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Just getting word from the guides that were out today on the river that the Salmonfly Hatch is back. All of our guides (fishing in 4 different locations between East Bank and Melrose) said the Salmonfly Hatch is back on.
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It has been raining for the last 36 hours, and the forecast is calling for a 90% chance of rain today and tomorrow. It got cold enough last night that the precipitation that fell in the mountains actually came down as snow. The river in Melrose has already come up about 600cfs, and it is continuing to rise. Having said all of this, the dry fly fishing in the Maiden Rock Canyon was epic yesterday. We had guides put in at Maiden Rock as well as Divide, and they both reported one of the best dry fly fishing days of the year. They said that they only saw a couple salmonflies and golden stones, but the fish were really keyed into them. Hopefully the amazing dry fly fishing will continue through this pattern of wet weather.
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When I got into my truck and came to work this morning I had to scrape off the frost on my windshield. You don’t expect that on June 15th. Reports were very good yesterday in the morning on Salmonflies and then the temperature dropped in the afternoon and the fishing tapered off. We have had a very slow moving Big Hole River Salmonfly hatch due to the cool weather. Look for the bugs to fly in the warmer afternoons. It is going to stay cool and then warm up nicely in the middle of the week. You may have to keep the droppers on below the Salmonflies and Chubby Chernobyl’s today and tomorrow. We have been fishing the upper river and the canyon sections of the Big Hole. Our Big Hole River guides were on late in the Dewey Canyon last night and did very well on dries. Everything is continuing to fish well and look for the weekend crowd to taper off and it’s time to call in sick to work tomorrow and get on the Big Hole.
Guide Chuck Page with a fabulous brown during the Big Hole Salmonfly hatch
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The overcast weather today has produced excellent dry fly activity this morning. We have been waiting for the big bugs to move in the canyon and they are here! We have had great reports from the Maiden Rock Canyon and Dewey Canyon. With the overcast cool weather and the dropping water flows we are having a dream of a Salmonfly hatch. The bugs are coming off slowly and making for some excellent dry fly fishing. Salmonflies are hatching up in the Maiden Rock Canyon and we have good reports from the Dewey Canyon as well. The Salmonfly madness has begun, come join us in Melrose and bring the chaos.
Flies: #4 Cat Puke, #4 Rogue Stone, #4 Fluttering Stone, #10 Purple Haze #8 Chubby Chernobyl black/gold#10 Rocky Mountain Mint, #8 San Juan Worm; #4 Pat’s Stone orange/brown: #8 RL Stone; #6 J.J. Special #4 Coffey Bugger; #4 Bad Boy #4 Yellow Zonker[/eye_text][/eye_column][/eye_row]
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Just got our first morning report today of the Big Hole River Salmonfly Hatch. Fantastic fishing from lower Maiden Rock (FWP) to Brownes bridge. We have salmonflies from Glen all the way up past Melrose. We do not have a report of any adult Salmonflies in the Maiden Rock Canyon yet or the Dewey Canyon. We have been throwing the Salmonfly dry with a Pat’s Stone nymph below it. Some of our best patterns lately has been the Cat Puke, and Mutant Stone.
Flies: #4 Cat Puke, #4 Rogue Stone, #4 Fluttering Stone, #10 Purple Haze #8 Chubby Chernobyl black/gold#10 Rocky Mountain Mint, #8 San Juan Worm; #4 Pat’s Stone orange/brown: #8 RL Stone; #6 J.J. Special #4 Coffey Bugger; #4 Bad Boy #4 Yellow Zonker
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The Salmonfly Hatch started yesterday. We had two guides float from Melrose to Glen, and both boats saw several adults flying, saw a lot of shucks in the grass and willows, and had great fishing. They threw a Salmonfly Dry on top with a Stonefly Nymph dropper and had moderate success on the dry, and phenomenal fishing with the dropper.
We also had two guides go up river yesterday. They didn’t see any Salmonfly Adults flying, but they too had good fishing. The guides that went up river did not have as much success on dry flies, but they too caught fish on Stonefly Nymphs.
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The Salmonfly hatch has started. I just got calls from our guides out on the water today, and they said that the Salmonflies are flying between Browne’s Bridge and Glen. The report is that Salmonfly Dries and Pats Rubber Legs are working really well on the river. We will post more info when the guides return to the shop tonight.
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Conditions are perfect for the Salmonflies to pop but we have not seen any of the big bugs yet. We are looking every morning before we open the shop at the bridges and willows to see if we spot any Salmonfly shucks. The river is dropping and the clarity is about 3 feet with the perfect tea color tint that the Big Hole carries this time of year. We have been doing very well on the lower Big Hole with Salmonfly nymphs…hmmm that means they should hatch any day now. Get ready to race over here because the hatch is almost ready to pop. We will keep you up to date once we spot some Salmonflies. The entire Big Hole has been fishing very well on streamers and nymphs with the occasional big fish eating the dry fly. It should be a great Big Hole River Salmonfly hatch this year.
Flies: #10 Purple Haze #8 Chubby Chernobyl black/gold#10 Rocky Mountain Mint, #8 San Juan Worm; #4 Pat’s Stone orange/brown: #8 RL Stone; #6 J.J. Special #4 Coffey Bugger; #4 Bad Boy #4 Yellow Zonker
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As one of the best springs we have ever seen came to an end, we were hopeful that the trend of great fishing would continue into June. After less than a week into the month, I think that it is safe to say that June is picking up right where May left off. The upper Big Hole is still fishing extremely well. A San Juan Worm dropped below a stonefly dry fly has been our most successful combination.
The lower Big Hole has dropped quite a bit, and it too is fishing well. Stonefly Nymphs, San Juan Worms, and Yellow Streamers have been the most successful flies below Divide this week.
The Salmonfly Hatch should be just around the corner. We haven’t seen any Adults crawling yet, but it could start any day now. As soon as it starts, we will let you know.
If you are concerned about not having enough Salmonfly patterns in your box, don’t worry. We have more than 30 different Salmonfly Patterns in stock here at the Sunrise Fly Shop.
Below are a few fish that were caught in the first 5 days of June.
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As May comes to a close, we just wanted to take a look back at some of the fish that were caught in the last 6 weeks. By no means is this all of the big fish that were landed, but it is a nice representation of the kind of Spring we have had on the Big Hole. To all of you who fished with us this Spring – Thank You. To all of you that thought about it, but didn’t make it out for a guided trip this Spring – You can book your Spring 2015 trip NOW!
For those of you looking for an actual fishing report – The Big Hole is still fishing very well up high, but now it looks like the middle and lower sections of the river are fishable again. The flow is down below 7000cfs in Melrose, the water temps are in the mid 50’s, and the river is still dropping. With cloudy weather in the forecast for the next several days, the streamer fishing in the canyon and the lower river should be good.
The River is still running extremely high and floating the river at these flows can be extremely dangerous. If you choose to float the Big Hole, Please float with extreme caution.
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