Friday Fishing Report from Headhunters of Craig Montana

5 years ago

Friday Fishing Report from Headhunters of Craig Montana

Flows at 4770cfs. Above average for this time of year. We like more water. Some don’t. But some do.

Water temperatures 61F-65F daily. Good there too. Not too hot. So far not a terribly hot summer. Below average for the ’19 period. Good there too. Air temps this coming week will plummet to below 80F. Good there too. All good man. Cooler water and air temps quel the weed growth.

Crowds as mentioned yesterday are fewer. August does not bring out the angler either.

Weeds are a 3 on the Headhunters Weed Scale of 1-10 with 10 being disastrous. Not too high yet fellers.

Rasta Trout @ Headhunters of Craig — Rasta Trout available at HH of Craig or Online.

Trico’s are the game for the dry fly angler. Spinner fall later in the morning than in th precious several years. Can be as late as 10am. I have always thought a good spinner fall started at 847am. But, things change. Anglers don’t like change. Dudes over 13 don’t like change. certainly fellers over 65 hate that kinda shit. Change and such. But retrain yourself to be ready about 930 am, at the earliest. You can get a few tossing attractor or caddis patterns around before the real action begins.

Wading around center river bars is sure fun. They have expanded with the precious two years of gravel migration. John and I were talking about the current mid river structures and similarities to the latter half of the 90’s thru the drought years until ’07. As you remember ’08 brought change, and ’09, and ’10’, and ’11. But the current Missouri River texture is helping us smile daily. The fish dig it too man.

Caddis are your early morning, afternoon, mid day bug. Smaller browner skittering caddis in August are always the key to those high sun blues that will creep into your head. Don’t let it. Summon Mother Mo to rid those demons. It always works for me. LT taught me well.

Terrestrials are part of your day. Hopers, ants, beetles. Have not heard, or the bastards that work for HH won’t say yet, what is the hot hopper for ’19. Ants are finding some interested trout.

PMD’s. The bug of this summer. A strong comeback after a several years of lesser and shorter and weaker and anemic hatches. A pretty big year in ’18, followed up with a strong show in ’19. June 20th thru August 6th? You will see some around for the next couple weeks. Hoover up some of our remaining PMD patterns to get you through the coming weeks.

The nymphing gang is roping ’em out there. Not everyday is a slam dunk, but most have been good enough to get the net wet into the afternoon. The normal players on on fire. Weight Flies, Grape Slushy, Sows, small black mayfly nimps, Zebra’s, Micro Mays, S & M, Two Bit Hookers, and a plethora of small mayfly nymphs that 7 wt has procured for you. Come by for an amazing nymph selection that is second to none. We will take your vote at the counter open daily 6am til at least 9pm. We got Zirdle’s too.

Trout Spey coming soon.

Streamer fishing coming soon.

BWO’s in another 6 weeks. Book your September and October trips today. Get 3 fishing fellers together and get it booked.

Let the weeds roll through, then come out and swing or strip. Your choice.

Rocking steady here in dusty downtown Craig this August 2019. Loving it really. Good to great fishing, a thinning of the angling herds, quiet mornings have slipped awkwardly into commonplace. In hindsight an easy transition into late summer. Have not felt Autumn in the morning yet. But, myself, John, Sara, Ninch, Julie, along with the cast of dozens at operating the Missouri River Trout Fishing Laboratory tuckering away in central Montana are beathing easy my fishy friends.

Come visit us this fall. Love to host you, your family, your fishing pals, and your dogs too. Keep up with us on any of our social platforms HH facebook, Headhunters Fly Instagram, Twitter too. Put us on your phone. Call us anytime with trout fishing questions, answers, ideas, dreams, just no bitching please.

Have a great weekend. Happy Friday. Set a good outdoor example for your kids, for our kids, for yourself. Do it. It will be good for your constitution.