At the Missoulian Angler Fly Shop, we see this all the time. A customer walks into the fly shop and says, “My spouse wants to learn how to fly fish. Now what?” After teasing them about buying expensive tackle, a raft and a new truck to haul it, we get down to the things we’ve found important when couples start to fish together.
The biggest difficulty in getting a spouse to fly fish is teaching them how to cast. We’re going out on a limb, and will make this statement. Most fisherman can make THEIR cast work, but few have studied fly casting, and fewer still know how to teach someone else to cast. The fly shop has seen this teaching technique way too often, which consists of someone saying, “No, that’s wrong. See, watch what I do. No, that’s wrong.” Not the best way to learn how to cast a fly rod. George says he always knew when his Mom and Dad played tennis together. They didn’t speak for two days after!
Ron may have had the best solution. Back when he was teaching his wife how to fly fish, so were many of his friends. So he and Bob Powell, Duncan Oswalt and others would switch up the fishing partners. Ron’s wife went with Bob, and down the line, so Ron was never teaching his wife. He was teaching someone else’s wife, and he said it was less fraught with tension. Might be any easy out! Though Ron was a fly fishing guide in Missoula and Alaska for 20 years, so he’s a pretty good casting instructor.
Unless you’re a well-studied caster, The Missoulian Angler Fly Shop recommends getting your spouse a fly fishing lesson. The Missoulian Angler offers one on one casting instruction, and our instructors have a combined 65 years of casting teaching experience. There are other avenues to find instruction as well. The important thing may be to find an outside instructor to get the ball rolling with casting lessons. This will save a lot of relationship angst in the long run! But if you choose to teach your spouse, just remember this. You weren’t born with a fly rod in your hand, so don’t expect instantaneous perfection from your spouse. Remember to nurture, not criticize. Stay positive, and don’t practice too long. This is the hardest part of teaching fly fishing to a beginner. Letting the student flail is part of their learning- knowing when they need to be left alone is the most difficult lesson the teacher needs to learn!
Another thing to bear in mind is why your spouse is learning to fly fish. In all probability, their initial reason to learn to fly fish is to spend time with their partner. This means the fishing spouse needs to change their expectations on the water. Your time is no longer your own. No more walking a mile upstream to even start fishing. If you want your spouse to fish with you, you need to stay close until they become comfortable. At the beginning of this process, you’re less fisherman and more ghillie. Tough in the short run, but good in the long run.
Also keep in mind a new fisherman may not be ready to be on
the river from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm, in the rain on a 52 degree day. They’re just
learning to fly fish, and probably won’t have the stamina or interest to fish
all day. Here’s a couple of solutions. You can curtail your fishing times to
fit your spouse’s needs. But this is our favorite. Bring along their favorite
beverage. Cheese and crackers. Ask them to bring a book or magazine. Spend a
little more time in making up a real lunch, not the two Snickers bars you eat
during the day.
This is subtle manipulation here, so pay attention!
You are trying to make this FUN for your spouse. They’re already going to be struggling with the fishing- make sure they DON’T struggle with anything else. So good food, good beverage, diversions when the fishing is slow or frustrating, and a willingness to be flexible on your end are critical. If your spouse isn’t having any fun because you’re on a fly fishing trip, and not a picnic with them, they’re not likely to go fishing as willingly the next time. It’s even more basic- if they’re not having fun, you’re not having fun. Continue to ignore their needs, and soon they’re not fishing. So make a fuss. Celebrate the fact that your spouse is fishing with you. Make the extra effort, make it fun, and they will come fishing again, even if it’s just for the food! And no, this isn’t going to last forever. As they learn to fish better, they will fish more, and soon you’ll have a fishing partner, but it’s not going to happen overnight.
It takes patience on both ends to make this work. As the
fisherman, it’s your job to make the experience as positive as it can be for a
new fisherman. For the newbie, remember that your spouse wants to fish as well
as be with you. Sometimes you just have to give the space to let them go around
the corner.
