August 13, 2020 Big Fish!

Cooler days this week brought the water temperature back down to 60 degrees. We are still seeing plus 14 inch trout taking chubby Chernobyls on top of the water but not much in the way of rises to the naturals. Perhaps the windy days are keeping the hatches at a minimum. Not sure, but today we floated with a tail wind that made casting an adventure and had the rower straining on the oars to keep off the rock faces.

Still, the fishing was great! We played fat cutthroats and rainbows pretty consistency through the whole float. For me I was fishing earlier in the day than normal and thoroughly enjoyed the river. I’m amazed at a fish’s time schedule and how a section of the river that might normally not have much action later in the afternoon is a whole new story around 11:00 am.

The flies we used today with positive results were Hendrickson Sparkle Dun, Purple Chernobyls and Madam X. Droppers were used and a few fish were caught, but most of the action was on dries. The river did drop a few hundred CFS this week and is now flowing at 9439 CFS at the Montana/Idaho state line. The hot weather promises to return by Sunday and early next week with temps climbing back into the low 90’s. Weekend fishing is picking up, so if you’re looking to book a trip on the river the weekdays are best. Now get out there and fish!