fly fishing technique Archives - Headhunters Fly Shop

Fly Fishing Technique, Headhunters Life

dry fly article, fly fishing technique, missouri river, Squeeky's Rants, team Headhunters

I wrote a recent blog reminding us, we, the industry need to be a aware of the wants and needs of all anglers. Reminding us that whether you be a nympher, a streamer junkie, or a dry fly fanatic there…

2016 UMOWA Macroinvertebrate Report

June 15, 2017

Bugs, Conservation

Bugs, conservation, fly fishing technique, missouri river, Nymphs, UMOWA

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…

Missouri River Bugs – May 2017

May 16, 2017

Bugs

Bugs, flies, fly fishing technique, Nymphs

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…

Ninch’s Fish Finder Worm

April 27, 2017

Fly Fishing Gear, Fly Fishing Technique, Fly Tying

fly fishing technique, fly tying, Nymphs, Spring Fishing, 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…

Stalcup’s Cluster Midge

April 20, 2017

Dry Flies, dry fly, flies, fly fishing technique, Midge, Midge Cluster, stalcup

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…

Rowing 101

April 13, 2017

fly fishing technique, Rowing, Rowing Skills

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…

Please Leave Redds Alone!

April 6, 2017

Conservation, Fly Fishing Technique, Nature

conservation, fly fishing technique, missouri river, redds, Spawning

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…

Missouri River Bugs – April

April 3, 2017

Birds Bugs and Wildlife, Bugs, Fly Fishing Technique, Fly Tying, Nature

April, Bugs, flies, fly fishing technique, Nymphs

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…

Be Deliberate – Nymphing Tips

March 30, 2017

fly fishing technique, Nymphing, Nymphs, winter

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…

Freddy Fly Step By Step

February 16, 2017

Fly Fishing Technique, Fly Tying

flies, fly fishing technique, fly tying

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.…

Fishing Report – Get Out There!

February 12, 2017

Fishing Report, Fly Fishing Technique, Headhunters Life, Nature

fishing report, fly fishing technique, Missouri River Montana Fishing Report, Weather, winter

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…

Missouri River Bugs – July

July 11, 2016

Bugs, Fly Fishing Technique, Photography

fly fishing technique, fly tying, Nymphs, photography

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…

Missouri River Bugs – June

June 7, 2016

Birds Bugs and Wildlife, Bugs, Fly Fishing Technique, Nature, Photography, Uncategorized

Bugs, flies, fly fishing technique, June, Nymphs, phtography

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…

Stocking Wing Caddis Step By Step

March 16, 2016

Bugs, Fly Fishing Technique

Caddis, fly fishing technique, fly tying, step by step, stocking wing caddis

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…

Macroinvertebrates On the Back of an Envelope

February 2, 2016

fly fishing technique, missouri river

Birds Bugs and Wildlife, Bugs, Nature, Uncategorized

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…

Macroinvertebrate Report from UMOWA

January 5, 2016

fly fishing technique, missouri river

& Wildlife, Birds Bugs and Wildlife, Bugs, Conservation, Fly Fishing Technique, Nature

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…

Baetis Week. Dry-Dropper Rigs

April 23, 2015

Dry-Dropper, fly fishing technique, Headhunters Wisdom, Mayfly Nymphs, Rigging Techniques

Today on the Headhunters Fly Fishing Blog we bring you new science. The dry-dropper rig. No. Not new. Yet quite effective here on Montana’s Missouri River. I was not a fan for many years. I had always believed that the…

5 Tips for Better Missouri River Spring Fishing

March 9, 2015

fly fishing technique

Fishing Reports from the last week have been varied. Spring like conditions are ever changing and it pays to keep a few things in mind when fishing the Missouri River the next couple months. The water can be green this…

Big Dries.

July 3, 2014

John Arnold

big dries, flies, fly fishing technique

The other day I was picking a few big “foamies” out of the bin for a day on the water. A customer leaned over my shoulder and asked “what the hell I was going to use those for?”. “The Missouri”,…

Missouri River Montana PMD Box

June 19, 2014

Fly Fishing Gear, Fly Fishing Technique, Headhunters Life

Fishing Tips, fly fishing technique, Missouri River Montana PMD Box, Pale Morning Duns, Squeeky's PMD Tips

Pale Morning Duns are part of your day here fly fishing Montana’s Missouri River in June. We love June as the bugs participate more willingly everyday. While the weather this last week has been really shitty, the fishing has stood…

5 Ways New Fly Lines make you Smile!

May 12, 2014

Fly Fishing Gear

Airflo Fly Lines, Cortland Fly Lines, fly fishing technique, Orvis Fly Lines, products, RIO Fly Lines, RIO Products, Smiles!, Wulff Fly Lines

5 Ways New Fly Lines make you Smile! Think you need a new fly line? I do. I think you need a new fly line. The simple truth is just this. It is the vehicle that delivers the fly to…

Missouri River Montana Fishing Report 5.6.14

May 6, 2014

fishing report, fly fishing technique, Guide Trips, missouri river, Spring Fishing

Fishing Report

The water downriver is clearing already. The LPP Creek has about half the volume of mud as it was yesterday. Today, half as much again. Good vis all the way to Craig. The water is green but not dirty. I’d…

10 Tips for High(er) Water Success

April 17, 2014

Fishing Report, Fly Fishing Technique

$300 Guide Trips, fishing report, fly fishing technique, Guide Trips, Midge Hatch, missouri river, Spring Fishing

The flows this morning are 8360cfs. This is not high by historical flows, but is higher than some anglers are comfortable with. High flows are aver 15K to us here on the Missouri. We will write another blog when she…

Missouri River Montana Fishing Report 4.8.14

April 8, 2014

fishing report, fly fishing technique, Headhunters Guides, Mark Raisler, missouri river, Spring Fishing, team Headhunters

Fishing Report

Spring is here. What? Yep. The 2nd day over 60F today and we are nothing but excited. And warmer. Get out your tube of sunscreen and apply liberally. Warmer tomorrow for sure. [forecast] The weather will be great…

Part of Winter – Video

March 12, 2014

John Arnold

Fly Fishing Video

fly fishing technique, video, winter

The latest “moving pictures” from scumliner and Headhunters. Check out some clips featuring the Headhunters Team fishing the Missouri River during Feburary. It is much colder than it looks. The crew was dodging icebergs and every fish release you see…

Missouri River Big Trout

December 13, 2013