Our Big Hole guides have had great fishing lately.

by sunriseflyshop

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Our Big Hole guides have had great fishing lately. You will still find Salmonflies around the Dewey Canyon area. Elsewhere on the river we are having hatches of Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies, PMD’s and Caddis. Some of our best patters for dry flies have been purple craze’s in size #10 and Chubby’s in size #10. Our best nymph droppers off the dry flies have been #12 Red Copper John’s and #12 Pearl lightning bugs. In the cloudy weather we have had in the afternoons as the thunder storms creep up, we have had good streamer fishing with natural patterns. #4 Sculzilla’s and tan Zonkers have been working very well. I would focus on the riffle water with 3 to 4 feet drop offs right now.

Photo By Dan Armstrong Photography: Big Hole River Fly Shop

Flies: #4 Cat Puke #4 Fluttering Stone #4 Rogue Stone #6 Chubby, #12 Purple Haze #4Pat’s Stone Orange/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, #12 Pearl Lightning Bug #12 Red Copper John Bellyache Minnoe Olive #8 Sparkle Minnow, #4 Yellow/Black Beldar; #4 Smoke N’ Mirrors #6 Yellow Zonker #10  #6 Bad Boy

Hello everyone:  As you may have noticed construction work on Silver Bridge located on the Big Hole River near Divide is beginning to be initiated by MDT and Anderson Construction.  In order to stage equipment, the work bridge must be reinstalled over the river.  Therefore a one day closure (Monday-June 22, 2015)of the Big Hole River is required for this installation.  Please be advised that the River will be closed to all occupation from 1000 ft. upstream to 1000 ft. downstream of Silver Bridge starting at 8 AM to Midnight, June 22, 2015.   Please see the attached notice.

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Salmonfly Hatch Update

by sunriseflyshop

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We are still seeing a lot of the Big Bugs from Thompson’s Corner all the way into the Maiden Rock Canyon, and the dry fly fishing has been really good.  Today the dry fly fishing remained very good even into the heat of the day. Golden Stones seemed to be working better in the afternoon hours.

Photo of Ryan Barba and an army of Salmonflies by Brett Seng

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Big Hole River Salmonfly Hatch

by sunriseflyshop

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It’s been a busy weekend on the Big Hole. We are experiencing the most Salmonflies we have seen in about 10 years on the Big Hole. Currently the hatch is on the entire River. Some of our best dry fly fishing has been from Jerry Creek down to Melrose. Our best dry fly fishing has been in the morning and late afternoon. You will find Salmonflies, Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies and Caddis hatching right now. Flows have been dropping and water conditions are ideal right now for dry fly fishing. During the middle of the week you will find the river traffic to be much more pleasant. It is time to throw the big bugs and hold on tight. Our Big Hole River guides have been catching clients some very nice fish lately.

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They’re Here

by sunriseflyshop

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Early reports from today are that Salmonflies are flying between Maiden Rock and Brownes Bridge.  From what we are hearing, it sounds like there are a lot of bugs in the air and that the fish are really starting to key in on them.

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The Salmonfly Hatch is Here!

by sunriseflyshop

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It is still in the early stage of the hatch, but we have seen a lot of shucks in the willows and saw a few of the Big Bugs flying.  With the weather warming up over the next several days, Salmonflies should really be flying by this weekend.  Most of the fish that we have caught over the last few days have still been on the Salmonfly nymph, but we are getting a few nice fish to come up and eat the dry.  It really feels like the fish are starting to look up, and the fishing this weekend should be great.

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Big Hole River Salmonfly Hatch Update

by sunriseflyshop

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Fishing has remained pretty good on the Big Hole during these rainy days of June. The water is up a bit today but that will not affect your fishing. Clarity remains good and the Salmonfly nymphs are moving around. We spotted about 10 Salmonfly shucks at Brownes bridge this morning. It is still early but a few Salmonflies are crawling and hatching on the lower Big Hole. Some warm and sunny weather will get the bugs flying around once they hatch. Right now dropping a #4 Pat’s Stone has been working very well.

Flies: #6 Chubby, #12 Purple Haze #4Pat’s Stone Orange/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, Bellyache Minnoe Olive #8 Sparkle Minnow, #4 Yellow/Black Beldar; #4 Smoke N’ Mirrors #6 Yellow Zonker #10  #6 Bad Boy

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Waiting for Salmonflies

by sunriseflyshop

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Tomorrow marks the first day of June and we are gearing up for the Salmonfly hatch on the Big Hole River. We are going to have great flows and clarity for the Salmonfly hatch this year. Currently, we are near average flows for this date in time at the Melrose gauge. We do not have any Salmonflies on the lower Big Hole River but they should start hatching soon. We have had great nymph fishing on #4 Pat’s Stoneflies which means the fish are keying into the Salmonfly nymph as the nymphs are moving closer to the banks. The Salmonflies will start to hatch around Glen. We will let you know when we first see these bugs. Fishing remains good on the upper Big Hole and throughout the entire river system. Clarity remains good and flows are currently stable.

Flies: #10 Chubby, #12 Purple Haze #4Pat’s Stone Orange/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, Bellyache Minnoe Olive #8 Sparkle Minnow, #4 Yellow/Black Beldar; #4 Smoke N’ Mirrors #6 Yellow Zonker #10  #6 Bad Boy

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Beaverhead River Fishing Report

by sunriseflyshop

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The Beaverhead River has been fishing well. Outflows from Clark Canyon Reservoir remain low. The outflow is currently 243cfs. You will have easy wade fishing right now on the upper Beaverhead. Nymph fishing has been the main recipe for flies. The Beaverhead River is running clear down to where Grasshopper Creek dumps into the River.

Flies #16 Ray Charles Soft Hackle, #16 Tan Scud, #18 RS2, #16 Sow Bug Tan/Pink, #18 Olive Split Back, #10 San Juan Worm, #18 Barrs Emerger #16 RS2 

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So Moist

by sunriseflyshop

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Click here to change this textaDamp, Wet, Moist, Soaked…However you want to describe it, that is how it has felt.  With the rain that we have seen in the last two weeks, it has felt more like the Pacific Northwest than the High Plaines Desert of Southwest Montana.  Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t complaining.  This rain is helping make up of the below-average snowpack that we received over the winter.  

What has all of this precipitation done for the fishing? It has been great for the fishing.  The river is around 3500cfs and the banks are full, and with those banks saturated from all the recent rains, the river is full of worms.  So while we wait for the Salmonfly hatch, we can continue to enjoy great subsurface fishing with San Juan Worms, Stonefly Nymphs, and Streamers

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Dropping and Clearing

by sunriseflyshop

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After the heavy rains that we got last week, the river is finally dropping and clearing.  The visibility around the Salmon Fly fishing access is about 2 feet, and even better than that if you get above the Wise River.  The fishing has been really good over the last couple days.  We have still been using dry dropper rigs on the upper river with Pat’s Rubber Legs, Pheasant Tails, and San Juan Worms.  From Jerry Creek down, the Caddis and March Browns are hatching with more consistency and the dry fly fishing had been pretty good.

Here is a nice brown that Pete got near Fishtrap FAS

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