Missouri River Montana Fishing Report 7.24.21

Fire down the road at the Harris Mountain event. InciWeb status updated a couple minutes ago. Check out the the local news station updates. About ten miles to our NE. Smoke here but no more than the past couple weeks.

Saw more blue skies yesterday than we have in the past couple weeks. Good news is the blue sky. Bad news is the fish were getting comfortable with the flash overcast. Alas, blue skies are good.

Flows up a bit to mid 3K’s. Currently 3670 cfs. Water temps moving between 63F-66F.

Hoot Owl Fishing Hours in effect. Midnight to 2pm fishing hours.

Nymphing decent at the dam and Wolf Creek Bridge. Zebra’s, Zirdles, Caddis pupa, small black mayfly patterns fo the Trico. 2′-6′ from bobber to split or not.

Dry fly fishing on the upper pet difficult. Those fish are aware. Make the first cast count. Headhunters understand that shooting several, like 20 rifle shots at a deer is not the way to achieve your goal. Casting, or dragging the fly over the head of the trout is not an effective method either.

Reach casts, or some sort of slack line presentation is vital to your dry fly success. Reach casting the first two casts, and then straight lining the fish for the next 98 casts is not gonna get it done.

Slack line presentations are key to your dry fly pursuits. Honest.

Trico clusters and Trico Spinners are the key. Toss a down winged caddis at them as well for any of your caddis fantasies. Headhunters has a full array and selection of tech Trico patterns.

Most on the upper reaches unless a morning hopper excursion. Hoppers are on the menu.

Ants a good weapon out there as well. Check them out. Red and black seem to be the recent key to success.

Out early, off early. Lunch and a nap. Then dinner.

Shop open daily at 530am. Open later til 8pm for all your rod, reel, and new fly line needs. Come and shop in Craig!