Sunny skies will greet us for the remainder of the week. The snow and cold visited us over the holiday weekend. MLK day was really quite nice with the air temperatures reaching well above 40F. Tuesday will lead with temps near 40F and we will flirt with sun, not much wind and no threat of snow until the middle of next week.
A great time to sneak out of the house and fish a little on your favorite winter fishery. The ice has left the river proper and the shelf ice will be waning, falling off, melting back into the river as the week moves forward.
The shop open daily with guide trips here and there this month. $400 for a nice day on the Mo. Want to improve your trout spey game? Most do and that is something that many guests inquire about when taking a winter guide trip. You can play it by on the river. Start out nymphing, stop on a good inside swinging run, and then look for those wandering midge flies. There have been some success stories in regards to the dry fly. February should bring us some entertaining and more consistent dry fly angling.
5 Tips for January
- Sleep in. No need to get out early. Some of the better fishing can be the hour before the sun dips. Not the hour after the sun hides behind the hills. So that 3ish time period is historically strong.
- Find the slow water. But, do not disregard the slow plus 1 speed water either. The fish are usually in that slow deeper water. But not always. Find your own way out there.
- Bring hand warmers. Put them in your shirt pockets near your heart and chest. That feels good! A couple in your chopper gloves is a good idea as well. Hand ovens is what I call them. Fish without gloves if you wish and then jam them into the hand ovens when they stop moving properly.
- Go with Pink nymphs.
- Many fish with split shot all year long. The winter angling game is pretty good without split shot. Fish a weighted fly and wait for the fly to sink. Most of the winter nymphing water is slow enough to allow the fly to sink without added weight. Try it. Feels pretty good man.
Come on by the shop to try one or two of our many, 20+, trout spey rods on the river. We have a ton of demo lines for you to match with your rod. Headhunters is the Trout Spey Headquarters in Montana. We love to talk about the two handed rod. We have a vast selection of swinging flies as well. Rods, lines, tips, and leaders for all your spey needs in Craig Montana.
Check out yesterday’s post about the Gould/McCune Spey Clinics coming in April. Filling fast for sure. Headhunters is your education source for all things trout on Montana’s Missouri River.
Tomorrow the Headhunters 2016 Calendar.