Spring Fishing Report

The official first day of spring / spring equinox is still a couple weeks out. Winter has been pretty dismal this year with little to no valley snow and not much on the ski hill. Most of the state is below average. The Flathead area snowtel sites are saying we’re about 80%. Winter isn’t over yet, however. The forecast is calling for active weather patterns with substantial snow and wind over the next week. We have been experiencing some really nice spring weather. The fishing conditions the last few weeks have been great but this week is not looking to be the week for fishing. The cold weather is usually tolerable but not when it’s accompanied by high winds. Keep an eye on the wind forecast if you’re planning to head out. They are talking about gusts over 40 in some areas. If the wind isn’t bad, fishing is a go.

We’ve had guide trips out on the Flathead River and Clark Fork River this past week with great fishing. Midges and small winter(capnia) stones had fish up mid-day on the Clark Fork and we had some of our fist dry fly fishing of the season. Casting dry flies at rising fish was a nice treat. No skwalla stones yet but the next warm up should get a few moving around. We threw dry dropper rigs with enough success that you really didn’t have to nymph. But having a bobber rod handy is always a good idea for some of the deeper winter water. Fish were pretty spread out on the Clark Fork, having some different depth rigs was helpful in running some shallower water along the banks and top of the runs.

We also had some very productive fishing on the Flathead River a couple days ago. Nymphing with the standard winter patterns – SJWs, princes, PTs, hares-ears, pink blow torch’s, pink soft spots, and any variation of these will catch fish. It is still winter but don’t be so hyper focused on the deep stuff that you over look some of the shallow insides. There has been fish rising in some pretty shallow summer type water sipping midges recently. We’ve been having some success with shallow short leash rigs and smaller patterns on the inside corners near the big deep holes – especially on the warm afternoons. It’s worth having a short leash rod rigged with some lighter weight flies to work that inside water before you chuck it in the deeper winter stuff. Sometimes they’re in there…

It’s the time of year when a dry fly rod should be in the boat. Midges, tiny winter stones(capnia, nemora, leuctradae), skwala stones, march browns, & bwos will all start making their appearance over the next month. Look for the warmest part of the afternoon for dry fly fishing opportunities in the coming weeks.