Things we do and see on the Missouri River Montana.
Saturday Snow. Haiku too. The cold enveloped me as I walked out of the shop while the snow battered my face taking this image Saturday about noonish. This haiku was blown, and stalled cracklin’, on my rear leg. Another 9 degree winter Saturday in downtown Craig Montana. Snow falls river white, A bare hook, bobbin, … Read more
March SPEY CASTING Madness We are launching our March SPEY CASTING Madness schedule today on the Headhunters Fly Shop and Guide Service Blog. March 23rd, 24th, and 25th with 3 spey clinics raising the bar on your Spey Game! It all begins on Friday March 23rd with Women’s World Champion Distance Spey Caster Whitney Gould … Read more
Friday Fog Foto Craig Bar Lite snow this weekend. Cloudy too. Might be a nice weekend to step out to the Mo. If you live anywhere else around the American neighborhood fishing may not be on your schedule. If it isn’t, that’s cool too. Family may be in order. Or skiing. Or something outdoors. You … Read more
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Friday nite in Great Falls 730pm. The Do Bar.
Go check it. They serve beer and cocktails there. So pretty fun. With fishing videos too.
Enjoy!
A trailer for met ’18 show. Focus.
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Friday Foto Swingin’ Good weekend for swinging flies. Weather? Variable. Standard. What’er you gonna do? Watch football? Tie flies. Nap on the couch. Organize flies? Clean fly lines. Surf the web. Plan your summer trip. Clean the garage? All of the above? It is mid January. Full winter depression should not set in for a … Read more
Classic 3 Door Suburban Would love to have one of these classic 3 door ’68-’72 Chevy Suburbans. There is one in Great Falls. It used to be parked at the Dearborn boat ramp as the folks that had it at that time owed the property across front he boat ramp on the west bank. I … Read more
Friday Foto Mountain Palace Winter Real cold today. Lots of snow falling. Quite a bit overnight. Looks OK for the weekend. Much warmer temps. Maybe fishable. If you deem it fishable, stop in the shop. We have hot coffee. Unless you stop in after 2pm. Then we have tepid, or even cold coffee. But it’s … Read more
How to interpret water data or Realism: A sport most anglers want nothing of. The case in point today revolves around a couple charts that we see most often used by bloggers like HH and beyond. Below is an article about how to navigate through all the bullshit you may see on social sites and … Read more
Silly Sunday Melting Snow Scenery You have 3 more days, including today to get out tree and enjoy the river before we slip back into a winter pattern. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Then January brings winter in with snow an scooper temps. The snow has been melting rapidly after a foot or so was on the … Read more
Friday Foto Warming here in Craig. Shelf ice around, but navigable. Check the boat ramps before doing anything too stupid. Come by the shop get a shuttle, fill the voids in your fly box, check out our Just Add Vise kits , and say hello to the HH gang. Have a happy first Friday of … Read more
Happy New Year 2018! Happy New Year to all of the Missouri River lovers out there! Happy New Year. Is this the year that you spend some time on the Mighty Mo, living out your dry fly dreams? Bring it on. We are excited about the upcoming year. 2018 will be great. A good start … Read more
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] It’s cold. Think warm thoughts. I think it got to 10F. No wind though. Clear and bright. No wind though. We are in the treading water stage of the winter. It’s stale. Watched Hitchcock’s Rear Window last night. Wow! Great flick. Saw it many years ago but now through the lens of DVR it is … Read more
Merry Christmas from Headhunters of Craig Montana Merry Christmas from Headhunters to all of you. We appreciate you all year long and we are all thankful for you and your families. Enjoy this time with your friends and families. Be thankful. Merry Christmas from the entire HH family John, Julie. Mark, Ben, Sara, Dewey, Derrick, … Read more
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Actually “Linus and Lucy” is the title of this tune. Composed by Vince Guaraldi the Italian Jazz Composer who composed most of the Peanuts animated television music.
I also dig Christmas Time is Here. The ethereal wispy yet flowing track that is spun throughout the christmas special.
The wikipedia link to A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1LUXQWzCno” video_title=”1″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPG3zSgm_Qo” video_title=”1″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I think Charlie Brown woulda felt better with a new fly reel. I know it makes some of the holiday angst go away.
Hope you got your Aluminum Christmas Tree up in the family room. They are all the rage.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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What do you want to do? Are you doing it? Did you have a crossroads decision at one point? We all did.
This is a fantastic scene with John Cusack in Say Anything 1989.
A great film if you like Cusack.
