Fly Fishing Technique

Missouri River Montana PMD Box

Missouri River Montana PMD Box

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Pale Morning Duns are part of your day here fly fishing Montana’s Missouri River in June.

We love June as the bugs participate more willingly everyday. While the weather this last week has been really shitty, the fishing has stood up. The rain pouring out of the clouds Wednesday was impressive. A real test to your waders and your rain jacket. Better have a good one or go home early. You don’t want to go home early do you?

Mark’s PMD Tips for catching more Missouri River Trout

Squeeky’s PMD Box for the Missouri River. It is one of my favorite hatches and in years past it certainly was. Is it today? Yes, I like the hatch that is currently going on. As the caddis become thicker, it will change.

Who doesn’t love tossing Rusty Spinners at bank sipping’ brown trouts? I for one do.

The Pale Morning Duns that come off include the Ephemerella infrequens and the Ephemerella inermis. The big one and the little one.

The trout will eat duns on occasion. The first drift is the right time to fool those finicky trout with the dun. It is the right time to trick them in every situation.

 

Do not be the guy who pisses the fish off on the first drift. Don’t be that guy.

 

Who is that guy? Many anglers try to get the trout on their first cast after identifying rising trout. They cast the fly near the trout, do not have enough line pulled off the reel, strip line off as the fly is rapidly approaching the target, the fly slides, the fish eats it, and that guy misses the trout because he is busy stripping line off the reel.

Squeeky’s Strong Suggestion: Do all that shit before you make your first presentation. Well, only if you want to catch more fish on dry flies.

Most fish are not caught on the first cast. Does not matter that you make multiple presentations beyond the first drift. The fish are aware that a dragging Rusty Spinner is not all that attractive, or appealing, or edible. Think about it.

Most fish are caught on the first drift though. Make it a good one. Do not rush. The fish is eating, no rush man. No rush.

Make sure you have the appropriate amount of line off the reel. Make a couple drifts on the outside of the fish. Meaning not near him. A couple feet on the near side will suffice. Make sure you understand the drift before you toss the fly into the zone.

Then when you have all the prep out of the way, make your presentation. It is amazing what the element of surprise will do for your net. It gets it wet. The element of surpass is eliminated if you drag your fly across their heads several times before making your first decent drag free drift.

Remember: If you are fishing spinner patterns they should not drag. Spinners are dead. Dead flies do not swim, twitch, move…and they certainly do not drag!

Go out there and make some good presentations to our freely rising trout. Approach the situation like you want to catch the fish. You are hunting a wild animal. Act like it.

Sounds like straight talk here on the fly fishing blog straight outta Headhunters Fly Shop? Just honesty here today. Put yourself in successful situations and you will be rewarded.

As in life, as in fishing. Just keep casting and good things will happen.  -SOL

 

Squeeky’s Missouri River Montana PMD Box

Missouri River Montana PMD Box

Row 1 L2R: Harrop’s PMD Spinner Blonde version, Brook’s PMD Sprout, Hackle Stackers and Hairwing Duns, Silverman’s Spinner & Hi-Vis Rusty, Harrop’s Rusty Spinner.

Row 2: Nymen’s PMD Cripple & Quigley’s Cripple, Limestone Cripple, CDC Harrop’s Cripples, Haystack PMD, Quigley’s Rusty Cripple, Harrop’s Hi-Viz CDC Para Rusty Spinner.

Row 3: Half-Dun Hatching, Trapped PMD Dun, Para PMD & Hackle Stackers, Para-PMD’s,  Poly Wing Rusty Spinner.

Row 4: PMD RS2’s and other CDC Emergers, CDC Transitional Duns & Captive Duns, Pink Parachutes & Hackle Stackers, Emergent PMD’s, some sort of yellow tipped,eager/dun/spinner thingy’s, Harrop’s Pale Green CDC PMD Hi-VIz Spinners

We will see your this month plying your PMD trade here in Craig fishing Montana’s Missouri River. The PMD factory of central Montana.

 

Hey Mister…Pssst. Film Event tomorrow night at Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig.

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Rules for taking better fishing pictures

10 Rules for Taking Better Fish Pictures

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The 10 Rules for Taking Fish Pictures today on the Headhunters LFy Shop Fly Fihsing Blog.

