Big Hole River Fishing Report

Big Hole River At It’s Finest

by sunriseflyshop

The Big Hole River has been fishing fantastic lately. The hatches on the Big Hole River consist of PMD’s, Caddis, Golden Stone’s and Nocturnal stoneflies. Sculpin patterns have been working well in the fast riffles. We are focusing our fishing from morning hours till about 3:00pm for the prime fishing. Sections that have been fishing the best are from Jerry Creek down to Melrose.

Recommended Flies:

  • Chubby Chernobyl #10 (Yellow, UV Tan)
  • Purple Craze #14
  • Brindle Chute #14
  • PMD Cripple #16
  • Bloom’s Caddis #14
  • Jig Thread Frenchie #14
  • Jig Duracell #14
  • Pearl Lightning Bug #16
  • Pat’s Rubber leg #10
  • Lil Kim Olive #4
  • Mini Loop Sculpin #4
Beaverhead River Fishing Report

Beaverhead River Fishing Well

by sunriseflyshop

The Beaverhead River has been fishing fantastic this last week. We have been fishing from the Dam down to Barretts and the fishing has been consistent. You will find fish rising to PMD’s in the mornings, especially in the slick. We have yellow sallies and summer stones from High Bridge down to Barretts. Clark Canyon Reservoir outflows are 510 cfs this morning. You will have good wade fishing at these flows and excellent float fishing on the Beaverhead River.

Recommended Flies:

  • Split back PMD #18
  • Crack Back PMD #18
  • Hunchback PMD #18
  • Barr’s Emerger #18
  • Captive Dunn PMD #18
  • Ray Charles Pink #18
  • McGrubber PMD #16
  • Comparadun PMD #16
  • Parachute Adams PMD #18
  • Chubby Chernobyl #12 (Gold)
  • Plan B #8

Big Hole River Fishing Report

Dry Fly Season on The Big Hole River

by sunriseflyshop

Fishing on the Big Hole River has been fantastic lately. We have had great dry fly fishing and tremendous hatches throughout the day. You will find Golden Stones, PMD’s, Caddis, Green Drakes and Yellow Sallies throughout the river system. River flows are at ideal levels right now for float fishing. We have been fishing a golden stone dry fly with a PMD cripple behind it and the rod has stayed bent. Stretches of the river that have been the best are as follows: East Bank all the way down to Notch Bottom on the Big Hole has been our best float sections. Look for the fishing to continue to be great through the weekend.

Recommend Flies:

  • Chubby Chernobyl (Orange) (Yellow) (Cinnamon) #8, #10
  • PMD Cripple #14
  • PMD Comparadun #14
  • Purple Craze #14
  • Brindle Chute #14
  • Yellow Sallie #14
  • Jig Duracell #14
  • Jig Hot Spot #14
  • Jig Blowtorch #14
  • Copper John (Red) #14
  • Lil’ Kim #4
  • Sparkle Minnow J.J. #6

Big Hole River Fishing Report

Prime Fishing On the Big Hole

by sunriseflyshop

Summer dry fly fishing on the Big Hole River has been good lately. We have hatches of Golden Stones, PMD’s, Caddis, drakes and summer stones. Pick your dry fly hatch and run with it. The evenings or early morning dry fly action on golden stones has been fantastic this week. The nymph fisherman have been hanging fish all day in the fast shallow riffles and are having opportunities in deeper seems. We have had good reports with the streamer anglers with J.J. Sparkle minnows, Lil’ Kim’s in olive and Mini Loop Sculpins in natural. Water flows are hovering just under 2,000 cfs here in Melrose. Our best fishing stretches have been from Jerry Creek down to Notch Bottom.

Recommend Flies:

  • Chubby Chernobyl #8 (Gold) (Purple) (UV Tan)
  • PMD Comparadun #16
  • Purple Craze #12, #14
  • Comparadun Purple #16
  • Brindle Chute #12
  • CDC Caddis #12
  • Bloom’s Caddis #14
  • Copper John Red #14
  • Lightning Bug Pearl #14
  • Pat’s Rubber Legs #8
  • Mini Loop Sculpin
  • J.J. Sparkle Minnow #4
  • Lil Kim #4 Olive/tan
  • Barely Legal Olive

Beaverhead River In Prime Shape

by sunriseflyshop

The Beaverhead river is in perfect summer shape heading into the holiday week. Clark Canyon outflows are 580cfs today. We have been seeing the first of the PMD hatch on the upper Beaverhead and clouds of Yellow Sallies around Henneberry access site. You will also find handfuls of Golden Stone’s around grasshopper access area. The flows right now are excellent for the floater and good for the wade angler. From the Dam down to Henneberry fishing access has been our best fishing.

