July 2011
The Beav has it's full compliment of fish back. Clark Canyon Reservoir is full and is great news for the bug and fish populations. The added water is such a blessing to all the rivers.
Dan
September 11, 2010
What a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
For the second day of fishing with our group from California, Dan and I headed “over the hill” to the Beaverhead River. Clear blue skies and warm temperatures was the theme of the day as we enjoyed a glorious float on one of Montana’s historic rivers.
Small nymphs were the preferred ammo for the majority of the float, with trout eating up the morsels, whether fished in tandem or behind streamers. A variety of mayflies, Yellow Sallies and a few Crane Flies and Hoppers were moving about, but the bite remained below.
As the light started waning late in the day, however, the evening caddis hatch arrived, and the dry-fly bite turned on. This included a double hook-up on a single rod, with two trout eating a pair of caddis dries tied in tandem. It was quite a treat for the excited fisherman as both fish were landed in the net!
A variety of nymphs produced the bites, including #18 Olive Micro May Flies, #18 Electric Yellow Micro May Flies, #18 Super Flash Yellow, and Silver and Gold Lightning bugs in various sizes. Delektable Sparkle Bugs brought the fish to the surface during the evening hatch.
Marty
August 26, 2010
We had a fun day. This was Dan's birthday and he guided his dad, Grandpa, and me for his birthday. The day started a bit slow for Nancy but not for Grandpa. I was fishing dries with hoppers getting a few takers but not much action. Grandpa was sporting his two nymph rig and had action from the start. He caught a good number of smaller and average sized trout and on really honking whitefish. Grandpa loved that. Dan pulled over in a couple wade sections and got some nice fish also using a two nymph rig. The hottest nymphs were pmd nymphs and micro mayfly nymphs in #16's and #18's. Hoppers were out in the fields making noise. It was a warm day and somewhat cloudy with some of the "W" mixed in.
After I switched to nymphs, my action really picked up and the size of the fish increased. We had a great time together on the Beaverhead. Dan, thanks for taking care of us on your birthday.
Nancy
September 16, 2009
We started with and caught all our trout on a double beadhead nymph combo of Delektable Lil' Spankers in Red, Purple, and Silver, size #18 and #20, with a size "B" split shot above the flies. We tried hopper dropper, Caddis dries, and small Mayfly dries, but the beadhead nymphs were the ticket. Bob and Larry enjoyed the Beav.
Dan
July 18, 2009
We just completed the annual July tour with Dan Delekta and the Tim Miller group. One of my personal favorites and most challenging guide weeks of the year is with Tim Miller and his friends and family in July. This year's trip started on the Madison, the next two days were on the Missouri below Holter Dam, the next day was on the Jefferson River, then on to the Big Hole River for a day, the Beaverhead River for a day with the last day on the Madison River. I refer to this as the "Whirlwind Tour"; I love to be able to go to a variety of different rivers and be successful on each system and catch fish. This requires a lot of different fly patterns, leaders, and techniques. This is a unique challenge of rowing, driving, stamina, and focus; testing all of the senses. This year Tim brought his brother Brian who was injured in a motorcycle accident with his knee, thigh, and ankle all messed up. Brian couldn't wade but was fishing start to finish out of the boat. We caught fish on all the different rivers; punctuated by a 60 to 70 fish dry fly day on the Big Hole and an incredible last day on the Madison with nymphs and dries.
This season has seen the third year of a good snow pack in a row; a near record rainfall in June on all the rivers of S.W. Montana. The perfect storm creating the maximum number of fish on all of our rivers and red hot catching opportunities all summer long until winter sets in. With all the rivers having great water levels; the fishing pressure should be evenly distributed throughout S.W. Montana. The Hopper, Spruce Moth, PMD's and Caddis flies will all be overlapping with in the last week of July; the Perfect Dry Fly Storm.
Dan
River Flow Information for the Beaverhead River
National Weather Service - Western Region Heaquarters River Stage and Flow chart of the Beaverhead River.
Interactive Map of the Beaverhead River.
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