If we had to make a list of responsibilities for each
partner, it would look like this. The fishing spouse should do everything to
make the initial trips fun and special. Show massive amounts of patience.
Remember you didn’t learn to fish in a day- your spouse won’t either. Be
helpful but not obtrusive- know when to be there and when to be gone. To the
spouse who’s learning, it starts with recognizing fly fishing isn’t always
perfect. It means practicing things like knots and casting so when you get to
the river, you can be a little self-sufficient. And having massive amounts of
patience when you’re ready to be done and they’re just getting started.
You work on your relationship off the water. It’s going to take a little work to make the relationship on the water work as well. But it’s totally worth it! Fly fishing can provide another strong bonding experience. It’s fun, frustrating and interesting all the time! It can help form a stronger, closer bond in the long run. Beginnings are always so tricky. Work together, have some patience and you’ll soon find that fishing together is one more activity that you can enjoy together.
Often our guests will book a day fly fishing trip with one of our guides to help their significant other learning the basics of fly fishing. The guide will often put the less experienced angler in the front of the boat so they can focus on casting, drifting and mending. Give us a call or email and we would happy to set up a fly fishing trip for you and your spouse.
Don’t panic. This is not about the trout’s digestive system- we could care less about that. This is about trout biology that will make us better fishermen. In fact, this is why you paid attention in Biology class in school, to be a better fisherman. So stick with this for a bit.
Trout have an IQ of 4. That’s it. Which is just about enough to get them through the only 3 tasks they have in their lives. The 3 things trout do are eat, try not to get eaten, and, in their season, make little trout. Because they have an IQ of 4, they can only accomplish 1 task at a time. So if a trout is spawning, it won’t eat, and is very difficult to spook. And if a trout is spooked (fleeing from predators) it is not eating. One thing at a time for our friend the 4 IQ trout.
Calorie Calculator
When you think of a trout, you probably think of a Rainbow Trout, or a Brown Trout (and usually with some size to it, if you are like me!) But what you should be thinking about when pondering trout is a calorie calculator. If a trout expends 6 calories in energy to take in 4 calories of food, it will die. Basic, but absolutely true. When trout are viewed this way, everything a trout does makes sense. (well, most everything- they are fish) Every decision it makes will be based on this fundamental tenet- where it is in the water column, how far from shore, etc. Unless a trout is spooked or spawning, the calorie calculator analogy always applies. So when a trout is feeding, (which is all the time) its actions and behavior can always be explained by the calorie calculator analogy.
Walker Scarbarough with a Madison River Brown Trout in Montana.
Water Temperature
Trout are cold blooded. This means their body temperature
matches their surroundings, unlike a mammal, which regulates its own
temperature no matter what the external temperature is. Cold water slows down a
trout’s metabolism, and a trout requires less food to support itself. As the
water warms, a trout’s metabolism speeds up, and it requires more food. So, if
you are fly fishing in the summer, a fish may range quite a ways for your offering.,
Because its metabolism is up, it needs the food, and it is not lethargic. But
with colder water comes a more lethargic fish, as their metabolism is slower.
So in colder water you need to get your fly right on top of your quarry,
because they are not going to range very far to take your fly. So, cold means
more accurate fly placement, because even if you have the correct fly, if it is
not where the fish will eat it, it’s not doing any good. There are a lot of
studies on trout and temperature, but let’s boil it down to this, a chart showing
optimal temperatures for each species of trout. If the water temperature gets
much above or below those listed, the trout become more difficult to catch.
Here is one other interesting trout/temperature fact. Trout feed best when the water is 62 degrees. And the more rapidly the temperature approaches 62 degrees, the more aggressively the fish will feed. So whether rising or dropping to get there, 62 degrees is the magic number.
