Fall fishing has arrived on the Big Hole.

by sunriseflyshop

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Fall fishing has arrived on the Big Hole. We had a nice bump in flows due to mountain snow and valley rain, which has the Big Hole in great shape. We have a great stretch of weather coming up with day time highs in the lower 70’s and dry weather. Fall hatches are also currently in full swing on the Big Hole. You will find blue winged olive’s and mahogany dun’s hatching. A few October caddis have also been around. Streamers have been working ok, but not great lately. Our best streamer fishing has been in the afternoons with sparkle minnows. Our nymph droppers of choice have been san juan worms, pat’s stones, and psycho may flies.

Flies:   #16 Split Wing BWO, #16 Purple Craze, #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint Olive,  #16 PMX Olive,  #10Pat’s Stone Black/Brown, #16 Green Machine, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #16 Psycho Mayfly, #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin #6 J.J. Special

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We are receiving some much needed wet weather in the Big Hole Valley right now.

by sunriseflyshop

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We are receiving some much needed wet weather in the Big Hole Valley right now. Flows are on the rise but the river is remaining clear. We are currently on a step increase in flows at the upper river gauges and the Maiden Rock gauge is over historic average flow, which we have not seen in many weeks. The entire river will see a nice bump in flows from the storm we are receiving. With the wet weather you will have good baetis hatches and maybe some Mahogany duns. Streamers will be affective today with the increase in flows and cloudy weather. I would have on a J.J. Special for my streamer of choice.

Flies:   #16 Split Wing BWO, #16 Purple Craze,   #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint Olive,  #16 PMX Olive,  #10Pat’s Stone Black/Brown, #16 Green Machine, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin #6 J.J. Special

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Fishing has stayed pretty consistent on the Big Hole.

by sunriseflyshop

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Fishing has stayed pretty consistent on the Big Hole. We are having a nice Trico hatch around 10:00 a.m. and you will also find PMD’s and some drakes around in the late morning. In the afternoons we have been throwing, ants, hoppers and nymphs. Some of our best nymphs lately have been #18 Silver lightning bugs, #16 Psycho Mayflies, and #10 Pat’s Stone’s. Flow remain below normal, which is great for the wade angler and tough for the float fisherman. Our Big Hole River guides are still getting down the river in rafts as we remain in below normal flows for this time of year. Cold night time temperatures have the trout feeding well for the entire day.

Flies:   #12 CDC Spruce Moth #12 Spruce Moth #12 X Caddis  #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #10Pat’s Stone Black/Brown, #16 Green Machine, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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Trico Report

by sunriseflyshop

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Over the last several days, the Trico fishing has been fantastic.  The hatches have been happening on the entire river, and some very nice fish have been coming up and eating these tiny mayflies.  To be perfectly honest, the whitefish have also been very active, but if you take your time, identify, and target the sipping trout, you can have a phenomenal day of trout fishing.  If technical dry fly fishing isn’t your thing, throwing a tan or olive streamer in the fast riffles has also been very effective.

Below is a nice brown that was caught on an olive streamer in the Maiden Rock Canyon.

Montana Hoot Owl and fishing closure resources link. 

Flies:   #12 CDC Spruce Moth #12 Spruce Moth #12 X Caddis  #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #10Pat’s Stone Black/Brown, #16 Green Macjhine, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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Hatches on the Big Hole consist of Tricos

by sunriseflyshop

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Hatches on the Big Hole consist of Tricos, Spruce Moths, PMD’s and hoppers. You will find the Trico hatch starting around 10:00 am. The Spruce Moth hatch has been weak lately but it should get better as day time highs get into the 80’s this week. Nymphing has been consistent in the afternoons. We have been dropping either a #10 Pat’s Stone or a #16 Flashback Pheasant tail off our hoppers. Other droppers that have been working well are #16 Psycho Mayflies, #16 Shimmer Nymphs, and #16 Red Copper John’s. If you like to drag streamers, you will have success in the shallow riffles with a #6 McCune’s Sculpin or Mini loop sculpins.

Montana Hoot Owl and fishing closure resources link. 

Photo: Dan Armstrong

Flies:   #12 CDC Spruce Moth #12 Spruce Moth #12 X Caddis  #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #8Pat’s Stone Black/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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The Big Hole is fishing very well right now on dry flies.

by sunriseflyshop

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The Big Hole is fishing very well right now on dry flies. Here is our Spruce Moth hatch update. The Spruce Moths are here and the fish are keying into them very well. You can fish a moth for most of the day with very good success. You will find the best moth fishing from Jerry Creek all the way down to Maiden Rock. Besides the moths you will find a good Trico hatch coming off around 9:30 in the morning. We are also having success on small hoppers in the afternoon hours. Come enjoy the moth hatch, it matches up to the Salmonfly hatch in June. Here is the latest information on closures. They have instituted back the Hoot Owl Closures below Maiden Rock and on the upper Big Hole. From Dickey Bridge to Maiden Rock is open to fishing 24 hours a day.

