Latest Catch
The most recent issue of Catch Magazine is out now. As usual, great imagery from Brian and Todd. Tarpon, trout and a bad dam in Chile. If you haven’t paid for the 1 year subscription, do it. Catch ain’t the…
Read More
Christmas Break Forecast
Things always slow down a little as the Holidays approach. Lots of stuff to do. I'm cleaning up the house before family arrives. You probably have some similar tasks that are preventing you from fishing or chasing birds. Or you…
Read More
Too Many Bugs?
There can be, and I’m not talking about mosquitos. When the weather does the right thing and the bugs go nuts, Missouri River trout often get so focused on emerging insects that they start to ignore everything else. That includes my…
Read More
Fishing Report and Walleye on the Fly
1 Comment
First of all, apologies for the “Friday Foto” on Thursday. Apparently I don’t know what day it is. So forget you saw it yesterday and be amazed again today. Fishing has been excellent up to the dam and down the…
Read More
Friday Foto
From Scumliner today. Mark is on vacation. Here’s more spey stuff (that’s all I’ve been doing for months). The so classic Rod & Coat Rack at the “Upfront” on the Grande Ronde at Heller Bar. The Upfront is the beach…
Read More
Strip Strike or Sweep?
I released a new video, Switch it Up, featuring some two-handed fishing on the Missouri River a couple days ago. Last night I was going through a bunch of FB comments and shares in my inbox, and noticed that PNW Spey…
Read More
Switch it Up – Montana Spey Video
Here’s the latest edit, featuring the crew that stays around Craig for the winter, fishing the Missouri River with two-handed or “spey” gear. The class at our last Spey Clinic got to see the world premier. Aren’t you jealous? MONTANA…
Read More
12 Days of Christmas @ TFM!
This thing gets better every year! Our buddy Cameron over at the Fiberglass Manifesto is holding his annual 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS contest again. Cam has been doing this for several years, and it really is a big deal. Prizes aren’t…
Read More
Montana Spey Clinic
CLINIC #1 IS IN THE BOOKS An excellent turnout for our first two-handed Montana Spey clinic of the year. The weather was nice, and we had a little glitch with our google drive sign up list and overbooked it. That’s OK.…
Read More
Some Simms Stuff on Sale
Say that 3 times fast? We just want to let you know that some discontinued/redesigned Simms products are on sale at Headhunters. And not beanies. No, we got some waders and boots on sale. Screaming deals if you’re in need.…
Read More
Sunday Spey
Ninch stretching it out on the upper river. He didn’t get one on this cast. It was the next. The entire Headhunters crew has been out swinging with two-hands. A lot. Try some swinging. You’ll like it. You can wear…
Read More
Echo Glass Spey Rod – First Look
With the resurgence of fiberglass fly rods, it was only a matter of time before someone brought archaic glass technology to the two-handed market. Leave it to ECHO to be the first with a production model (there are some blanks…
Read More
Abel “Dancing Bears” Reel Available now!
Mark is Impressed! Headhunters just received a few of the new Abel Grateful Dead “Dancing Bears” Special Edition fly reels. They will go quickly, as only 250 have been made… and that’s it! Don’t believe us? Ask the thousands of people…
Read More
It’s nice. A little Too Nice.
A beautiful fall day yesterday in what was – I assume – record high temperatures. Nearly 80 degrees in North Central, and not a breath of wind. Too sunny for a big hatch, and the water is still too warm…
Read More
Blackfoot River Fly Fishing – Final Countdown
Mark and I continue to sneak over to the Blackfoot River if we can both find a day off together. Fishing has been good, and only seems to be getting better. Typical for this time of year. Things are cooling…
Read More
Pseudos… call them what you will.
Mark and I hit the river at Pelican the other afternoon and both Pseudocleon (Pseudo’s) and Caddis were present in a big way. Fish were up all over the river eating both bugs. Mid-September is when both of these hatches…
Read More
Labor Day Sale & BBQ!
