Fishing Reports Big Hole River
Fishing Reports Big Hole River Big Hole River Fishing Report July 4, 2008
July 4, 2008
The Big Hole River flow is 2,730 cfs at Maiden Rock and dropping: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock
The Big Hole has been fishing very well. The Salmonflies are mostly gone, but an occasional fish is caught on a Salmonfly dry.
Dan guided for two days on the Big Hole last week and the dry fly fishing was very good, with PMDs and caddis dominating, with a smattering of little yellow sallies and golden stones. Streamer fishing was also very good.
Roger has also had very good dry fly fishing, fishing in the evening two days ago--with large olive or yellow stimulators, PMD cripples and emergers, as well as Salmonfly dries.
Al has had excellent results with conventional adams, sneaky pete pmd, purple haze, cat puke and the double humper. You'll have to stop in the shop or ask Al what a double humper looks like.
Recommended Flies
To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery
Dries:
Salmonfly patterns, Golden Stone patterns: Golden Half Down Hopper #10, #12; PMD Cripple #14,#16, #18; Delektable Halo Pale Olive #16,#18; Royal Wulff Cripple #14,#16; Delektable Halo, Delektable Sparkle Bug, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis--all in Tan #14, #16
Delektable Halo
Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com
Delektable Sparkle Bug
Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com
Delektable CDC Elk Hair
Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com
Nymphs
Delektable™ Hurless Gray #6,#8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #6,#8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Beadhead Pheasant Tail Tungsten Soft Hackle #16, #18
Streamers
JJ Special #4, Yellow Yummy #4, Yuk Bug #4, Bunny Leech #4
Delektable Screamers-Yellow, Yellow and Olive, Olive and Black #6, Double Brown Yellow
Delektable Screamer-Double Brown Yellow
Dan, Roger, Al, Brad
Roger Oettli 
and Al Lefor
Great Divide Outfitters www.bigholetrout.com
Divide, MT
406-267-3346
Big Hole Streamflow Report: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock
June 24, 2008
The Big Hole River flow is 4,880 cfs at Maiden Rock and dropping slightly, after rising for the last 4 days: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock Roger says it is quite possible that the river will continue to drop. The clarity now is between 1 1/2 and 2 feet.
The Big Hole has been fishing well, in spite of the steadily rising flows. The Salmonflies are coming off sporadically and a 27 1/2 inch Brown was caught two days ago on a Salmonfly dry. But the Golden Stones are really coming off. Roger says more fish are being caught on Golden Stone patterns than Salmonfly patterns. If you want to get an idea of the relative proportions of the two hatches, look at the shucks on the stones on the banks. A Salmonfly shuck has a little orange or red in it. A Golden Stone shuck has only brown.
During the Salmonfly hatch, there is a smorgasbord of hatches, including Golden Stones, caddis, PMDs, and Little Yellow Sallies. The fish will hit a large number of different flies during these hatches, so the dry fly fishing could be excellent this weekend.
The fishing pressure has been moderate around Divide, but this could change by the weekend, with so many rivers in Montana being blown out.
Streamer fishing remains good, especially in the morning.
Recommended Flies
To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery
Dries--when they happen:
Salmonfly patterns, Golden Stone patterns: Golden Half Down Hopper #10, #12; PMD Cripple #14,#16; Royal Wulff Cripple #14,#16 If the caddis pop: Delektable Halo, Delektable Sparkle Bug, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis--all in Tan #14, #16
Nymphs
Delektable™ Hurless Gray #6,#8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #6,#8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Beadhead Pheasant Tail Tungsten Soft Hackle #16, #18
Streamers
JJ Special #4, Yellow Yummy #4, Yuk Bug #4, Bunny Leech #4
Delektable Screamers-Yellow, Yellow and Olive, Olive and Black #6, Double Brown Yellow
Delektable Screamer-Double Brown Yellow
Dan, Roger, Al, Brad
Roger Oettli and Al Lefor
Great Divide Outfitters www.bigholetrout.com
Divide, MT
406-267-3346
Big Hole Streamflow Report: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock
June 19, 2008
The Big Hole River flow is 4,150 cfs at Maiden Rock and rising: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock With the rising river, Al says the fishing was tough yesterday. The very warm temperatures predicted for this weekend will bring a lot more water down.
Dan guided on the Big Hole on Monday and Tuesday of this week. They started the day nymphing, which was slow. By late morning an active hatch began and they had superb results with dries--large attractor patterns, sizes 12 and 14, for hours and hours.
The reports of Salmon Flies has sprouted a boat hatch on the Big Hole, but the numbers of Salmon Flies doesn't seem to be as large as the number of boats. Al floated to Brown's Bridge on Tuesday, saw three Salmon Flies, and caught three fish on Salmon Fly patterns. Dan didn't see a single Salmon Fly the two days he was in the canyon.
