Article 44: Too Many Rising Fish to Count: July on the Missouri River

Greetings from the Canyon! What a whirlwind it’s been around our parts lately. Super busy, warm weather, and lots of smiles. We’ve seen temps in the 90’s the last couple of days so it’s been warm out there, but the fish are cool and happy. We’ve got some rain and lower temps on the horizon, so everything is great on that front. We’ve finally hit one of our favorite times of the year, the Trico hatch! Dry fly fishing has been superb for those with the patience to learn the Trico approach, and other methods are working great as well.

I have been mainly focused on throwing dries as of late, and I’ll get into that in depth at the end of this blog, but the streamer game and nymphing has been super in spots lately. The Missouri River near Craig, MT has a ton of crayfish in it. As the temps rise, we see a lot more crayfish actively molting and moving around in the river. This directly results in more activity from fish that want these bigger meals, so we’ve landed some big boys throwing some streamers lately. Sam, one of our awesome guides, has been super dialed in on the streamer approach, and his guys found some great fish stripping meat this last week. They were throwing streamers on hot, sunny days and moving lots of fish. That’s about as good of a sign as you can get for the streamer bite. This will continue throughout the summer, leading us right into the October streamer action that is also great for other reasons.

Nymphing has been great in spots with the upper river headlining most of this action. From the Dam down we’ve seen some serious number days nymphing the deeper potholes. I spent a day up high last week and we hooked close to 30 fish before lunch. We did not land nearly that many, but the opportunities are out there! We’re throwing itty bitty flies on the nymph rigs to match the Trico hatch, so you lose a fair amount unless you’re perfect. That’s what makes it fun; giant, crazy rainbows flying out of the water while you’re trying to keep a size 18 fly buttoned to his cheek. The fish are super fired up when they get hooked right now. I saw one jump 9 times last week so that's probably some sort of record I should submit to IGFA. Most leaps by a Rainbow Trout on a size 18 hook with 4x tippet. Hang the plaque.

The shallow nymph bite has been pretty, pretty good as well right now. If I’m not throwing dries, this is my preferred approach. I fish these rigs in extremely shallow water, so you see a lot of the eats you get, and the fish just go nuts when you hook them in a foot of water. I’ve seen a LOT of runs to the backing this month, which always gets the blood pumping. The way this approach is fishing should hold solid for the rest of the summer months, so that’s a great sign. I’ve tweaked some little things with the flies I tie for this and the way I fish it, and I’m really liking the way the fish are reacting to the changes. I got to fish with two great guys a couple weeks ago and landed the biggest brown in my boat of the season fishing shallow. Tom, the angler, made a perfect toss in a specific spot and found a pretty special fish.

Now the Dry Fly game. All I can say is wow! I’ve seen some stellar Trico hatches before, and this year has had some top notch bug activity. For those that don’t know, Tricos are small mayflies that hatch in giant masses in the early morning in the hotter summer months. They have black bodies and white wings, so in a big hatch, the clouds of bugs look like smoke in the air or dust clouds that undulate as the breeze pushes the mass. It is an amazing sight to see as an angler, nature being magnificent as nature does. After these bugs fall to the water in a good spinner fall, you have the chance to see more rising fish than you thought possible. We regularly see pods of fish rising, some pods with over 50 fish, all gorging on these tiny flies. The regular pods with 3-6 fish give you great chances at targeting specific fish on the dry fly.

Fishing the Trico hatch is about patience. You wait patiently in the morning for the bugs to fall to the water. You wait patiently for the fish to start feeding on the bugs. Then you patiently present your fly to risers until they finally decide to eat your offering. This patience game is paramount to your success on the water. A couple weeks ago, we had a group of guys that came just to fish dry flies. Just my type of fellas. The first two days were great, we had plenty of success, and spirits were high. We were playing the game right, and everyone was finding their rhythm. The last day of their trip, I had Jack as a single, and we were ready to get after it. We started at Wolf Creek, chasing pods of fish around on the bank across from the boat ramp. On our first couple of eats: we broke off one and bent out the hook on two others. Mulligans. After we settled in on a good pod of consistent fish, it was go time. We would sit and watch the fish get into their rhythm without casting, then when we thought the fish was comfortable, Jack would put a cast in that lane and inevitably watch that fish eat his fly. It was poetry. After clearing out that group of fish, we moved to another pod lower down, sat and watched for about five minutes, then did the same thing again. We kept this up for most of the morning until we got to a group that was feeding under and behind a hanging tree limb in the water. First of all, there were overhanging branches 6 feet upstream of the fish hanging 2 feet across the water. After that gauntlet, there was the branch in the water providing a current break, so there were three fish stacked behind this feeding. These fish were big, but the real nasty customer was tucked in, about 6 inches from the bank, above the limb. I saw his kype jaw poke out on every rise, so that was the one. The other fish weren't even an option now. This was our fish. 

However technical you are imagining this cast in your head, you should double it. This thing was nearly impossible. Now, I’d love to lie and tell you my good friend Jack put his first cast in there on the money, and we landed this bad boy 45 seconds after seeing him rise. Not a chance in hell. We sat and threw no less than 75 shots at this beast hiding in the willows. Lost a couple flies in branches, had a couple other fish eat it, and shared a few curse words with our environment. This dude was tricky! Then it happened. Jack winged a slight sidearm in under the branches, got a reach cast in it, and the fly spat out in the proper direction. We watched that fly drift down, silently, until that big chin stuck up and sipped our dry down into the abyss. Jack set the hook just right and we watched this big, ugly rainbow turn around and take us right to the branch touching the water. SNAP! Gone.

We ate some lunch near the scene of the crime and were met by the rest of our group to wallow in our misery together. We spotted another fish lower down that seemed like a good target during lunch, and after a couple casts, we got that one to the net. It was a great fish, but he wasn’t our fish.

After lunch the others moved down and found a couple fish to eat, so we just watched them fish for a while. As we were watching and hanging out, we saw a rise back in the spot from earlier. It looked big, but it moved a little differently from our target. We figured what the hell and started battling for redemption. A couple casts in; Jack tossed another beauty. Same shot, same drift, same eat. The fish sipped it in, Jack set, and that fish took off in a completely different direction from the last time. We jumped out of the boat and chased it down on foot. As Jack fought it upstream, I was down lower with the net watching. This fish took a couple of dives for some boulders, but with some expert side pressure, we coaxed it out into the slower water towards the bank. After a couple attempts, he made it into the net. As we admired the fish, we both saw it. Right below the chin of this fish, was the fly we broke off before lunch. Redemption.

Looking forward, the Trico stuff is very similar to last year, so we’re hoping to see them stick around until the beginning of September again. That is our staple hatch in these months, so it’s been great to see it have such a solid start. Hopper season will be very dependent on the weather moving forward. Last year we had consistent shots of rain that kept us green through the summer, and hopper fishing was mediocre. If we see that again this year, I’m assuming similar action. If we go through a little dry spell like we did in 2023, we can expect exceptional hopper fishing. Ball’s in your court, Mother Nature. Streamers will be on the menu from here on out, and nymphing will move primarily to shallow if we’re throwing them. It’s all about dries for the next couple months, just the way we like it! We have had a lot of inquiries about fall dates the last couple of weeks, so if you’re looking to make it up this season, let's get you on the books. It should be a fantastic fall this season. Don’t be afraid to call and reach out about dates, questions about fishing, or if you just want to talk fishing. We’ll be here when you get here!

Cheers!