Clarity in town is looking good, although it is windy and CFS is on the rise. The Valley is less breezy but also less visibility since the Lamar and Gardiner rivers have come up significantly with yesterday’s hotter weather. Billman creek (near the lumber yard) is puking in a ton of mud but the main channel (shown above) is still looking good. Carter’s to Mayor’s might be the only shot a clear water. The Shields is on rise, but floating down low today will still be OK, tomorrow on will be iffy. Today might be the last good day for a while with temps in the 80’s this weekend. If temperatures drop next week we could see another window of dry fly fishing as the caddis have really popped hard and the fish have gotten a chance to get on them. Usually they will continue to eat the caddis through the mud, so long as it isn’t too thick. It might be worth throwing the streamer a little more today or the streamer if we don’t completely blow out by tomorrow. Once things are too muddy here we’ll be heading to the Madison as the caddis are thick over there as well and are making their way to the upper.
Yesterday fished a little slower as the fish were gorged on caddis and feeling pretty full. But the amount of bugs to be witnessed was amazing. The streamer bite seems to be improving slightly, but most of the browns caught on streamers have been in the 17-19″ range.
