Month: May 2022

The Big Hole River is currently rising and muddy due to high elevation snow runoff. We also have some serious rain in the forecast, which will add to the volume of water coming down the system. We recommend fishing a tailwater fishery right now, like the Beaverhead. Once the Big Hole peaks and starts to drop in flows the upper Big Hole will start to fish. We recommend heading to tailwater fisheries this week until the Big Hole drops in flows from peak runoff. Snowpack in the Big Hole valley is still showing 130% of snow water equivalency for this date in time. Always feel free to give us a call for the most up to date water conditions. 406-835-3474.

• Recommended flies:
• Pat’s Stone #10 (Black)
• Duracell (Copper) #12
• Hot Spot Jig #14
• San Juan Worm (Red/Pink)
• Caddis Pupa (Olive/Tan) #14
• High Rise Caddis #14 
• Translucent Emerger Caddis #14
• March Brown #14 
• #6 J.J. Special
• #6 Yellow Zonker

Spring is finally in the air and so are the Mother’s Day Caddis. The hatch has made its way all the way up into the Maiden Rock Canyon. The warm weather we have had the last few days has brought the flows up. We should have a continued rise in water flows the next few days. Clarity this morning was around 2 feet in Melrose. Conditions and clarity can change daily right now due to rising water. We have had good fishing lately, but we are heading into runoff time so it will be a day to day scenario. The old sayin’ holds true, “you don’t know unless you go.” We have done best the last few days with caddis pupa, and caddis dries at the right time of the hatch. Streamers have also been working well in the Afternoons in the shallow riffles and undercut banks.

• Recommended flies:
• Pat’s Stone #10 (Black)
• Duracell (Copper) #12
• Hot Spot Jig #14
• San Juan Worm (Red/Pink)
• Caddis Pupa (Olive/Tan) #14
• High Rise Caddis #14
• Translucent Emerger Caddis #14
• March Brown #14 
• #6 J.J. Special
• #6 Yellow Zonker

Shop hours are 8:00am – 5:00pm daily

We have had a bit of a bump in flows due to some warm weather that melted some mid elevation snow. It looks like the bump is over and the river will be coming back into good fishable shape starting tomorrow. The upper Big Hole gauge has crested and the entire river is dropping in flow. We are starting to see some clearing on the edges this afternoon. Clarity will continue to improve as the river drops. We should get another good window of fishing before the next bump in flows. It’s that time to get out and get some spring fishing in before peak runoff hits. We are not predicting when and how much peak runoff we will have here since the weather has been cool and wet for much of the Spring. Upper elevation snowpack in the Big Hole watershed is currently reading 116% of snow/water equivalent for this date in time. At some point we will see a large flush of water coming down the Big Hole River system. We have had a much improved upper elevation snowpack due to Spring moisture.

• Recommended flies:
• Pat’s Stone #10 (Black)
• #12 Duracell (Copper)
• #12 Hot Spot Jig
• #10 San Juan Worm (Red/Pink)
• #10 Bullet Head Skwalla
• #14 March Brown
• #6 J.J. Special
• #6 Yellow Zonker

Shop hours are 8:00am – 5:00pm daily

We have all enjoyed the latest rounds of precipitation in Southwest Montana. Our high elevation snowpack has seen a great boost in Snow/water equivalency. Currently our high elevation snowpack is 105% of normal. We currently have a very dry mid elevation and low elevation in the Big Hole valley. You can see our flows are well below average due to the cool weather we have had and the lack of mid elevation snowpack and low elevation snowpack. So, once it heats up into the 70’s during the day and overnight lows are around 40-45 degrees we will start to get a push of runoff from the high elevation snowpack.

Currently, the Big Hole River is clear, low and fishing well. We are doing the best from Divide all the way down to Notch Bottom. We have Skwalas hatching, March Brown’s and Blue Winged Olives. We have done well with the single skwala dry fly in the afternoons. In the mornings we are throwing a jig head soft hackle under the skwala dry or a pat’s stone nymph and staying hooked up. Some guys are doing well with black and olive streamers throughout the day. It is time to enjoy spring fishing before the high elevation runoff hits our freestone rivers.