Speaking of water temps, we all know when rivers get too warm, the trout are stressed, and if the water temperature gets too warm, the rivers will be closed to fishing to alleviate that stress. The reason the fish stress is lack of oxygen. Nothing lives in boiled water because boiling removes all the oxygen, and no living organism can survive without oxygen. And the warmer water gets, the less oxygen it can hold. So cold water holds more oxygen, and of course that helps the trout. Warm water = less oxygen = more stress. Imagine if you were walking down the street, and all of a sudden you lost ½ your oxygen supply. That would apply stress. And that happens to fish. As they move in the water, they are also looking for water that holds enough oxygen to survive. So, in warm weather and warm water temps, you want to fish in the riffles. Why? Because riffles act as natural aerators for the river. Wherever the water is churned up and bubbly, there is oxygen, and that’s often where fish are when the water is warmer, where they can breathe. Because breathing is a good thing.
Sight
Trout have eyes (Hey, that’s why you are reading this, for information you can’t get elsewhere!), and don’t ever believe someone if they say fish can’t see color. The rods and cones (the parts of the eye that govern light absorption and sight) in their eyes may be different from ours, so we don’t know how they actually perceive color, but they can sure tell color differences. Just float a trico through a Blue Wing Olive hatch and you’ll see. Also, fish can see colors in spectrums humans cannot see, so the UV spectrum is available to fish. So if you are a fly tyer, it doesn’t hurt to add some UV materials to a fly, as the fish can see those wavelengths. And they see well in the dark as well, so keep that in mind as well.
Remember people telling you that “Fish always bite better in the rain.” And you assumed it was just because it was raining, or the fresh water brought additional food into the river, or they simply liked the change in temperature. Well, it turns out, trout like clouds, because they have no eyelids, and little ability to adjust the size of their pupil. Bright sun is just plain uncomfortable to a trout. Also, millions of years has taught trout that they are more easily seen/vulnerable to predators on bright days, and that also a major factor in trout behavior. So in the summer, if a cloudy day rolls around, make sure to go fishing as you will often be rewarded with a lot of action.
Lateral Line
Trout also have a lateral line, which is a series of openings in their skin that identify changes in water pressure. They can use this lateral line to feel disturbances in the water, such as an angler clomping to the water, or feel the vibrations of a large fly in the water, such as a muddler or sculpin. Both those flies are dressed with a bulbous head that pushes a lot of water ahead of them, which the fish can feel and identify as prey. The lateral line is especially good to know about when fishing in off color water- that a fish can “feel” a bulkier fly make its way through the water. And of course trout can “feel” the fly in clear water as well, but given a choice, trout are primarily sight hunters, so in clear water, appeal to the eyes, but in off color water, appeal to the lateral line.
Predator Instincts
Another thing to keep in mind about trout is they are
predators, with all that implies. As a predator, you have to work too hard to
take prey in its prime, which screws up the calorie calculator. So a predator
will always try and focus on the weak, the sick, or the vulnerable.
Nature is not neat or orderly, and things don’t always work
out as planned. Some eggs don’t hatch. Most nymphs do not grow to maturity. And
many mature nymphs do not complete their metamorphosis and become adults. When nymphs
rise to the surface to become an adult, they encounter the meniscus (surface
film), which they must break through. Breaking through the meniscus by a nymph
has been compared to digging through 3 feet of dirt for us. Many insects do not
succeed in breaking through, and thus failing to become a cripple. Once through
the meniscus, an insect can be unsuccessful in inflating its wings, or be blown
over by a sudden breeze, and again, go from a healthy, functioning adult to a
cripple. And trout like cripples, because they can’t escape. And they like
emergers, because they are vulnerable in their attempt to go through the
meniscus.
When trout are actively feeding, they are searching for a place in the water where they can find an abundance of food, and be safe from predators. Unfortunately for the trout, these places in the water, where food and safety are together, are rare. So fish have to make choices, to move into more unsafe places to take in nourishment. Fish must follow the food. Food is not always found in the safe, sheltered places in the river, so the trout must come to the food. So when fish are feeding, they are often extremely skittish, more so than when they are in their zones of safety.
