Black FlyDay Sale!
Black FlyDay Sale! No Gink, 5 year old tippet or dusty T-shirts here. Just top quality gear at 50% off! All of these items are closeouts, and you can find them on sale elsewhere. But can you find them at…
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Chartreuse Little Green Machine
Blue Winged Olives With snow the last couple days, river temps are continuing to drop. This morning the water temp was 54.5 degrees. As this trend continues, we will continue to see lots of pseudos. Before too long we will…
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Six Essential Flies For The Missouri River
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A couple days ago, I was digging through one of my fly tying drawers and I found an old shuttle sheet. The shuttle sheet was dated December 29, 2015. On the back of it were scribbled several lists of six…
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Epic Fastglass Fly Rod Demos
Epic Fastglass Fly Rods These rods are awesome. I have been fishing one of the 6 weights myself lately, and I love it. I have liked fiberglass rods for a long time, but they always seemed like niche rods that…
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Trout Flies By Gary Lafontaine
I have always loved the writing of Gary Lafontaine. The first post I ever wrote for this blog was about his theory of color attraction. I have read a lot of books about fly fishing and fly tying, but Trout…
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Intruder Boot Review
Initial Impression “What an ugly boot.” That was my first thought when I saw the new Intruder Boot from Simms. Then I got over myself and gave the boot a try. I loved it. And I wouldn’t say that unless…
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Summer Fun Photo Contest
Headhunters Fly Shop is hosing a “Mo River Summer Fun” Photo Contest on our Facebook page. The contest will run until this Friday, August 11. The winner will receive the New Phase gift package pictured below. How to participate: Go…
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Take A Kid Fishing Photo Contest Submissions
Take A Kid Fishing! Headhunters Fly Shop held a photo contest with the theme “Take A Kid Fishing” this week on our Facebook page. The response was awesome! We received 130+ images of kids fishing. We love taking kids fishing…
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Take a Kid Fishing Photo Contest
Take a Kid Fishing Photo Contest Headhunters Fly Shop is hosting a “Take a Kid Fishing” photo contest on our Facebook page. The contest will run for a week from today until next Monday, July 24. The winner will receive…
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2016 UMOWA Water Quality Report
2016 UMOWA Water Quality Report Yesterday we summarized the 2016 UMOWA Macroinvertebrate Report written by David Stagliano of the Montana Biological Survey. Today we are going to discuss the 2016 UMOWA Water Quality Report. Study Design In 2016, UMOWA began…
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2016 UMOWA Macroinvertebrate Report
2016 UMOWA Macroinvertebrate Report On March 17, the Upper Missouri Watershed Alliance (UMOWA) published the results of the 2016 bug study performed by David Stagliano of Montana Biological Survey. We are late in sharing the results, but with the UMOWA Annual…
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Crawfish Flies For the Missouri River
At some point every spring, trout in the Missouri River start eating a lot of crawfish. It is difficult to know exactly when this will happen, but below are some facts that should aid in your angling success. The Spring Spawn…
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Two Mussel Encrusted Boats Intercepted
Over Memorial Day weekend, two mussel encrusted boats were intercepted in Montana. Invasive species pose a constant threat to the quality of our waterbodies in Montana. As anglers, it is our responsibility to be educated about invasive species and our…
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UMOWA: The Case For Flushing Flows
The Case For Flushing Flows The Upper Missouri Watershed Alliance (UMOWA) recently released their spring newsletter. Within the letter, UMOWA discusses the history of Missouri River flows and the beneficial contribution that flushing flows have upon the health of the Missouri River.…
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2017 Craig Caddis Festival Photo Gallery
2017 Craig Caddis Festival Wrap Up Last Saturday, Craig hosted the 11th Annual Craig Caddis Festival and BBQ Cook-Off. This year, the weather cooperated (it only poured rain for a little bit) and the turnout was great! The official count…
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Juvie Jigger Streamer Strikes!
Juvie Jigger Streamer At the end of April, Headhunters hosted a Spring Streamer Fly Tying Contest on our Facebook page. We received a ton of awesome entries. Choosing a winner was tough. Each shop staffer and several guides selected their…
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Meet Derek and Jared!
Meet Derek and Jared! Derek and Jared are two new members of the Headhunters Team for the 2017 season. We previously introduced Patrick and Nick. You will meet all four of these guys in the shop this season. They are all good dudes.…
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Live Fishing With Mark Raisler and Visit Montana
Live Fishing With Mark Raisler and Visit Montana A few days ago, Mark Raisler filmed this video with Visit Montana on the Missouri River. If you weren’t able to get out there this week, this is the next best thing.
