Missouri River Report 1.24.17

This past weekend was wintry, but fishable. I know a number of folks got out on the Missouri River on Saturday, while I was tying flies on Facebook.

The Sunday Report

I also heard reports from up and down the river on Sunday. So I headed down to Giant Springs on my lunch break. I met up with Ben, who was trying out a new Commando Head. He wanted me to show him how to cast it. I showed him how I single hand it and managed to hook a spunky little bow in the process. "What fly you got on here, Ben?" "The Mini Montana Intruder you tied on Facebook yesterday," he replied.

After the quick casting lesson, I bounced over to Cutter's crew. He was surrounded by dogs and kids with Nerf guns, while trying to load up the grill. After I arrived, the dog and kid show found a porcupine. If you see a porky down at Giant Springs bristling with Nerf darts, now you know how it happened.

While the kids and dogs were busy, Cutter set me up with a tasty Bratwurst. I told him he needs to picnic party every Sunday, so I can catch a fish and grab a bite on my lunch break.

On the upper river, the reports are mostly good. It’s warmed up enough that anglers are fishing from the dam all the way through the Canyon again. You’ll generally find larger rainbows upriver. In the Canyon reach, you will often find hordes of medium to small rainbows and occasionally, some nice browns.

Not much in the way of big midge hatches yet, but as we move into February, that will hopefully change. For now, the nymphing is periodically strong and the swinging is fairly steady.

Curious how the river is doing? Check out the current river flows here

Last Friday

I was out with Kevin. Despite sub-freezing temperatures, the wind was never bad and I had zero line icing. That’s a perfect winter outing in my book.

Despite having a bunch of bright pink and orange midges and scudly sows, Kevin struggled to get bit all morning. Basically, I think it was just too cold and the fish were not active for the nymph when we got started.

I got a good reception on my first swing and throughout the day, I’d get grabs here and there. It seemed like the larger fly was just enough to move fish in the chilly water. I fished Balanced Leeches all day in several colors and they all seemed to work.

Once Kevin got dialed in mid-day on the nymph, he started hooking fish continually for about 90 min. Based on his temp reading, the water had warmed up a degree when he started getting steady eats. By the end of the day, we ended up about the same. He liked doing it his way. I liked doing it mine. We both enjoyed the day immensely.

Need to stock up on flies? Check out our fly selection here

The remainder of the week looks pretty darn good. Temperatures in Great Falls are going to the 40’s. The Craig reach is looking about 10 degrees cooler, but with winds less than 10 mph, you can’t complain.

If you are not fishing next Saturday, tune in at 11 am for our next live Fly Tying Showcase.