The very latest happenings Craig Montana 4.20.20

Sunday was awful nice in Craig Montana. Nearly 60, light winds, with a ton of Montanans dragging their outdoor summer toys with vigor through our recently quiet fishing ‘burb.

Here are the facts as we here at Headhunters World HQ see them this Monday morning.

Lots of traffic on the river yesterday. I counted 59 boat trailers on the way home from WC Boat ramp all the way to Cascade boat ramp. That is a lot of boats. No shuttle services so the number of secondary cars made it look even busier. A nice day to be out there. Saw a couple fish on. Saw more people face toward the sun, head back, beverage in hand, eyes closed, inhaling, exhaling.

Not one fly shop is open on the river. Not yet. Maybe we will see some news tomorrow or Wednesday. Montana Governor Steve Bullock will hopefully give us the map of how and when Montana will re-open.

Currently Shelter in Place thru this Friday April 24th. Currently any non-resident must Self Quarantine for 14 days before heading into the public. Both of these topics will be addressed by Bullock.

Headhunters Fly Shop is closed. Online business only. Have had a great response of support form our friends and customers. John and I wanted to thank you deeply for your online retail support the past month. Thank you, thank you, thank you. When we can re-open our doors we don’t know. But we are certainly looking forward to seeing you all face to face this summer.

Currently no guides, no retail shop, no lodging, no rental boats, no shuttles, no services in Craig. But, that will break soon. Montana is looking to re-open in the first wave of state re-openings. We are currently readying ourselves for that day.

The fishing is good. Blue Winged Olives here and there. Saw a few boats posted up casting at rising fish not he way north towards Cascade this evening. Midge flies are skittering and driving anglers mad. Cast it out there and hope they eat it. But some quite good stories of dry fly sessions lasting up to three hours heard recently.

Nymphing? Pink. BWO. PT’s. Midges. Adams. Deep, and not so deep. Not shallow yet though. Watch for Rainbow Spawning Beds. Redds. Stay off and stay away. Let those fish produce eggs, and baby trouts for the coming years. It’s just smart.

Streamer bite? Been pretty strong too. Medium sped waters stripping them, faster than you did two weeks ago. Water temps moving upwards. We have un-stuck ourselves from the basement winter eater temps of 35-ish. Now flirting with 41F.

---

---

Water temps moved two degrees this week. By far the largest climb in 2020. Water levels at the 4200 mark. Skinny for late April. 1300 cfs below historic average.

Water levels for the upcoming summer look good. Comfortably above average. The past week snowfall couple with rainfall added a buffer path we will hopefully enjoy with a dry fly summer in front of us. More on this topic in a forthcoming blog late this week.

The Dearborn River has a bit of color in it. Consequently the river below the confluence is stained. Will it continue with the warmer weather forecast for the week ahead?

Swingers? The Trout Spey gang has been fishing. And consistently reports as well. The lower water has seen some fish willing to take in these environs. Lighter lines will be on our minds spring attempts to shove her way in amongst the twice weekly snow storms.

Izaaks will re-open as soon as the Governor allows restaurants to open. Chef John is ready and waiting in the wings. Fishing a ton too.

Questions about lodging and guide trips need to be directed to Julie at 406-868-5473. 

Our fantastic and loyal staff that has been furloughed for going on a month have been fishing, resting, sheltering in place, tying flies. They are all eager to get back to work. After a couple more fishing days…

We are eager to get back rolling as well. Until we hear what the future holds, hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday, we will be shipping your online fly fishing orders, answering your phone calls, readying Craig Trout Camp and Headhunters Fly Shop for summer 2020.

Be safe. Be well today. Thanks for reading. We truly appreciate you folks out there doing the right thing. See you soon.