On The Brink
I think the river is about to explode. The water color has changed a bit in the last couple of days, I’m finding fish in some unusually fast and shallow water, and yesterdays streamer bite was like in the olden…
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Monday Morning Fishing Report
Monday Morning Fishing Report Headed into the final week of March. We are looking forward to leaving March. Just like February, just another annoying month as we wait for the real action to start. Not that we don’t like the…
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Sunday Fishing Update
Sunday Fishing Update Looks like a mix of sun snow and rain for the week ahead. Today? Some sun, 52F, and light winds from the SW. Yesterday? Pretty good out there. As far as the nymphing goes. The dry fly?…
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Saturday Swing Scenery
Out doing a little spey fishing with Missouri River first-timers Greg and Sam yesterday. The swung fly was not incredibly productive, but we did manage to score a few times. Thats Greg landing a nice Brown above. These guys are…
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Paper or Plastic?
Paper or Plastic? Soon, you might be hearing this question at your local fly shop as well as the grocery store. AFFTA has announced that they are making recycled paper fly boxes available to fly shops as an alternative to the…
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Get Those Kids Out There!
Spring has pretty much sprung around here. We still need the water to warm a little to kick off the BWO, March Brown and Mothers Days Caddis hatches, but it’s not far off. Spring offers some of the easiest fly…
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New Scientific Anglers Spey Lite Lines
A couple of months ago, Scientific Anglers sent me a few prototypes of some new “Trout Spey” lines they were working on. I’ve been fishing them regularly and have been really impressed. They cast extremely well, and feel right (not…
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Casting Range
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY! For many anglers springtime means “gear time”. Lots of things on the to-do list. Cleaning lines, tying flies, cleaning out that mess you call a boat bag, and for many it means some new equipment. In…
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Sunday Scenery
A packed house yesterday as the weather topped 70° in downtown Craiglandia for the first time this year. Seems early to me, but most folks don’t mind shorts-and-flip-flop weather in mid-March. The parking lots were full and the Headhunters Crew spent…
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Weekend Advice
There’s going to be some folks out on the water this weekend. With temps near 70’s, and minor flooding shutting down a few streams around the state, we expect to see plenty of folks on the Missouri. We’ve had plenty…
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Missouri River Weekend Fishing Report
Missouri River Weekend Fishing Report Looks like, fishes like, we are heading into that first big spring fishing transition. Many Headhunters out this week with both the staff and guided trips fishing a number of days. Consensus? Change is happening…
Read More Mussel Update
Proposed Rule Changes Last night, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks hosted a public hearing on new rules aimed at controlling the spread of invasive mussels. The new regulations include the following: All out of state watercraft would need to be inspected…
Read More Communication Breakdown?
Communication Breakdown? A rock and roll tune from the first Zeppelin album. Also a problem in the drift boat between the angler and the rower. Not always a smooth path to understanding. Abbott ad Costello have a communication problem above.…
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The New Kid in Town. Meet Mr. BWO
The New Kid in Town. Meet the BWO While we still primarily see life through pink colored fly lenses and will be for at least another month, we began flirting with a different shade of blue this week. The Blue Winged…
Read More ‘boo This Classic from Scumliner Media
‘boo This Classic from Scumliner Media A spring day here in central Montana. Snow on the ground and 20F. Headed toward 40F today. Warmer this week with some scattered snow showers, rain, sun, and most likely some wind. A transition…
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Will we have High Water this year?