If you interested in streamers, Al says try streamers in yellow, mousey colors, and JJs.
Recommended Flies
To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery
Dries--when they happen:
March Brown patterns: PMD Cripple #14,#16; Royal Wulff Cripple #14,#16 If the caddis pop: Delektable Halo, Delektable Sparkle Bug, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis--all in Tan #16
Nymphs
Delektable™ Hurless Gray #6,#8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #6,#8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Beadhead Pheasant Tail Tungsten Soft Hackle #16, #18
Streamers
JJ Special #4, Yellow Yummy #4, Yuk Bug #4, Bunny Leech #4
Delektable Screamers-Yellow, Yellow and Olive, Olive and Black #6, Double Brown Yellow
Delektable Screamer-Double Brown Yellow
Dan, Roger, Al, Brad
Roger Oettli and Al Lefor
Great Divide Outfitters www.bigholetrout.com
Divide, MT
406-267-3346
Big Hole Streamflow Report: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock
June 12, 2008
Big Hole River flow is 3,740 cfs at Maiden Rock and rising slightly, after dropping for five days: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock
It's streamers and big nymphs on the Big Hole now. As Al says, try streamers in yellow, mousey colors, and JJs. Some guides are having their clients use 9 or 10 weight rods, with very large streamers, fished tight to the banks, in the slack water, or near the irrigation channels--with excellent results.
There's really nothing happening on top right now. The warm weather predicted for the weekend my help that and it may just bring the river up and turn off the action with the cold water from the melt. Time will tell.
Recommended Flies
To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery
Dries--when they happen:
March Brown patterns: PMD Cripple #14,#16; Royal Wulff Cripple #14,#16 If the caddis pop: Delektable Halo, Delektable Sparkle Bug, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis--all in Tan #16
Nymphs
Delektable™ Hurless Gray #6,#8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #6,#8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14 Beadhead Pheasant Tail Tungsten Soft Hackle #20; MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) Beadhead #16 ; WD40 Olive #20
Streamers
JJ Special #4, Yellow Yummy #4, Yuk Bug #4, Bunny Leech #4
Delektable Screamers-Yellow, Yellow and Olive, Olive and Black #6, Double Brown Yellow
Delektable Screamer-Double Brown Yellow
Dan, Roger, Al, Brad
Roger Oettli and Al Lefor
Great Divide Outfitters www.bigholetrout.com
Divide, MT
406-267-3346
Big Hole Streamflow Report: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock
June 4 , 2008
Big Hole River flow is 5,260 cfs at Maiden Rock: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock
Dan and Nancy fished the Big Hole on Monday, floating from Sportsman's Park to just above Wise River. They caught Brook, Brown, and Rainbow trout, a whitefish, and two Grayling:
Dan's Little Grayling
Dan caught a nice Brook Trout right off, on a #6 Mega Prince. Then they went to streamers, with Nancy fishing "Bern's Bad Boy", a double jointed streamer, designed and tied by Bern Sundell bernsundell.com. Bern had given it to Nancy for a Christmas present. Nancy caught two huge browns on that streamer, with this 22 incher:
The streamers were fished with almost a dead drift along the bank with an occasional twitch or short strip. But the current that was pulling the boat along also pulled the streamers casted into the slower water along the bank, so the streamers still had considerable movement.
Later in the afternoon, after a rainstorm, both caddis and mayflies hatched. The mayflies were March Browns, with reddish brown bodies and real dark wings, about size 14. The caddis had dark olive greyish bodies and were about size 16. Often on the upper Big Hole the bad weather will drive off a lot of the fishermen and then, after the storm has passed, the hatches will come off and blanket the water. Dan and Nancy had excellent dry fly fishing, with the fish hitting mayfly cripples and caddis patterns.
As Al says, try streamers in yellow, mousey colors, and JJs. Some guides are having their clients use 9 or 10 weight rods, with very large streamers, fished tight to the banks, in the slack water, or near the irrigation channels--with excellent results.
Recommended Flies
To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery
Dries
March Brown patterns: PMD Cripple #14,#16; Royal Wulff Cripple #14,#16 If the caddis pop: Delektable Halo, Delektable Sparkle Bug, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis--all in Tan #16
Nymphs
Delektable™ Hurless Gray #6,#8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #6,#8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14 Beadhead Pheasant Tail Tungsten Soft Hackle #20; MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) Beadhead #16 ; WD40 Olive #20
Streamers
JJ Special #4, Yellow Yummy #4, Yuk Bug #4, Bunny Leech #4
Delektable Screamers-Yellow, Yellow and Olive, Olive and Black #6, Double Brown Yellow
Delektable Screamer-Double Brown Yellow
Dan, Roger, Al, Brad
Roger Oettli and Al Lefor
Great Divide Outfitters www.bigholetrout.com
Divide, MT
406-267-3346
Big Hole Streamflow Report: Big Hole River Flow at Maiden Rock