John Arnold

Utah fly fishing

Stream Access Battles

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If you spend even 5 minutes a week surfing around blogs, forums, FB & Twitter, you should at least be aware that Montana and Utah continue to battle small but powerful (well funded) lobbies and individuals attempting to shutdown rivers and streams to public access. Here at home, it’s an every two year process. Our … Read more

spawning salmon

Sunday Science – Salmon GPS

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From WIRED Magazine – by Mary Bates Interesting read from the wires… how those Salmon and Steelhead get back to the creeks they were born in. Salmon Inherit a Magnetic Map Young salmon with no experience of the world, and without any guidance, are able to use the Earth’s magnetic field to find locations on the … Read more

Montana winter spey fishing

Spey Clinic Options for this and next week.

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Cold weather continues to interfere with our Spey Clinics, and we’re planning on a second adjustment to this weekends clinic. We’ve just sent out email to those signed up, so check you inbox. Here’s the nuts and bolts: After moving the clinic from Saturday to Sun day, the weather forecast for both days has deteriorated … Read more

Lower River Fishing Report – Ice

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Probably not the best stretch to float today, unless you happen to own one of these. In all seriousness, cold winters like we’re experiencing bring lots of ice to the Cascade stretch of the Missouri River. This winter is no exception. Floating below Prewitt – definitely below Cascade – would not be possible today. Slivers … Read more

montana fly shop

Closed Today… too damn cold.

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-21 this morning. Little chilly. We’re going to take the day off instead of forcing our staff to head to work. It’s not like you’re going fishing today. Maybe ice fishing. If you need to call the shop to make lodging or guiding reservations, no problem. Give Julie a call at 406-868-5473. She and I … Read more

Montana Spey Rids

Headhunters 2014 Spey Rod Lineup

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With another two-handed (spey) clinic coming up this weekend, we thought we’d go over our lineup of two-handed rods. As two-handers get shorter and faster, we have constantly improving models available in that 6-7 weight range we like (385 – 450gr Scandi for Spey Trekkies). Your First Spey Rod We always like to preface talk … Read more

Montana spey clinic

Spey Clinic moved to Sunday

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Due to the super cold temperatures forecast for the end of the week, we are forced to move our free spey/two-handed clinic to Sunday, instead of Saturday as scheduled. Temps on Saturday are forecast to be 0 degrees when we wake up, and a high of 15-20 degrees. Sunday looks like 36. Kind of  no-brainer. … Read more

Superbowl Week at Headhunters

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We’re big Superbowl fans around here. When you live in North Central MT in the winter, events like the Superbowl help you mark the time as the long winter passes by. Mark and I are Puget Sound natives, so the fact that the Seattle Seahawks are in the game is a big deal. There are some Seahawks fans around here, but Montanan’s don’t have any professional sports teams. They have the luxury of being professional bandwagon fans, and this year many of them are rooting for the Bronco’s.

Enjoy this hilarious video from Bad Lip Reading. Very funny stuff.

Ben Hardy Montana guide

Win a Free Trip with Headhunters guide Ben Hardy and Support Cancer Research!

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Help cure cancer and go guided for free?  Sounds like a win win. You’ve got a guest blogger today ladies and gents, Headhunters guide Ben Hardy here (picture above), writing from the tropical Bahamas.  Here’s the deal. My younger brother Jon and his wife Shannon are running the Boston Marathon together on April 21. In … Read more

Louisiana Marsh Report

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You know we love to fish for Redfish in Louisiana. Mark and I got weathered out in December and had to cancel our trip. Fortunately, Headhunters guide JP Basile and his wife Teal are making up for it this week. They’re fishing The Port Sulpher area with Capt. Alec Griffin.

Fly Fishing Film Tour 2014 Helena

F3T Opens in Helena!

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The first F3T show of the year is this week in Helena, MT. That’s right. Helena. Montana. If you’re in the region you can be the first to view this years selections from the group of video aficionados at The Fly Fishing Film Tour. Local homeboys Adipose Boatworks – also from Helena – are sponsors of this years tour. If you live in Helena, or Montana for that matter, there is no way you can find something better to do with your Tuesday night. So throw some beers in your socks and head on down to the Grandstreet Theater.

Hit play to see a trailer for The Kinnetic Loop, one of the featured flicks at F3T from Simon Perkins, sorta Craig local…

 

Grande Ronde Spey Fishing

Now What?