Fly fishing guide Chase Harrison and a happy guest fishing the Missoula area.
Prime Lies
Back to 4 IQ- the fish must feed, but often to do so, they
must leave their comfort zones, so as soon as they feel unsafe, they flee. The
places where food and safety are found together are called “prime
lies”, and they are places where the bigger fish are found. The primer the
lie, the bigger the fish. There are places in the river where big fish always
are. These places consistently hold fish, because they combine the two things
fish always need, food and safety. Certain lies are capable of holding 9 inch
fish, other lies are capable of holding 15 inch fish. In these lies there will
always be fish of this size, because that is all the lie can support. Year
after year, these places hold fish of a certain size. That is called the
holding capacity. Holding capacity can apply to an entire river (how many fish
can a river hold) or to a specific lie in the river (how much food goes by to
support a single fish).
Doing The Locomotion
The trout’s fins are used for every motion they make. The
tail, or caudal fin, is the main means of propulsion, while the dorsal and anal
fins are mostly used for balance. But it is the lower front fins, or Pectorals,
that are so interesting. These are the fins that allow a trout to go up or
down. And in a moving water situation, the main way a trout feeds is tilt their
pectoral fins, and allow the current to push it in a path that intersects with
the food. So when a trout rises, it angles its pectorals and pushed backwards
by the current to the food, and then flicks its tail to return to the feeding
spot. The only energy the trout expends is the tail flick to return. The rest
is done by the current. However, remember that when you see a rise form, it is
below where the trout is holding, so you must cast above the rise so the fish
can see your fly. The adipose fin, that identifier of all things Salmonidae,
what separates the trout and salmon from the “lesser species”, well, it’s just
like an appendix- totally useless. Oh well.
The Thalweg
Simply put, the thalweg is the place where the river is moving
fastest. In a river that was a perfect U, the thalweg would be found at the
surface in the center of the U. We all intrinsically know this from our wading
experiences in a river, the current is fastest in the middle, and slower at the
sides.
But let’s look a little deeper. Unlike a lake, where fish must cruise to find relatively stationary food, in rivers trout maintain a position and allow the insects (food) to come to them. So water in a river works as a conveyor belt, delivering food to the trout. For easy math, let’s say there is one insect every linear foot on the river. If the river moves at 10 feet per second, the fish gets to look at 10 pieces of food per second. If the river moves at 1 inch per second, then the fish sees one insect every 12 seconds.
BUT. (And isn’t there
always a but!)
It takes a huge expenditure of energy for a fish, to maintain its place in water moving 10 feet per second. Even if it was possible for a fish to eat all 10 insects going over each second, would it still be enough caloric intake to offset the energy used to maintain its position in the current? Conversely, it is very easy to stay put in the water moving 1 inch per second. However, is 1 bug every 12 seconds enough to sustain and grow the trout, even though there is so little energy expended to maintain that position.
Which brings us to what we call Fish Math, for lack of a better term. As a fisherman, you are searching for the point(s) in the river where the current is moving at just the right speed to bring enough food to the fish, but not so fast that the fish has to expend too much energy to stay there.
And keep in mind that this is exactly what the fish is doing all day long as well, searching for these perfect intersections of food and current speed. It is conventional wisdom that “rivers don’t fish well when they are rising’, but that they do fish well when falling. We think the thalweg helps explain this. As the water rises, the fish are forced to move from one comfortable spot to the next, trying to locate these current speed/food intersections. And as the fish has to constantly adjust to the new currents, they are moving a lot, and a constantly moving fish is not a feeding fish. But as the water drops, it often drops more slowly, allowing the fish to find a spot to stay and feed. This is why we go to the USGS web site and follow the river flows so carefully, trying to monitor the fluctuations of the river.
