tiny trico duns came off.  Even if I didn’t get many, it was worth it just to escape the August heat and be there as the river came alive. When the sun hit the water, I whacked ‘em on a … Read more

Missouri River Foundation

Missouri River Foundation

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The Missouri River Foundation Right now, it couldn’t be better. The Missouri has the biggest trout of any river around – healthy, hefty, strong, hard fighting fish.  The water runs cold and clear, the bugs thrive and the hatches are spectacular.  And, there’s lots of public access. Right now… But what if there’s more upstream … Read more

First Cast

First Cast | Bob Glassen

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As we ease through summer we experience more difficult fishing.  August brings us fish that have been witness to many atrocities int eh last 2 months including being hooked. They get smarter. Honest. Or the alternative, we get dumber. Also a possibility. Bob Glassen this morning with this reminder about important factors in hooking fish…the … Read more