We all love to have fish pictures from our trip. Why not take better fish pictures.

Below is a list of ways to get better photos and images of not only the fish you catch but the scenery and wildlife as well.

Also a few ways to reduce injury to the trout in the process.

10 Rules for Taking Better Fishing Pictures

  1. Fish out of the water cannot breathe. The 1st rule. Take caste when you have the fish out of the water. 10 seconds is long enough. The best way to take photos is if you get out of the boat. If the fish drops while you are handling it the trout just drops into the water. That is a good thing. Fish in the bottom of the boat is not always a good thing. Eagle bait.
  2. Use the flash to eliminate hat shadows. We call it the magazine style. Lights up the fish and the angler. Fool around with it. You may have to underexpose the flash. If you can or know how to do that with your camera. Try it, you may like it.
  3. Show some dimension. Flat fish look flat. Angle the nose towards the camera. The fish has dimension now and can look better to the eye.
  4. Extend if you want it to look bigger. The fish will look larger if you extend your arms fully toward the camera therefore making your body look smaller and poof! big fish pictures. You friends may give you shit for employing this technique. But we don’t care, it’s your picture!
  5. Forget the background. We want to see the fish. Get separate scenery pictures.
  6. Take some scenery shots. You, and your wife, and your friends want to see something beyond just more 16″ Rainbow Trout shots. Pics of the mountains, eagles, muskrats, your drunk buddies, the restaurant, the bar, and some interesting things along the way. it makes your portfolio far more interesting.
  7. Keep your camera outside of the dry bag outside of the dry compartment. Keep it out so you can use it. Most, many, nearly all anglers protect their camera like it is one of their worldly possessions. Remember it cost less than the fly rod you are whipping around whacking off of the oar…so keep it in your pocket, on the gunwale, in the bow…OUT! Just do it and use your camera. Nobody ever got any cool shots with the camera locked under your seat. The best photographers use their cameras. They push the button a lot.
  8. When sending pics to your friends, family, websites for publishing make sure they are in focus. Out of focus images suck. Do not subject your friends to this kind of pain. They will all appreciate it.
  9. Experiment with the camera and different angles. Take picture looking straight at the fish, kissing the fish, releasing the fish, from behind, half in the water. Fool around and find your own style.
  10. Focus on the eyeball. I think I mentioned Brian Grossenbacher told me this. His wife told it to him. Focus on the eye of the fish and everything else falls into place.

There you have it. 10 Tips for Taking Better Fishing Photos. Use a few of them and you will improve. We all can improve. Use all of them and you can quit your day job and become a photographer…I think?

Enjoy fishing and recording your trip. It is fun to send photos to family and friends and reliving our travels throughout the years. Enjoy the trip and then enjoy it again.

Top 10 Tips for Higher Water Success

10 Tips for High(er) Water Success

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The flows this morning are 8360cfs. This is not high by historical flows, but is higher than some anglers are comfortable with.

High flows are aver 15K to us here on the Missouri. We will write another blog when she gets to that level, which we do not expect. The flows are similar to the 6K mark, but higher. Smart huh?!

Imagine the subsurface structure and put the flies on those structure points. Here is where long time Mo River Anglers thrive. They have a map of the bottom of the river etched in their minds and they are looking at it while fishing/drifting. Think of drop offs, bank lines, the old primary shelf, the secondary shelf…things like that. Fish love structure. They feed, hide, chill on structure points.

