The colors could not be better this week on the Big Hole. As the leaves turn, so do the willows, and the hatches begin to dwindle. The nights have been below freezing, or close. The hunters are in the woods chasing elk with their bows, and the rivers have become relatively empty. This time of year can only be rivaled by the spring in terms of great fishing and few people. The Big Hole has leveled out as the ditches are being closed, and the brown trout have begun their annual spawning rituals. There have been many folks coming through the shop looking to find big browns on their reds and the fishing has been good. The egg patterns have been very consistent over the last week, along with the black bugger. Finding browns that are not on their reds has become difficult but there are still plenty of hungry rainbows willing to eat a streamer or a black stone. The Beaverhead has been fishing great when the moss is not to thick in the mornings, the afternoons, however, have been plagued with floating moss mats, making the fishing very difficult. The blue wing olives have been coming out fairly regularly on both rivers, making the dry fly fishing very possible.
As for the shop, we are getting ready for a long cold Divide, MT winter. We need to cut several more loads before it snows, but that should not be a problem given this great weather recently. We are going to over haul the bathroom and get the barn ready for playing some music during the down time. The fly tying table is also going to be getting quite a bit of use as well. There are a few more openings in October for fishing, so if you want to come and see what the brown spawn has to offer, give us a call at the shop, it rarely disappoints. It is duck season, so I might be out chasing birds in the evenings, so leave me a message or shoot me an email and I will get back ASAP. Tight lines!