Big Hole River 308 cfs, water temp. 42.6
I know Spring in Montana can be a bugger but the month of March was cruel to say the least. Today is the first day for the last three weeks where it was pleasant. A warming trend is on the way with higher temps tomorrow. Now I’m starting to get excited to go fishing. Up to this point it was just memories of Andros Island and bonefish.
I spent most of the day at the shop getting it ready to open. I usually don’t rant and rave about the products in the shop as most folks who have been there know we carry the good stuff. Today however as I was unpacking the fly orders and stocking I was giving myself an attaboy for the fly’s I ordered. Some of these new patterns look terrific. I don’t know if they will catch any fish but damn do they look good. Just kiddin of course as through the years one just has to look at a fly and know if it will work or not and some of these new ones should produce very well. Prices on most items in the shop will remain the same as last year. The only thing that will go up just a bit will be the shuttles and that’s not my fault I just want ya to know. This gas deal is starting to hurt. My Bahamian guide friends on Andros are really starting to feel the crunch as gas is over 6 bucks there now. Fortunately all my boats on the Big Hole and surrounding rivers are run on armstrong power so my rates will only go up a meager $5 this year.
Bookings for June are starting to fill up. May is still pretty open. I know lot of people are leery about May but that is the month when you get those 50 fish days. Conditions change and the best thing to do is keep checking this site as I will tell what’s happenin. If I say get here tomorrow or the next day you can take that to the bank.
There is a lot of snow in the high country so we will have some good old fashioned runoff the end of May and first of June. This is a very good thing for the river as it flushes it out.
Fly of choice for next week with these warmer temps would be to go and search with a skwala on top. Even if you don’t see any of those big bugs flyin somehow the trout know when there is a few around and it can be excellent fishing.