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Craig Caddis Festival Today!
Join us today for the 11th Annual Craig Caddis Festival and BBQ Cook Off! This event benefits the Craig Volunteer Fire Department and is always a great time. The event is fun for the whole family! Food, drink, kids events,…
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Darrell, Carla, and Barley
Darrell, Carla, and Barley Darrell, Carla, and Barley stayed in our Brown Trout Cabin this past week over their anniversary while they fished the Missouri River. We love getting the chance to share our knowledge of the river with awesome folks…
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New Breed Chicks Rule Faith Edition
New Breed Chicks Rule Faith Edition Faith recently caught this nice rainbow on the Missouri River. Faith is rocking the local Carroll College colors. Her outfit matches her rainbow trout! We see a lot of students from Carroll enjoying their…
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Missouri River Bugs – May 2017
This week, we collected bugs on the lower river between Pelican Point and Cascade. Today we are going to talk about what Missouri River bugs we found and how to best imitate them during periods of higher flow. The Usual…
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Meet Patrick and Nick!
Meet Patrick and Nick! Patrick and Nick are two new members of the Headhunters Team for the 2017 season. Derek and Jared have also joined the team. We will feature Derek and Jared on the blog soon. You will meet…
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New Breed Chicks Rule Peggy and Trish Edition
New Breed Chicks Rule Peggy and Trish Edition Peg, Trish, Lynnett, and Skip on today’s New Breed Chicks blog. These women are all volunteers with the Casting For Recovery program. They fished with Whitney and Kurt a week and a half ago. During…
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Spring Streamer Fly Tying Contest Photos
Spring Streamer Fly Tying Contest Headhunters hosted a streamer fly tying contest on our Facebook page this past week. The objective was to submit a home-brewed streamer pattern that would work well on the Mo this spring. Tyers sent in a…
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Ninch’s Fish Finder Worm
Ninch’s Fish Finder Worm needs to be in your box. Fish like worms. Rising water flushes worms from the banks and bottom of the river into the current. Last week the flows increased from around 5,000 cfs to the current…
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Spring Streamers / Streamer Fly Tying Contest
Spring Streamer Fishing Spring is a great time to fish streamers on the Missouri River. At the time of this writing, the river is flowing at 6,880 cfs and temps are around 45 degrees F. These higher flows and increased temps…
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Stalcup’s Cluster Midge
Stalcup’s Cluster Midge Needs To Be In Your Box Stalcup’s Cluster Midge is one of my favorite midge patterns. I always have some in my box during the spring and then again in July when the tricos start to hatch. This…
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RIO, Scientific Angler, and TroutHunter Tippet Comparison
Tippet Brands Headhunters stocks tippet from RIO, Scientific Anglers, and TroutHunter. All three companies make great tippet. I’ve used all three and they have all performed well. So what kind should you buy? Cost Cost is a primary consideration. It…
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Rowing 101
Hire a guide then take out a rental boat. This is the natural progression, as Mark as has described it, for learning the Missouri River. Hiring a guide and asking him/her a bunch of questions allows you to learn the…
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Why Get Guided?
Why Get Guided? We hear this question a lot in the shop. Mark has written about the subject here and here. If you’ve wondered the same question, I’d recommend that you read these links. The following is a short and timely…
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Please Leave Redds Alone!
Please leave trout redds in the river alone! Rainbow trout are actively spawning in the river now and will continue to do so for the next couple months. The Missouri River is one of the best wild trout fisheries in…
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Missouri River Bugs – April
Last week we collected our first sample of bugs from the Missouri River below the Untouchable’s Bridge. The bugs that we collected were about what you would expect for April. Sows and scuds composed the majority of the biomass, but midges and…
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Be Deliberate – Nymphing Tips
Be deliberate in your actions when you are fishing. Lately we have been doing a lot of nymphing and having a lot of success, especially below Craig. However, the success has not been distributed equally. The anglers who have a…
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Paper or Plastic?
Paper or Plastic? Soon, you might be hearing this question at your local fly shop as well as the grocery store. AFFTA has announced that they are making recycled paper fly boxes available to fly shops as an alternative to the…
Read MoreMussel Update
Proposed Rule Changes Last night, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks hosted a public hearing on new rules aimed at controlling the spread of invasive mussels. The new regulations include the following: All out of state watercraft would need to be inspected…
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Freddy Fly Step By Step
Freddy Fly Step By Step Before the Chubby Chernobyl, John Foust’s Freddy Fly (or Fat Freddy) was a staple pattern throughout the West. Foust invented the fly for the waters around Missoula, but it has caught fish all over the world.…
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Fishing Report – Get Out There!
