Sprung Spring

The weather has been outrageous the last few days, it'll probably go back to snow and cold in a few days. That's just how it seems to go here in SW Montana. Just when you think it's time to put the rod rack in the truck, wax the boat, or get a new wide brim hat, it snows again. Regardless, we've got a great snow pack this year, not too much to ruin June, but enough to get us through August.

I guided the LM yesterday and although we had to work at it, we ended up with a pretty good day. The water is still real cold in the mornings, so we had to work the buckets and holes with lots of weight to keep everything moving slow as the flows are up a bit. We ended up just wading all day and I think that was a good call as the boat fishing couldn't have been too good. 

Those bright sunny days and low angle of the sun this time of year just make for some tough conditions and spooky fish. My key has been to go to finer tippets, flourocarbon only, white indicators and mess around with the weight. I pretty much always fish a crayfish with a dropper of some sort this time of year. It's not the bugs so much as finding where the feeding fish are feeding and active. 

I did pump one fish yesterday and it was munching on worms and BWO nymphs. The BWO's are out over there now, so look for some cloudy days and get over there for some good dry fishing