As usual. We’re having a Labor Day Sale, BBQ and general Mo-down this coming weekend 8-30 thru 9-1. This is a great chance to pick up some awesome fly fishing gear at great prices. We will be outside under the…
Read More
DeYoung – Redfish Confetti
Here’s a neat video from our bud and famous Montana artist Derek DeYoung. You get to watch the process of a DeYoung painting in creation, and Derek shares a little story about Redfish, one of his – and our –…
Read More
Missouri River Photos by Jon Covich
We had a visit from well known angler, photographer and tackle rep Jon Covich last week. Jon was taking his boys on a fly fishing trip through Montana before they had to go back to school. I asked these boys…
Read More
“Hoot Owl” Restrictions on Dearborn, Sun and Smith
With all the water Montana has received this season, stream closures due to warm and low flows are not on most people’s mind. We do have a few however, and as they are all in our area, you should be…
Read More
Birthday Girl on the Elk River BC.
Today is Julie’s Birthday. You can’t wish her well face to face, because she is floating down the Elk River in BC (in the front of the boat, of course), sticking big Cutties on dries. Single dries. Julie making the…
Read More
Employee Appreciation! – Closed this Friday Night
Headhunters will be closing at 5 PM this Friday August 8th, instead of our usual 9-10 PM. The entire staff is getting together for our annual Employee Appreciation Day! For those rolling into Craig after work, you’ll have to find…
Read More
Freestone Reprieve
Sara and I hit the Blackfoot the other day, along with my 9 year old daughter Adair. Rumors that some Spruce Moths were hatching had us up early and on the water, despite the fact that we’ve been working very…
Read More
Dead Flies Don’t Swim – Video
Dead Flies Don’t Swim is a short video shot last week in our backyard. Mark and I love the Trico hatch, and this season it’s been better than it has in years. We thought we’d go out and gather a…
Read More
Can an animated GIF teach you to Reach Cast?
Our own Braden Lewis executing a proper reach cast. If you watch it enough times, will it embed itself into your brain?
Read More
Monday Missouri River Macro
Here’s your Monday Morning Macro of yesterdays Missouri River nymph survey by in-house biologist Braden Lewis. Pretty cool shots, and another weekly change in what’s on the menu for Missouri River trout. Kind of like those “visual” menu’s at Denny’s.…
Read More
Carp Master Max
Another weekend gone, and another set of photo’s from father/son Ken and Max Rubino in my inbox. This Great Falls duo puts in a ton of days on the Missouri River. It’s a rare weekend that they aren’t in the…
Read More
PMD’s Up Close
Local “shop kid” Adair has a new hobby. Quickly freezing mayflies is the latest in 9 year old entertainment around here. Never tried it myself, but I have quickly discovered that frozen Mayflies are much easier to photograph than “hot”…
Read More
New Flies for the Missouri River
Once upon a time, Mark and I ordered all the flies for Headhunters. It’s a grueling task, especially when it comes to finding and having faith in new flies that we’ve never tried. These days, the Ninch does all the…
Read More
Blackfoot River Fishing Report 7.8.14
We’re finally starting to get over to the Blackfoot River on a regular basis. Our favorite freestone has been fishing for a while with deep, heavy rigs, but we’ve been waiting for the water to clear and the surface action…
Read More
Monday Morning Missouri Macro
Braden and I set up the Macro Tank the other day to see what exactly is squirming around in the Missouri River. Lot’s of PMD nymphs, and relatively few Yellow Sallies like last week. I do see many stages of…
Read More
New Breed Chicks. Richardson Edition.
Renee Faltings shows off her sick PMD inventory. Renee is from the Ketchum/Hailey, ID area, and all the cool kids there rock a Richardson Chest Box. They always have. Many moons ago I was a guide on Silver Creek and…
Read More
Big Dries.
