Page 106 - North 40 Outfitters

Flows have been at a steady 4,000 cfs over the past few days, opening up miles and miles of wade-able water. Water clarity is excellent. The few times I have hit the river, there has not been another fisherman in sight. I firmly believe I had miles of river to myself. Fishing is fair, but you'll have to work for it. 1-3 fish days is the re-occurring outcome for the most anxious fly fisherman that can't wait for spring any longer. Have you seen the new North 40 Fly Shop site? Explore it here. Nymphing a #18 Tufted Chartreuse Zebra Midge and #22 disco Midge is the go-to combination for you nymphers out there.  For the swingers, try a #4 Olive Slump Buster, #6 Montana Mini Intruder, or a #6 Olive Balanced Leech. Olive seems to be the color of choice for these sluggish rainbows. The hatch continues to be tiny midges. Although I haven't be...

The swing was king this weekend on the Spokane River with some nice fish coming to hand on streamers. Subtly colored patterns with just a bit of flash like Sculpzillas were producing more fish than flashy flies, but that can change by the hour. Regardless of what flies your swinging, be sure they're attached to a short mono leader with a fast sinking tip. Cold water temperatures have the fish pretty lethargic right now, so the slower and deeper you can get your flies the better off you'll be. Need to stock up on your favorite flies? Check out our fly selection here BWOs also made an appearance this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't find any risers while I was out, but it was sure nice to see those little signs of spring floating down river. We only have a little over a month left to get out and fish the most productive stretches of the ...

By: Bryan Tollbom The week leading up to my first ever steelhead trip was almost more than I could handle. The excitement was building inside me everyday, coupled with a creeping nervousness that I would simply not have the right gear and knowledge to make my first trip a success. I picked my co-workers brains incessantly throughout the week to the point they probably should have just told me to kick rocks. I picked up an Echo Classic 12'6" 6wt spey rod for the trip and borrowed a reel and OPST Skagit setup from Dillon to get me through the weekend. I also borrowed the shops demo reel that had a smaller OPST Skagit setup for my single hand 10' 6wt rod since I had been dying to test that setup out. At 3:30 am Thursday morning, my lifelong friend Ben and I loaded up his Tahoe with everything we could possibly think of and hit the road. Al...

Montana Extreme The temp and the weather is doing its standard extreme yo-yoing around with the temperate highs happening on my working, fly shop days and the sub-freezing highs accompanying the days I can get out and fish.  Typical.  That said, I toughed it out with Kevin the other day because if we don’t go fishing, we will just waste time not going fishing. Late last week, you had to fish above Craig to avoid slush and floating ice.  You also had to cross some ice to get to open water in many places.  Ice and snow with a dose of wind don’t make for ideal conditions for open water fly fishing.  Exposed skin gets pretty unhappy.  Fly lines get sticky with frozen slurry.  Every ten minutes or so, I had to stop and clear all the guides from the stripper to the tip top. What could possibly justify fishing in these conditions?  ...

My friend Kevin and I try to get out on the river every week in the winter after duck season, weather permitting. We did not expect much in the way of competition out there on a weekday in late January, but we still got up relatively early for a winter outing.  While driving the 50 miles (65 for Kevin) to the river, we discussed our options.  We came up with plan A and plan B locations based on the weather and our objectives.  Of course if someone was already at one of our planned spots, we’d need to go with plan C.  Drive around until we found an open spot with decent water. Learning to Fish Together When we got to the river, it was 29 degrees and extremely windy.  Plan A was right in the wind zone, so we went with plan B.  Seeing no fresh tracks from the parking area, we headed on to our chosen spot where despite the wind, we c...

February may be the shortest month of the year, according to the calendar, but for fly fishermen in the Northwest, it can seem like an eternity. Last year, we were catching fish in our float tubes and getting sunburns during the latter part of the month. This year, however, winter still has a tight grip on us, and it doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. All of my favorite lakes have a solid layer of ice covering them. River fishing has been hit or miss. I'm watching the snow fall as I type this. I guess this just means you'll have more time to tie flies in preparation for those days when bugs fill the sky and trout rise until the sun goes down. The Fly Fishing Film Tour rolled through town this week, bringing a much needed spark to everyone who attended. Signs of spring are in the shop too, with new gear coming in daily and class...

