Hello late July

Good to great dry fly fishing the past 2 months. Will it continue into August?

Maybe. The air and water temps climbing with the 100F weather we are having. Not uncommon though.

Weeds getting bad. Subsurface really filling the water column.

Hoppers are great. Pink, peach, yellow, dusty yellow, and purple are hot. Try any old school hopper like a Dave’s, Joes, Whitlock’s or a Para-Hopper for something that the fish do not see often. They know the taste of foam.

Ants? Yep. Black flying.

Trico’s? Awesome.

Caddis. Yes, good during the day, great at night too.

PMD’s? Spinner falls can fill in the late morning and early afternoon.

August can be great. Go early, fish, get off early. The river becomes vacant below Craig. Keep that in mind for you dry fly finders.

A common conversation at the HH front desk is this…

• Customer: “Hey what is the traffic like today?”
• Derek days, “Well, 95% of the traffic is up river. Most of the boats, and wade anglers, are up top, above Craig.”
• C: “Where would you go Derek?”
• D: ” Oh, anywhere but up river.”
• C: “OK. Would you go up river?”
• D: Nope. I’d go hunt some heads or hopper fish from Craig down river.”
• C: OK. But would you go up river?”
• D: No. I’d dodge the crowds and go Headhunting while the Trico spinner fall is happening, then toss hopper on the way out.”
• C: “Ohh. Let’s get a shuttle Dam to Craig.” Do you think that is good?
• D: “Sure, but it’ll be quite crowded. Only 5% of the traffic downstream. 95% up top. I’d head down stream.”
• C: OK. We’ll go Dam to Craig.”

And, that is how it goes almost daily at the front desk. Hey, there are fish below Craig. Honest. But, you may want to head upriver. If you keep asking the question and get the same answer repeatedly, it may remind you of your spouse. And, buddy, we are not your wife. You can break out man.

Or, go upriver.

Contrary to popular belief, fly shops are not interested in disseminating mis-, or dis-information. We do not have an agenda to fool anglers. The conversation above happens many, many times daily. We also do not try to sell you bullshit flies that don’t work. When, has that method, or philosophy, ever worked in retail? We are on your team. We are here to facilitate success on the water. We are your Entertainment, Information, Educational and Customer Service Leader on Montana’s Missouri River.