Great Falls Fishing Report 10.5.2017

—North 40 Great Falls

The North 40 crew found some time to hit the river on Tuesday—on the first real snow day of the year—and the change in the weather had the fish up and eating. If you fish the river this weekend and on into next week expect a steady train of Pseudos riding the surface. You’ll see a few midges as you dump the boat in early, and you’ll see some snouts popping out to eat those bugs, but the real Pseudo event won’t kick in until after noon. That means you can sleep in and run a shortish float in the afternoon, or dump the boat in at 8 a.m., run a long float, and work streamers until the hatch kicks in later.

Speaking of streamers, the bite was on the other day and we landed a couple nice browns, including one that may have gone 20 inches, on a several patterns. But back to the Pseudos—by 3 PM these things were thick and you could see bank sippers the whole way down the river. Some of the side channels were literally alive with snouts parting the surface. These fish weren’t easy, but #18 and 20 gray emerges and duns did the trick. If I had the time, I’d be on the MO this weekend or, even better, next week as the pressure on weekdays is lighter than weekends. Bring a supply of 5X or the fish might snub their noses at you.

Also, take this motto to the river: Fly First. By that we mean, make a downstream presentation to these risers because they don’t like seeing the tippet before the fly.