Page 116 - North 40 Outfitters

Avista Utilities has started drawing down Lake Coeur d'Alene, which will provide some much needed water to the Spokane River. What does that mean for you? Fishing will just continue to get better! Want to see how the river is doing? Check current river flows here Nymphing continues to bring numbers to the net. My friend, Patrick, and I had a very successful morning on Sunday using a size 16 Pheasant Tail dropper fished below a Cheater Belly Stone. Midges, hoppers, caddis, and craneflies will continue to work over the next few weeks. You can also expect to see the reemergence of BWOs. Even I managed to put the nymph rod down long enough to catch a few on dries last weekend! Want to try out some new flies? Check out our fly selection here Streamers will also once again produce results and we just beefed up our selection in the shop. Use a...

When seeking to purchase an electrical fence for your farm or ranch, consider Shakespeare: You must needs, sirs and madams, understand your electrical fencing "audience and purpose." But seriously, all 16th Century lit. references aside knowing what you plan to do with your electrical fence is the first part in deciding what you ultimately need. North 40's first recommendation on learning about fencing set ups? Watch the video below and see Matt get electrocuted... and also get an instructional lesson from Gallagher's own electric fencing expert.   Is your fence permanent or temporary? First things first, this is the realest question to ask for a few reasons. Why? Permanent fences and temporary fences use way different materials. If it's a permanent fence you're after, then you're going to opt for an installation that utilizes wire...

It was a Tuesday afternoon in mid-February, and I was scarcely halfway through a three-hour block of classes, when my phone buzzed impatiently in my pocket. It was a high school buddy of mine, Will Barr, and in an instant, I knew what he’d say if I picked up. As I glanced around the classroom, the professor eyed me suspiciously. I declined the call and sent a hurried text message when the professor looked away. "What’s up? I’m in class." Let’s Go Catch Some Steelhead He replied a minute later. "Let’s go catch some steelhead this weekend, we’ll pack in and fish through Sunday." I needed little convincing. Will was officially a steelhead junkie. He promised the weekend would be filled with a few good days on the water and some long nights around the campfire, nursing lukewarm Keystone Lights. By Friday morning, we’d cleared o...

  While even conventional anglers call the tiger musky a fish of 10,000 casts, the process of hooking a tiger with a fly can be daunting. Growing up in Wisconsin, musky have been a fish of legendary status. I have always had a deep respect for these apex predators. I can recall catching a smaller pike as a child, only to have it taken away by a musky dockside. As he swam away with his new found lunch, I still remember him winking at me as if to say thanks... an image that will be forever engrained in my memory. Ti·ger mus·ky (esox masquinongy x lucius) One of three members of the pike family living in the inland northwest. The other two are grass pickerel and northern pike. Tiger musky are a sterile cross between the northern pike and the true muskellunge. The muskellunge name derives from the Native American Ojibwa word maashkin...

Punta Gorda is one of those places where everything seems to be as it should. Life moves at just the right pace. No one is in a hurry. An Ideal Location Garbutts Fishing Lodge is situated just outside of Punta Gorda, overlooking the sea to the east and Joe Taylor Creek to the west. It is an ideal location to operate a Permit focused lodge, with arguably some of the best Permit flats right out the front door. If Permit fishing is what you seek, Garbutts has it in spades. To read more about Permit fishing check this out. As if the view from the bow of a Panga isn’t satisfying enough, the tapestry of aquatic green and blue flats is electrified by the Belize sun. This all unfolds while the Tropic Air makes its final approach into PG. There is no shuttle or taxi waiting for you upon arrival to PG. Instead, the airport attendant asks where ...

The Spokane River is one of the most beloved rivers in the region. However, like any other large city, Spokane has its share of issues, many of which make their way into the river. Illegal dumping of waste, recreational users and transient populations all contribute to the pollution you'll find along the riverbanks. Fortunately, there are several groups who get together each year to organize the annual Spokane River Cleanup. 2016 will mark the 13th year of the cleanup, which will take place on Saturday, September 17th at 9:00 am. Sign up at http://spokaneriver.net/spokanerivercleanup/ to join me and the hundreds of other volunteers that help with this fun event. Lets do our part to keep the Spokane River beautiful!

