Ham and Eric took their very first flyfishing trip with the famous Brandon Struckman today. It was a learning experience for them and they loved every minute of it. I know this because i saw them when they landed back at the shop. Their faces were glowing! I said, ” Well, how was it?”. the response was nothing at first, with eyes open and head shaking, out came a…”whoa, it was soooo fun! We have never done this and it was the most spectacular day!!!” Brandon found the fly; Dan Delekta’s Delektable Peacock Surestrike size 14. It is a caddis pattern on a curved hook that has holographic biots on the sides and a CDC collar. I was very happy and stoked to see yet another couple of souls latch onto the sport we all love so much here. Thank you Brandon for all your hard work!!!

Bob also had a stellar day on the Madison today! Dave Evans was his guide. Bob caught fish, yes, but Bob was on a mission; to catch a fish on his father’s bamboo rod. With Dave’s help Bob caught many other fish, but the one rainbow on the ‘boo’ was a special fish for Bob today. if you have a bamboo rod just hanging on your wall, you might want to think about taking out for a cast or two on the river. After all, the rod was built for fishing and the bamboo has living fibers that will stay strong for a very very long time! Thanks Dave for all the help!!! Awesome ‘Boo-Bow Bob!!! Happy Fishing Everyone!!!

-DanG

This report is fueled by our guides and visiting anglers. The Salmon fly hatch has been the talk of the valley this past week. The fly fishermen have arrived as expected and the fishing has not disappointed. The hatch kicked off around Ennis with scattered adults emerging along the grassy river banks. There were more shucks found than confirmed adult sightings early on, but eventually we saw an abundance of adults later in the week as the hatch moved up river. Also in the mix was a consistent caddis hatch with the smaller caddis present all day and the larger specimens emerging in numbers by the evening. We also had Golden stoneflies, PMDs, yellow sallies and mayflies emerging as well.  

Throughout the week the shop received reports from all sections of the river. It seems that with the high pressure settling over the valley that the best fishing has been moving up the river as the water temperature rapidly rises during the day. Just yesterday we had a temperature reading at Storey Ditch of 70 degrees in the late afternoon. There have been many reports that the best fishing has been occurring before 11 am and after 5 pm. In fact, many boats have reported epic fish counts with many 18”+ fish caught on salmon fly dries and various droppers. Hot patterns have been Dan’s Secret Salmon Fly, The Royal Chubby, the Delektable Bomber Caddis, and small Purple haze. There have been spans of slow dry fly fishing midday, and for numbers a #14 or #16 dropper set at least 3 feet below has been the ticket. Sure Strikes, pheasant tails, Prince nymphs, Delektable lil’ Spankers and the new Delektable Hammerhead tied on a jig head has been red hot. With the boat traffic and water temperature, tight lining nymphs has been very effective. It’s a little early in the summer for “small ball”, but it is definitely working with low flows and sunny days. Streamer fishing has been put on the back burner for a lot of us but definitely give it a shot if you can sneak out early or late.  

More warm weather is expected as we progress into the final week of June. SLIGHTLY cooler temperatures are forecasted for the beginning of July. Watch the flows as more water is expected to be released from Hebgen Dam to maintain water temperature. This could help the fishing during the day. We went down to 750 CFS at Kirby Ranch on June 21 and 22. Since then the river has been slowly rising to 950 CFS today.

Here are some words of advice: fish early and fish late; don’t be afraid to fish the small stuff; lighten and/or lengthen your leader; play and handle the fish efficiently but gently to reduce fatigue and stress; wear sunscreen; drink tons of water and smile because it’s beautiful out there.

-Beartooth Family

So, this is gunna be kind of ridiculous…Hienie and the boys have done it again! And again…and again….and again. These boys have literally slept, ate and drank browns and rainbows the entire time they have been here! The salmon flies and golden stones have been flying around all week along with bomber caddis and sallies to play cleanup. The dries have been doing really good in that aspect but if you want to really start crankin’em in the boat, it’s a dirty nympher’s game. Caddis patterns in sizes 14 and 16 have been working well. Stonefly patterns have been the slayer on the Maddy lately with a beadhead behind. Pat’s Rubber Legs of course leads all in sizes 6, 8 and 10. Golden stone patterns sizes 6, 8 and 10 are working well. Prince nymph in sizes 10, 11, and 12 have been working really well for the caddis and mayflies. Some folks around here have been coming in and claiming to have done very well on yellow sally nymphs also.                                                                                                                                      

The bite has been really good in the morning and a little slower throughout the middle of the day. The evenings have been absolutely killer for some of us here at the shop! The big bugs are out in full force behind the shop and the fish are eating. The bugs (salmons, goldens, yellow sallies, caddis greendrakes, bomber caddis, PMDs) are everywhere and the fish are very happy!

Stay tuned for some more big bug action as we will try to keep you updated from a couple days to a couple days! Happy Fishing!!!

-DanG