In the late 70’s I took a seasonal USFS job in the Bighorn Mountains in North Central Wyoming. I was working on B.S. in Forest Resource Management at WVU where they had a great placement program for forestry students that wanted to work out west. Well one thing led to another and I found myself drawn to the west and …
Kootenai River Fishing Report – April 7-15, 2017
River Flow: 24,200 cfs 8-12 foot visibility above the Fisher River, 3 feet visibility below the Fisher River. Fisher Infow 2000 kcfs. River Temp 36 degrees F. Inflow from Lake Koocanusa: 9.2 kcfs Hatches: Midges and Little Blue Quills, Silver Stripe Caddis Effective Patterns: Bead-head prince, Wooly Bugger, Adams, Parachute Adams Guide report: We are not guiding on the river currently with …
Top 3 Reasons We Love Streamer Fishing
We are coming into that time of year where the streamer fishing really gets hot! There are so many reasons to love streamer fishing, but we thought we would share our top 3. 1. Catching Bigger, Aggressive Trout Big fish eat big food, and streamers tend to imitate a calorie laden food sources such as baitfish, leeches, or sculpins. During …
Kootenai River Report | September 21-28, 2016
River Flow: 6,500 cfs 10-16 foot visibility 57 degrees Inflow from Lake Koocanusa: 5000 cfs Hatches: October Caddis on the lower Kootenai, Blue-wing olives, Pale Morning Duns, Tan Caddis, Little Blue Quills, Tiny Winged Ants, Lots of Hoppers and Ants working into the mix. Some Mahogany duns starting to show. Starting to see heavy midge activity in upper river. Effective …
Kootenai River Report | September 9, 2016
River Flow: 6,500 cfs 10-16 foot visibility 57 degrees Inflow from Lake Koocanusa : 5000 cfs Hatches: Blue-wing olives, Pale Morning Duns, Tan Caddis, Little Blue Quills, Tiny Winged Ants, Lots of Hoppers and Ants working into the mix. Some Mahogany duns starting to show. Starting to see heavy midge activity in upper river. Effective Patterns: X-Caddis, Adams, Parachute Adams, …
Kootenai River Report | Aug. 17-24, 2016
River Flow: 7,000 cfs 10-16 foot visibility 55 degrees Inflow from Lake Koocanusa : 7,000 cfs Hatches: Tiny Winged Ants leading the hatch parade! Pale Morning Duns, Tan Caddis, Little Blue Quills, Blue Wing Olives, Lots of Hoppers and Ants working into the mix. Some Mahogany duns are starting to show in addition to heavy midge activity in the upper …
Kootenai River Report | Aug. 4-10, 2016
River Flow: 7,000 cfs 10-16 foot visibility 55 degrees Inflow from Lake Koocanusa : 8,800 cfs Hatches: Pale Morning Duns, Tan Caddis, Little Blue Quills, Blue Wing Olives, Lots of Hoppers and Ants working into the mix. Some Mahogany duns starting to show. Starting to see heavy midge activity in upper river. Effective Patterns: X-Caddis, Adams, Parachute Adams, Royal Wulff, …
Hot for Hoppers
It is that time of year in Montana where the river banks are jumping with various forms of Caelifera; aka hoppers. We look forward to the hoppers making their annual appearence just as much as the fish do. Small hopper patterns of all types are seemingly quite effective right now and will remain so for another few weeks. If you’re heading out …
Kootenai River Report | July 21-28, 2016
River Flow: 7,000 cfs 10-14 foot visibility 55 degrees Inflow from Lake Koocanusa : 11,200 cfs Hatches: Pale Morning Duns, Tan Caddis, Little Blue Quills, Blue Wing Olives, Lots of Hoppers and Ants working into the mix. Some Mahogany duns starting to show. Effective Patterns: X-Caddis, Adams, Parachute Adams, Royal Wulff, Red Quill, Purple Haze, Beadhead Prince, Copper johns, Wooly …
How to Keep Those Dry Flies Floating
Dry fly season is in full swing on the Kootenai, and we are loving every minute of it. It’s hard to beat those top water takes! In order to tempt our targets to the surface, presentation of the fly is key; especially when there is plenty of the real thing out there for the fish to choose from. A natural drift …