MO Rainbows

What a great time of year to be fishing the Missouri! If you are looking for solitude and great fishing, the MO is your best bet. You will experience fantastic dry fly fishing in the afternoon. Nymphing with baetis nymphs and emergers is solid before the hatch comes off. Haven't thrown any big junk - haven't had to but I suspect those big browns would take a bite.

A brief warm up!

Looks like we have seen the last of this arctic ass whooping. Predicted highs for the rest of the week should reach the mid forties to mid fifties. We'll see if the weather guy is right or just a wannabee James Span.
The weather guy said something to the effect of this being a “once in a generation” weather event. Temperatures this cold in October happened last about 25 years ago. It's certainly not global warming... maybe a global cool down.
As for the fishing, we begin to pick it back up tomorrow and will have more to report at a later time. Before this freeze, the Browns were beginning to stage up in the shallows and slow moving tail outs before they make the run to do their thing. If wade fishing ***Use caution this time of year not to disturb the redds. They are pretty obvious looking barren patches of clean gravel that the fish have pushed away. This will help protect future generations of fish. We saw a new age class of Brown trout on the Lower Madison this year. These fish were clean, bright, powerful, HOT and wild fish. Most fish had very few hook scars and some had never been hooked before - a testament to the importance of Catch & Release fishing.
On a side note and a break from fishing here in Montana: Ya'll need to check out my brothers Blog.
http://milespaddled.blogspot.com// His crew of dedicated kayaking friends are as serious about their paddling as we are about our fly fishing. Barry hooked this turtle gettin' jiggy - something I did not teach him this Summer. Turtle was unhooked safely and released back into the Wisconsin River. Way to represent CK Outfitters! I will continue to keep you updated on all thing relevant to fly fishing here in Southwestern Montana until it is just too cold.

COLD!

COLD! 4 degrees this morning and rising. We went from Summer straight into Winter bypassing fall. This cold snap is not even funny. It is too early for this bone chilling torture.
We had a couple of trips booked last week but due to the weather we pushed those into next week when the weather is supposed to warm up a bit. They are calling for a high of 51 on Tuesday. Sorry to say but I don't have much to report other than one mediocre day on the Lower Madison last week. I will amend this report after it warms up this next week.

Up and running!

After a brief sabbatical from technology, we are back! The fishng last week was good, as it should be during fall in Montana.
We have been all over the map. From the Jefferson to the Missouri and over to the Stone. Everything is fishing well! ***Word of caution*** Come prepared for foul weather. Most days will start out cold and if we are lucky, temps might reach a comfortable level.
Were getting fish on dead drifted Bugger and Bead combos. Baetis dry fly fishing has been weather dependent. If there is a ceiling, the fish are looking up in the afternoon. If that big bright ball is out and about, it's been a nymphing game.
My apologies for lack of Blog posts. Computer crashing, geeky techs, poor service, you get my point. We are up and running again and will keep you posted as the fishing continues!