Page 144 - North 40 Outfitters

The fishing was so hot on the MO yesterday, it started a fire. Emily kept her rod bent for several hours. Will managed to fish around her running and jumping fish and still stay in the game. On Sunday morning, before the fire blew up, the fishing was very strong. Thankfully the winds held off giving us a fantastic fishy window. Size 20 and 22 Black Zebra’s and Tufted Zebras were on the menu. Many of the fish were hot and landing them was challenging. I’d say it was about a 50/50 on most hookups. I kind of like it like that. You can’t take any fish for granted. You’ve got to focus and have some skill and some good fortune on each hook up. When they take off jumping and running, you’ve got to let them go and then quickly chase them down before they dive into the weeds. When they head into the cabbage, you’ve got to find the ...

SHUCK- ON CADDIS Started using this pattern over twenty years ago, when a client from the San Francisco Bay area brought a few that he had tied. As a beginning fly tier, his assortment of materials was limited and he only had pink poly for the shuck and back. Thus, the fly was called "Mr. Pink" to distinguish it from the normal Elk Hair Caddis. Over the years, the exact color of the shuck was found not to be critical, but among ourselves, we still remember the style as Mr. Pink. Aside from the shuck, the critical step in tying this fly is to have the bottom of the wing in the top 1/3 or higher of the body. This will insure the body sets in the film. Materials: Hook: 12-16 dry fly Shuck: polypropylene yarn Wing: elk hair Body: fine poly dubbing Thread:size 70 color of body Tied by Rick Pasquale from the Great Falls North 40 Fly Shop

The Chubby, otherwise known as the Chubby Chernobyl as derived from the Chernobyl Ant has been around awhile and just keeps getting more popular as more and more variants expand it's "fishability." Just about every color combo has been tried. One of the best dry flies of all time is the Royal Wulff, so It’s no surprise that the Royal (peacock and red) color scheme is a good one. Here is a contemporary "Royal" with ice dub and foam. Tie one up, tie one on and send us pictures on Facebook. Materials: Hook - 3x Long Size 8-12 Thread - UTC 140 Tail -Tan UV Krystal Flash Back - 2mm Sheet Foam, Tan or Brown Body - Ice Dub: Peacock and Claret Legs: Orange, Tan or Brown Wing: McFlylon "combed out" -- or, you can substitute with Widow's Web from Montana Fly Company

It’s no secret that trout love hoppers. Late summer is prime time for inducing those crashing surface takes fly fishers love. Hoppers become most vulnerable after they molt into adults and can fly. While they will fly when startled, they don’t fly well. Afternoon breezes, animal movements, agricultural activities and anglers walking along meadow streams, can put them on a bad trajectory over trout infested waters. Fish them. Put them on the bank. Run them through the middle. Put them down wherever the trout are living. Don’t be afraid to twitch them. Sell them as a living, struggling bug. Hopper fishing is really fun. You can see the fly and there is no question when they eat it. Just don’t pull the trigger too soon. Got hoppers? If not, get hoppers. We’ve still got a great selection, but they are moving fast.

I have a love/hate relationship with August. The steelhead have reached Idaho-kind of.  The water is warm, but steelhead hate warm water.  My mind repeats spey casts and tight line takes over and over, but it’s still wedding season.  Fish are caught one day then nothing the next. August turns me to my computer, constantly checking flows out of the North Fork, making sure the river stays cool until the first rains come.  Then there’s the flies.  Most steelheaders really only need 3-4 flies, but for some reason I keep tying and tying and tying.  Dozens of flies fill my over sized boat box.  Old flies, that didn’t make the cut, are tossed out and replaced with newer version.  Most of my flies will go to friends and fellow anglers during times spent on the river. I’m ready for September.  Good thing our Lewiston fly shop ...

No one likes ants in their pants, but fish love to snack on the little creepy crawlers. Ants are a great terrestrial insect to imitate with a fly. Bears love them too. If an animal as large as a bear will focus on eating ants, they must have something going for them. That something is protein. They are little balls of energy. An ant can move something like 50 times their body weight. Wild creatures instinctually know the cost benefit of eating certain foods. For that reason, ants are on the menu. An ant pattern can be a great choice as a prospecting fly. Ants can also trigger fish during a technical hatch. When you don’t have the right match or are getting refusals on what you think the correct fly should be, try an ant. If you are fortunate enough to be fishing during an actual ant fall, you don’t want to miss out. The catching wil...

