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Since we had to be at  the Outdoor Retailer show this last week anyways we decided to make the weekend out of it and float the Green for a couple days.  Results were great!

August in Montana means hot and dry, windy days, which leads to one of my favorite times of the year; hopper time.  There are two types of fly fishermen, those who fish hoppers and those who don't.  I won't mention any names of those who don't fish hoppers because Sam would be really embarassed, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him.  For those who haven't fished hoppers or chose not to fish hoppers, you're really missing out.  Its not everyday that you can fish a huge, foamy bug on 3x and continually hook big fish.  For me, it's not about landing the biggest fish I can on a dry, but it's moreso about the take when fishing a hopper.  Fish take a hopper with the worst intentions.  The strikes range from a very aggressive slash to flushing the toilet, which usually fuels my talk around the water cooler the next day as opposed to "You shoulda seen the fish I caught yesterday," sorta talk.  This is the time of year that wind is actually your friend too.  I know what you're thinkin, wind and fishing dries don't go together, right?  Wrong.  Hopper fishing is one of the exceptions to the rule.  Here the wind helps by blowing the hoppers off the banks and into the water.  You can think of it as chumming the water, trust me it makes a difference between a good day and a great day. 





            



        
   



The predominant setup for hopper fishing is known as the "hopper-dropper" rig (dropping a nymph off your hopper...pretty self-explanitory), which tends to lead to more fish on the nymph than the hopper.  A setup that is becoming more and more popular among those die-hard dry guys is a double dry setup with a hopper in front and another terrestrial or attractor behind it.  Try Bloom's ant behind M's hopper (both shown above) for this setup, you won't be disappoint.

For those who haven't fished a hopper, this is the year to try it, thats if you want a chance at a mellon-head like KK stuck here.  Brian Hollum knows what I'm talkin about.



                        


    

My old man and Jennifer were carp fishing last weekend (at a location they're keeping from me) and had a little excitement with a few fish other than carp.  The fish on the left is a catfish and the fish on the right is a drum, both caught on the fly.  No carp on their excursion, but I don't think they really cared much after landing these fish.  They also landed another smaller catfish. 

  Here's why high water is sweet.

1.  For some reason larger fish are caught.

2.  It's okay to fish the San Juan Worm.

3.  Montana agriculture is prosperous 

4.  Encourages one to fish where they usually don't

5.  The Smith and Sun will still be fishable in August

6.  You don’t see how many fish you actually are

missing

7.  Feel less bad about having to work

8.  Fewer crowds on the river (people think the fish stop eating?)

9.  You may actually use the seat in the front of your drift boat

10.  Besides the water being higher… the rest of the experience is about the same!

 

Recipes for High Water

 

a.)     Deep Nymphing – Thingamabobber placed where fly line meets the leader; fol

lowed by 7.5 8 feet of mono tapered down to 3x; blood knot with one foot of additional 3x ; 3 split shots above the blood knot ; San Juan Worm (disco worm, wire worm, eggs n bacon, etc) ; 12-18 inches of 4x mono ; hot head ray charles (any nymph with an orange bead in a size 16, or a rainbow Czech nypmh, tailwater Charlie, flashy caddis nymphs like silvey’s or LaFontaines, etc).  Fish this set up in 3-5 feet of water, the additional leader and weight will get you down quicker.  The Thingamabobber should be teasing you in to setting the hook often by ticking the bottom.  If it’s not ticking the bottom, you’re not getting em.

b.)    Streamers off the bank – this one is simpler.  Just keep the drift boat 10-15 feet off the banks and strip streamers off of it by covering as much bank as possible.  Yes, fish are the length of the river but in high/dirty water, in our experience, more of them are found on the banks.  Once it clears however, the middle and ledges the length of the river are often overlooked.  Especially by those who are used to fishing freestone rivers.

Are these the only ways to get em' in high water?... of course not... 

 Not too many instructional videos on fly casting with fiberglass these days... so here's one.

...and here is a video of why fly fishermen get stereotyped. 

