The Methow River opened May 23.  High and dirty water from run-off has plagued us since the opening.  The big contributor to the run-off has been unseasonable rains combined with the fire damaged tributary drainages.  Put these two conditions together and you get flash flooding and abnormal flows from tributaries dumping into the Methow.  Most of the snow is gone and has been for sometime.  In a normal year, however, we would have water flows in excess of 12,000 cfs., and run-off extending into the first part of July.  This year we have not seen any flows much over 6,000 cfs., and this is highly unusual.  The big concern here on the Methow, as on other rivers throughout the west, how much water will we have come August and September and on into to steelhead season from October through March.  The river is on the drop early, and ...

Do you fish the crayfish? A surprising number of trout anglers don’t. Have you ever noticed crayfish when you are wading? Have you seen them around the boat landings? There are lots of crayfish in the Missouri River and crayfish are basically a shrimp. Everything loves a shrimp. One of the best times to fish the crayfish is right about the time the caddis are getting active. That’s because 50 degree water is the temp that gets those crayfish out of their winter burrows and clacking around the rocks. Males are looking for mates in the spring and in order to find them, they must expose themselves. Their increased vulnerability to trout is further increased when rising stream flows push them around. The trout are watching. A great way to find out if the trout are taking crayfish is to dead drift one under an indicator and then drop off ...

Another winner from the vise of Sam Wike. Traditional Czech Nymphs are a player on the Missouri River year round. The Mini Mo Czech Nymph is a slim, sparse modified version of the original specifically tailored for the Missouri. Twist a few up and get em in the water! Recipe Dai-riki #135 size 16 Gold Bead 3/32" UTC Ultra thread 70 Denier Red UTC Ultra Wire Silver Small Light Gray Sow scud Dubbing Medium Pearl Tinsel Shrimp Pink Sow Scud Dubbing Hareline Light Shade Rainbow Scud Dub

A common theme I have found in the interviews I have conducted about gardening is the belief that bugs are good. For an outsider, someone with no gardening experience, this seems counter intuitive, and my attitude going into this was, "See bug; kill bug." Healthy Ground, Healthy Garden However, when you interview Master Gardeners and there is some common ground, you tend to listen. I interviewed Master Gardener Hattie Lewis at the North 40 location in Great Falls, MT. Hattie is on the board of city parks. When Hattie sat down with me, I was struck by how closely her bug lecture confirmed the same topic that Joy covered. 1. 95% of all bugs are good bugs! 2. Don't know if a bug is good or bad? Grab it and take it to the local extension office for classification! 3. "If you eliminate good bugs, you open your garden up to bad things the b...

  North 40 Outfitters of Mead 1.) We live in an area here where we have great access to dozens of lakes, streams, rivers and a plentiful selection of game to hunt within a quick drive.  The spring turkey season is a big kickoff to the sporting season with fishing opening up at that time too. The deer and elk seasons in late summer/early fall also show big numbers of sportsmen. Fishing can be a year round thing here too, with limited waters open all year. This last ice fishing season was pretty much a bust around here due to the mild weather, but normally the northern lakes are a hit in January through February. There are also several places to coyote hunt year round to get that hunting fix when most other game seasons are closed. To sum it up, there is always some sort of sporting option in our area. 2.) I guess the first thing I ...

Well, entomologists used to split this species into Ephemerella Inermis and Ephemerella Infrequens, but now they are much easier to identify as they are all Ephemerella Excrucians. Anglers just call them PMDs.  PMD stands for Pale Morning Dun. But of course they sometimes hatch in the afternoon or evening.  In the simplest terms, PMDs are one of them pretty little Mayflies that trout like to eat. PMD’s are pretty important, in that they hatch on many western waters from June to September.  On the Missouri, they typically come on strong in early June and last well into August. Fish will take the nymphs, the emergers, the cripples, the duns and the spinners.  The well-known Rusty Spinner is a classic PMD pattern.  Hook sizes to match the naturals range from 14# to 18#, with #16 being the most common.

North 40 Outfitters of Mead 1.) The area our Mead location is in offers a wide range of outdoor activities literally within minutes of our doors. From turkey hunting in the spring to ice fishing in the winter and everything in between. If it is something related to hunting, fishing, shooting, or any other activity you do outside, we're only minutes away from the action. 2.) I want our customers to know that while we offer a wide range of products, we also have a very knowledgeable staff behind the counter ready to assist with any questions or concerns related to hunting, fishing, shooting, etc. We also offer a full service archery shop, mounting and bore sighting rifle scopes, and we wind fishing line on reels. We really are a one stop shop. 3.) One product line that continues to surprise me is Vortex Optics. They have an unmatched warr...

After work last night, I met Jerrin Uecker at a pull out on the Missouri River right here in Great Falls. Since Sam Wike was off in Saskatchewan chasing pike, Jerrin liberated his new vessel from the garage. We paddled a short distance between massive Reinell ski boats pumping lousy music and angry rooster tailing jet skis.  We snuck in undetected to a tiny backwater channel.  Within moments, we were in our own isolated, back country, paradise. If you need a great tool to access the quiet waters, check out the NuCanoe.  We’ve got the 10’ and 12’ Frontier models, along with the accessories to set them up as the perfect stealth fishing vessel.  Jerrin poled me through the channels while I stood against the casting bar.  What an awesome way to sight fish!  Let’s go again.