Will we have High Water this year? Don’t know. But we do know we like the snow. To have high water we have to have a winter like we are having, average really, and rain from April or May onward.…
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We like the Missouri River May Show
We like the Missouri River May Show We like May. It has become one of the favorite months for us here at Headhunters in Craig Montana. Why? Big fish. Some of the best fish of the year come to the…
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Casting Lessons
Over the years, we have provided casting lessons to all kinds of people in all kinds of scenarios. But they have always been by request, including our popular spey casting clinics over the winter months. Recently we have seen an…
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Downtown Craig
Downtown Craig Somesnow in the ground. Snow for the next week. We like snow here in downtown Craig Montana. Makes for a better summer. Craig is warming up for the season ahead. More and more daily activity. Guide trips out…
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Silly Saturday Scenery Mountain Palace Edition
Silly Saturday Scenery Mountain Palace Edition Nice. Yet windy Friday. Should be some anglers on the water today. The first weekend of spring. Sorta. Lots and lots of trout spey activity in the store this last week. Lots. We have…
Read More Friday Conservation Flicks
Methow Headwaters The Methow is not an incredibly great fishery, but it lies in an incredible valley in Washington’s North Cascades. If you’re a Washington Resident, it represents some of the best fly fishing for trout the state has to…
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Missouri River Fishing Report March 2nd
Missouri River Fishing Report March 2nd Spring is on the doorstep. Another couple weeks and we will reach the 1st day of spring. It’s coming. Although the Groundhog thing said we would face another 6 weeks of winter last month.…
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Headhunters Fly Shop Advanced Fly Fishing School
Headhunters Fly Shop Advanced Fly Fishing School Want to get better at fishing the Missouri River? Want to improve your dry fly cast? Presentation? Fish finding skills? Well we do too! And this fall we once again offer Headhunters Fly…
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11th Annual Craig Caddis Festival & BBQ Cook-Off Saturday May 20th
11th Annual Craig Caddis Festival & BBQ Cook-Off Saturday May 20th Once again we are celebrating the 11th Annual Craig Caddis Festival and BBQ Cook-Off Saturday May 20th. Always the spring opener of small creeks and some lake in our…
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Headhunters announces Annual Spring Special Guide Trips and Lodging
Headhunters announces Annual Spring Special Guide Trips and Lodging Deals February is nearly over and we turn our attention to our upcoming Annual Spring Special. This hyper-popular pricing schedule has many of our anglers all fired up! Along with discounted…
Read More Clean. Drain. Dry.
Clean. Drain. Dry. Do this. Commit. Clean. Drain. Dry. Make it part of your daily routine. But only if you like fishing Montana waters. Honest. Do this. Do not spread Aquatic Nuisance Species to non-contaminated waters. Clean. Drain. Dry. Wash…
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New Boat Smell Wilson Edition
New Boat Smell Wilson Edition Shane Wilson of Headhunters Fly Shop just got his Adipose Boatworks Flow. He is stoked! He traded in his last boat and got this beauty. Why do most Headhunters guides float this boat on the…
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KAST Steelhead Glove New and Improved!
KAST Steelhead Glove New and Improved! How could our #1 selling fishing glove be improved? We did not design it, we just love it. And, the crew at KAST has improved the now legendary Steelhead Glove. The only fishable fishing…
Read More Fly Tying Night in America Wednesday Night in Craig 5-8pm
Fly Tying Night in America Wednesday Night in Craig 5-8pm See you in town tonight for the Wednesday Night version of Fly Tying Night in America. 5-8pm. A small group of tiers chewing the fat, and tying a few flies.…
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Case of the Mondays
Welcome back to the cubicle! Monday morning and we’re all recovering from a busy weekend. The sun came out, and so did all of the Montana anglers who’ve been secluded under a blanket of snow for the last few months.…
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HFS Weather & River Conditions
In our constant effort to make our website more mobile friendly, we’ve just installed a new custom element to the home page of our website that we think you all will appreciate. The widget shows up to date reporting for…
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Silly Saturday Scenery, the Weather is Great, and Swing Season
Silly Saturday Scenery, the Weather is Great, and Swing Season Wandering through the lamest month of the year. I’m not a fan of February. It is the month that while short, is not so sweet. Generally cold, precipitationless, and gloomy.…
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Weekend Update Fishing Report
The ice is gone on the upper river, most of the ramps are clear and the first thunderstorms of 2017 rolled through unannounced last night. We’ve just experienced two consecutive days with temperatures around 60 degrees and the forecast for the next…
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Freddy Fly Step By Step
Freddy Fly Step By Step Before the Chubby Chernobyl, John Foust’s Freddy Fly (or Fat Freddy) was a staple pattern throughout the West. Foust invented the fly for the waters around Missoula, but it has caught fish all over the world.…
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Adipose Boatworks and Headhunters Vets Support
Adipose Boatworks and Headhunters Vets Support Adipose Boatworks has been a supporter of veterans from the start. Since the inception of the business Mike Ward and Tracy Allen along with now frontman and manager Justin Waayenberg have been beleviers in…
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Mark Raisler Trout Spey Set-Up
Mark Raisler Trout Spey Set-Up The break in the weather this week has got us out there fishing on the Missouri River again. Hooray! Happy Valentine’s Day too. We know you set your sweetheart up with something nice. Now, don’t…
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Don’t Forget the Blackfoot
If you’re headed out this way in 2017, don’t forget to put the Blackfoot River on your list. Several of our guides – including Mark and myself – really enjoy spending time on this river. It’s the polar opposite of…
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Fishing Report – Get Out There!
