The first week of April, and the 2024 Big Hole season has already been a rollercoaster ride; sunshine and 60's, snow, thunder & lightning, rain and some big changes in river conditions. Flows on Monday were around 670 CFS, and at present the Maiden Rock gauge is reading 2,500 CFS. It looks like some ice jams started to break loose between Fish Trap and Sawlog, but there is still a lot more frozen river above the Mudd Creek bridge. Forecasts in Wisdom show temperatures below freezing for the next 10 days, so we expect that the river will slowly drop back down in the coming days.
Fishing report: well, not going to lie on this one: Should have been here yesterday, or the day before. Dry fly fishing was "spring-time" productive with skwallas on the lower river, and we found a few fish eating streamers from Divide down. A nymph rig with a stone fly and size 14-16 bullet has been productive as well. As the river drops, you should still be able to
find a couple trout moving on streamers (Smoke sparkle minnow, yellow yummy, Patagonia bugger), and the worm bite should be great. Anglers will probably need to wait it out for the skwalla bite to turn back on ( and for the water to clear up).
Current shop hours are 9 AM - 3 PM, 7 days per week. New fly patterns are arriving weekly, and shuttles are available every day.
