Fishing on the Big Hole is starting to heat up again.

by sunriseflyshop

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Fishing on the Big Hole is starting to heat up again. We have been seeing the first signs of Spruce Moths on the water. The Spruce Moth is not widespread on the river but several banks in the canyon are seeing activity on the surface. Besides spruce moths we are seeing PMD’s, Yellow Sallies, and some caddis. The best fishing is from about 8:00 am – 3:00pm. If you have a warm afternoon please watch the water temperature. If temperatures reach 68 degrees please give the trout a break. Flows remain pretty good for this time of year on the Big Hole. The Maiden rock gauge is 762cfs and the Melrose gauge is 634cfs.

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Recommended Flies:

#4 Smokin’ Mirrors
#4 Sparkle Minnow
#4 Little Kim Copper
#6 Pat’s Stone
#6 Flash minnow
#8 Chubby Chernobyl (UV) (Gold) (Purple)
#10 Rogue Golden
#10 Rollin’ Stone Sally

#12 Spruce Moth
#12 CDC Spruce Moth
#12 Bloom’s Caddis
#12 Silver Lightning Bug
#12 Purple Rooster
#12 Red Copper John
#14 Purple Haze
#16 PMD Comparadun

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A fantastic trout caught in the Big Hole Canyon this week

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Big Hole River Fishing Report

Pick your bugs, pick your float and you will find what your looking for on the Big Hole River this week.

by sunriseflyshop

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Pick your bugs, pick your float and you will find what your looking for on the Big Hole River this week. We have hatches of Golden Stones, PMD’s, Yellow Sallies and Caddis right now on the Big Hole River. Water flows are remaining above historic average. Dry fly fishing has been fantastic the last few days on the Big Hole. Streamer fishing has been solid, with darker colors working the best. Sumer fishing is here and it’s time to get out and enjoy Southwest Montana.

Check out our Sunrise fly Shop Lodging Here. Call for availability 406-835-3474

Anne with a nice Big Hole trout caught on a Golden Stone dry fly

Recommended Flies: #8 Chubby Chernobyl (UV) (Gold) (Purple) ; #10 Purple Haze; #12 Bloom’s Caddis; #10 Rogue Golden; #Rollin’ Stone Sally; #12 Purple Rooster;#6 Pat’s Stone; #12 Silver Lightning Bug; #12 Red Copper John; #4 Smokin’ Mirrors; #6 Flash minnow; #4 Little Kim Copper; #4 Sparkle Minnow

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Big Hole River Fishing Report

The Big Hole River has crested from the recent flooding rainstorms.

by sunriseflyshop

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The Big Hole River has crested from the recent flooding rainstorms. The clarity remains good @ around 3 feet of visibility. Fishing should get quite good over the next few days due to the dropping water flows. We have been seeing PMD’s, Green Drakes, Yellow Sallies and golden stones. Streamer fishing has also been good over the last several cloudy days. It has been a banner few months for large fish on the Big Hole.

Check out our Sunrise fly Shop Lodging Here. Call for availability 406-835-3474

 Dan with a tank caught on streamer on the Big Hole River

Recommended Flies: #8 Chubby Chernobyl (UV) (Gold) (Purple) ; #10 Purple Haze; #12 Bloom’s Caddis; #10 Rogue Golden; #6 Pat’s Stone; #12 Silver Lightning Bug; #12 Red Copper John; #4 Smokin’ Mirrors; #6 Flash minnow; #4 Little Kim Copper; #4 Sparkle Minnow

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Big Hole River Salmonflies

by sunriseflyshop

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The famous Salmonfly hatch has started on the Big Hole River. We have dropping river conditions and clarity of 4 feet on the river. Yesterday we spotted some adult salmonflies on the Big Hole River. We have been fishing #4 Pat’s stones under a salmon fly  dry and the fish have been crushing the salmonfly nymph fished tight to the willows and banks. Yesterday we had a few fish looking up for the dry. We think that the hatch will progress the next few days in the Melrose area. Get ready to throw #4 dry flies and watch explosions on the surface!

Sunrise Fly Shop lodging is completed: Call for your next Big Hole lodging reservation 406-835-3474 

Salomflies spotted yesterday on the Big Hole River

Recommended Flies: # Cat Puke; #4 Rogue Stone; #10 Gray Drake; #12 X Caddis; #4 Pat’s Stone (Brown/Orange); #8 San Juan Worm; #6 Flash Minnow (Olive); #6 Smokin’ Mirrors (Black); #6 Sparkle Minnow; #4 Little Kim; #6 Screamer (Yellow) (Olive)

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The Big Hole River looks like it peaked from runoff.

by sunriseflyshop

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The Big Hole River looks like it peaked from runoff. The entire river is on the drop, which is great news! River clarity remains around 4 feet and the flows around Melrose are on a steep decline. We have seen a few early hatching golden stones. Our prediction is that we will be throwing Salmonflies by this weekend. Fish are keyed into the salmonfly nymphs subsurface. Once the flows get to 6,000cfs around Melrose we will be floating the Maiden Rock canyon and south of Melrose. Currently we are still staying above the Wise River due to high flows. This should change in the next few days since the river is dropping in flow by the hour. Stay in touch…..salmonflies soon!

