Missouri River Winter Fishing Report 11.8.15
One windy bitch here on the Mo. Truly windy.
Ninch above with a nice rainbow trout on swung Hot-Eye Kreelex at the Spey Clinic Saturday.
Fishable on Monday afternoon with some shores windless enough to cast. Up by the dam the fellows that endured the wind said it was good fishing. They also said that about an hour of punishment was ll they could take.
Down river there were some pockets that you could fish. If you are a renegade drive by bank angler you just cruse around the river until you find the right water.
Missouri River Nymphing Report
The nymphing is pretty damn good. Find those buckets and work through them. Some of the holding lies can be small. Break it down into small stream components and get techy. You may have to adjust your depth, your bobber, but probably not your fly. Pink and slutty is the program for winter nymphers.
- Firebeads
- Ray Charles
- Tailwater Sows
- Arnold’s Sili Scud
- Rainbow Czech’s
- Amex
- Pink Lightening Bug
- Any bug Ninch tells you to use.
Missouri River Streamer Report
Not too bad here either. Slower water has been the key. Although a few fish have been taken out in the middle around good center river structure. Fish off of both sides of the top of island runs and the bottom end too.
Seems like fish have been holding in different water on consecutive days. The streamer eaters have not totally set up in their full time winter lies. So, fish both until you find a pattern.
The swingers have been out there too. Smaller patterns that are lightly weighted or un-weighted have been the better flies. Those heavily weighted big and ugly Madison/Yellowstone type flies don’t really get too much traction here in the winter.
Most of the streamer strippers using a dry fly line. Some are tossing them on an intermediate tip. Others fishing a RIO VersiLeader off of their dry line. Lots of ways to skin a cat. Use what you are comfortable with or try something new today. A fresh look is a good idea…honest.
- Baby Sculpzilla
- Small Buggers in any flavor
- Thin Mint
- Simi Leech
- Kreelex
- Marabou Clousers
- Foxy Clousers
Missouri River Weather Report
Windy. Here is the forecast for today…
A 20 percent chance of rain after 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 52. Windy, with a south southwest wind 41 to 46 mph, with gusts as high as 70 mph.
For the week ahead? Windy. Really windy. Rainy. And maybe snowy.
So if you want to come out and fish, it will most likely be uncrowded. You can probably walk into your favorite run.
Missouri River Flows and Water Temps
Pretty stable. That is all that needs to be said. Get used to it.
Still falling somewhat. But it should stabilize soon. A warm winter temperature range is 36F. A cold winter temperature is 33F. We like the former. The fish like it better too. You can now see why the fish will get in their winter holes. Deep, slow, nearly stopped water will be the hot ticket for the next three months.
At 37.5F we have officially entered into the full winter realm. Not many changes from here on out. Probably not until February will anything change. The next bug change being the advent of the Midges. So now we patiently wait.
Summer Employment
Not too soon to be thinking about Headhunters seasonal employment. We will need shop staff beginning in March, April, May. We like to start the interview process in January. For you trout bums that want to be a part of the Headhunters Team begin putting together your resume. We will be accepting them beginning today. This is the professional outfit here in Craig. There is a reason that we have the longest standing shop staff on the Missouri. Think about it.
We live in a world of text messages, bad punctuation and spelling seen here daily, and non-professional behavior…we urge to to put your best foot forward. Those with the best looking complete resume including references will get looked at first. Just like in real life. Get on board with the most recognizable fly shop in Craig. Headhunters.
Send your resume to both sara@headhuntersflyshop.com and mark@headhuntersflyshop.com w/ RESUME in the subject field.
We are accepting resumes for shop staff, not for guides.