10 Tips for High(er) Water Success

  1. Stay on the inside bend while nymphing. The fish don’t like that turbulent water near or on the rip-rap banks at this temp and at these flows.
  2. Add a tip to your streamer line. If you are going to streamer fish, use a T-7 or T-8 tip to get it down to where the fish are.
  3. Don’t rip your streamer back to you like you are on some sort of dreamy Galloup TV shoot. Slow and easy with long pauses. Get the flies down to the fish and then begin your stripping magic.
  4. Look for other boats  catching fish. See and learn what they are doing and replicate their movements. Don’t cut them off or low hole them, they may mention it to you. But watch and learn.
  5. Chat with your fly shop, Headhunters, and glean some information from the staff. They are out fishing daily and will lend a hand in your success. Flies, split shot, technique, areas etc. Use them for knowledge and hints. Headhunters is transparent. We’ll tell you all we know.
  6. Add more weight if you are not flirting with the bottom of the river occasionally. If you do not get the bait in front of the trout, they will not eat it. Period.
  7. Float longer floats. Bigger, faster water will allow you to cover more water. There are only a few great runs per mile in these higher and accelerated flows.
  8. As the Hazel gang in Maupin always say, “Fish good water well.” If you find ’em, stay on ’em.
  9. Get good at striking the fly hard when the bobber moves. Only those who hit it more often catch more fish. Those who watch, well…you know the unfortunate answer to that equation.
  10. Dry fly guys look for the bugs and slow inside tucked out of the way environs. You know those spots. Get in there and look, watch, wait…then cast. The BWO’s are out, or sort of coming daily. The midge yesterday was pretty epic in some areas. It is definitly happening as the water temps climb. We waited a long time, now it is the time. It will get better daily. We may be a week out still for consistent daily dry fly action? Bring your dry rod, you may employ it!

An easy 10 Tips for High(er) Water Success today from your information experts here at Headhunters Fly Shop in downtown Craig MT. Stop in any time for info, a vast Missouri River specific fly selection, tons fly lines, shuttles, or just to chew the fat. We dig fly fishing talk!

 

Ed Note: Hey if you want to view any of our past content you can! Just click on the Blog Icon in the Header for all of our fishing reports and blogs. Need to waste an hour or two at work? We got the content for you!

 

 

 

How to Fish Rising Waters

How to Fish Rising Waters & Current Water Predictions

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Lots of questions, calls, and folks inquiring about how to fish the rising water levels.

Generally this happens in June. It is April. No worries.

Bottom Line? The water will rise. When? Soon, now, today, tomorrow.

The plan is to allow the water to go through the gates to prepare for the 117% of water in the upper hills. The Rockies. The Missouri River drainage area.

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So will we have a ton of water in June? Maybe. But the water managers plan on not repeating the debacle of 2011 or 1997. If it starts raining now and does not stop until Noah arrives..then we may have a problem. Until then. We are not concerned.

Missouri River Water Advisory Committee

The Missouri River Water Advisory Committee meeting this previous Friday outlined the probable flows for the upcoming months. They stated a probable flow of 10,000 cfs. A probable low of 8,500 cfs and a probable high of 12,500. The meeting consisted of a bundle of FWP, DNRC, BOR, PPL, and 6 public. While a couple log time local outfitters were in attendance Headhunters Fly Shop was the only fly shop in attendance at this very important Missouri River water and flow indicator meeting held annually.  At no point during the meeting did the panel suggest we would have flows over the 12,500cfs mark.

Unless it starts raining cats and dogs tomorrow and does not stop until the 4th of July. Then, we got issues.

The colder weather in December led the flow to be below average than historically measured while the warmer than normal March led us down the road of low lying snow melt and higher than normal inflows. That brings us to today April 16th.

Historically we have all the precipitation on the ground by April 15th according to Stephanie Micek of the US Bureau of Reclamation. She also stated that inflow in 1997 and 2011 we sat or above 200%. We are on the same path for those inflows to continue April thru July 2014. In an attempt to mitigate the the flows that many consider too high the USBR and PPL are attempting to release some of the water in Canyon Ferry Lake so we do not encounter another 1997 or 2011 level of flows.

She is saying they, we, you do not want flows at or above 15K. We agree Stephanie.

Average peak flow of the previous 64 years? 14,900cfs.

As many of you remember ad already know the plan yearly is to fill Canyon Ferry to full pool, 97%, in the last week of June allowing for summer flows of 4100cfs.

Looking at models from the previous 64 years the water managers devise a plan that resonates with all parties involved to achieve this optimal flow of 4100cfs.

Saturated ground water levels also mean that the need for irrigation is lessened therefor the water amount pulled from reservoirs is diminished. More water through the system. We are currently experiencing more ground saturation than the previous two years.

NOAA predicts that we have an equal chance to have above average precip as we are to have below average precip. The temperatures for the next two months are predicted to be below average.