But just knowing the flow does not help, you need to know how much the flow has changed in a certain time period. An angler, describing a river they just visited, tells you it was flowing at 17,000cfs. (cfs is Cubic Feet per Second) That tells you nothing useful. The useful info comes when the angler says, “and it’s average flow is normally 3,000 cfs” Now you know he was there during run-off. Or he says the river was at 700 cfs today. Again, no real info. But if he adds that the previous day it was 350cfs, then you know that it poured down rain, the river has doubled in size, is probably off color, and you know the fish are off the feed. So the best way to understand the flows is to check the flow today, know the flow for yesterday, and view the change in flow as a percentage. If the flow is 990 today, and was 900 yesterday, it came up 10%. Which is probably not bad. You need to know the flow and what it was the day (or the past few days) before to glean any real info from river flow data.
But we digress from the thalweg, our jumping off point for this discussion. In our stylized drawing it is very simple to see the thalweg, it is at the center top of the U. But very few sections of a river are a perfect U. There are downed logs, rocks, depressions in the river bottom, undercut banks and a myriad of other current deflectors that change the position of the thalweg. Which is the start of reading the water. Learning how all these different streambed deflectors affect the flow and speed of the water at the surface throughout the water column is the first step to reading the water. If you want to see the underwater currents, follow Lee Wulff’s advice in his book Trout On A Fly, where he recommends attaching a 12″ piece of fl. pink ribbon to the end of your rod tip. Dip the rod tip into the water and watch the reaction of the ribbon. If it swings straight downstream- fast current. But stick the ribbon behind a rock or in a bottom depression, and watch the ribbon flutter and drop. Places where the ribbon flutters and drops will be places where the fish live, and places where the ribbon streams out are places where the trout are not. The ribbon allows you to create a visual picture of stream currents, and so go on to recognize these spots in any river or stream.
Reading The Water
The thalweg is the first step to reading the water. Reading the water is a term that describes looking at the water and identifying the places where a trout should live. Lee Wulff allows you to visualize the currents, but it is not always feasible to walk out and dip your yarn in the water. So you try to look at the water and “see’ the current. To do this, use a few different keys. One of the most important is the streams of bubbles on the surface. The streams of bubbles allow us to see the “seams”, places where 2 (or more) currents come together. Where currents come together, food sources come together, creating a larger food source. Remember that seams, while we are using the bubbles to identify them on the surface, will usually run as deep as the water, combining food sources both on the surface, and below. Seams are good, so learn to identify them.
Another important key is the color of the water. The darker the water, the deeper the water. Basic, but it needs to be said. As our fish biology taught us, fish usually need 2 things, access to food and safety from predators. Depth equals safety to a fish, So deep water will hold fish. But, shallow water is where photosynthesis takes place. A we all know, photosynthesis is the foundation of the food chain. So a lot of food is found in shallow water, and fish need food. But, food and safety are not always found together, so a fish needs to find just the right spot in the river- not too fast, not too slow, not too deep, not too shallow. Like we said, fish math. But when you learn to identify these spots on a consistent basis, you will begin to catch fish on a consistent basis.
Reading water is a skill best learned on the water, not from a blog. Tough words for an author to write, but true. There are many ways to read water but a different way of reading the water from Joan Wulff’s book Fly Casting. As a casting instructor, she stressed casting profanely. Provided one has good casting skills, she provides this method for fish location. Mentally break down a section of river into a grid. Cast your fly into each section of your mental grid, and see where you hook fish. Then look carefully at the places where you have located fish, and take in its features (water color indicating depth, bubbles indicating current seams, etc.) Then move along the river and try and locate different places with the same features where you hooked fish. This can be tedious, and you will fish some water that has no fish in it, but if you are having trouble reading the water, this method provides as close to a sure fire way of locating fish that I know of.
Fly Casting is a hand skill, just like knitting or playing shortstop. The more you do it, the better you get. Like any hand skill, there are definitely good ways to go about it and bad ways to go about. We’ve seen both. Some of our staff have been teaching Missoula fly fishing lessons for 30 years, and we’re all experienced in explaining fly casting in simple, easy to understand terms.