By Sam Looper What Fish Will Eat the Spineless Minnow? The Spineless Minnow was designed to target White Bass and Hybrid Bass in my local waters in Middle Tennessee. I grew up fishing a Rebel Crawfish for "redeye" in East TN and I wanted to design a small fly to imitate the wiggle action from the Rebel lure. About the same time, I was tying a lot of Blane Chocklett’s T-Bone for Musky, and I wanted to tie a smaller version for smallmouth bass. Development of the Spineless Minnow Pattern In the first step, when shaping the tubing for the T-Bone and after I had attached the material to the hook, I could see the back half of a small minnow. I immediately found a Flymen 22 mm shank and created the dome shape for the head, and the Spineless Minnow was born. It took a few more months of development and dialing in all the right materials to en...

What Changed when Running Zoetis & Dectomax? Despite his initial hesitancy to invest more in the initial cost of Zoetis products over generics, Vic finally did volunteer to try something new and give Zoetis a chance. We joined him on his ranch in Montana out by the Smith river for our first administration during branding. Be sure to read the start of this experiment and learn what Vic already had to change when switching to Zoetis. Vic started the day off by running Dectomax Pour-on on all his cattle. Dectomax controls 33 stages of internal and external parasites with a single, convenient application... at least that's what the label said. Vic was surprised to hear this claim, and it is something we are really looking forward to watching and reporting back on come fall. Our Dectomax is available for online order and delivery her...

Where are Winston Rods Made? Montana, of course. I have driven by the Winston factory in Twin Bridges, Montana, a hundred times, usually on the weekends and usually on my way to the Ruby, Jefferson, or the Big Hole, and I'm not really looking to stop anywhere. However, a week earlier, Winston's sales manager Jeff called and asked if we could attend a dealer event at the factory. So Fred, our Great Falls fly shop manager, and I made a 4:30 AM drive to Twin Bridges to attend. I've never really taken the time to understand Winston rods. I've known they make really fine fly rods and pride themselves on quality. I knew they used boron. I knew they were green, and I knew they were made in Montana. I suppose that much should be just about enough. However, we got the real story and a behind-the-scenes look that most people never get to see. So, ...

With tons of fun and cool craft ideas circling the web today, we decided to try our hand in the crafting world. We already had tons of fun with our Recycled Rope Wreaths, so we once again looked close to home when coming up with a new project. Want to check out our Rope Wreath Project? Read all about it here As spring was coming up this year, there were two things that people were getting excited about: chickens and gardening. So- we figured, why not try to combine the two? This led to the Chicken Feeder Herb Project. Looking for more unique gardening techniques? What not try straw bales? What we did was grab a couple of metal chicken feeders (which we spray painted North 40 blue, of course), some herbs and some potting soil and set to work. After packing in the herbs and some extra soil, we were excited by the success and couldn't wai...

It’s been a week since we learned of the ongoing parasitic fish kill on the Yellowstone River and we are awaiting more information about the problem. There remain many great waters to fish throughout the state of Montana. Hopefully, we won’t see any additional outbreaks. Anglers need to stay informed and learn how they can prevent the spread of invasive species and disease. If you are heading to the Missouri River (or anywhere for that matter) from the Yellowstone region, please, please Clean, Drain and Dry. This should be standard practice anytime one moves from one body of water to another. The Mo is fishing well right now. Fish a hopper. Nymph a crayfish. Rip a streamer. Target rising fish. Blind fish a dry fly. Short leash a couple bugs. Everything is working to some degree. Certain techniques will provide more fish, but success ...

I am hearing reports of fisherman at Lake Pend O'reille hooking big Smallies in anywhere between 10-30 feet of water. Gear fishing is definitely producing bigger numbers, but as the water cools down, I believe fly fishing will begin to hook more fish. Want to know how the lake is doing? Check out the current lake elevation here Right now, I have found days when the bass are extremely deep and sluggish, and other days when they are active and eating anything in their path. A couple days ago, the Smallies were in 30-40 feet of water, and I could only get them to eat plastic worms. The next day, we found the bass in 9 feet of water, and eating plastic worms, grubs and KVD dream shots. As far as flies, we threw woolly buggers, clousers, worms and even shrimp with only one bass to show for it. Want to try out some new flies? Check out our fl...