The salmonflies are just about over on the Madison. You can still find a few stragglers above 3 dollar bridge still, but in general you’ll find a lot more big bugs on the Yellowstone right now. We had some truly amazing dry fly eats this year on the Upper. There were a few days where…
We were hoping the Salmonflies would be happening on the Yellowstone, but it looks like we are still about a week out from prime time. The heaviest part of the hatch is now between Loch Leven and Mill Creek bridge, basically wherever you find patches of willows lining the bank. We’ve had reports of a…
Salmonfly Fever is definitely in full swing right now! After a half hour sweep of search and rescue at Loch Leven on 6/21 I saw one salmonfly dry and zero shucks. With 90 degree temperatures forecast for this weekend, the bugs are bound to pop. Hopefully the river doesn’t jump up too high from more…
We just got another saltwater report from outfitter Brian Sienkowski. With several rivers in runoff here in Southwestern Montana, he and his girlfriend Chelsey decided to head south to Florida. They were fishing primarily for snook, redfish, and tarpon off of Sanibel, Captiva, and Cayo Costa. Brian said the snook fishing was good when the…
Fly fishing the gin clear waters of Big Pine Key for giant Tarpon, this was the best trip yet. We were fishing the third week in May in hopes that we might hit the worm hatch, we did hit it although it was not as prolific as we have seen other years. Jake Andersen and…
Salmonflies are scattered everywhere throughout South West Montana right now – ditto that for golden stones, sallies, rafts, drift boats, and fish crazed anglers. Over the last few days, we’ve talked to several good rowers and anglers who have had 100+ hit days on salmonflies and goldenstone dries. Our best patterns have been Paulson’s Flutter…
If there is one time of year to commit to fishing only dry flies in Montana, this is it. It can be very tempting to fish streamers or nymphs, (especially when everyone else is fishing dries), but that same big fish who’s willing to swipe your streamer or attack a rubber leg could just as…
Fished the box canyon on the Henry’s Fork last weekend. Salmonflies are done down there, did see a few straggler goldenstones and tons of brown drake spinners. Stopped a few places near Ennis on the Upper Madison to look for bugs but didn’t see any evidence yet. The hatch should be moving through the canyon,…
The lower Madison has been fishing well the last few days. Big bugs are out and about and the fish are actively looking for both dries and nymphs. Aside from Salmonflies there has also been PMD’s and caddis on the water. Won’t be long before a little hike in the canyon could be a big…
Although the Yellowstone is still rolling at 8,700 CFS it is looking pretty dirty. Probably will be dirty until mid to late June. There’s a slim chance the Yellowstone might be worth streamer fishing between now and late June, but right now we are pretty much just waiting for salmonflies to pop on the upper…