Flow: 642cfs at Melrose
Visibility: fair to clear
Fishing: Good! Streamers, March Browns, Skwalas
We have our Spey Clinic this week, with casting demos and instruction through the morning and then out to the Big Hole for the afternoon.
Jerry Kustich and Glen Brackett brought up two gorgeous Sweetgrass Bamboo Spey rods, which has been a new and exiting project for Jerry.
Our pro instructor getting acquainted with the ‘boo! We’ll post pics throughout the week as the course progresses.
Flow: 867 cfs at Maiden Rock
Visibility: Clear, but on the rise and may color up as the week begins if temps warm.
Temp: Water: 51 Air: 70 Windy
Fishing: Good! Skwalas, streamers, and small stone nymphs.
It was wiiiiindy yesterday, but we chucked streamers through the gusts and plopped dries on the banks when the breeze let up. Bigger fish were eagerly chasing the streamers, but were hesitant to eat it fully. We had a lot of “short strikes.” The 12-16″ class was slapping the skwala dry on the banks fairly consistently from 3:00 on, and if you could get it into the pockets through the wind, the ‘next size’ was looking for up.
Our trusty fish hunter is sprawled out on the floor after tirelessly scanning the riffles for big browns all day!
A few Bucknell grads and current law students pumped the boat up and shoved off for some early season Skwala action!
We are pleased to welcome Cliff Zielke to our seasoned guides staff.
Cliff has been guiding fly fisherman and hunters in the Rocky Mountain West and Alaska for over 25 years, with a few interruptions when he held “traditional jobs” in the animal health indurstry and timber sales. Cliff was literally raised fishing, with his first fly fishing experiences coming at the age of 5 in the Midwest, where his father bass fished and Cliff would cast from the back of the boat for bluegills and sunfish with a fized length of line on an old Wright McGill cane rod. Since 1989, he has lived just over the hill in Salmon, ID and has fished the Big Hole, Bitterroot, and other local waters regularly when not guiding elswhere. In addition to getting you into fish, Cliff strives to add to your game, no matter your angling skill level. Cliff also guides for steelhead, big game, has an upland bird business, builds wooden driftboats, and trains Labrador Retrievers.
| Join World Champion Spey Caster, Whitney Gould at Big Hole Lodge in Montana for a four-day Spey casting clinic May 4-9, 2013 |
| Big Hole Lodge is offering this Spey casting clinic with current and three-time World Women’s Spey Casting Champion, Whitney Gould and her fiancé, Mike McCune — who is an icon in the sport and also an experienced instructor. The five-night / four-day fishing package costs $3,290 per person based on double occupancy and includes accommodations, meals and all guiding and instruction. In addition, Spey rods and reels will be supplied by Orvis, C.F. Burkheimer Rods and Sweetgrass Bamboo Fly Rods (the former bamboo rod makers from R.L. Winston Rod Co.). |
Call 1-800-245-1950 and ask for Denise today!
A must watch video from Sharptail Media on Dry Fly Fishing the Missouri.
The Rockies are experiencing a series of small storms this week that have surprised some areas with substantial snowfall. This weekend, a larger storm system will drop down from British Columbia, according to PowderChasers.
The most exciting news for Western mountain snowpack is the coming of an even stronger system projected for the middle of next week. The storm is set to move East across the Cascades and Sierras into the Rockies and the Wasatch.
The Pintlers, home to a substantial portion of the Big Hole Watershed’s snow reserve, are currently engulfed in a ferocious looking snow cloud.
I’m headed home to Wise River and the Big Hole Lodge for the long weekend and plan to break out the neoprene between these coming systems!
