Monday July 5th Missouri River Fishing Report

Dry fly bite good. Posted up or runnin’ blind. Caddis yes. PMD’s yes. That posted up game can be difficult. 1 hint here: If you let the fish know that you are after him he will be less likely to eat our surprise gift. So keep that a secret for a couple minutes. Don’t blow it on that first shitty cast. Make that first shitty cast off to the side so your target is not aware of your evil plan. Just like in the movies bro.’ Think about it.

Nymph bite good. Deep and fast. Find it. Fish it. Enjoy it. PMD nymphal and Caddis pupa patterns are good. Zebra’s always good. The plethora of great PMD subsurface patterns available today is remarkable. Also a great time of year to try that shit in your box that has not worked, or you have not tried again in a decade or longer. Try them again. If if they work, great. You just added another pattern to your “guess list.” If they don’t, toss ’em overboard. And you have gained room in your box.

Fooling around with a light streamer or leech on those thigh deep flats with a small streamer not a terrible ideas either. HH staffer Andy has been roaming around in the evenings. Fun stuff. Why not try a few disciplines with the water level at this current height. Rare to see it this low.

On that same note why not swing a few PMD or caddis soft hackles while cooling off knee deep. Get in a softie trance and see who’s home.

Fish the mornings. Or the late evenings. We are leaning towards the mornings though. Coolest water temperatures.

Bring your stream thermometer. 70F is pretty warm. 73F is the trigger number that Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks uses to proceed with regulations.

Cut the hook off the fly and fish hookless. Swim. Relax. Teach your significant other or kid to row. Check out some streameside entomology, turn over a few rocks. Learn to cast left/off handed…

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