Clark Fork fishing report and the Dude Rig

The fishing is completely back on in western Montana!!  The streams are still pretty big so your going to need a boat or know where the fish are safely accessible.  Here's some things I saw yesterday fishing right near Missoula:

• 2 adult salmonflies ovipositing (in town!!)
• Caddis all over the place
• Trout rising to dry flies
• 4' or so of visibility
• A cloud of PMD spinners
• Golden stones
• Lots of big healthy trout as well as some little guys

The Dude Rig for streamers

For the past couple of weeks, one of the most productive setups in western Montana has been the double streamer Dude Rig.  This is a rig that guides use for clients because in the hands of a beginner, it is dummy proof.  Dead drifting streamers is super effective on the down side of runoff and this rig makes it so anyone can nail em.  Got a friend new to fishing, who can't mend or maintain a good drift?  The dude rig is perfect!  Bad mends just jig the fly.  Dragging it also can trigger a strike.  Similarly, in the hands of an effective fisherperson, the dude rig should be illegal! 

The Dude Rig:

Your going to need the 1" Thingamabobber to float your 2 weighted streamers.  You'll be fishing this rig right up against the banks so your flies should not be too deep.  More than 4' to the first fly is usually too much.  You can use whatever two streamers you want but the JJ Special/ Big Hole Crawler has been the bee's knees for the past couple of weeks, on every stream I've fished.  You can also trade out the bottom fly for any nymph, say the worm.   

Wood's rose - Rosa woodsii

The wild roses have bloomed and the snow is off Snowbowl.  Get off your ass and go fishing!

Suprise trip to the Big Hole

The prettiest sun dog I've ever seen

RBM got a last minute invite to go float the Big Hole with two guides yesterday.  I learned a bunch of new stuff including some new flies and a classic "dude rig" using streamers that I can't wait to use, on some family and friends who need all the help they can get, of course.  I'll post on that soon.

The Big Hole is big and clear (tea colored like always) and fished pretty good.  It took two guides and a trout bum a little while to solve the puzzle on the unfamiliar water, but when we did it was on!

The rivers around Missoula are about to start fishing balls-to-the-wall in the next week or so.  Folks are already on the Blackfoot fishing the colored water and word is that salmonflies on the Creek are days away. I'm going to check out my not so secret high water spot on the lower Clark Fork today.  The Upper Clark Fork looked pretty damn sexy as we drove past it yesterday.  Here we go, summer fishing!

Mostly cloudy on the Big Hole = brown trout