The Missouri River is a resilient gal. She fishes everyday. We are so fortunate to live an work on this river. Mother Mo allows us to fish non-stop while other freestone rivers experience annual run-off as they become unfishable due to clarity and color. Not so here on the Missouri.

Our local tributaries are clean and falling. Our low level snow is off the hills and we are clean. The river proper is green, greener than normal with visibility in the 3′ range. Not diminished in any manner to slow the bite.

The Dearborn is 297cfs and Little Prickly Pear is 188cfs and falling. Both on the steady downward slope. Little to no coloration change as both of these tribe can carry a bit of color. Sheep Creek is clear. Stickney Creek is running and is gin clear too.

How to Fish Rising Waters

Some days you get ’em, and other you don’t get as many. That is the theme. We are so fortunate that we are able to fish this world class resource all 12 months and while the better than average flows this April can change your style, your approach a bit…we are able to fish through these Mother Nature influenced periods.

We don’t consider this 8K mark high water. Is it higher than our historical average? Yes, but high to us means over 15K. That is considered high water. This is a seasonally adjustment to alleviate the potential of higher than average flows in June.

Fish where you used to fish, when the water was lower. Except rig deeper now. The fish may have moved inside a bit. Nymphing is the game for most. Inside with the boat. The best way to look at the run is to believe you are wade fishing it. Look upstream and cast to the soft inside seam. The soft water. Medium speed along with medium depth. Imagine the sub-surface structure and put the flies on the shelf lines.

Or watch someone catching fish and replicate their actions.

The same old spring flies are on the menu. Pink, FB’s, PT’s, Rubberlegs, Worms, Skwala Nymphs, Midges, and BWO’s. Coming soon more of everything. Honest.

The good news for the bank addicted angler is that you can actually fish towards the bank. Find and fish the right sink tip for streamer success. Many are still fishing the softer insides for bugger brilliance, and most are still staying away from hard banks with too rapid a flow.

Fish the soft inside runs adding weight until you get near the bottom. Bobbers are good, Your choice of indicator. Just make it floaty enough to hold up the anchor attached.

Wade fishers are going to have a tough time. Safety is important and keep that in mind. Those running boats be aware of your safety gear like life jackets etc. Most of the places you step in the water @ 6K cvs the water is near the top of your waders. At 8K+? Yes, it is higher than your nipples. Be very careful as the water rises the pace is faster too.

Being a stupid angler is easy to fix. Being a stupid wader is much more difficult to remedy.

Dry fly fishing this week? Yes. BWO’s are here. In bigger numbers as the week fades towards the weekend. Midges are coming on strong too. Be ready for them to pop in a big way…today?

Call us up on the phone if you need more info or to read our mood, or our minds. It may get you nowhere, but worth the dime for sure.

The shop is open daily with guided trips $300. We have a few openings and we would be glad to help. Lodging is also discounted for the remainder of the month as well.

Check out this video from a couple years ago. This was not shot last week. We have flows of just over 8,000 cfs. A bunch of these techniques are valid for use at current flows.

See more videos from our vast selection of Hedhunters Videos on Headhunters TV.

High Water Nymphing from scumliner media on Vimeo.

Can I add A Scandi to my Skagit?

Can I add a Scandi to my Skagit?

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This article was written for SAGE Current Blog a couple weeks ago. Now we are posting for your pleasure…or who knows. You may just say aghhh baloney. Nevertheless we have our final Free Spey Casting Clinic on March 8th. It has 2 spots available. Interested? Call the Spey Hotline if you want to attend. 406-235-3447 … Read more

Gary LaFontaine Wisdom…

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New employee Braden Lewis,  you’ll meet him this summer, sent us this mid-winter blog post. Thanks Braden. We love LaFontaine wisdom too! While the winter time on the Missouri River still offers solid fishing, I find myself taking more time during these shorter days to read about, think about, and participate in tying flies. I … Read more

April Vokey

April Vokey | Missouri River Flyfishers Nov. 14th

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Tomorrow Night the Missouri River Flyfishers present April Vokey @ Great Falls Real Estate Association 401 13th Ave. Sth. Be there @ 730 for the presentation   Missouri River Flyfishers is pleased to welcome our November genreal meeting guest speaker and fly tier, April Vokey of Fly Gal Ventures.  April will be speaking on fly fishing for … Read more