Missouri River Report 6.9.16
Bugs. Bugs everywhere on the Missouri River.
Pretty Bugs-PMD’s
Pretty bugs are on the current menu. Pale Morning Dun Mayflies are delicate and elegant. Large trout will gently sip them. Smaller fish will slurp and smack them. From the nymph, to the emerger, to the unfortunate cripples and definitely the spent spinners, trout are eating PMD’s.
Sometimes, the PMD hatch comes off strong in the morning, followed by another hatch in the later portion of the day. That doubles the fun. Make sure to have a good emerger pattern such as Mercer’s Epoxy Back PMD. The Rusty Spinner is also a tried and true winner on Missouri River fish.
I got on a relatively sparse PMD hatch yesterday morning. Despite the limited number of bugs on the water, the trout were sharking the ones they could find. They were also eager to eat my PMD emerger. And then, it was over. No more bugs. No more rising fish. It was sweet while it lasted.
Blue Collar-Caddis
While PMD’s are elegant, Caddis are like the Blue Collar bugs. They are always nearby and always busy working on various projects such as creeping, drifting, emerging, and flying around, crawling in your ear, exploding on your windshield, mating, skittering, and egg laying and finally drowning or collapsing "spent" upon the water.
I particularly love fishing caddis pupa before and during emergence. There is nothing like the sharp tug of a fish rising up to take a pupa on the end of a tight line. My preferred rod for fishing pupa is a 3 weight Spey. I simply love the ease of casting and controlling line with the longer rod. I will likely be fishing TC’s Caddis Purger behind a North 40 Caddis or Blooms Tung Dart.
Once the evening egg laying gets underway, I will switch to my favorite 9’ 5 weight and target rising fish. Some good low riding caddis patterns can make for a magical evening. I like the Outrigger Caddis, Balloon Caddis, X2 Caddis and the Hi-Vis Spent CDC Caddis. Sometimes the fish get really picky on the fly. Generally it’s the presentation, but if your drifts look perfect and your caddis patterns fail, try a Triple Double, Bloom’s Ant or a Purple Haze.
Looking to try out some of these flies? Check them out here.
Current Condition of the Missouri River
5,140 CFS: Temp in the Upper 50s: Water clear and mostly weed free
The flows have been anything but steady of late. It seems like the water managers are constantly fiddling with the dials. A couple days of consistent flow is generally best for dependable hatching and fishing conditions. Thunder storms and wind have screwed up some of the prime evening action recently and that trend looks to continue. Regardless of what happens, its prime time right now and current flows are ideal for fish to rise.
As always, we’ve got premium fishy flies at the best prices in the state. Stop by and we can prescribe some killer patterns for your next prime time adventure be it on the MO, one of our area freestones or on a big fish Stillwater.