So, the quote. Think about it this holiday season. If you are ready to jump headlong into the fly fishing life, Headhunters Life, then drop the bomb on your folks this Christmas. Shortly after the New Year we will again be starting our search for 2018 employees. Get your resume up to date and be ready for when we ring the bell.
If you want to spend the summer with us and go back home to reality, we accept that. If you want to move to Craig full time accelerating your fly fishing advancement, we applaud that too. We have opportunities for you in ’18.
Until then, think about it. What would John Cusack do?
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Coming home is so very sweet! Out of town for a spell and returned home yesterday. Spent the time away in sunny Hawaii. Pretty nice and quite entertaining. Fished with my bro’ Marty Thomas, my wife Danielle, and Mike Hennessey. Mike has been fishing the flats of Oahu for some time and certainly showed us … Read more
Nothing much to say today. Fishing continues to be the same (good) so here is an image from this morning.
The above image is not normal. It was taken yesterday morning looking upstream from Pelican Point. There should be ice jams and snow on the ground. When it’s real cold the river might be frozen over. Even on a warm and dry year, there should be some snow on those higher peaks and a little ice in those inside channels.
Not this year. Winter started great, but it’s been weeks since we have had any significant snowfall. Daytime highs and nighttime lows have been above normal. For the last few weeks it’s been jeans and sweatshirt weather. We have even had some smoke in the air this week from the fires in Southern California.
While we never root for drought conditions, it does create some unusual opportunities for anglers. On a typical year, fishing below Prewitt Creek would not be much of an option in late December. But for the next few weeks – according to the weatherman – you might find some good fishing on the lower river
The trout haven’t completely moved into the big, slow winter tanks yet, but they’re starting to. On some lower river stretches find8ng winter holding water can be difficult, and so can finding fish when the water temps are in the mid to low 30’s. With our unseasonable temperatures, you should still be able to find fish in shallow riffles.
As for access you can get on the water at Pelican Point, as well as from the “backside” on the Sheep Creek Road upstream from Cascade. You can do a nice short float from Prewitt Creek to Pelican Point, which has plenty of great Wade fishing water as well. The short days and often windy conditions in December mean that Pelican to Cascade is an unlikely option. You’ll be pushing a lot to get off before dark.
A swung fly (on a single or two-hander) is a great way to cover the broad runs on the lower river. Move fast and cover as much water as you can. Leech patterns are crushing it right now, but we always do well with flashy baitfish patterns around Pelican late in the year.
Nymph rigs will be similar to the upper, but I’d be using the bigger stuff – Czech mymphs, worms, scuds, crawdads – more than midge stuff you might find productive near Holter Dam. They’re eating midges, and midges will work, but you likely don’t need to go that small unless you find a group of fish midg8ng in shallow water. As with streamer fishing, cover lots of water quickly until you find them.
Dry flies may be a player, and we’re still seeing some BWO’s here and there. Midge hatches are not typically very intense until later in the winter, but I would certainly have a few Griffiths Gnats on me. Some of my favorite winter dry fly water is in the big riffles between Hardy Rapids and Pelican Point. You access this stretch through Anderson Ranch/FWP access points from Sheep Creek Road.
Go explore and good luck.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Big Game hunting is finished but Upland-bird season is still going strong for many Montana sportsman, and the mild weather we’ve been having has created some great conditions for wing-shooters. Our upland hunting expert Sara Roholt can be hard to find around Craig this time of year. If she’s not in the shop (only 4 days a week in the off season), she’s probably following her dogs Waylon and Sturgill through the wide open country of eastern Montana, along with her husboyfriend and Missouri River guide Kurt Michels.
In this part of Montana, hunters like Sara employ pointing dogs while pursuing Hungarian Partridge and Sharptail Grouse. “Sharpies” are our native birds around here. Cool critters that evolved on the cold and windy prairie. These two species hold best for pointers, but if a Cock Pheasant gets up, he dies too. While most hunting takes place on private property, Montana’s excellent Block Management hunting program allows hunters to access a massive amount of private property. Sara has this program dialed, but also secures access using her wit and charm on other farms and ranches.
If you’re interested in learning more about upland hunting in Montana, and specifically how to gain access to private property, we do not recommend talking to Sara. She won’t tell you a thing.[/vc_column_text][us_image image=”29295″ align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Were heading into a few weeks that are typically quiet, but offer some great fishing. Thats OK. The Mo’ can use a break. We will still do 2 or 3 shuttles a day – more on weekends – and there are a few wading anglers around. Winter on the river is way behind schedule this year, so conditions are comfortable if you do want to go fishing. If you want to go skiing, conditions pretty much suck. According to the weatherman, were headed into 2 weeks of unusually dry and mild weather.