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Squeeky is out of town for the week on a well deserved rest, so I’m being pulled back into the blogging duties. Hopefully that will be a good thing. You may have (or may have not) noticed that I haven’t posted on the blog in a while. Like in a couple of months. You also … Read more

Montana Streamer fly lines

Gearing Up For Fall – Fly Lines

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We’ve just had our first big cold-front of the fall. Real cold. The one that brings rain, sleet and snow. Temps in the 30’s. Freezing hands. You forgot the coffee? This is the front that we wait for every year because it changes the fishing. Like a light-switch things will change. The nymph rig has … Read more

Skinny Water Culture

DIY Motivation from Skinny Water Culture

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We don’t re-post content from other blogs much anymore. Plenty of other fly fishing blogs do. You can check out Moldy Chum or The Fiberglass Manifesto and pretty much see everything of interest that pertains to fly fishing and conservation. But yesterday this great post came across our feeds from the great saltwater blog at Skinny … Read more

Wild Reverence

WILD REVERENCE – Kickstart Wild Steelhead

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A heads up from my good buddy Jim “JP” Schmitz about this important project regarding the plight of Wild Steelhead. Filmmaker Shane Anderson is finishing up a year long project  to find out why our Wild Steelhead are disappearing. Jim is one of the most ardent advocates of Wild Steelhead that I know. Here is … Read more

Missouri River Montana Pike

Invaders – Northern Pike Survey

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An interesting photo came to us through our Facebook page this morning. Alexandra Amundson sent us a few pictures for our “Girl’s Rule, Boy’s Drool” photo contest. Interesting, because one was of a Northern Pike. It was caught at one of our new rental properties, the “Jumping Rainbow” which is in the Canyon near exit … Read more

Cheech's Leech

Fall is for Streamers

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A shift in the weather has anglers thinking about tossing the big stuff and ripping it through the shallows. Floating lines are replaced with sink tips. The 4 and 5 weights will feel neglected. The 6’s and 7’s are getting all the love. Fall is for streamers in Montana. And we are in Montana. The … Read more

Fly Shop Sale

Big Sale! And Great Fly Fishing Weather…

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Awesome weather will greet you this morning if you’re planning on hitting the Missouri River. Cloudy, cool, and a touch of rain. No wind right now, and hopefully it will stay that way. Bring Pseudo’s. Our big sale continues through today. Sara was here bright and early making sure everything is organized for your shopping … Read more

Fly Fishing Employment

Fly Fishing Employment at Headhunters

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Time to start thinking about staff for 2014. If you think you might want to work in a fly shop, you’re nuts. If your nuts, check out our job listing page. We also have one special job available immediately, but you gotta have some skills. Spread the word to any trout bums you know.

Girl’s Rule, Boy’s Drool – Photo Contest!

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OK Headhunters Nation, here’s our next Photo Contest. You know all about our “New Breed Chicks Rule” category. Lovely women… who  can fish! Well, we want to see some of your shots of your favorite gal-pal, wife, girlfriend, mother, daughter, aunt or female fishing pal showing off their mad skills. Our contest starts immediately, and … Read more

Morrish Hopper

Sharpie your Hopper

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Do you use Sharpie, Pantone or Prismacolor markers to add some personalized color to your hopper patters? Lots of Missouri River guides do. So do some of the more particular local anglers. Their belief is that an “out of the box” hopper pattern will never fish as well as one with a custom paint job. … Read more

Travis Whitfield Fly Fishing

Adios Travis Whitfield

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Headhunters team member and trout nut Travis Whitfield graduated from Central Michigan University last spring, and has decided to see what he can do with that degree. After spending another summer advising our customer on fly choice, Travis has decided to accept a job offer with the Orvis Co. Yes he will be heading East … Read more

Montana Carp Throwing

A Tail only a Mother could Love.

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There’ s been a little talk about Carp around the shop lately. By a little, I mean a little too much. Anyone who knowsme , knows that any Carp talk is too much Carp talk. One of our employee’s – we’ll call him “Jake”- has been the source of the majority of Carp banter around … Read more

Craig Long Exposure

Craig After Dark

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James Vasich is on a trout bum adventure. A big one. While passing through Craig this summer he shot these cool long exposure images of Craig “After Dark”. Very cool stuff you don’t see often around these parts. These were sent to us as submissions for our “Big Sky Photo Contest”. Who knows where is … Read more

Smith Low Light Ignitor

Smith Low Light Ignitor

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Here’s an odd product that is very popular with guides and a few anglers at Headhunters. Low light sunglasses. Yes, low light shades. Kind of an oxymoron, but a very important piece of gear for those that fish dries in cloudy or early/late in the day conditions. Or ask expereinced saltwater anglers. Over the past … Read more

Montana Fly Fishing Report

Missouri River Fishing Report – Song Remains the Same Edition

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If you’re waiting for some new and exciting information regarding fly fishing on the Missouri River, you’re going to have to wait a couple more weeks. At this time of year, we’re waiting for the autumn “cool-down” for sure, but we’re really waiting for that first big, sudden cold front. And by cold, I don’t … Read more

Purple Trout Flies

Purple Trout Flies

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Yes, purple continues to be the color of choice. Purple Morrish Hopper, Purple Peanuts, Grape Slushy, Purple Weight Fly, Purple Lightning Bug, Purple Holo Prince, Purple Zebra, Purple Haze… you get the idea. It would seem kind of ridiculous to believe that all flies must be purple to work, but if we sold purple Sharpie’s … Read more