Page 118 - North 40 Outfitters

Rise and Shine and Go Fly Fishing When it's Cool Trout are cold water critters. August can be a cruel month on many waters. Trout often struggle on the borders of existence in our smaller streams and rivers. 70 degrees is considered a thermal threshold; but really, that’s being generous. After a hard fought battle, large fish are susceptible to mortal stress when the waters are in the upper 60s. They simply can’t regain enough oxygen to recover from the excretion. What’s an angler to do? Go early. Thankfully, our nights cool things down considerably. Water temps move well into the safe zone by early morning. Enjoy the sunrise. By late morning, the best fishing of the day is often done anyway. That’s why we have Hoot Owl restrictions on many waters in western Montana. While Hoot Owl regulations permit angling u...

I hit the water after a day in the shop for a little evening fishing on the Clark Fork River. Temperatures were in the 70s, and the wind was slightly breezy at first. Flows were very low, but had been steady for a few days. I suspected fishing would be epic. My first experiment was the faithful pink chubby/dropper, and it did not produce. Want to see the most current river flows? Check them out here After 20 minutes of nothing, I switched to a #14 purple rocky mountain mint and a #12 H & L Variant. With that combination, I hooked several beautiful healthy cutthroat and hybrids. As the evening went on, the fishing continued to get better and better. The trout were the most active from 8:30-9 p.m., eating what I believe to be #16 black ants. Want to check out some new flies? Take a look at our fly selection here The only reason I am n...

I had the opportunity to fish the Spokane River for a few hours this week and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Action was consistent with double nymph rigs, fished below an indicator and Czech-style. When I arrived at the river, I noticed several clusters of midges flying just above the surface of the water, so I put on a size 18 Zebra Midge dropper, which accounted for half of the fish I caught. Want to know how the river is doing? Check out the current flows here Focus your attention on the riffles, pocket water, and the heads of runs. These areas provide a sanctuary for trout during low water, while also giving you the best shot at less selective fish. Hopper-Dropper rigs were also made for this type of water, so don’t be afraid to ditch the indicator and tie on a Morrish Hopper or White Cloud Hopper instead. Come into the shop if...

I had a little bit of free time yesterday afternoon so went out to the Methow. I knew the water had come up a couple days ago, but I didn’t expect it to be as muddy as it was. I kept going up higher to try to find some cleaner water, but it was pretty dirty all the way up to Twisp. I ended up fishing the Twisp River where the water was still dirty but had about 2 ft of visibility. Want to check out how the Methow is doing? Check out the current river flows here In the cloudy and dirty water we’ve been seeing over the past week or two, streamers are definitely the ticket. I got nibbles from lots of small fish and caught a nice variety of 7-9" trout. The fish are definitely concentrated toward the heads of the runs. I found the bigger fish of course in the bigger pools, including 14" rainbow (a whopper for a small stream). Heading out ...

It’s a bit scratchy out there on the Missouri River. Trico’s are the primary hatch when you’re in the right zone. They are out there, but not showing everywhere you’d like them to be. The good news is that you can fish a bigger bug. Some fish will still take a Caddis. General ant, hopper, beetle, Chubby, Purple Haze and various attractor dry flies can work in place of a hatch matching Trico. Try an Ant with a sunk Trico Spinner or go big and fish a Hopper with an Ant off the back. Lots of nymphs are working. Two Bit Hookers, Radiation Baetis, Split Case, Crust Nymphs, Shot Glass Baetis, Rainbow Warrior, Military May, Psycho May, Tung Zebra’s, Tailwater Tiny’s and all the rest. The key is a stealthy delivery system. Big splashy indicators are not helpful. Using an attractor dry as the indicator is a great approach. If you want...

On our way down to fish the Bighorn River, Dad and I were talking; I've never actually been guided by someone in a drift boat for trout. One of our animal health suppliers, Zoetis Animal Health, set up the trip/meeting for us, and as far as business meetings go... I'll say yes to this kind every time. When we arrived for the first night, Dad and I had already fished the river earlier that day and took out at 13 mile. So, we got our drift boat all packed up and got ready to find the lodge. We went about 7 feet and then realized that the lodge we were staying at was, literally, in the same parking lot. So, we pulled in and stepped inside. Brian and Dave were already in the lodge with rib appetizers from a couple of the best fly fishing lodge cooks I have ever come across to greet us at the door. We had duck fat potatoes, some kind of unrea...