This Past Week It’s hard to believe that the Super Bowl was only one week ago. A lot has changed on the river in the past week. We received significant snow fall during the middle of last week that added to the…
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Saturday Spey
Some of us are at the ski hill, others are swinging softly. The snow in Craig was obliterated by the weather the last few days. Great fishing conditions. We hope you’re out swinging one up, and the reports we heard yesterday…
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Boat Ramp Report – Freshies!
Above: Glen Plake hucking the wire. Sub-arctic today, but the Chinooks are gathering and we expect to see some people headed up to Craig for a little fly fishing this weekend and into next week. The foreseeable forecast looks great…
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Fishing Report – Warming Trend!
Continued COOOOOOLD conditions have hampered our fishing efforts. But not our enthusiasm. The only nice weather we’ve had recently coincided with last weekends spey clinics. It was beautiful, but we were teaching, not fishing. There were folks some folks out…
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Clearwater Steelhead Hosted Trip
above: Guide Whitney Gould preparing to release a wild Steelhead caught by Terry Armstrong. This fall Headhunters will be hosting two different Steelhead fly fishing trips to Idaho’s legendary Clearwater River with guides Tracy Allen, Whitney Gould and Zack Williams.…
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Super Bowl Sunday Summer Image
Super Bowl Sunday Summer Image 7F here in central Montana today. A Super Bowl this afternoon. Whether you are dreaming of another New England win or rooting for the Atlanta Falcons we are dreaming of warmer weather. But, bring on…
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Silly Saturday Scenery
Would you stick your tongue to the Wolf Creek Bridge this morning? You do that while we drift a nymph rig through the slot. A super sensitive balloon 5 feet above a B shot, followed by something pink followed by…
Read More Front Lines – Public Land Transfer Win
See? It Does Work! This week, public land rally’s were held in Helena, MT and Santa Fe, NM opposing the transfer of Federally owned and managed lands to states. Above you can listen to MT Governor Steve Public rally the…
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Headhunters is the Trout Spey Line HQ
Airflo, Bucket, iMOW, OPST, Poly Leader, Riffle, RIO, Run, SA, Scandi, Scientific Anglers, Skagit, spey, Spey Accesories, Switch, Trout Spey, VersiLeader, Wulff
Headhunters is the Trout Spey Line HQ We have them all. Almost all of them. We may not have every trout spey line ever made but we have most of the bases covered including well over 100 trout spey demo…
Read More I don’t like Fly Fishing, I love it!
I don’t like Fly Fishing, I love it! This 10 cc tune, Dreadlock Holiday, has been covered a thousand times. And why not. Today here on the river it is cold. Again. Winter has returned. Which we feel is good.…
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Public Lands Rally in Helena
GROUNDHOG DAY Another Montana Legislative session, another attack on our public lands, and another Public Lands Rally at our Capitol in Helena. Members of team Headhunters were in attendance, along with a thousand-plus hikers, hunters, boaters, climbers, skiers, birdwatchers, wildflower fanatics,…
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Do you ever feel like this? It’s Monday.
Do you ever feel like this? It’s Monday. We feel like it is Monday. It’s warmer out today with snow on the way tomorrow and beyond. Bring it. Stack it up in the Rockies. We need it for summer. Some…
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Silly Sunday Scenery
Silly Sunday Scenery Headhunters Fly Shop with Silly Sunday Scenery this Sunday morning late January. Headhunters is your only daily fly fishing blog in Montana bringing you the best in inane Missouri River entertainment to your living room at a…
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Shane’s Trout Spey Set Up
Shane’s Trout Spey Set Up Today on the Headhunters Fly Shop daily blog we see Shane Wilson’s Trout Spey Set Up. Shane is one of those who is enamored with the Echo TR2 rod. We can’t blame him. Most of…
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Friday Foto
Friday Foto You recognize that run above? Sometimes some fishy’s in there. Spooky bitches though. Tread slowly and quietly. Like a trout fly wielding ghost. Warm and windy this weekend. We will be out both days with our January Free…
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New Boat Smell Headhunters Fly Shop
New Boat Smell Headhunters Fly Shop A new rental boat in the yard today. 1st of 3, or 4. We will also have the new model the Adipose Run-Off! The Adipose “Runoff” We took all the best parts of our…
Read More F3T Time – Convergence
The Fly Fishing Film Tour is starting it’s way across the country, and here’s a trailer for one of the features titled “Convergence” from our friends at Conservation Hawks. CONVERGENCE, the new film from Conservation Hawks, explores the essence of…
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Monday Morning Update here in Central Montana
Monday Morning Update here in Central Montana Fishing is back here on the Missouri River. The recent not as cold weather along with the sun shining has brought fishing back! A few anglers on the water with a number of…
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