Speaking of winter arriving late, we had some pretty good BWO hatches Saturday and Sunday at our Trout Spey Clinics. Neither Mark or I can ever remember seeing BWO’s on the water in December. And they were the really big ones. If you can hit some clouds and diffused light, you should be able to find a few sippers. I’d be looking in the channels between the Dam and Jacksons Rock. A big Nymens or Last Chance Cripple should do the trick.
With the whole river open, the next few weeks should offer some great two-handed fishing. If you’re already set, the entire river is fishing. Even down to Cascade. If not, swing by the shop, grab a rod and give it a try. A handful of streamers and soft hackles is all you need. And were seeing a change in the fishes behavior this week. Moving out a little deeper and hunting some bigger flies. The Browns appear to be finished with the spawn.
If you’re a veteran don’t forget about our 2 PHW Adipose Drift boats, free to use by any veterans or active duty members of the armed forces. This is a great way to get out on the river with your brothers. Call the shop and reserve in advance.
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Now, the rest of the month. Headhunters Fly Shop Christmas Party last night. A great time had by all. We ate well too. A taco bar with 20+ side items to make your taco great. Carnita’s and Beef Barbacoa. Yum. Corona’s too. We finished up with Headhunters Fly Shop first Free Trout Spey session Saturday … Read more
It was just a question. So I walk up to this guy and say “Hey, I hear 7wt. is around.” And I got this look.
Silly Saturday Scenery Matt Patterson fishing Thursday on the Mo. Matt was one of our first customers. Then he got married to Brittney, had a couple kids, and disappeared for years. Now he is back working on the local improvement project for the summer. He fished a ton this summer and re-discovered the river. But … Read more
Fly Shop Small Saturday! Come on out and Fly Shop Small Saturday. Why not Sunday and the rest of the holiday season too? It just makes sense! Headhunters Fly Shop is having a big sale this weekend with Abel Super Series Reels, Hatch Finatic Generation 1 reels, SIMMS G3 waders and Freestone Boots! Today is … Read more
Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your family and friends today as we hang out at home waiting for nap time! We are thankful for many things including theMissouri River and you our fishy friends. Get the most from this day of rest and get after ti tomorrow. Skiing, fishing, resting, fooling around in the garage. Whatever you … Read more
Black Fly Day Sale @ Headhunters of Craig It’s coming soon. Starting Friday at Headhunters Fly Shop of Craig Montana. A big sale that includes deep discounts on some very popular items! SIMMS G3 Waders on sale at 50% off! Abel Super Series reels on Closeout! 50% off remaining stock! SIMMS Freestone Wading Boots on … Read more
Thanksgiving Holiday Week in Montana Fishing all week long will be pretty terrific. Like John said a couple days ago the Swing Season is in full effect along with the catch rates pretty consistent. Calls all weekend long in regards to lodging in Craig for the Thanksgiving Holiday Week in Montana lodging. Some fishing towards … Read more
Friday Foto The last of Fall The last of fall is upon us. Thanksgiving in a week. The leaves are long gone. Winter has shown us that it is just around the corner. Enjoy the last of fall this week ahead. I know we will be out enjoying it here in Craig. Enjoy your Friday!
Friday Foto Back to Fall Weather High of 47F today. Not too windy. Very nice. Partly sunny, cloudy. A few anglers out there enjoying this fall back weekend. See you tomorrow, or this afternoon?
Winter Rewards Fishing the Missouri River Trout Spey casters up all the way from Big Sky. Bill, Jason, Rob, and Todd ventured up the state to the Mighty Mo to swing a few flies. And they were rewarded with nice Missouri River trout. Happy Sunday. It is snowing here, and damn cold. Several guide trips … Read more
Friday Foto November Edition The Mink on the Missouri River. Common. Fun to watch. Snowing hard here in Craig this morning. More on the way. A couple Trout Spey trips out. A couple more tomorrow. Come by and get hooked up on one of these this late fall. Nymphing is world class right now too. … Read more
Lake Cascade Silly Saturday Scenery Nearly the sunset on the fall season. At least for fly fishing guests. The rest of the gang here, locals, will fish on for some time. Not a bad streamer bite yesterday. No bugs for the fly gang. At least not too many. A few scant fish up. Today? Another … Read more
Sunday Wind Day Windy today. Already gusts to 75mph. So, damn windy. You could watch football. Or you could just go. We are going. Advanced Fly Fishing School final day. We are going. First day of RIO/Sage industry trip. They’re going. Whatever you do, enjoy it. The colors here are wonderful this fall. But after … Read more
Gig Harbor Fly Shop Hosted Travel Just had the Gig Harbor Fly Shop in town for better than a week. Two hosted trips from the Gig Harbor Fly Shop and Blake Merwin. Fun times! Lots of learning going on during this trip as some guests were new to the river and others have been here … Read more
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We’ve been swinging with our two-handers for a few weeks now, and we know a few of you have as well. In our brains, the 1st of November is the beginning of “Swing Season”, but as the weeds disappear from the Missouri River and the Brown Trout start to move, we can’t resist. Some of us have even been exploring further form home, using our Trout Spey rods to fish places we’re familiar with but haven’t approached down and across before.
