Friday Foto Summer Dreams
Friday Foto Summer Dreams PMD trapped by the single thread spun from a spider. Tough luck. And if you don’t book your June trip soon, you may be left out. Don’t leave yourself hangin’. Happy Friday.
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Missouri River Fall Fishing Forecast 2020
Dry Fly Fall Fishing, Dry Fly Fishing, November, Nymphing, October, Streamer fishing, Streamer Fishing the Mo
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Missouri River Fall Fishing Forecast 2020 Bring on the cloudy, wet, and snowy fall weather that we just love in October. Let’s not wait until November. We do want it in November as well but the October time frame will…
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PMD Forecast June 2020 Missouri River Montana
PMD Forecast June 2020 Missouri River Montana Lots of folks in with questions about the Pale Morning Dun. Our answer? Yes, that can be a tough one out there. And then sometimes, easy. But mostly in the middle of those…
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Joe Walsh Rocky Mountain Way
Joe Walsh Rocky Mountain Way Another installment of great Rocky Mountain music today on the Headhunters Blog. Today rocker Joe Walsh and Barnstorm with Rocky Mountain Way. John mentioned this tune yesterday as a lock for the blog this week.…
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Fruit Roll Up JAV Video
Fruit Roll Up JAV Video Love this pattern. Has been responsible for many trout during the Swing Season. You like stripping? Yeah, we do too. It works! Tie this feller up this winter or this late fall for 2019, and…
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Mo River October Caddis Love
Mo River October Caddis Love September is over and we look forward to October as it is one of our favorite months here on the banks of Montana’s Mighty Missouri River. Therefore, we proclaim our Mo River October Caddis Love.…
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Sunday Summer Bugs by Longoria
Sunday Summer Bugs by Longoria All you need moving forward this summer is the list put together by Peter Longoria at the shop. A few standouts that Peter listed include the Trico RS2, Stenerson’s CFO Ant, Tungsten Translucent Pupa, Grape…
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Top 10 PMD Dry Flies
Top 10 PMD Dry Flies Hi-Vis Spinner PMD # 16 Rusty Spinner #16 Q’s Sparkle Flag PMD #16 Sparkle Dun PMD #16 Limestone Cripple #16 Spider Variant #18 Film Critic #16 Ninch’s Hangman PMD #16 Brooks Sprout PMD #18 Harrop’s…
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It happened one day in June
It happened one day in June It is on. Day one of the PMD hatch has happened. Mark it in the calendar for June 20, 2019. Historically about, or around the 12th. But, what does history mean. So, we are…
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Pale Morning Dun Nymphs
Pale Morning Dun Nymphs Here are a few for you consideration. These and more at Headhunters in downtown Craig Montana. 7wt has selected an un-matched selection of PMD patterns for 2019. Nymphs, duns, emergers, cripples, spinners, half-duns, trapped duns… All…
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Sunday Scenery BWO Image
Sunday Scenery BWO Image Dreaming of BWO’s. We have some coming off in the upper lower end. And probably the lower end too. And a few fellers are tossing dry flies at them. Ladies too! Water at 10K. Not too…
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Art of Giving a Fly Away
The Art of Giving a Fly Away by Scott Jolly Ed Note: A great bit written by Scott Jolly and sent to us this holiday season. I found it, among other things, under the tree…when I took it down. This wonderful…
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Hi-Vis Trico Spinner 2FER TUESDAY BOGO
Hi-Vis Trico Spinner 2FER TUESDAY BOGO This weeks Hot Fly from Headhunters of Craig is the ever popular Harrop’s Hi-Vis Trico Spinner. An awesome fly that we are using daily. Big Trico spinner falls daily at 845am on the Mighty…
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Spider Eats Drake Head!
Spider Eats Drake Head! Found this on a window today. Scary. Trout generally eat Drakes. If the water drops we will see them soon. Happy Saturday. Book your July trip today. How about late July? August? Why not book it…
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2FER TUESDAY BOGO D & D Cripples All Flavors!
2FER TUESDAY BOGO D & D Cripples All Flavors! PMD, Baetis, March Brown and Callibaetis D & D Cripples Buy One Get One BOGO online fly sale Tuesday June 26th! One of the most popular fish crushers on the Missouri…
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2FER TUESDAY BOGO CFO ANT
2FER TUESDAY BOGO CFO ANT Tuesday is here. And once again Headhunters offers up to you our favorite anglers 2FER TUESDAY BOGO CFO ANT. Buy one, get one. Live at Midnight tonight thru the midnight Tuesday. All day long. Tuesday. Awesome…
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Top 15 Missouri River May Nymph Patterns
Top 15 Missouri River Montana Spring High Water Nymph Patterns Some days it sure feels like there are not 10 patterns that are effective. And other days it fishes well and most every reasonable spring Montana pattern is getting some…
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Summer Foreshadowing
Summer Foreshadowing Looking at the end of winter today? Maybe. Before we get to thinking about summer we have to get ourselves into spring. And that may happen this month? We sure hope so. A couple days of 60’s but…
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Top 10 Missouri River Spring Time Dry Flies
Top 10 Missouri River Spring Time Dry Flies Here they are. The flies we like for spring time dry fly action Missouri River style The dry fly fishing has been sporadic as of late. You can bump into comments of…
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Foxee Minnow Just Add Vise Video
Foxee Minnow Just Add Vise Video Last week we showcased the Mozuri Minnow. This week we hit you with the ever popular Foxee Minnow. Just caught a couple in my boat last week with this very fly. Clousers too. Marabou…
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Since my brain is fried, I may as well organize flies.
Since my brain is fried, I may as well organize flies. Here I go. Winter is not over. It feels like it is just beginning. And flies do not sort themselves. As a fishing guide I have lots of flies.…
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Missouri River Summer Foreshadowing
Ants, Beetles, Brown Drake, Bugs, Caddis, Guide Trip, Hatches, Hopper, lodging, PMD's, Streamer, Summer, Terrestrials, trico
Summer Foreshadowing Just the 24th of January today. We have more than our toe dipped into the proverbial year, more like our ankle has entered the water. We are just beginning. And having that ankle submerged made me think of…
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Mayfly Madness Video
Mayfly Madness Video Check this out. From Nat Geo site here on YouTube. You may have already seen this. But if not, check it out. It is super cool! Thursday here in central Montana. Still fishing a ton. No folks…
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Playoff Fishing here on the Missouri River
Playoff Fishing here on the Missouri River It is go time here. Playoff fishing here on the Missouri River. Excitement daily as we are headlong into the fall fishing period. And it is good! I sighted many real life BWO…
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5 Tips for BWO Success
5 Tips for BWO Success Snow days coming today and tomorrow. Some don’t like the weather forecast. Others are jumping for JOY! Lets hope it doesn’t blow too hard front he north. The fish will be loving it. They are…
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Squeeky’s Trico Box
Squeeky’s Trico Box Top row left moving right… Sinky type Trico’s. Glass beads, silver beads, o beads. Sunken Trico Spinners. More sinky flies and an Adams. A couple King’s River Caddis and a spinner or two. Harrop’s Hi-Viz Spinners and…
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Silly Sunday Scenery Tricos Image
Silly Sunday Scenery Tricos Image. It’s hot today. It reached 99F. Not 100F. Trico’s today from the only daily blog here on Montana’s Missouri River. The Headhunters Fly Shop Blog. Enjoy the week ahead. Hot here in central Montana. Trico’s…
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Spents and Spinners
Spents and Spinners Dead shit. That is what we throw. July is full of dead bugs. And live ones too. The dead ones are easier to eat. Honest. Fish them with confidence. As you can see I am becoming sun…
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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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Friday Foto June 2nd
Friday Foto June 2nd PMD Spinner on Amadou What does this mean? It means June has arrived. And we are in it. Lower that water level and we will be covered up in it. PMD’s I mean. But the water…
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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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Missouri River Midge Mania in April
Missouri River Midge Mania in April Fish on top. Fish on the bottom. Fish in the middle. Missouri River Midge Mania in April has begun. BWO’s too. Saturday and the wind monster has arrived. Gusty and windy on the river with…
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Missouri River April May Fly Fishing Forecast
Missouri River April May Fly Fishing Forecast Squeeky attended the annual Upper Missouri River water Advisory Meeting last week and got the skinny on the upcoming water flow predictions and the update on the trout populations. Lots of folks 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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The New Kid in Town. Meet Mr. BWO
