Monday June 10th Missouri River Fishing Report
All good here on the Mo. The Mo is at the peak of traffic as we head into the middle June weeks. Weekends of course very busy. Friday is the new Saturday. Saturday is the new Sunday. Sunday has light afternoons. Monday? Monday is Monday. Today.
PMD’s? Yes. 11a-3p is the peak. Cripples and emergers are the two patterns in vogue, right now. Some dun action, but not the strongest pattern for this hatch. But, they will work for another week? Half Dun Hatching a good choice. Pink Albert color is super cool too! Look it up, man. Size range 14-18.
A note on PMD’s and Trico’s and summer bugs and summer trout behaviors. Heard some media that the fish need/like clouds to rise in the summer session. WRONG. That info is incorrect. Summer bugs, summer trout, summer humans like sunshine. The bugs need the sun to emerge, to gain the energy to morph into the next stage of life. The summer months are mostly sunshine laden. Why would bugs need overcast, to live and procreate, and propagate? Bug Life 101. The bugs get smaller overall as the sunny season moves along. The water temps increase. the length of sun over the horizon increases, the air temps increase as the summer slides into August. Think of Trico’s. Small, dark bodied, and yearning for sun to move upwards breaking into our atmosphere. The PMD brood(s) get smaller. The Trico gets smaller as time passes in the hatch cycle.
Secondly, insects do not hatch differently based on the level of water. Nope. Nothing about that makes sense. Insects are triggered by water temps and angle of sun. Energy entering the water, the bugs absorbing said energy, and when the time is right, morphing yet again through the surface barrier, into our atmosphere.
Caddis? Yes, sporadic on the lower reaches. Tan and brown. 14-16. More caddis to come as the mo th progresses. Late June, July, and thru the month of September are the key moments for the caddis. Again, tan and brown are the two primary colors. Downwinged low floaters are best. Best pattern of all time for Caddis on this river? Translucent Pupa or its older brother Trans. Emerger. We have lots of them.
Nymphers are all hopped up on the PMD nymph. It is the primary for a period. A long month period. Trico nymphs in the water column now. Small and black. But until most recognize that the Trico is forthcoming, the bobber chasers will be focussed on the PMD. Frenchie, Split Case, S & M, Jig Napoleon PMD, Tung Psycho May, CDC Pheasant Tail Jig, Tungsten Frenchdipity PMD, Hogan’s S & M Tungsten Rusty PMD, Keller’s Jig PMD, Tungsten Jig SF PMD, Montana Bullet Black/Red, Fullback Napoleon Brown, Juan’s Jiggety Jedi Lt. Brown and more!
Trico’s are coming as stated above. More caddis on the way. Summer is just beginning!
Flows are currently in the 4500-5000 cfs range. Should stabilize this week? Totally wadeable. Wade fishers get anxious at the 6K. Wade anglers unite.
Water temps at 56F.
Dearborn Flows: 258 cfs. Today the last day to float in a raft?
Inflows at Toston 10K plus.
Lake level, Canyon Ferry: 95.2% full. 1.8%, or about 2.5′ to full pool. Full pool at 97%. The other 3% owned by (I can’t remember right now).
A friendly reminder to respect others waters. You are not the only angler out there. The Missouri River is huge. Many places 100 yards wide. 300 feet. If an angler or boat or otherwise is 40′ from shore, and there is 260′ of water on the other side of said angler, why would you get close? You have 260′ of water to negotiate around that angler. Why, why would you get really close? Remember that you can communicate with the wade angler, or boat anglers with your voice. Ask. Say hello. Figure out the best path for both of you. Yes, both of you. And remember that the boat angler must defer to standing angler. Power boat defers to non power boat. Boat defers to standing angler. In that order. Read it in the Boating Manual FWP. Common boating rules everywhere. Universal.
Swingers getting them on PMD emergers, soft hackles, small flashy light streamers too.
Open 7-7 daily. Earlier pretty soon. Shuttles daily, the Best Flies Under the Big Sky, Mo River Eats much drop off location, Rental boats, Guide Trips daily, 35+ lodging options including Craig Trout Camp Dolton here locally!
406-235-3447