Despite anemic runs of Steelhead, we’ve heard a few decent reports from the Clearwater/Snake/Ronde systems. If you’re headed that way in the next few weeks we wish you luck. Unfortunately, the State of Idaho decided to open a limited “kill” season for the handful of Steelhead that returned to the upper Columbia tributaries. That won’t help your success, but it may do further harm to a fragile resource. If you do catch a Steelhead, take care to land him quickly (not on the beach) and release him gently. Steelhead have enough problems already.
Right now things are pretty good for the swing. Water temps are right, and the drifting weeds have decreased to the point that you won’t be pulling your hair out. Both floating and sinking lines will work this time of year, and if you ever wanted to try and skate up a trout on an October Caddis, now’s the time. For streamers, we recommend sticking with our typically small and flashy Clouser’s, Kreelex’s, Skiddish Smolts and the like. Small Buggers like the Thin Mint are also a good call. If you need your fly to be bigger, stick to a heavy sink tip and bury that sucker between the Dam and Craig.
Most freestones in the region should be in play as well. Warm weather this week will keep the water temps on the Madison, Jefferson, Yellowstone, etc. in the right zone. Where you can target Bull Trout you may have some interesting options as well.
We will continue to offer our free Spey Clinics again this year. Like last season, we will be offering 1 day clinics on two separate weekends. The first clinics will be on December 2nd and 3rd. The second session will be February 10th and 11th. Sign up at the shop or call 406-235-3447. Space is limited to 12 students per session. We always have waiting lists for these clinics, so don’t sign up because you’re bored. Our free clinics are designed for those new to spey casting, so please don’t suck up a spot if you’ve attended in past years. We will likely be holding a few advanced clinics for more experienced casters, so keep your eyes peeled.
Clinic Details:
Last season, we began to make the shift from light Steelhead gear to Troutspey gear, and we will pretty much complete that transition this season. While we will still carry a small assortment of “steelhead” rods (and a bigger assortment of lines), we will focus on Montana waters and the ultralight gear designed for them. The majority of the demo gear in the shop (and at our clinics) will be Troutspey rods and reels designed for <350 grains.
We will also be adding a few more rod models in the shop this season, including rods from Gary Anderson Custom Rods (ACR) built in Rogue River, OR. Some have already arrived and more models are on the way.
Swing by the shop if you have any questions about spey rods, spey reels, spey lines, sink tips, leaders, shooting lines, or anything else. Our staff will be happy to help you get setup for the season.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Friday Foto Fall Drift Boat Pretty river. They all are when the leaves change. Fall is spectacular. And sometimes the fishing is white hot. Overcast skies a bit this weekend. Then sunny next week. That sucks. More rain and overcast dances will help. Dance one up tonight. In the garage if you have to. If … Read more
Playoff Fishing here on the Missouri River It is go time here. Playoff fishing here on the Missouri River. Excitement daily as we are headlong into the fall fishing period. And it is good! I sighted many real life BWO flies not he water yesterday. The first showing in any numbers that I have seen. … Read more
Silly Saturday Scenery Trout Spey Days Getting it done on the Mo with a Trout Spey rod. It is time. Come on by and get on at Headhunters. Demo’s lines, tips, info, guide trips, casting instruction. All you need in downtown Craig Montana. October brings dry fly, wet fly, nymph fly, streamer fly, and your … Read more
Friday Foto FF School Edition All is well here as we move into the fall period on the Mighty Mo. We are entrenched in the Wolf Creek Lodge with our annual Advanced Fly Fishing School that kicked off last night. An opportunity to climb to the next level of angling under the tutelage of a … Read more
Snow Day on the Mo Day It came. It is awesome. Fish love Snow. And some people do too! Headhunters is your only SIMMS dealer on the Missouri River. We have all of the fall and winter gear for your fly fishing pleasure. The entire selection of SIMMS G3 Waders in all of the sizes. … Read more
First Day of Fall Friday Foto Today is the first day of fall. But it feels like winter. Snow on hand today as we are expecting in the 4″ range. It’ll make hand warmer and glove sales brisk today. It will also make the trout go nuts. The fall hatches are producing daily bugs that … Read more
Winter Weather this weekend! Looking forward to it. Really liked the wet week we just had 7 days ago. 2″-4″ Friday. Bring it. The dry fly fishing pretty good. Pseudo rising trout are on the bite. The nymphing is sick. Streamer anglers keeping it quiet still. You should fish this weekend. Honest.
