June 29 to July 1, 2013

The big bugs are out! The big bugs are out! Did I say that the big bugs were out?

Well, they are. And the fish are munchin’ down. Last night and the previous nights have been really good for the salmon fly and golden stones on top. A few nights ago, I caught a very nice 17-18” brown wading down by Varney on a size 6 salmon fly of Dan Delekta’s, that took like a whirlpool and a flush, way cool! 🙂 Last night we went from Ruby to Mac with the boat and got into them a little. Big golden dries size 8 took some really healthy rainbows ready to chow down! No camera there to show, but they kinda resembled NFL regulation footballs…giv’ya an idea. I also caught a couple on the Delektable Royal Halo Caddis from the Delektable menu here, in the size 16, which have been my best fly lately in the evening. If you haven’t been out there in a bit there are salmon flies, golden stones, yellow sallies, caddis, brown bomber caddis, pmd’s, and yes, even mosquitoes, so get out there and get yer line wet!

–DanG

Down near Ennis, fishing has been excellent in the evenings. Before fish start actively rising, swinging caddis, pmd’s and yellow sallies thru shallower riffles and tailouts has been producing when a dead-drift has been ignored. My best bet for nymphing has been a double caddis rig, a pupa and an emerger, with a smaller indicator and a split shot. Approaching the hatch, don’t be afraid to remove the indicator, and eventually the split shot, and fish them on a tight swing.

Dry fly fishing has been phenomenal, although with the low flows and higher temps the middle of the day can be quite tough. From about 7 PM on, however, the fish have been looking up, and if you are patient enough to wait until the sun peaks behind the mountains, you can be rewarded with some bigger fish, like this 19 inch brown that took a size 16 Kringly Lil Hottie Caddis right around 930 PM. Bottom line, the fish are going crazy right now, and we don’t know how much longer it will be this good, so go fish!

–D. Stone