First, let us start be sending our best to our friends down in Rockport, Texas. As many may know, Capt. Jeff spends his winters in Rockport operating Fly Fish Rockport, his saltwater fishing business. He employs two full time Captains down there, each with family and friends as well. Fortunately, everyone is safe and sound. The town, region and state however could certainly use a little extra love. So our thoughts go out to everyone down south. And here is a link to Fly Fish Rockport most current fishing report. #rockportstrong #texasstrong
Now then…
Fly fishing on the Missouri River in Montana continues to be pretty good through these “dog days” of Summer. Our river flows are plenty good for this late in the year, hovering just above 4,000 cfs most days. This is more water than we had most of last year. So this is a huge plus. Water temps also remain in the mid 60’s, which is just fine for this time of year.
Most morning you will still find a few tricos buzzing around the banks. Nothing like you would see during the peak hatches of July, but still a few lingering around. It is getting tougher and tougher to find fish that are still keying in on them. But they are there. Certainly more upstream, than down. But we did find a few rising fish in the Cascade stretch just a day ago. So that is an option for anglers during the morning hours.
Our best option lately has been terrestrials. We are spending most of our time below Craig tossing dries blind. Hoppers, ants, beadles and whatever else you are into might move fish. Every day is an adventure out there though. And not all days are created equal. But persistence pays off… As seen in the image above. This nice brown sipped a hopper along the bank.
We are back to very hot days here. It is incredibly dry out there as well. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight in the forecast either. We need rain and need it badly. The entire state is dry and much of it is burning. So we are much in need of cooler/damp weather. But, this isn’t all bad for us. These smokey days have provided almost a cloud cover on the river. On these darker days, we are seeing far better results on the dry fly program. So when life gives you lemons… you throw hoppers and ants???
We haven’t really nymphed much at all lately. But we have dabbled with a dropper below our hopper some. Larger mayfly patterns seemed to work very well. Unweighted tan UV Czech nymphs moved a fair number of fish as well. The faster the water, the better. We focused on fast and shallow stuff, in hopes of hopper eats as well.
The smoke has made the carp fishing a little bit tougher. The fish are there, but it is quite a bit tougher to see them. Especially at any distance. It can be done, but it’s just a bit more tricky. You need to be very quick and deadly accurate to make it all come together. Most of the targets you will see are close to the boat. So a single shot, if any, is all you’re gonna get. But if you get it there, the fish are plenty happy and willing to eat.
Overall, for this time of Summer, we are very pleased with the current Missouri River fishing report. It could certainly be far worse. So we are happy with our results on dry flies these days. But we do look forward to some cooler Fall days soon. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!
Contact Us with any questions, for an up to the minute report or to book your Missouri River fishing trip or Carp fishing trip.
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Montana Fishing Reports by River:
Missouri River Land of Giants Dearborn River Blackfoot River Montana Pike Fishing
Texas Redfish Fishing Reports:
Fly Fish Rockport Report