Category: Big Hole River Fishing Report

The Big Hole River has been fishing very well lately. The Salmonflies are in full force and dry fly fishing has been fantastic when conditions align correctly. We have had good dry fly fishing from Jerry Creek down to Melrose on Salmonflies and golden stones. You will find the hatch all the way up to Eastbank at this point. It looks like the heavy rainfall is behind us. We have clarity around 3 feet as of this morning and it should continue to improve as long as we don’t receive more heavy rain. Now is the time to hit the Salmonfly hatch!

The Jerry Creek boat ramp is open! We are pleased that we have this access available. Divide Boat ramp is still under construction and closed but you can launch your boat at the Divide Campground boat ramp. Please park your vehicle outside the Campground if you use the Ramp at the Divide Campground. 

Recommended Flies:

• #4 Cat Puke
• #4 Flutter Bug
• #6 Water Walker Black
• #6 Half Down Salmonfly 
• #4 Double Stack Chernobyl Orange
• #4 Pat’s Stone Orange/brown
• #6 Sparkle Minnow J.J.
• #6 Tungston Pancora
• #4 Dungeon Yellow/Black

The Big Hole River Salmonfly Hatch is in full swing! We have seen the big bugs from Melrose up into the Maiden Rock Canyon and into the Dewey Canyon. Dry fly fishing around Maiden Rock on Salmonflies was excellent yesterday and it should continue all week. We have been getting rain but the entire river is currently dropping in flows, which will make the trout happy. Conditions can change quickly if we get too much rain up in the headwaters of the Big Hole. The old saying, “you don’t know until you go” is a true player when we are getting rain and snowmelt in June. Clarity in the Big Hole today was 3 feet and will remain good unless we get rain and increased flows.

The Jerry Creek boat ramp is now open! We are pleased that we now have this access available. Divide Boat ramp is still under construction and closed but you can launch your boat at the Divide Campground boat ramp. Please park your vehicle outside the Campground if you use the Ramp at the Divide Campground.

Recommended Flies:

• #4 Cat Puke
• #4 Flutter Bug
• #6 Water Walker Black
• #6 Half Down Salmonfly
• #4 Double Stack Chernobyl Orange
• #4 Pat’s Stone Orange/brown
• #6 Sparkle Minnow J.J.
• #6 Tungston Pancora
• #4 Dungeon Yellow/Black

The Big Hole River flow is a result of a fierce freestone stream. We had some tough conditions last week but we are seeing the river drop and clear. We had good fishing yesterday river wide and it should be getting better as the river drops during this cool weather period. We have gotten rid of the low to mid elevation snowpack from the warm weather last week. The spring fishing will remain good until the high elevation snowpack melts. With daytime highs in the 50’s to 60’s the river will continue to drop unless rain makes it rise. Upper elevation snowpack is currently at 100%. So we should have a normal runoff at the end of the month unless Mother Nature changes the outcome. May is always an exciting time because of how the flows can be unpredictable.

We have seen hatches of March Brown’s, Skwala’s and Blue Winged Olives. Our next big hatch will be the Mother’s Day Caddis. Our best flies lately have been San Juan worms, Skwala nymphs and streamers. Inside corners of the runs and tail-outs of the runs have produced the hookups on fish lately.

A friendly reminder for all angler that the Jerry Creek Fishing Access site and the Divide Fishing Access Site are closed due to a new boat ramp construction project. We will let you know as soon as these re-open.

Recommended Flies:

• Pat’s Stone Olive/Brown #8
• Pat’s Stone Black #8
• San Juan Worm Pink/Red #8
• Rio’s Tractor Trailer Yellow/Brown #6
• Jig Sparkle Minnow J.J. #4
• Dungeon Yellow #4
• Barely Legal Olive/Black #6

Spring fishing on the Big Hole River has been good lately. The very upper Big Hole River above Wise River is still frozen. We are fishing from Maiden Rock down to Notch Bottom. The Divide and Jerry Creek boat ramps are currently getting improvements and are not usable. We will update you when these ramps open back up.

Fishing has been good subsurface with Skwala nymphs and squirmy worms. We have had some midge activity as well. Any day now we will have Skwala dry fly activity on the surface. Water clarity is around 18 to 24 inches. Conditions can change very quickly this time of the year so feel free to call us for a report 406-835-3474.

The first half of this week has more winter conditions on the Big Hole River, but towards the end of the week we will have some Spring fishing weather. Look for the day time high temperatures reaching 40-48 degrees later this week. The Big Hole still has a fair amount of shelf ice on the banks but the lower river is floatable and fishing. We do not advise floating above Melrose. The upper Maiden Rock boat ramp and lower Maiden Rock boat ramp is snow covered and access is about impossible as of today. Sections below Melrose are floatable but you will encounter shelf ice on the banks. Sub surface nymphing is the name of the game right now until water temperatures warm up. Look for the slow deep buckets to spend your time fishing.

New inventory is coming into the shop daily and we are looking forward to opening our doors for the spring season on April 3rd! Feel free to give us a call for up to date information 406-835-3474. We are running shuttles daily and open 7 days a week.

According to the calendar spring is officially here but the weather has not been cooperating for fishing on the Big Hole. We are under a winter storm warning and the forecast this week has winter like conditions daily. The lower Big Hole still has lots of shelf ice and is not yet floatable due to the amount of ice on the banks and in the river. Feel free to give us a call for up to date conditions and we will update this report as soon as we get on the water. We are looking forward to a great 2023 fishing season.

Spring trips start for us the first week of April. We still have openings for our Spring special. Book your trip today! You can expect Skwala stoneflies, Blue Winged Olives and March Brown’s hatching during April. Some of our first hatches can be the most prolific and fishing can be very rewarding in the spring months.