Montana Hoot Owl and fishing closure resources link. 

Pete Davis getting his buddy on a Big Hole Brown yesterday. It ate a Spruce Moth dry fly

Flies:   #12 CDC Spruce Moth #12 Spruce Moth #12 X Caddis  #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #8Pat’s Stone Black/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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Spruce Moth Hatch

by sunriseflyshop

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Dry fly fishing has picked up the last few days and should get dynamite this week. From 8 am till about 1:00 pm is the best dry fly fishing opportunity. You will have hatches of PMD’s Trico’s and Spruce Moths. Yes, we said Spruce Moths. You will find the Spruce Moth hatch from Jerry Creek access down to Maiden Rock. We have seen a good number of Moths hitting the water. For periods of the morning the fish have keyed into them and then at other times they have ignored the fluttering Moth’s on the surface. The trout should start to key into the Moth activity as they see them on a daily basis. Small hoppers in the afternoon have the fish looking up. We also have had good streamer fishing in the shallow riffles. Our best streamers have been olive/Tan Sculpins.

Guide Shawn Bechtol with a nice Big Hole Cutthrout

Flies:   #12 Spruce Moth #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #8Pat’s Stone Black/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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Goodbye to Hoot Owl Closures

by sunriseflyshop

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Great news on the Big Hole today, the entire Big Hole River is open to fishing 24 hours a day. All Hoot Owl Closures have been uplifted on the entire Big Hole River. Flows remain in good shape after some great rain storms and some snow in the upper elevations of our mountains. You will have good Trico fishing in the morning. The Trico’s have been hatching around 9:30 in the morning. In the afternoons we have been throwing small hoppers with some good success. We have also had good nymph fishing in the shallow riffles in the afternoons. We have not seen any Spruce Moth’s yet on the Big Hole. Parachute Hoppers and #16 droppers have worked in the afternoons quite well.

Flies:   #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #8Pat’s Stone Black/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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We have had a nice bump in flows due to rain in the upper Big Hole Valley.

by sunriseflyshop

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We have had a nice bump in flows due to rain in the upper Big Hole Valley. Dry fly fishing has picked back up on the Big Hole. We have Trico’s hatching in the morning. In fact we have blizzard amounts of Tricos’s hatching in the morning. The Spinner falls have been amazing with plenty of pods of fish up and eating. In the afternoons we have been moving to hopper/dropper rigs and it has been pretty good. Water temperatures have been staying in great shape with the cooler weather we have had. Fish have been moving to eat streamers in the shallow riffles and a Pat’s stone with a dropper has been working well in the afternoons. We have not had any Spruce Moth sightings yet but if they are going to happen we should see them in the next 15 days. Fishing Hoot Owl closures have changed so please follow this link to check them out. Hoot Owl restrictions have been lifted on the upper Big Hole.

Montana Hoot Owl and fishing closure resources link. 

Flies:   #18 Trico Comparadun #18 HIgh Vis Trico Spinner #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #8Pat’s Stone Black/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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Cool and wet weather has helped the fishing dramatically lately.

by sunriseflyshop

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Cool and wet weather has helped the fishing dramatically lately. The cloud cover has also helped the dry fly fishing and streamer fishing on the Big Hole. You will find some PMD’s in the morning in specific locations, other than that the hatches are bleak right now. Streamer fishing has been fantastic. We have been doing well with a mini loop sculpin in Olive or Tan. In the canyon a small Pat’s stone dropper has been doing well in the shallow riffles.  Enjoy the cold water and hard fighting trout right now. Air temperatures are supposed to remain in the 70’s and afternoon showers are expected daily. You still need to follow the Hoot Owl closures in the specific locations. Here is the news on the Hoot Owl closures in Montana. 
Flies:   #12 Chubby, #14 Rocky Mountain Mint #16 Purple Haze, #16 PMX Olive,  #8Pat’s Stone Black/Brown #8 San Juan Worm, #14 Pearl Lightning Bug #14 Red Copper John #16 Superflash Pheasant Tail #16 Shimmer Nymph #12 Psycho Mayfly #14 Kyle’s Sally #6 Bellyache Minnow Olive, #8 Sparkle Minnow,  #6 Copper Zonker  #6 Mini Loop Sculpin

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