Flathead River Fishing Report

Ryan Stultz with a standard winter Flathead cutty.

The river is fishing well…if you know where to look. Not gangbusters but we are catching fish pretty consistently. The little bump in flow and color we had from the last rainy warm spell has subsided and all is happy again. Look for the dry fly opportunities to increase over the coming weeks. Midges are the primary bug but some nemouras(little winter stones) should be in the mix. If you encounter rising fish they will eat a variety of patterns. Small attractors like wulffs and H&L Variants are great during midge hatches(size 16  & 18). Sporadic risers will usually eat small skwalas and little dark stone patterns in sizes 10-14. If not, the purple haze will always work. The fish are still pretty tough to find but once you figure out where they are you can catch some. They should start to spread out a little as we get into April but for now they are pretty concentrated in the deep slow winter holes. Looks like a nice weekend to get out and hit the river.