Sunrise Fly Shop lodging is completed: Call for your next Big Hole lodging reservation 406-835-3474 

Tracy Range with a Big Hole River brown trout

Recommended Flies: #10 Gray Drake; #12 X Caddis; #4 Pat’s Stone (Brown/Orange); #8 San Juan Worm; #6 Flash Minnow (Olive); #6 Smokin’ Mirrors (Black); #6 Sparkle Minnow; #4 Little Kim; #6 Screamer (Yellow) (Olive)

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We are still dealing with high water on the Big Hole.

by sunriseflyshop

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We are still dealing with high water on the Big Hole. Flows around Melrose are close to 10,000cfs. Flows on the upper Big Hole, which is where we are fishing daily are around 5,500cfs. The clarity on the upper Big Hole remains excellent @ around 2 feet. You will find hatches of caddis, march browns, ands grey drakes. The best fishing is sub-suface with streamers and san juan worms. Float fishing is not recommended below the wise river. We are floating all the stretches above the wise river.

Stan with as trout from the Big Hole this week

Recommended Flies: #10 Gray Drake; #12 X Caddis; #8 Mr. Beam; #10 Olive Chubby; #8 Bullet Head Skwalla; #10 Pat’s Stone (Olive/Brown); #8 San Juan Worm; #6 Flash Minnow (Olive); #6 Smokin’ Mirrors (Black); #6 Sparkle Minnow; #4 Little Kim; #6 Screamer (Yellow) (Olive)

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The flows on the upper Big Hole are stable and the flow around Melrose are on a slight increase today.

by sunriseflyshop

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The flows on the upper Big Hole are stable and the flow around Melrose are on a slight increase today. We have been fishing on the stretches above the Wise River on the Big Hole and around Melrose. Clarity is around 3 feet and the fishing has been pretty good. We have had hatches of Mother’s Day Caddis on the stretches around Melrose and the upper Big Hole has had hatches of March Brown’s, gray drakes, and blue winged olives. We did an evening float below Melrose last night and streamer fishing was very good. On the upper river we have been fishing streamers, worms, and some gray drake dries in the back eddies. It should be a great weekend on the Big Hole coming up!

Sunrise Fly Shop Client Dustin with a Big Hole Brown from yesterday

Recommended Flies: #10 Gray Drake; #12 X Caddis; #8 Mr. Beam; #10 Olive Chubby; #8 Bullet Head Skwalla; #10 Pat’s Stone (Olive/Brown); #8 San Juan Worm; #6 Flash Minnow (Olive); #6 Smokin’ Mirrors (Black); #6 Sparkle Minnow; #4 Little Kim; #6 Screamer (Yellow) (Olive)

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he Big Hole River is almost entering flood stage in Melrose.

by sunriseflyshop

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The Big Hole River is almost entering flood stage in Melrose. With the heavy rain predicted the next couple days I would think the river will continue to climb. It is downright dangerous to float the Big Hole unless you are well above the Wise River. If you must get out and float (which I suggest you stay home and tie flies) I would do a stretch around Mudd Creek or Fishtrap. Fishing has been tough lately and it won’t get better until the flows drop. We will keep you posted when conditions improve. Even though the river is high and off color we have managed to get some good fish lately but we aren’t catching many.

Spring Special guided fishing details are here. 3 night 2 day fishing Packages starting at $595 per person 

Robert Harp with a fantastic Big Hole Brown caught a couple days ago on the Big Hole River

Recommended Flies: #8 Mr. Beam; #10 Olive Chubby; #8 Bullet Head Skwalla; #10 Pat’s Stone (Olive/Brown); #8 San Juan Worm; #6 Flash Minnow (Olive); #6 Smokin’ Mirrors (Black); #6 Sparkle Minnow; #4 Little Kim; #6 Screamer (Yellow) (Olive)

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The Big Hole is coming back into fishable shape.

by sunriseflyshop

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The Big Hole is coming back into fishable shape. We had a stellar day yesterday and it should continue to improve as long as the river keeps dropping. We are doing the best with streamers, san juan worms and stone fly nymphs. The weather looks stable and the river should continue to improve. We currently have 18 inches of visibility. We have not found too much for dry fly fishing. With increases in water temperatures over the next few days you should fins some hatches of March browns, skwallas and blue winged olives.

 Our client caught a nice brown yesterday on the Big Hole River

Recommended Flies: #8 Mr. Beam; #10 Olive Chubby; #8 Bullet Head Skwalla; #10 Pat’s Stone (Olive/Brown); #8 San Juan Worm; #16 Shop Vac; #18 Zebra Midge; #16 Psycho May (olive); #6 Flash Minnow (Olive); #6 Smokin’ Mirrors (Black); #6 Sparkle Minnow; #4 Little Kim; #6 Screamer (Yellow) (Olive)

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We are in a nice spring window of fishing at the moment.

by sunriseflyshop

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We are in a nice spring window of fishing at the moment. With this said, anything can happen to change the fishing since we have a tremendous snowpack this year. Currently we have a foot of visibility on the Big Hole and it is fishing ok. We have done the best sub surface with streamers and nymphs. You might find some fish up eating march brown’s and sqwallas but for the most part the fish have been feeding underneath for us. Nice spring weather on tap for the next few days and currently the river is somewhat stable.

Spring Special guided fishing details are here. 3 nights lodging 2 days guided fishing packages starting at $595 per person 

 Sunrise guide Lee Coyle with a nice Big Hole brown caught yesterday

Recommended Flies: #8 Mr. Beam; #10 Olive Chubby; #8 Bullet Head Skwalla; #10 Pat’s Stone (Olive/Brown); #8 San Juan Worm; #16 Shop Vac; #18 Zebra Midge; #16 Psycho May (olive); #6 Flash Minnow (Olive); #6 Smokin’ Mirrors (Black); #6 Sparkle Minnow; #4 Little Kim; #6 Screamer (Yellow) (Olive)

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