This Past Week It’s hard to believe that the Super Bowl was only one week ago. A lot has changed on the river in the past week. We received significant snow fall during the middle of last week that added to the…
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January Flies – Winter Nymphs and Streamers
The air temps have been well below freezing for the last few weeks, but there have been a handful of anglers out fishing. If you’re able to tolerate the cold temps, and have the right January flies, winter fishing can be very good.…
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Trout Spey Rigs: Braden
Trout Spey Rigs: Braden Today on the Headhunters Fly Shop Blog we have Braden’s Trout Spey Rig. We thought it would be helpful if we outlined what we use here on the Missouri River during the Swing Season. Braden, and…
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Fishpond Drifty Boat Caddie
I’ve been using the Fishpond Drifty Boat Caddie this summer and I’ve been loving it. Here are the main reasons why this product has become essential for my fishing: Storage I love flies. The Fishpond Drifty Boat Caddie holds all…
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Missouri River Bugs – July
Missouri River bugs The following are some pictures of Missouri River bugs that were collected just downstream of the Mid Cañon boat ramp on July 7th. It has been a month since our last bug post, so some of the bugs…
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Fenwick Fenglass Small Stream Fishing
The past couple weeks I have spent several mornings fishing Little Prickly Pear Creek upstream of Wolf Creek before work. I have been trying out the new Fenwick Fenglass fly rods that we recently got into the shop. In my opinion, small stream fishing should…
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Missouri River Bugs – June
Missouri River Bugs The following are some pictures of bugs from the Missouri River that were collected in June a couple miles upstream of Craig. These images will hopefully aid in your fly design and/or fly selection while you are fishing this…
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Stocking Wing Caddis Step By Step
Stocking Wing Caddis Step By Step During the caddis fly hatch on the Missouri River, it’s a good idea to have several patterns with differing profiles in your box including there Stocking Wing Caddis. It makes sense to have some high floating…
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Macroinvertebrates On the Back of an Envelope
If you like aquatic macroinvertebrates (river bugs), here are some “back of the envelope” calculations that may amuse you. The UMOWA 2015 Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report reported that the greatest density of macroinvertebrates occurred between the Dam and Craig. The density…
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Economical Fly Tying
The first Fly Tying Night in America is tonight (Wednesday 1/13) at Headhunters Fly Shop. It’s the season for fly tying and I wanted to share an idea that has been on my mind lately regarding economy in fly tying. First…
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Fly Tying Night In America This Wednesday
This Wednesday (1/13/16) at 6:00 PM Headhunters will be hosting the first Fly Tying Night in America session of the season. Hopefully we’ll be welcoming back some familiar faces from last winter as well as some new tiers. If you’ve…
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Macroinvertebrate Report from UMOWA
On December 22, the Upper Missouri River Watershed Alliance (UMOWA) released the Baseline Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report 2015 for the Upper Missouri River, MT, prepared by David Stagliano. The purpose of this study was to provide baseline macroinvertebrate (bug) monitoring data in order to assess…
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Fluorescent Flies
As Mark recently pointed out, water temps are falling and we’re moving into winter. Scuds and sows are king and pink flies or flies with firebeads will continue to gain popularity as winter progresses. Popular winter flies include the Pink Lightning Bug, Amex, Rainbow Czech,…
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Fall Bug Sampling
Over the last couple weeks, I’ve had the privilege of aiding David Stagliano with the fall invertebrate sampling of the Missouri River. The Upper Missouri River Watershed Alliance (UMOWA) initiated this sampling in order to establish a baseline data set that…
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Snow Is Gone! Sunday Good Times Video
It is definitely springtime. Blue-wings and March Browns are river wide. Caddis have begun to appear. The Caddis Fest is over. This image in front of there shop is not today…no not at all. It is quite nice as the…
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Boat Fly Review Of The Year So Far
Patterns from the island of discarded/forgotten flies. Since the spring, the employees here in the shop have been saving all the discarded/forgotten flies that have been left in our rental Adipose drift boats. The picture accompanying this post shows the flies…
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Fly Tester by Flymen Fishing Co.
The Fly Tester at work testing some streamers in the shop. The newest addition to the growing fly tying arsenal at Headhunters Flyshop is the Fly Tester by the Flymen Fishing Co. Have you ever tied up a dozen flies…
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Gary LaFontaine Wisdom…
New employee Braden Lewis, you’ll meet him this summer, sent us this mid-winter blog post. Thanks Braden. We love LaFontaine wisdom too! While the winter time on the Missouri River still offers solid fishing, I find myself taking more time…
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