Recommended Flies:

  • Split Back PMD #18
  • Crack back PMD #18
  • Mayhem PMD #18
  • Comparadun PMD #18
  • Micro Mayfly #16
  • Psycho Prince #18
  • McGrubber PMD #16
  • Thread Frenchie #18
Big Hole River Fishing Report

Hatches Galore on The Big Hole

by sunriseflyshop

Fishing has come into great shape on the Big Hole River. Salmonflies are still hatching about 5 miles above Jerry Creek and you will find them down to about Divide Bridge. The Golden Stones are pretty thick in the Jerry Creek to Maiden Rock Canyon stretch. Along with the stoneflies you will find yellow sallies, PMD’s and caddis hatching on the river. Prospecting with a double dry has been working well for us. We have been throwing a salmonfly or golden stone and then a yellow sally dry fly behind it. The streamer anglers have had good reports as well, J.J. Sparkle Minnows, and brown/yellow Barely Legals have kept fish chasing to the boat. The Big Hole will just continue to be in prime shape this week as the river drops in flows and stabilizes.

Suggested Flies:

  • Cat Puke #4
  • Chubby Chernobyl (Orange) (Yellow) (Purple) #6
  • Flutter Bug Golden #6
  • Water Walker (Black) (Brown) #4
  • Water Walker Golden #6
  • Head Light Sally #12
  • Purple Haze #12
  • Barely Legal #6
  • Sparkle Minnows J.J. #4
  • Sparring Partner Brown trout #4
Big Hole River Fishing Report

Salmonflies On The Big Hole River

by sunriseflyshop

The Big Hole River is quickly coming into prime shape. Our peak runoff is behind us and that means……Salmonflies! Yes, Salmonflies are here! Currently, we are seeing the big bugs in the Maiden Rock Canyon. River flows are quickly dropping and fishing was excellent today and the next several days we will have Salmonfly dry fly fishing. We have also seen PMD’s, golden stones and some yellow sallies on the water. Streamer anglers have done well lately with yellow/brown streamers. It is time for the best hatch of the year. The Big Hole has 4 feet of visibility and with the flows dropping this could be an amazing hatch.

Recommended Flies:

  • Flutter Bug (Salmonfly) #4
  • Cat Puke #4
  • Half Down Salmonfly #4
  • Chubby Chernobyl #6 (Purple) (Orange) (Golden)
  • Chubby Norman #6, #8
  • Water Walker #6 (Black) (Brown)
Beaverhead River Fishing Report

Hatches Are Coming Soon

by sunriseflyshop

The Beaverhead River has been fishing well some days and rather tough other days. We have seen no lack of crowds on the Beaverhead due to most of the freestone rivers running high. The Clark Canyon Reservoir outflow today is 318 cfs. Wade fisherman are happy with these low flows. We have had our best fishing from the Dam down to Grasshopper Creek. You will find Grasshopper Creek running muddy, so fishing is tough below there. Pretty soon we will see the first of the PMD hatch. Currently, we are doing best nymphing with PMD’s, Blue Winged Olives and sow bugs.

Recommended Flies:

Soft Hackle Sow Bug #16

Scud (Orange) #16

Splitback PMD #18

Micro Mayfly (Olive) #16

Barr’s Emerger (PMD) #18

The Big Hole Has Bumped Again

by sunriseflyshop

Last week we started seeing a handful of adult Salmonflies, and we were having great fishing with salmonfly nymphs thrown tight to the banks. But since then we have had a significant bump in flows and now the river is near 6000cfs at the Melrose gauge. This increase in flows combined with the drop in water temperature has stalled the salmonfly hatch. It looks like the river has started to drop a little at all of the gauges, and we are expecting to see that drop continue over the next few days. With warmer weather in the forecast for later this week, you should start to see the river temps rebound and hopefully when the river temps get back up near 60 degrees we will start to see salmonflies again. Until then, streamers, stonefly nymphs, and pink and red San Juan Worms will be your best bet. For the latest information feel free to give us a call. 406-835-3474.

The Start of The Big Hole Salmonfly Hatch

by sunriseflyshop
Lynn Harp with a fabulous trout caught yesterday on the Big Hole River

The long awaited hatch is here. The Salmonflies have started to crawl below Melrose. We are seeing the adult salmonflies around Brownes bridge. Our fishing yesterday from Maiden Rock to Glen was fantastic. We did not get them on dries yesterday but the salmonfly nymph tight to the banks was putting massive brown trout in the net all day long. This morning our guides saw adult salmonflies around brownes bridge. It is game today for dry fly fishing below Melrose on adult Salmonflies. Look for the hatch to stay below the Maiden Rock Canyon for several days and then work up into the canyon. The river currently has 3 feet of visibility and the flows are dropping nicely. For the latest information feel free to give us a call. 406-835-3474.

Recommended Flies:

  • Pat’s Rubber Legs #4 (Black) (Orange/Brown)
  • Half Down Salmonfly #4
  • Chubby Chernobyl (Orange) (Purple) #6
  • Flutter Bug Salmonfly #4
  • Jig Bugger Black #4
  • Yuk Bug #6
  • Cat Puke #4