Brett, Craig, Dan and Marty were on the river with clients on the 3rd. All the boats had a great day fishing with Goldenstones on top and Caddis with small nymphs either as trailers or double small nymphs using PMD, Caddis, and Sally nymphs. Many of our fishermen and women were just learning flyfishing for their first or second time and really did well. What a great day and then the day after was awesome too. Flows were fairly low still with the bite happening more in the riffles, and the middle.

Then on July 4th, the slay factor continued to be waaaay up!!! Epicness has settled over us

for the brown and rainbows have been submissive to the dry! My buddy, John, from my home in PA came out yesterday for a couple of weeks and we went straight to the river. Lyons to Windy last night. Wow… Slayage!  John fished the big dry while I rowed, and he just let ‘em have it! Lyons out the gate was exceptional with the golden stone, with the softie peasant tail picking up the slack in the back. I watched John absolutely slaughter it while I tried to keep up with the net and boat. Epic….be right back…followed by Chip and MaryRose with Marty having a great experience with both dries and wets. Yahoo!

Young Dan and Nancy

What an incredible and special day! Everyone from our shop started off early between
7:00 and 8:00 AM.

The afternoons have been getting so hot, we strongly recommend that for the fishermen and women and for the fish. The salmon flies are further up the river now with still very low flows. Caddis are everywhere in a big way. Below the Salmon Flies are Goldenstones, Yellow Sallies, and more Caddis. The bug hatches continue to be huge. Pulsing will begin in a day or two to add cooler water to the river. Get out early if you can.

We had three groups out today that all had fishing days to write home about. The Upper river was mostly on dries with Salmon Flies and Golden Stones. Further down river folks switched out to Caddis, and Yellow Sally dries and Caddis and Yellow Sally and Stonefly nymphs. When switching to nymphs, lately, two smaller nymphs seemed to do better with an emerger pattern as the trailer or an emerger below the big dry.

We passed by a family combining recreational floating with fishing. Looks like fun! Wear a swim suit if you can to cool off in the river. The fish are biting and still seem to be where there is more water. What a great time and special experience for everyone. Get out and fish!  Nancy

The big bugs are out! The big bugs are out! Did I say that the big bugs were out?

Well, they are. And the fish are munchin’ down. Last night and the previous nights have been really good for the salmon fly and golden stones on top. A few nights ago, I caught a very nice 17-18” brown wading down by Varney on a size 6 salmon fly of Dan Delekta’s, that took like a whirlpool and a flush, way cool! 🙂 Last night we went from Ruby to Mac with the boat and got into them a little. Big golden dries size 8 took some really healthy rainbows ready to chow down! No camera there to show, but they kinda resembled NFL regulation footballs…giv’ya an idea. I also caught a couple on the Delektable Royal Halo Caddis from the Delektable menu here, in the size 16, which have been my best fly lately in the evening. If you haven’t been out there in a bit there are salmon flies, golden stones, yellow sallies, caddis, brown bomber caddis, pmd’s, and yes, even mosquitoes, so get out there and get yer line wet!

–DanG

Down near Ennis, fishing has been excellent in the evenings. Before fish start actively rising, swinging caddis, pmd’s and yellow sallies thru shallower riffles and tailouts has been producing when a dead-drift has been ignored. My best bet for nymphing has been a double caddis rig, a pupa and an emerger, with a smaller indicator and a split shot. Approaching the hatch, don’t be afraid to remove the indicator, and eventually the split shot, and fish them on a tight swing.

Dry fly fishing has been phenomenal, although with the low flows and higher temps the middle of the day can be quite tough. From about 7 PM on, however, the fish have been looking up, and if you are patient enough to wait until the sun peaks behind the mountains, you can be rewarded with some bigger fish, like this 19 inch brown that took a size 16 Kringly Lil Hottie Caddis right around 930 PM. Bottom line, the fish are going crazy right now, and we don’t know how much longer it will be this good, so go fish!

–D. Stone

The dry fly action has been really terrific helping new fishermen and women experience the ultimate bite on a dry. Yahoo!

Daniel forgot to mention the incredible sunsets we are experiencing that he took photos of. Check it out!

Salmon Flies and Goldenstones

Timing is everything! Seeing the Big Bugs in the air; and mating in the vegetation along the river and being able to catch them on imitations is Priceless. That is what Brett Greco and I did with our clients: Zac, Kim, Clark, and Myron. The flies of choice included my secret Salmon, and my secret Golden, other Salmon and Goldenstone Dries including the Chubbys, and later in the day Beadheaded Soft Hackle Caddis Emergers and Yellow Sally Nymphs. Of Note: Kim’s fish was heavy and she was nervous she might drop it. What a nice challenge to have! The pictures do tell the story.

Dan