Fishing has been pretty good the last couple days and it should be pretty nice this weekend.

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Fishing has been pretty good the last couple days and it should be pretty nice this weekend.  The cooler cloudy weather has had the larger brown trout willing to eat streamers and some dry flies. We have caddis on the lower river below Melrose. Above Melrose you will find March Brown’s still around and some blue winged olives. The flows have remained stable and the visibility is excellent.  We have 2 feet of visibility here in Melrose. Our guides have had good fishing on the upper Big Hole above the Wise River and also around Melrose.

Happy Clients below Divide yesterday

Flies: #10 Bullet Head Skwala, #12 Purple Haze #10 Pat’s Stone Brown/Green #8 San Juan Worm, Bellyache Minnoe Olive #8 Sparkle Minnow, #4 Yellow/Black Beldar; #4 Smoke N’ Mirrors #6 Yellow Zonker #10 Prince Nymph: #12 Flashback pheasant Tail

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Job Positions Open

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Sunrise Fly Shop Open Positions

Fly Shop Specialist / Customer Service and Sales:

Starts: Mid May 2015

Hours: Full Time/Seasonal

Shop duties include high end customer service providing information regarding the fishing on the Big Hole River. This position includes shuttling of vehicles. Fly shop cleaning, and general maintenece of inventory. You will need some Point of Sale/POS skills which means familiarity with computers. Strong phone skills are a plus too.

Requirements:

  • Good personal and customer service skills
  • Excited about helping fly fishing anglers
  • Knowledge of fly fishing basics
  • Basic computer skills
  • Good Organizational skills

Send Resumes to [email protected]  406-835-3474

Shuttle Drivers 2015

Starts: ASAP

Shuttle drivers work very hard, and should expect hours to be 2-6 hours a day. The schedule is pretty flexible, and it’s a great way for those looking to stay busy and earn a few bucks during the summer.

Requirements:

  • Clean Driving Record.
  • Ability to back up a truck and trailer.
  • Ability to drive a manual transmision vehicle.
  • Great attention to detail

Contact [email protected] 406-835-3474

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Cold and Dark and Wet

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The weather has changes significantly in the lats 48 hours.  After a couple week of sunny days with daytime highs reaching the 70’s, Mother Nature decided it was too early for Summer to start.  For the next several days we are forecasted to have overcast skies with cooler temps, and a chance of precipitation every day.  This change in weather has probably slowed the arrival of the Mother’s Day Caddis hatch, but it has been great for getting more water in the river as well as improving the overall fishing.  With the bright sunny weather we had been experiencing, the spring streamer fishing hadn’t been as good as it usually is in May.  But now that we are in a pattern of overcast skies, you can expect the streamer fishing to be really good for the next week.  Yellow, Orange and Olive were the best streamer colors for our guides yesterday.  For all you “Streamer Junkies” that have been waiting for a good time to hit the Big Hole, this might be the weekend you have been waiting for.

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Runoff Fishing Report

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We all know the Big Hole can fish well during runoff but you can always have some tough days. As we move into the month of May we will have high water and off color water but we also catch the largest brown trout of the year in May on the Big Hole River. The Big Hole is currently on the rise but we have 18 inches of clarity on the banks. In the month of May we will have mother’s day caddis and great streamer fishing. If the weather stays warm look for the mother’s day caddis to hatch in the next 10 days. We will keep you posted on the progress of the caddis. Right now we are throwing streamers, and various nymphs.  The dry fly fishing has been spotty but great at times. We still have skwalas up river and march brown’s. Conditions in May change quickly so feel free to give us a call or stay hooked to our reports.

Flies: #8 Mr. beam Skwala, #10 Bullet Head Skwala, #10 Pat’s Stone Brown/Green #8 San Juan Worm, Bellyache Minnoe Olive #8 Sparkle Minnow, #4 Yellow/Black Beldar; #10 Prince Nymph: #12 Flashback pheasant Tail 

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Here come the clouds that we have been waiting for.

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Here come the clouds that we have been waiting for.  Fishing has been ok lately, but inconsistent at times. The change is weather this week should get the fishing back on track. We still have Skwala stoneflies and March browns hatching but on the bright sunny days the fish have not been willing to stay on the surface feeding all day. Our best dropper in the morning and afternoons has been a size #10 olive/brown pat’s stone. For dry flies a #10 bullet head skwalla and #10 Mr. Beam has been our best pattern.  Don’t let the rising water on the hydrograph fool you.  The clarity is around 2 1/2 feet and the increase of flows will get the fish on the banks, which is a good thing right now for dry fly fishing.

Flies: #8 Mr. beam Skwala, #10 Bullet Head Skwala, #10 Pat’s Stone Brown/Green #8 San Juan Worm, Bellyache Minnoe Olive #8 Sparkle Minnow, #4 Yellow/Black Beldar

Dave Leta with a nice Big Hole Rainbow

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Great Spring Conditions

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With the Big Hole flowing at about 1000cfs in Melrose, water clarity of more than two feet, and forecasted highs in the low 60’s, this coming week should produce perfect spring fishing conditions. Since the snowstorm we had come through on the 15th, the top water Skwala fishing below the Divide FAS has slowed down compared to last week, but yesterday’s reports indicate that the March Brown fishing has really started to pick up.  Above Divide they are still hitting the Skwala pretty well, but with gauge at Wise River reading only 800cfs, the upper river is quite a bit skinnier than we usually see this time of year. When we dropping below the surface we have been throwing Pat’s Rubber Legs, San Juan Worms, and any large Mayfly attractor pattern (like a Copper John or a Pheasant Tail).

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The Skwala Hatch is Here

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With the mild spring weather we have been experiencing, the skwalas have arrived a little early this year, and because of that we have had great skwala dry fly fishing this week.  Throwing smaller skwala patterns into slower moving water near the banks has been producing a lot of fish.  The best dry fly action has been from Divide down to Notch Bottom, but we have also been fishing the upper river with good success.  The dry fly fishing on the upper river has definitely been slower than it has been on the lower sections, but throwing a dropper has kept us in fish all day.

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March Skwala Update

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We had a significant warm up yesterday, which got the water temperatures into the mid 40’s.  I spotted two adult skwalas on the water and it was go time.  The skwala hatch has started on the Big Hole.  From 2:00 yesterday till about 4:30 we had some nice dry fly fishing.  The big fish were not rising but plenty of small fish were looking up.  I would still give it some time for the big fish to key into the dry fly. This is the earliest we have ever seen skwala activity on the Big Hole. I would stick to droppers in the morning and then around 2:00 you can fish a single dry fly today unless the wind kicks up like it is supposed to. the visibility is still around 2 1/2 feet.

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Big Hole River Spring Update

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Warm weather on tap today.  It is supposed to hit 70 degrees this afternoon.  After the cold week and the warm weather for the next few days the Skwala nymphs should start moving towards the banks.  We have gotten some dumb fish on top with Skwalas but it is still early.  We have been fishing dry dropper rigs all week and we have done very well on the Pat’s stone dropper and worm as a dropper.  Occasionally we have had eats on top but we are still not in full swing on the Big Hole River skwala hatch.  Your best window of opportunity right now is from about 11:00 am till 5:00 pm.  Streamers have also been working for our Big Hole River guides.  You will need to dead drift the streamers for your best results since the water is in the upper 30’s to lower 40’s.  Flows are stable at the moment and the visibility is around 2 1/2 feet.

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