Big Fish Options in the Summer Carp are my new King Salmon. While I’ve fished for them a little here and there over the last 15 years, carp have recently become a regular target. In Alaska, I fished for King and Silver Salmon to get my large gamefish fix. Here in Montana, carp are the big fish option. The Gold Standard Known as golden bones, carp present many different angling challenges. I prefer to hunt and sight fish for carp, so similarities to bonefish, redfish, and permit fishing are certainly there. Carp are a wary fish by nature with highly developed senses. When you have wary fish in shallow water, stealth is in order. When you spot one, you’ve got to get into position to deliver a fly without being seen. Then you’ve got to get the fly right in front of the fish so they discover it when they are ready to eat. You can’t ...

The drowning mouse pattern is a simpler, non-articulated, variation of Joe Obrien’s shop rat pattern. There has been increasing interest in mouse patterns. There must be something special about large predatory fish hammering a big pattern on the surface. Most are meant to be skated or slowly stripped in, from or towards the bank. Materials: Hook - Gamakatsu B10S #4-6 Thread: UTC 210 Tan Tail - Standard Ultra Chenille Foam Back and Head - 2mm Sheet Foam Body - Rabbit Strip Tools: Stonefo Thread Splitter, Dr. Slick Razor Scissors and a Lighter

One of the most often asked questions I hear in the shop is "Can you tune my bow?" Short answer - yes. Long answer - let me show you how to tune your bow yourself at home or at the range. It seems that more and more each year we get a lot of questions in the shop about tuning bows. New archers are joining the sport every day, and the interest of working on their own equipment is at an all-time high. The amount of information available on the internet is staggering, but it is a lot to sort through to find the little nuggets of gold that are going to be useful. Most of the articles out there also use some terminology that assumes you've already got some working knowledge of bow tuning under your belt. Shop our entire catalog of archery products, bows and accessories online here. Initial Bow Setup and Different Types of Tuning Because some ...

Have you ever had a flat tire and changed it out with your spare, only to get another flat tire before the first one was fixed? Attempted to put your spare on and realized that it was also flat? Or, didn't have a spare tire? We've all seen vehicles alongside the road on three wheels and a jack, and maybe some of you have had the misfortune of being in that situation. Either way, having the right equipment and knowing how to repair a flat tire can sometimes be the difference between driving or walking. Whether you are on the shoulder of the road or working in your garage, here are a few options for fixing that flat tire: Sealants - LiquiTube's Premium Tire Sealant helps maintain air pressure, extends tire life, and seals all forms of air loss Shop our sealants by clicking here. Installation should be near an air compressor so the tire c...

Lots of flies are catching fish.  Ants, beetles, hoppers, tricos, caddis, stones, callibaetis, midges, damsels, attractor dries, attractor nymphs and a variety of flashy and subtle streamers in an assortment of sizes.  Don’t forget scuds, sow bugs, worms, leeches and crayfish.  In short, the list is long.  There are lots of food sources available to the fish this time of year. Do lots of food choices make fishing better?  Not so much.  It means that you have a chance to catch fish on just about anything, but it can be difficult to pick the perfect fly.  You can narrow down the options by focusing on a specific piece of water at a particular time of day.  Morning hatches and spinner falls focus feeding behavior, as do evening hatches and egg laying activity.  Hoppers and ants and everything else can fill out the middle of the ...

About six weeks back, Samantha Stevens approached me about setting up a day to try out fly fishing for her Community Rec Center group. In her words: "My goal is to try and get kids more interested in new sports and outdoor activities, so I thought fly fishing would be a great activity to foster that idea. I was thinking that it would be fun and interesting for the kids to learn fly tying, which could take place over the course of an hour or two. We have a room available at the rec center that could be used, or we can meet wherever is most convenient for you. After that, we could go to a Pond to practice some casting and fishing skills." Promoting fly fishing is what I do and I was excited to have the opportunity to offer a fly tying and casting/fishing introduction to Sam’s youth group. This past Wednesday, Wayne Jordan and I met Sama...