A fishing update from the friendly and knowledgeable staff at CrossCurrents for one of Montana’s finest trout waters, The Missouri River. The flows at Holter this morning are at 3,100 cfs. A slight drop from the past few days. Water temps are keeping steady at 64F. Our weather forecast for the Craig area is showing some colder mornings with afternoon highs in the 80’s and possibly dropping down into the 70’s. Traffic on the river has dropped quite a bit the past few days as we slide into August. Pretty typical for this time of year as fishing is generally slowest in the heat of summer. Most people are still fishing in the Dam to Craig section, but some of the more fearless guides are spreading out in the river. Better scenery? Larger Fish? Who knows, but they are putting up some good numbers in places other than Holter Dam.
How is the fishing? It has picked up the past few days from the slower action we had last week. It is officially hopper season out there. This may or may not end up being a good hopper year, but the fish are eating them enough to make it worth your time to fish them in the afternoon. The Caddis hatch is going fairly well, but the fish aren’t eating them like we want to. It comes on strong late at night and the fish probably key in on them for a midnight snack when there is nobody out fishing. Trico’s….sometimes great in the morning, sometimes not. Warmer days seem to get them going earlier. We still see some PMD’s out here and there. Last night there was a pretty good hatch of them above Wolf Creek Bridge.
Dry-CDC Stocking Wing Caddis #16 and #18(We just got them back in stock), CDC Elk Hair Caddis #18, Angel Wing Trico Spinner #22, P. Adams #20, Morrish Hopper Pink #12, Chubby C. Pink #10, Bloom’s Ant #16.
Nymph-Blooms Weight Fly #16, Czech Nymph #16, Mirage Nymph #20, Love Bug #20, Purple Lighting Bug #18. The Nyphing has been pretty good out there the past few days. Weeds don’t seem to be as big of a deal.