It's a river that goes under the radar by many throughout the state, but it's a river that should be near the top of any trout angler's bucket list for Montana streams.  The Dearborn River is viewed by many as a low water, small trout stream who's sole purpose is to feed the Missouri with rich, cool mountain water.  Wrong.  I began floating the Dearborn last year and was pretty skeptical about it to be quite honest.  I've heard rumors/stories of really big brown trout that call this water home, but had only seen the water at highway 200 and 287 bridges, making me feel that the rumors I had heard were merely lies.  My first floating experience was a good one as far as taking in the scenery, but the fishing was poor to say the least.  We boated close to a dozen fish, none over 15" and tried every technique known to the sport of fly fishing (some were probably even made up).  At the time I was really upset and didn't understand why we weren't able to boat or even move a fish pushing the 20" mark.  The water looks absolutely perfect for holding big fish; that kind of riffle, pool, pocket water that makes you feel like you're floating Box Canyon on the Blackfoot.  As opening weekend came around this year, I was ready to float and was hell bent on boating a fish over 20" mark.  We had a different game plan this year, which consisted of throwing ridiculously huge streamers on sinking lines with complete confidence that a big fish would eat.  This strategy paid off in a big way, ultimately leading to seven fish that pushed to and beyond the 20" mark within two floats this year (and moved more fish than I thought were in the river).  This started to get me thinking.  Why aren't these fish eating stoneflies, caddis, pmds, and terrestrials on a regular basis and why aren't there overall more fish in this river system?  Then my analytical mind began to take over.  The river is only floatable for a short period of time beginning the third Saturday in May (opening day) until the flows get too low (usually by the middle of June).  It's prime floating level is over 350cfs, with most comfortable levels around 500cfs.  Doing a little research, I was surprised to find that the river drops down to and below 100cfs by the middle of July and throughout the rest of the summer and into autumn.  Last year the river dropped to 41cfs on September 30, which is a mere trickle.  It's flows throughout the winter are also off the charts do to ice, which tells me that the stream is at extremely low levels.  Based off the flow charts and the size differences in fish caught between years (and techniques used), I feel that the Dearborn is a major migratory fish river.  This means that larger fish do not reside in it year round, with exception to some fish.  It is documented that the Dearborn is a major site for Missouri River rainbows to spawn and that is why it is closed from December - May.  Knowing this helps with the assumption that larger brown trout will follow the push of rainbows up the river in early spring to feed on their eggs (same goes for the whitefish spawn in late fall/early winter when flows allow it).  After the bows do their thing and vacate the river, I believe that the majority of the larger fish, bows and browns alike, will migrate back to the Missouri.  As always there is an exception to a rule and in this case is no excepetion and that is some of the larger fish will stay in the river for longer than intended.  These are called hold-over fish and they will sometimes stay in the river for a week longer than intended or will call that river their new home.  This is why I consider this river one of hit or miss.  Some years, much like this year, flows will stay at a level that will allow larger fish to remain in the river longer than intended.  The larger, migratory fish will exhibit predatory instincts when they are introduced into a system filled with smaller, less aggressive fish in it; therefore, it requires techniques that trigger and initiate a predatory response.  Streamer techniques are obviously one of the most effective ways to initiate a predatory response, but other techniques including nymphing with big, leggy stonefly nymphs or fishing large salmonfly/golden/attractor patterns can initiate an aggressive response too.  Overall, the Dearborn does have fish that reach over the 20" mark, but don't expect to knock um dead every year.  This river is a major hit or miss river in Montana and will remain one of my favorites for that reason.

Saw this video via thisisfly.com of this 81cm brown trout...which converts to about 32 inches.  This dude was pretty excited upon netting this fish and it's worth watching just his reaction... I wouldn't be any different so I'm not judging.

Apparently its time to start carpin.  Here is another pic. from team LaBrel.  They have landed more carp this season than I have made casts to (it's ok I haven't made a cast to any yet).  This year's carp classic is gonna be a tight race.  I think it's time for team Big R to chase some golden bones.

              

The Mo is high (15300cfs as I am writing this).  The freestones are dirty.  Lakes get boring quick.  I've been getting a lot of questions recently concerning how to get into fish consistently this time of year.  To be honest, it's kind of a day to day crapshoot.  The first thing that you need to determine is where the fish are at (that is kind of obvious I guess).  I like to think of the analogy of standing in a 100mph wind.  Its not comfortable for you and takes a lot of energy to hold in one place, so you are going to do one of two things; either find cover from the wind or lay down flat on the ground.  This is what fish are going to do as well with exception to fish in faster moving freestones because they're use to fighting tougher flows.  So look for fish to congrigate tight to the banks, behind structures within the river, and along seam lines.  Now that I know where the fish are (suppose to be) at how do I catch them.  9 times out of 10 nymphing is the most successful technique, but this also a great time of year to fish big, weighted streamers patterns on sinking lines (my forte).  For the Mo, the go to nymph setup is 10-12' to 2-5 split shot, then 18" to the first nymph.  Rio's indicator leader is great for this type of nymph setup.  My favorite nymphs this time of year on the Mo include: red SJW, A's purple wild thing, bottom rollers, spaced out bobs, and red copper johns.  For freestones any type of big, rubberleg stonefly pattern is a must along with princes, SJWs, mr. rubberlegs, copper johns, and oversized hare's ears.  For streamer setups, I like to run a 250 grain streamer express line on a short leash (18"- 3' of 12lb maxima or p-line) on a 7 wt. rod.  Patterns that I like include: peanut envy's, Silvey's sculpin leech, big gulps, JJ's, platte river flash fry's, sculpzillas, skiddish smolts, Coffee's sparkle minnow, and many other personal creations of mine.  It is necessary that these are fished deep and tight to the banks.  I generally use the 6 strip rule.  Slap the bank strip 5 to 6 times and repeat.  I also change the color of my fly every 15 minutes until I find a color that works.  Its an experimental process fishing during high water.  There are many different techniques that work just as good, if not better, but these are a couple of techniques that I turn to when the fishing gets tough during high water conditions.  As always have fun and be safe on the water.