Missouri River Report 5.25.16

River temps are perfect. Yesterday, there were Baetis, Gray Drakes, Caddis and a couple PMD’s on the water. Fish were sipping baetis and whacking caddis. Caddis and the PMD Mayfly will begin to dominate very soon, so you should be thinking PMD Nymphs (Split Case PMD, Military May’s, Death Metal, Flashback Biot PMD’s, PT Green Machines, Psycho May’s, Shimmer Nymph, S&M PMD) and Caddis Pupa (TC’s Caddis Purgers, N40 Caddis, Bloom’s Tung Darts, G6 Caddis, Hogan’s Pupa, Sparkle Pupa, Holographic Caddis, Swing Caddis).

This past Saturday, we had a seminar here at the store where Terry Courtwright explained how to fish a caddis pupa/soft hackle with deadly efficiency. For many, this is a bit old school. Ditch the bobber and fish your fly’s tight line down into holding fish and rising fish. This is absolutely my favorite way to catch trout this time of year. If you need some instruction, stop in and we can help explain the process.

We are finally starting to pick up some flow on the Missouri. At this moment, the flow at Holter is reading 7000cfs. I’ve already heard people complain that the river is high. I guess folks have short memories. We are just now approaching normal mean flows. It is high from where it’s been for some time, but not high for the season. Water is good and we hope it keeps coming up, and we get some flushing flows to move silt and debris.

As Missouri River flows come up, fish will shift to new locations. They will keep on eating. You will need to shift with them in order to feed them your flies. Inside seams and inside turns will become concentration points. Find the softer water side of the river. Water that was too slow and froggy to get a drift at 4500cfs is now flowing perfectly and has plenty of depth.

Higher water will also bring on the worm bite and the scud/sow formula will be in play. Crayfish too. Lots of choices, lots flies to fish, lots of fish to catch, lots of fun to be had fly fishing the Missouri River.