Cold Water

And just like that it’s August. Summer is flying by! Hoot owl restrictions are in place south of the valley on the Clark Fork and Blackfoot. Both rivers have been topping out over 70 for the past couple weeks so we’ve been focusing our trips on the Flathead. We have cold water and the dry fly fishing has been productive enough even in the heat of the afternoon. You can stick with a single dry and have enough action to make a day of it most days. We haven’t been fishing droppers much as we are blessed with cold water and willing cutthroat. It’s baffling to see guide boats out there chasing bobbers down the river in the middle of summer, embarrassing actually. Despite the heat, the early morning program isn’t the best out there at the moment. Dry fly fishing picks up mid morning typically and has stayed consistent through out the afternoon. The last couple days have been a little tougher so hopefully it holds – we are heading into August so…

It looks like we are getting a little cold front heading our way with night temps dipping into the upper 40s and daytime highs topping out in the 70s. Look out for wind associated with the cool down and adjust accordingly.

It’s terrestrial season. Ant, hopper, and beetle variations are the main patterns as we head into Aug but don’t neglect the traditional elk hairs, parachute adams, and small stimis, they will still all catch fish.