Fly casting follows the same rules of physics and kinesiology as any sport does. You need to obey fundamental laws of dynamics while utilizing the bodies range of motion most efficiently. Sounds simple, and with some explanation, it usually is. Our fly shop staff and guides are happy to help you learn the skill of fly fishing or improving your foundation of skills that you have already acquired.
There are two main schools of fly casting, the Joan Wulff/Mel Krieger school and the Lefty Kreh school of casting. Each have their adherents, and those who believe there is only one way to cast. We don’t feel that way.. We believe fly casting can be taught in many ways, because, as Scotty on Star Trek says’ “Ye kenna change the laws of physics!” So everything we do when teaching is built on that simple notion of making a flexible lever throw a variable flexible weight.
How do we do it in our fly fishing classes? Well, we’re not giving away all our secrets. Let’s just say we de-mystify 10-2 in the age of digital watches in these lessons. We talk about frisbees and skipping stones. Handling a paintbrush and using a hammer. And lots of other metaphors and similes so we’re not talking about second class levers, fulcrum points and the dials on a compass. Which we can do! It’s just not as understandable. We can take someone who’s never had a fishing rod in their hands and show them how to make a fly rod work for a beginner, or we can take an intermediate caster and add 30 feet of distance to their cast by teaching them new techniques like the Double Haul. We can show you how to handle a 12 weight for your saltwater trip, or tone it down so cane and glass are fully functional in your hands.
Have we piqued your interest? Get in touch with the Missoulian Angler 406 728-7766. Whether you live here or just passing through, we can help you start or improve your fly fishing experience. Our Missoula fly fishing lessons are set up on an individual basis, with a cost of $50 per hour. The classes won’t go longer than an hour. Bring your own tackle, or use ours if that’s more convenient. We offer private fly fishing lessons to corporate group classes and everything in between. If you would like to experience a full day floating the river with one of our guides teaching you the ins and outs of fly fishing Montana, then we would be happy to set that up for you too. Click image below for more details.
As the fly fishing season transitions to fall and leaves turn from green to blazing, your approach to fly fishing needs to turn as well. Conditions are about to change around Missoula, and you’ll need to be aware. In mid-August, during the intense summer heat, the best fishing is early morning and then again in the evening. During the heat of the day, between noon and 7:00 pm, little action is seen. Hot temps and high sky drive trout deep to find shelter. Not the best time to fish. When the weather is hot, fishing is better near the edges of the day, and the hotter it gets, the closer to dawn and dusk you need to fish.
But the weather is changing during October and Novemeber, and so are the trout’s habits. Missoula is about to get colder and cloudy, and trout love that.
Trout want exactly what we want from the weather, a comfortable temperature. Not freezing, and not scorching hot. As fall approaches the Clark Fork River valley, those comfortable temps are moving from the edges of the day to the middle of the day. Those cool air temps and colder nights also lower the water temperatures. Trout are finding their comfort level in the middle of the day, instead of the edges of the day. As an angler, you should be as well!
Streamer fishing for Trout and Pike can be great in October and November.
Trout location also changes with water temperature. Warm water holds less oxygen, and high heat requires trout to find highly oxygenated water. As fall arrives, water temps fall and starts to hold more O2. Additionally, trout are cold blooded. Their metabolism slows as water temps fall. These two variables combine to change the trout’s holding lies. Trout use less energy, need less energy and now have highly oxygenated water. Cold weather moves trout to slower moving, softer water. Combine slow metabolism and high O2 content, and trout can and will move into water they shun in high summer. In short, late season fly fishing can be summed up this way, you’re going to find fish feeding in the middle of the day in softer, slower water.
Dropping water temps make fall streamer fishing some of the best of the year. The Brown Trout are moving upriver to spawn, and colder water temperatures let trout know they need to grab as many calories as they can get. A streamer in the morning, before the hatches start, can be a deadly tactic. Make sure to size your streamer to your fly line weight. Traditionally, fall streamers have some yellow or orange in them, though Brown Trout will move for a white streamer at almost any time. