Dick’s Super Dialed Swing Report
Ed Note: Dick’s Spey Report today on the Headhunters Fly Shop Blog. Is this the totally dialed report? You will have to see for yourself! But I will say that it is a report. A report is something that has already happened. And a report, is written by one individual. Usually with some add’l info from those around the author while writing. But a disclaimer on fishing reports is…it has already happened! Please remember that before yelling at us here at the Mother Ship of Mo River Info.
P.S. Dick wrote this, so yell at him…
And thank you Dick for getting us up to date. The nymphing report is short. Hit and miss. It should level out this week?!?!
Dick’s Super Dialed Swing Report
The river is in good shape at the moment currently flowing at 3,620 cubic feet per second with water temperatures hovering around 39 degrees. Fantastic news if you like to spey your trout because the fish have finally started to creep out of their deep winter holding water. That being said, 39 degrees is still pretty cold so you should avoid fishing faster water. Soft inside bends still reign supreme.
Over the last week I would generally start fishing with a 10’ T-8 light MOW Tip thinking I needed to get down as deep as possible. Fishing was OK to start, but far from lights out. A couple grabs here and there, just enough to keep my attention. Then I decided I needed to change something more than just my fly. I ended up switching my tip to RIO’s Light 3D MOW 10’ I/S3/S4 Tip. The newish 3D MOW tips are pretty rad. Triple Density (3D) tips help in relieving the hinge points associated with standard MOW tips when casting and they offer a bit more depth control when you’re trying to find that sub surface sweet spot.
You can use pretty much any streamer you want as long as it looks like a leach or a baby fish. Honestly, as long as you have confidence in the fly your tossing then you’ve already won half the battle. You can fish your flies on 1x or 2x fluorocarbon for trout and 3x fluorocarbon if you want to swing up a delicious walleye. Nylon also works, I simply prefer fluorocarbon because it has much more abrasion resistance comparatively. This can be a big factor in landing a toothy fish or fishing around abrasive structure.
Unless you fancy tossing massive streamers, a 3wt Trout Spey rod will more than suffice. If you do want to throw the big stuff then a 4wt is the perfect tool. 4wts are also great when the wind is surging. My rod of choice is either the Sage HD 11’ 3wt or the 11’11” G-Loomis IMX PRO 4wt.
The Orvis Mission is also a fantastic rod in both the 3wt and 4wt. I don’t have as much experience fishing the Mission, but with the few times I have taken it for a swing I can tell you that it is truly an impressive spey rod. IT has certainly turned into the shop cult classic.
Line selection generally comes down to personal preference. The Spey Light series of shooting heads by Scientific Anglers are popular with a lot of anglers and for good reason. They are well designed and pair up nicely with just about every trout spey rod on the market. I have also fished RIO’s In-Touch Trout Spey heads and believe they also pair nicely with most rods on the market.
OPST shooting heads are a little different than the rest of the competition, but once you get a rod dialed with the right grain wait they can be a game changer for sustained anchor style casting. The gang at OPST recommend much lighter grain weights for their Skagit heads and the main reason for this is surface area. To put it simply, Commando heads have a girthier circumference which allows for more friction when ripping it off the water. This allows for more energy transfer to your rod than a shooting head of the same grain weight. This feature also makes OPST Commando heads a great choice for anyone wanting to preform single hand spey casting techniques with their 9’ single handers.
And that wraps up my swing report today. Thanks for reading. We will see you in the shop. Stop by for the Best Flies Under the Big Sky and any additional Spey or otherwise info you need to prepare yourself for the river today!
Also a friendly reminder that the Rainbows are in spawn mode at the moment. Please do your best to avoid spawning redds. It’s a small step that will help ensure trophy trout for years to come.