Strange Items in Squeeky’s Boat It should be titled The Not So Strange Items in Squeeky’s Boat. All the items listed below are times that you would find in my boat all 12 months of the year. I self admittedly carry way too much shit in the boat. A minimalist I am not. But I … Read more
Never Forget While we remember the brave souls of 9/11 we also keep in mind our local wild fire fighters here not only in Montana but all over the west. We are pulling for you out there. A fundraiser for the fire fighters on Saturday at Izaak’s with the Dead Tribute Band 710 Ashbury raised … Read more
710 Ashbury @ Izaak’s Fundraiser for Wildfire Fighters Saturday September 9th 710 Ashbury playing on Izaak’s Log Jam Saturday September 9th. A Dead cover band. What is not to like. A Fundraiser for WildFire Firefighters too! Come on down and enjoy the band, bid on some cool items all helping the fire effort! Come on … Read more
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A couple months without rain. We are ready. We need it!
Enjoy the Cult on the Headhunters Blog today. Rain. Here comes the rain…
This is foreshadowing, clairvoyance, telepathic. This video will bring rain.
Big party this weekend on Izaak’s Porch with the kick ass Dead Band 710 Ashbury at 6pm. That’ll be fun!
Let’s put out those fires too. Rain would help that. A couple inches would do the trick. Bring it.
Or that rain dance you do in your office. Do us a favor, do it often.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/4567209″ video_related=”1″ video_title=”1″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Labor Day Scenic Craig Bridge View Smoke on the horizon coming in fast Sunday afternoon. Monday, Labor Day, and the weekend is nearly over but, the Half Price Fly Sale is still on! Today is the last day. September is upon us and we wish for the fires to go out, the river to continue … Read more
Sara says SALE! Day 2 upon us. Same fly pricing Sunday and Monday. Half Off flies! Call us up if you want our experts to load you up a few fly pucks full of your favorites. We will pop them in the mail after the holiday. BBQ again Sunday as Mark fires up the Traeger … Read more
Half Off Fly Sale @ Headhunters All Weekend! 50% OFF ALL FLIES ALL WEEKEND! 50% off all fly boxes. Demo Rod Sale. Sage, Orvis, Fenwick, ECHO, Loomis and more! Check out our selection of dry fly rods, nymphing sticks, and Trout Spey rods that gotta GO! Summer gear including fishing shirts, T’s, hats, sun protection, … Read more
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A couple days ago, I was digging through one of my fly tying drawers and I found an old shuttle sheet. The shuttle sheet was dated December 29, 2015. On the back of it were scribbled several lists of six flies. The lists were made by some of the shop staff during a slow winter … Read more
The reason for the smoke is…FIRE! A bunch of fires to the NW of us here in Craig MT. The prevailing winds are SSW. No wonder! Check out the InciWeb site for up to date fire information. Maps, individual fires, containment, plans, images…all you need to know before hopping in your car roaming around Montana … Read more
September is upon us, October coming soon! Fall is on the way. Yep. But not before some more summer. Fall does not officially start until September and the Autumnal Solstice beginning the 4th week of this pivotal month. Water temperatures will be falling and the days will becoming shorter. We are looking forward to tearing … Read more
Labor Day Weekend Sale @ Headhunters Fly Shop Big Sale this weekend at Headhunters Fly Shop in Downtown Craig Montana. Help us clear out the summer wear and make room for the fall and winter gear. Is summer over? NOPE! ut it is time to start looking forward to cooler days and nights. And no … Read more
Silly Saturday Scenery Sara Wade Fishing Get out there and wade fish. The best time of the year to get at least your ankles wet. Tie on a hopper and walk all day long fishing riffles, soft insides, and grass flats where the big ones live. Enjoy your weekend. Summer is coming to a close. … Read more
Friday Foto Dam Session Lots of action up top at the dam. Lots of people too. Trico’s will get your dry fly dander up. Trico anglers will be fishing anywhere from the dam to Mid Canon. You can find some good action later in the morning in the canyon, and lower. But not a ton … Read more
A perfect plan for an August Day Fish the dam for a few hours. Until your arms fall off. Nymph up some dandy’s on the grass flats. A circus for sure. Fun? Yep. Can there be a few boats up top? Yes. But all in good fun and if you fall in line you will … Read more