Big Hole River Fishing Report

Dry fly fishing on the Big Hole River has been pretty good lately.

by sunriseflyshop

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Dry fly fishing on the Big Hole River has been pretty good lately. It has been so good that our guides haven’t even been putting a nymph dropper below the dry fly. In the morning around 9 am you will find Spruce Moths. Then around 11 am the tricos will be filling the recipe. From 1 pm on we have been throwing hoppers with some nice success. You will find the Spruce Moth’s from Jerry Creek down into the Maiden Rock Canyon. Streamers have been working well in the shallow fast riffles. The color of choice for streamers has been olive or tan lately.

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

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 Red Copper John
#12 Silver Lightning Bug
#12 Purple Rooster
#14 Purple Haze
#16 PMD Comparadun
#18 Trico Comparadun
#18 trico Spinner

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A Great trout landed on a trico dry fly a couple days ago on the Big Hole River

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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.

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

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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Dry fly fishing on the Big Hole has been fantastic lately.

by sunriseflyshop

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Dry fly fishing on the Big Hole has been fantastic lately. We have hatches of Spruce Moth’s, Tricos, and Ants. The Spruce Moth hatch has been the best from Jerry Creek down through the Maiden Rock Canyon. The Trico hatch has been thick in the morning hours from about 9:00am – 10:30am.  We have also found flying ants on portions of the Big Hole. A size #16 royal wolf works well to replicate the ant hatch. Streamers have been the best in the morning hours in the shallow riffles. Currently none of the water we fish on the Big Hole has any restrictions. Hoot Owl restrictions are Below Notch Bottom and near the town of Wisdom from Saginah Bridge to the mouth of the North Fork of the Big Hole River. Here is a map to show you those locations. 

Client Jeff Jones with a great Brown caught this week on the Big Hole River

Recommended Flies: #12 Spruce Moth; #18 comparadun trico; #18 trico spinner #12 Rogue Stone; #10 Chubby Chernobyl tan/orange/Gold/Purple #10 Purple Haze; #12 X Caddis; #8 Pat’s Stone Brown/Black; #12 Pheasant Tail; #16 Pearl Lightning Bug; #16 Red Copper John;#16 Psycho Mayfly PMD; #14 Caddis Pupa; #6 J.J. Special; #4 Smokin’ Mirrors; #4Mr. Creepo #4 McCunnes Sculpin; #4 Mini Loop Sculpin

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Dry fly fishing has picked up lately.

by sunriseflyshop

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Dry fly fishing has picked up lately. We have the Spruce Moths back on the water. From Jerry Creek down to Divide we have had excellent dry fly fishing lately on Spruce Moths and Tricos. Overcast days we have had good luck with #16 Comparaduns and small chubby chernobyl’s. Not much for any hopper fishing yet on the Big Hole. The Big Hole River is open without any restrictions from Dickey Bridge down to FWP Maiden Rock. Please note Maiden Rock FWP is the lower Maiden Rock, which is out of the canyon a few miles upstream from Melrose. Here is a map to help you with the closures http://www.bhwc.org/fish-water/river-conditions/

Recommended Flies: #18 Comparadun Trico; #18 Trico Spinner;#14 Purple Craze; #14 Comparadun Yellow; #12 Bloom’s Caddis; #12 Purple Chubby; #14 Para Wolf; #14 Psycho Mayfly; #12 Prince Nymph; #10 Pat’s Stone; #14 Pearl Lightning Bug; #14 Red Copper John; 4 Mini Loop Sculpin; #6 Sculpzilla 

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Dry fly fishing on the Big Hole has been excellent.

by sunriseflyshop

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Dry fly fishing on the Big Hole has been excellent. We have Spruce Moths, Trico’s and PMD’s hatching on the river. You will find the Spruce Moth hatch from Jerry Creek down to Maiden Rock. The trico hatch occurs around 8:00 in the morning and last a few hours. Nymphing has been good in the shallow fast riffles in the afternoon.  “Hoot Owl” restrictions just went in place on section III of the Big Hole. We have no restrictions from Dickey Bridge down to Maiden Rock FWP. Please note Maiden Rock FWP is the lower Maiden Rock, which is out of the canyon a few miles upstream from Melrose. Here is a map to help you with the closures http://bhwc.org/fish-water/river-conditions/

Recommended Flies: #12 Spruce Moth; CDC Spruce Moth; #18 Comparadun Trico; #18 Trico Spinner;#14 Purple Craze; #14 Comparadun Yellow; #12 Bloom’s Caddis; #12 Purple Chubby; #14 Para Wolf; #14 Psycho Mayfly; #12 Prince Nymph; #10 Pat’s Stone; #14 Pearl Lightning Bug; #14 Red Copper John; 4 Mini Loop Sculpin; #6 Sculpzilla

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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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No Spruce Moths yet, but solid fishing continues

by sunriseflyshop

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We have seen a few Spruce Moths over the last few days, but not nearly enough to get the fish keyed in on them yet.  Hopefully they will start to show up in the next few day.

Even without the moths, we have been having good fishing.  The fishing technique and top-producing fly has been changing based on the section you are fishing and the weather, but with a little experimenting we have been able to find some nice fish this week.

Hopper fishing has been good on the lower Big Hole.

Tricos are starting to come off near Jerry Creek giving anglers opportunities to catch fish on small dries.

Streamers have been producing very nice fish on the darker, cloudy days.

Nymphing stoneflies (Pat’s Rubber Legs) and small mayflies (Copper Johns) in the shallow riffles has been the most consistent technique during the past week.

Below are two nice fish that were caught this morning between Melrose and Brownes!

Flies:  #10 Chubby Chernobyl Yellow/Purple/Black; #8 Rogue Stone golden, #10 Purple Haze; #16 PMD Cripple; #16 Rocky Mountain Mint, #18 Trico Spinner, #18 Trico Comparadun, #10 Pat’s Stone #12 Red Copper John #16 Bat Man Nymph orange/brown: #8 RL Stone; #6 J.J. Special #6 Coffey Bugger; #4 Bad Boy #  10 Copper/Pearl Zonker

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Big Hole River August Fishing Report

by sunriseflyshop

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Fishing remains good on the Big Hole River.  The hatches are a bit in a transition period on the Big Hole River.  PMD’s are waning and we are moving into Trico’s and Hoppers.  We are starting to see Trico’s on the lower Big Hole River and below Melrose.  Hopper fishing has also started to pick up on the lower Big Hole River.  Hatches in the Maiden Rock Canyon have been bleak.  We have done very well on nymphs in the Canyon but dry fly fishing has been poor.  Look for the dry fly fishing to pick up this week.  We should see more trico’s around and the hoppers are starting to bounce around the grassy banks.  We have not seen any Spruce Moth’s yet.  If we are going to get a Spruce Moth hatch we should see them in the next ten days.  Our Big Hole River Guides will will keep you posted.

A lower Big Hole River Rainbow

Flies:  #10 Chubby Chernobyl Yellow/Purple/Black; #8 Rogue Stone golden, #10 Purple Haze; #16 PMD Cripple; #16 Rocky Mountain Mint, #18 Trico Spinner, #18 Trico Comparadun, #10 Pat’s Stone #12 Red Copper John #16 Bat Man Nymph orange/brown: #8 RL Stone; #6 J.J. Special #6 Coffey Bugger; #4 Bad Boy #  10 Copper/Pearl Zonker

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