Missouri River Montana Monday Fishing Report 11.30.15

8 years ago

Missouri River Montana Monday Fishing Report 11.30.15

Missouri River Montana Monday Fishing Report 11.30.15 is cold, but getting warmer.

The holiday weekend is over and we are back to work at the shop prepping for the upcoming weekend Trout Spey Clinic and shipping lots of cool gear on this Cyber Monday.

Lead HH Guide Ben Hardy and Mark were out guiding on Saturday afternoon in the bright blue skies. The air temps at the Craig boat ramp read a high of 24F. But the sun made it feel like it was in the low 30’s!

Missouri River Nymphing Report

Nymphing was the game of choice with quite a few fish in Ben’s boat on a Firebead, a Tailwater Sow, and a Rainbow Warrior. Mark had success, albeit less, with a Bloom’s FB Rainbow Weight Fly, a Barbie Nymph, and Little Green Machine.

Missouri River Trout Spey Report

Swingers for the weekend reported successes in damn skinny water with floating lines. Some are fishing an intermediate tip or a Skagit line with a MOW tip of some sort. Strippers are out there too. They are getting them on a slower retrieval rhythm than they were a couple weeks ago. The trout are certainly in slower paced water as we continue the downward temperature spiral to the mid 30’s. Still some time until we reach that benchmark.

Missouri River Dry Fly Report

Dry fly guys? A few BWO’s on the surface on Saturday. Did see some fish moving near the surface and taking the first of the winter midge flies. Already exhibiting the winter like sporadic non sequential totally frustrating style of rise form. Total bullshit is what it is. As the winter progresses that will make more sense. After staring at the bobber for the next few months we will become coaxed into tossing the dry fly out there and letting it sit in pond like back eddies hoping for a lucky strike.

Missouri River Water Levels & Temps

Water levels holding at 3210cfs. Seems like a common flow for us this early winter. The fall, for the last couple months, has shown us that the lower than average water levels still are producing higher catch rates. The great nymph bite this autumn was enjoyed by many. While it didi not produce the historically good streamer bite in the fall like we are accustomed to. So, how do you balance all of that? Boy, if you figure out that equation give us a shout and we will pass it on to the masses.

Damn close to the 40F mark. I have always though that we are truly into the winter realm when the wage temps fall below that 40F mark. So winter here we come. Are we ready for that kind of action? Well, bring it. A long way off from spring now. We will settle in for along winter ride.

The next couple weeks may be two of the softest angler pressure weeks of the entire year. The other two may be the first couple weeks of February. So if you like the pressure on the light to non-existent side of angling…you may like the next two week session.