Flows Below Holter: 4800 cfs (normally 4900)…. Water Temperature: 34° F…. Flows Below Hauser: 4930 cfs (normally 3720)…. Water Temperature: low to mid 30’s…. Crazy warm and beautiful weather (for January) the past few days has made for some pretty sweet conditions to get out and wet a line.  The fishing on the MO has been pretty good for the most part but “they” have been monkeying around with the flows. (You know, the dam people.) Down last Friday, up on Sunday, down on Tuesday then down again yesterday.  Not huge swings but enough to phase the fishing.  (You can see the MO flows live here:  MO below Holter ; MO below Hauser)  There was a good bit of low snow run off  that happened that actually muddied up the Little Prickly Pear and muddied up the MO a bit.  That too, had an impact on the consistency of fishing -or catching.  (The fishing is always good, right?!) The forecast is for the Spring-like weather to continue for the next several days (with a little dip down near freezing on Saturday -of course).  Not great for our snow pack but it will allow you to get out and enjoy some fishing.  (You can see the current snowpack conditions here:  Streamflows & Snowpack) Other open water went through a bump in flows with the recent snow melt but most are back into fishing shape. They too, can be fun in the Winter.

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If you go fishing this Saturday (the 31st), remember you need to be in Helena by 6pm so you can make it to the 2015 F3T showing at the Grandstreet Theater sponsored by the Pat Barnes Missouri River Chapter of Trout Unlimited.  It’s going to be almost as much fun as fishing -maybe even more so for some!  It’s cheaper to buy tickets by Friday ($15) then to buy them at the door on Saturday ($18)! HOT Streamers: Bead-Head Buggers (love the Olive-Wine Tail & Thin Mint), Polar Minnows, Skiddish Smolts, Kreelex. HOT Nymphs: Pink Lighting Bug, Purple Lightning Bugs, Scuds, Zebra Midges, Firebead Czechs and Ray Charles Good Dries: Midge Cluster, Griffiths Gnat, LaFontaine Buzzball For a human fishing report please stop by or call CrossCurrents Fly Shop in Helena…. 406-449-2292.  We LOVE talking trout…and pike and steelhead and carp and bass and salmon….  Comment below if you have questions or to let us know how your fishing has been this month. Shameless Shop Promo:  We still have 1 space left in our February Beginner Fly Tying Class and 3 spaces open in our March Beginner Tying Class.  If you already know how to tie flies and you live in the Helena area, then please join us every Saturday in our Downtown store for our “Open Tying Table” with Larry “The Urban Legend”  It’s social, it’s informal, it’s informative, it’s FUN you’ll enjoy some donuts, cookies and Firetower Coffee to boot.  All tying skill levels show up on Saturdays, so yes, you’re good enough to hang out and tie flies with us. Shameless Product Promo/Flash Sale:  We have a special deal on a sweet, small stream rod that was demoed a couple of times but is in like-new condition.  It’s the much acclaimed, Orvis H2 763-4 Mid-Flex Rod. (7’6″ 3-weight, 4-piece, model #7A7Y-51-57)  We’re offering it here for only $500 (retail is $795 so you’ll save $295!)  You can read more about this rod here:  Orvis Helios 2 763-4.  Click here to purchase this rod securely online on our PayPal site (no PayPal account needed to purchase.)  The link will open a new page and that page will say CrossCurrents, Inc. in the top left.  We have 1 of these left in stock so it might go quickly.