The other day I was picking a few big “foamies” out of the bin for a day on the water. A customer leaned over my shoulder and asked “what the hell I was going to use those for?”. “The Missouri”,…
Read More
Missouri River PMD Patterns
Ninch and I were going through the fly bins the other day and pointing out a few of our favorite PMD patterns for the Missouri River. Right now. Cripples and spinners, mostly. There are others. Here are some macro shots…
Read More
Beaver Bash 2014 – Beaver Island Carp
I’m sitting in the Traverse City, MI airport with Alex Landeen (above), waiting for our respective flights home. Alex to Tuscon, myself to Great Falls. We’ve both got our laptops out and are reviewing the images and video we captured on our…
Read More
Beaver Island Carp
So I get invited to go on this Carp fishing trip by me friend Cameron Mortenson of the Fiberglass Manifesto. It’s to a place called Beaver Island, which sits in the middle of Lake Michigan. I’ve heard of it, and…
Read More
Missouri River Fly Fishing Map
We’ve done a little tweaking to our popular Missouri River Montana Fly Fishing Map recently. Cleaned it up a little, and made some adjustments that reflect changes to access over the last few years. The new copies will be arriving…
Read More
GigaPan Technology
Our good buddy Andy Watson at Bull Stock Media took this cool GigaPan image of our shop after work last week. Very cool stuff. You can zoom way in and out, pan around and even read the leader packs on…
Read More
Save a Trout, Kill a Walleye
You’ve seen a lot of Walleye pic’s from us this spring. Most of them dead. Which is how they should be. If I were a religious zealot I would say that God put Walleye on Earth to make fish tacos…
Read More
Skipping Rocks
Ninch, Mark and I headed out on the river yesterday. The plan was to shoot some video and get a day on the water together. An option that will be rare for any of Team Headhunters for the next few…
Read More
Trout Porn Stars
We received a visit from Team Trout Porn last week, as they hit the Missouri River as as part of their annual spring tour of Montana. Talk about enthusiasm, this crew seems to always have a smile on their face,…
Read More
Restigouche Fall – Season’s on the Fly
For those who were asking about the trip Ben Hardy and I made to the Restigouche River Lodge, New Brunswick, last year, here is the latest episode of Seasons On The Fly. SOF producer Greg Heister was in camp with…
Read More
Opening Day. Take a Kid Fishing.
In my case, it’s my kid. This Saturday marks the opening of many smaller streams in Montana. While many (most?) area creeks will be too high for good fishing and safe wading, there will be some small stream opportunities available…
Read More
Kinnetic Loop – Available on iTunes
A Kinnetic Loop is a celebration of our past, present and future. Produced by our good friend Simon Perkins at Sharptail Media, this was another film featured at the Down the Hatch Fly FIshing Festival in Missoula last month. You…
Read More
NRS Freestone Drifter – Video
The much anticipated NRS Freestone Drifter has finally arrived at Headhunters. We’ve received many questions about this “inflatable drift boat” designed by the whitewater/fishing guru’s at NRS. Many questions revolve around performance, but just as many are curious about the…
Read More
Hank Patterson on Pebble Mine
Montana funny-man and fly fishing guru Hank Patterson lays down his opinion on the Pebble Mine issue. http://www.stoppebblemine.org
Read More
Land of the Giants – Missouri River
Our “Land of the Giants” guides are running some great trips right now. Spring fishing at LOG is pretty good. You’d be hard pressed to fins any better in the state right now. Of course, if you don’t like catching…
Read More
Fiberglass Manifesto on the Missouri
Fellow blogger and friend Cameron Mortenson of The Fiberglass Manifesto visited us this week following the Orvis Guide Rendezvous in Missoula. He and I spent a couple of days pounding the Missouri with the finest glass rods from Epic, Graywolf,…
Read More
Did You Fly Fish Belize in High School?
These Kids are Alright Here a video from Lonely Osprey Productions, and group of younger anglers from the East Coast. We’ve become familiar with these cats through Vimeo. Here’s what they say: We are a group of 15 and 16-year-old…
Read More
Montana Cinema – Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Who doesn’t love a movie that was filmed in your backyard? While Montana isn’t known as a location for motion picture filming, we have had a few excellent Hollywood productions filmed here. Of course you all know and make fun…
Read More
Orvis Helios 2 – Video
Here’s a pretty cool video showing the manufacture process for the Orvis Helios 2 back yonder in VT. Good job making a video about building fly rods that I watched to the end. The Helios 2 continues to one of…
Read More
Part of Winter – Video
The latest “moving pictures” from scumliner and Headhunters. Check out some clips featuring the Headhunters Team fishing the Missouri River during Feburary. It is much colder than it looks. The crew was dodging icebergs and every fish release you see…
Read More
Precipitation Report & Runoff Predictions
Snotel Reports We’re really starting to cross the line between a “good” snow year, and a “big” snow year. The low spots in the state are in far western MT, where the lower Clark Fork and the Kootenai are at…
Read More
Curing Boredom.
It does get a little boring during these cold winter months in Craig, MT. We fish, go to Joe’s, and threaten to go ice fishing. Sara seems to have found a thrilling way to make the winter months go by.…
Read More