Third Saturday in May, locals only, Southwest Montana. Where are you going to be? The Beaverhead River of course!
Ryan and RT trekked over the hill to the Beaverhead River opener on Saturday and got into some nice Fish. With flows at 130cfs for the opener, the fishing was more challenging than years prior. Fish were either in deep pools or in shallow overlooked riffles. With most of the attention towards the Dam, many of the upper pools were crowded with wade fisherman making it hard to target certain holding water.
With this, RT and Ryan targeted the long flats and transitional water that was unoccupied by most Anglers further downstream. The boys deployed a multitude of trout tactics on these Fish that made a big difference. From dropping to lighter tippet, changing indicator depth, switching flies and playing around with weight dispersion some good Trout were caught with perseverance.
The most consistent Fishing on the Beaverhead right now with the flows and cold-water temps is going to be Nymphing. Indicator Rigs with point and dropper flies or Euro rigs have been the most consistent so far.
In the coming weeks expect a flow bump of a few hundred cfs. Until then fishing a bunch of different water, changing flies often and adjusting depth and weight has been helpful for anglers trying to fool the wise Beaverhead Browns!
Nymphs: Firebead Soft Hackle Sow Bug Tan, Pink, Gray #16-#18; Ray Charles Tan, Pink, Gray #18-#20; Ninch’s Pill Popper #16-#18; Geppert’s Master Emerger #18; Flossy Worm Red #12-#14; Barr’s Emerger #16-#18; Splitback BWO #18-#20; Delektable Lil’ Spanker PT #18; Delektable Big Spanker Warrior #18; Delektable JH Tungsten Micro Spanker Holo Olive or Holo Black #18; Zebra Midge Copper/Black, Black or Red #18-#20.
Dries: Sparkle Dun BWO #18-#20; Delektable Teaser BWO #18-#20; Batwing Emerger BWO #18.
Streamers: Delektable Screamer Single Olive/White #6; Dalai Lama Olive/White #6-#10; Sculpzilla Olive, or Black #8.