I am lucky enough to find myself throwing dries on the Madison River every year since the day I picked up a fly rod. This year, I fished it in early August. This isn't my first choice for the time of year to fish the Madison, but I am not a complainer. I hit the water early around 8 a.m. and fished until 11. There were a few caddis fluttering around, but the biggest hatch was the Epeorus. This isn't to say that there were tons of Epeorus around, just enough to keep the trout interested. I tied on a #14 brown X-Caddis with a trailing #16 Brown Iris Caddis just as an experiment. In the 3 hours of fishing, I missed roughly 10 fish, but none of any size. The biggest was a beautiful 15" Brown trout I fooled on the Iris Caddis. It wasn't until the end of the morning that I noticed all of the bigger fish were staging up against banks in the s...

Last August, I found myself following a compadre into one of the classic swing runs of the Clearwater River for the first time in almost two years with only stock rubber soles on my Korkers. I had forgotten just how treacherous the Clearwater's bottom was. If you have never fished here, just imagine trying to cross an area, give or take the size of a football field, layered with exercise balls, covered with a thousand gallons of 10w30 engine oil, all while the constant heavy push of the Clearwater's current on your legs. Exaggerating? Maybe some. But some runs, some days, absolutely not. Check out the review we did of the men's Korkers Darkhorse wading boot and the women's Buckskin Mary wading boots... both with interchangeable sole setup that sets Korkers apart. I turned back. There were few fish in the river and being the already unsta...

If you've been hunting for the perfect pair of ladies boots, this is no small feat to accomplish. (Pun intended). We asked our footwear buyer, Kayla, to point us in the right direction. Kayla suggests when searching for the perfect pair of boots here's what you should consider. 1.) What Will you Primarily be Using these Boots for? First and most importantly, Kayla recommends that you should consider how you are planning to use the boots. Kayla asked, "Are you looking for a concert boot? Or, do you need something for riding or work?" In more candid terms she was asking, "How hardcore do you need these boots to be?" Since, North 40 carries everything from basic price point fashion boots to performance riding boots with the true rodeo competitor in mind there is a lot to choose from. From fashion boots to performance riding boots check out ...

July is coming to a close. It’s been hot this past week.  Too hot.  Hot weather is generally not great for trout fishing.  They like cold water.  Fortunately, the Missouri River has still been staying near or below 65 degrees.  Still fishable conditions and likely to remain so.  Many other waters are either under Hoot Owl restrictions, or they should be.  That said, you still need to be extra careful with late summer fish. They fight really hard in 65 degree water, but then can have trouble recovering if not released quickly. Trico’s are the daily show. Some PMD spinners are on the water early and a few are hatching late in the afternoon.  Caddis are present, but can be spotty.  More Caddis above Craig it seems.  A Purple Haze still catches fish.  Ants and Hoppers can draw and eat here and there.  A Chubby in the right pl...

I had the day off yesterday, so I figured I would give the Twisp River a shot. I only went a couple of miles out of town. The fishing was really good, but the size of the cutthroat was a little on the small size. I would guess the largest cutty I hooked into was about 14". Most of the fish I landed were in the 8" to 12" range. I also hooked into a couple of small rainbows as well as a nice Bull trout. What most of the fish they lacked in size they made up in their scrappiness. The pink J. Slam was the go to dry pattern this morning as well as a tan Moodah Poodah. Sculpin and the Skittish Smolt pulled in a few that were looking for a big breakfast. I cut my day short due to the heat and figured I would hit it in the evening, but Mother Nature changed those plans. Some pretty hard thunderstorms moved in later in the day so I scrapped any i...

I thought I would hit the Methow River for a couple of hours before coming into the shop today, but I got quite the surprise when I got to the river. For the last couple of days, we had a series of thunderstorms pass through the area. Late yesterday afternoon, we saw one of those storms come up the valley with plenty of thunder and lighting combined with some heavy rains. Well, those heavy rains fell in the burn zones of the 2014 and 2015 wildfires we had in the area. With little to no ground vegetation in those areas, there was nothing to hold the water that fell. As a result, I was greeted to a river running a very dirty brown. The Methow River from Twisp south is too dirty to fish. The Twisp River is the same way. I talked to a customer that lives up on the Chewuch River and he told me it was also running dirty. So I would say th...