The New Kid in Town. Meet the BWO While we still primarily see life through pink colored fly lenses and will be for at least another month, we began flirting with a different shade of blue this week. The Blue Winged…
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We like the Missouri River May Show
We like the Missouri River May Show We like May. It has become one of the favorite months for us here at Headhunters in Craig Montana. Why? Big fish. Some of the best fish of the year come to the…
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Friday Foreshadowing Foto
Friday Foreshadowing Foto All I can think about this week is summer. And summer bugs. And short pants. And spinner falls. And when this damn snow will go away… And to think we are already a whole month total…
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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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Attn DFO’s One Month Left
Attn DFO’s One Month Left Saw the new web site banner that John updated this morning and was reminded that we getting short. The time left to throw that dry fly at a specific target is waning. And if you…
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Missouri River September Fly Fishing Forecast
Missouri River September Fly Fishing Forecast Headhunters Fly Shop delivers for you today the Missouri River September Fly Fishing Forecast. We have shed the heat of August as we stare into the fold of fall. And we like what we see.…
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Missouri River Ant Fest! Are you an Ant Addict?
Missouri River Ant Fest I got an order for ants about 25 years ago. I was tying commercially and this feller wanted a couple hundred ants. What kind of ants I asked? He said quite simply…”Oh tie me up a…
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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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Blackfoot River Salmon Flies & Fishing Report
Blackfoot River Salmon Flies & Fishing Report Hey all good across the divide. The Salmon Flies are out in force and the trout don’t want them. So what to do? Well I’m not really sure other than keep fishing and…
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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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May Missouri River Fishing Forecast
May Missouri River Fishing Forecast Today on the Headhunters Fly Shop Blog you get the May Missouri River Fishing Forecast. What to expect, wish for, and believe for the month ahead. Missouri Rive May Weather and Water Forecast May is…
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Plenty of BWO’s around the Missouri River
Plenty of BWO’s around the Missouri River The sun will squash the great dry fly fishing for the most part this week. But, if you sneak around you will find some fish to cast at. Plenty of BWO’s around the…
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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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X Caddis JAV Kit and Tying Video
X Caddis JAV Kit The X Caddis is a killer fly! Still a couple months away from needing this bug. But I truly believe that the X Caddis originally tied by Craig Mathews is one of the 5 caddis you…
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Missouri River Winter Midge Hatch
Missouri River Winter Midge Hatch Early March has arrived and midge fishing is on our minds. On any given day you can certainly find a window of activity with fish falling for the skittering midge fly. And skitter they do. The…
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Missouri River March Fishing Forecast
Missouri River March Fishing Forecast Things to think about in March We are already a few days into the 3rd month here on the Missouri River. The Missouri River March Fishing Forecast looks strong. Average water levels and warming water…
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Saturday Midge Image
Saturday Midge Image. Today is the last Free Spey Clinic sponsored by Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig. Looks like a great weekend to be on the Mo. Enjoy!
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At the Headhunters Vise last night
At the Headhunters Vise last night in Craig Montana. The usual suspects tied for a couple hours chomping on some KFC brought by Rick. Thanks Rick. Remember when at those strange family or neighborhood party’s in the 70’s when the…
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Top 10 Tailwater Midge Flies
Top 10 Tailwater Midge Flies These Top 10 February Top 10 Tailwater Midge Flies are sure to please your Missouri River fancy. The midge hatch has begun in ernest and manny anglers are asking about the correct midge patterns to…
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Fly Tying Efforts
The regular gang was at the shop Wednesday night for Fly Tying Night In America. Ninch, Sara, Kurt, Dewey, Braden, Rick, Mark T, John, and Mark. A few beers, some homemade Hummus, a few chips and salsa, and several vises.…
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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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