The willows were drooping over from the weight of the Salmonflies yesterday.

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The willows were drooping over from the weight of the Salmonflies yesterday.  It is going to be a great day out there.  We have Salmonflies, Golden Stones, Caddis, PMD’s and Drakes hatching.  The best Salmonfly hatch on the Big Hole is currently from Jerry Creek all the way down to Melrose.  We have had good reports today in the Maiden Rock Canyon and the Dewey Canyon with great success on the Salmonfly dry flies.  With the dropping water, and warming trend the river will continue to fish very well. 

Guide Rick Rossi and Rob Ware with a fabulous Big Hole Brown

Flies: #4 Cat Puke, #4 Rogue Stone, #4 Fluttering Stone, #10 Purple Haze  #8 Chubby Chernobyl #16 PMD Cripple 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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Father’s Day Salmonfly Hatch Update

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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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BIg Hole River Salmonfly Hatch Update

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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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Salmonfly Hatch

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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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They’er Here

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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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Big Hole River Salmonfly Waiting Game

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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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Big Hole River Sipper

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August is living up to our predicted expectations, big fish on dry flies.  This 28 inch 9lb. brown was taken on a dry fly on the Big Hole River!  This image sums up the kind of fishing right now on the Big Hole.  We have been fishing small attractor patterns in the morning and than hoppers and Chernobyl’s in the afternoons.  The current weather pattern has been favorable for good fishing.  We have had sunny cool mornings with overcast afternoons lately.  It is prime time on Southwest Montana Rivers; get out here while the catching is hot.

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