For the past few years, a group of my friends have invited me to fish with them on the Grande Ronde River. Each year something would come up in my life that would prevent me from going. Life has a funny way of doing that, especially when you have a career and a family. This year was a down to the wire nail-biter with work, a pregnant wife, and being in the process of buying a home. Having been with my wife for 15 years, she knows that look in my eyes when I have my mind set on doing something. I was determined to make this trip happen! The last thing I did before leaving the store was to turn my "out of office" email notification on and thank Mark for covering the rest of my shift in the shop. He probably noticed that look in my eyes, too. On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to buy essentials for a fishing trip with the guys,...

Clutch React 250+ This is a streamer rod. A specialty streamer rod. A specialty one piece streamer rod.  It’s made for streamer fishing. The React 250+ feels light when you move it. The taper is fast and it features an ultra-quick recovery. These attributes correlate to both efficiency and accuracy when pumping out casts. Just what you would expect from a compact 8’ 1" one piece rod. Check out the Clutch Rod online here. One issue when working big streamers with conventional 9’ rods is tip flex. Tip flex defeats fly action. To really activate and have control of streamer flies, especially large ones, you’ll need a rod that does not fold up against the jerk strip.  It needs to be fast and powerful. That is exactly what you’ll find with the Clutch React 250+. When you move your rod tip, you will move your streamer. Jerk it, and...

This was our featured fly on February 4th 2017.   Recipe/Materials List Front Hook- Gamakatsu B10S #1 Rear Hook -TMC 9395 Strung Saddle White Pearl Flashabou Gold UV Polar Chenille White and Olive Marabou Senyo’s Intruder Wire 3 Junction Beads: Plastic Beads 4-5 mm Light Olive and White Laser Dub Fish Skull Living Eyes

Some great reports from the past week and weekend and some not so good.  One guy told me he had the best day of winter fly fishing ever recently.  Two other guys told me they got skunked.  That’s pretty much how it goes on any given day. Want to know what the river is doing? Check out current river flows here. If you know the game, you are likely to be successful.  If you are off in your fly selection or water selection, you will likely draw a blank.  Most experienced anglers are very successful in the winter time.  The fish tend to be more opportunistic (less selective) and they want to eat.  Whether you want to feed them nymphs or streamers is up to you and how you like to fish.  If you need some suggestions on how to catch fish in the winter time, just stop in and ask. The Nymphing game is solid right now.  Fly tiers ofte...

For the steelhead fisherman, some lessons are learned only through keen observation, while others are delivered like a backhanded slap across the face. One lesson, which resonates in my mind nearly every time I set foot into a run that has the possibility of holding a steelhead, came in the form of the latter. It was a bright, windy, late summer day on a world class steelhead river. I had the good fortune of spending the day with close friends, searching for the ultimate prize of a steelhead encounter. We chose a large piece of water where we could all fish. As I approached the last good bit of water in the run, the difficulty of casting a long floating line into a head on, gale-force wind began to outweigh my desire to finish it off. Another poor cast had me looking upstream for my friends. One friend responded with, what would be, a cr...

I am sitting in the fly shop on January 29th, anxiously waiting to hit the Kootenai River tomorrow when an idea hit me. "Why don't I write a quick blog/report on what I believe will happen on the Kootenai tomorrow." So here are my predictions.  Fishy Forecast // 1-29-17 I am expecting tomorrow to be a nymph and swing day. I will still carry BWO and Midge dries if something spectacular were to arise, but I'm not counting on it. Get your flies here. I am predicting the hot nymphs will be a red #14 Copper John,  #18 Tufted Zebra Midge, and a #18 BWO Crust Nymph. For streamers, I have faith that Fred's trusty Olive Predacious Fox will do the trick. Learn to tie the Predacious Fox here. If not olive, I also have a few in a beautiful claret color, tied with marblefox instead of temple fox. If claret doesn't work, then I will swing for the...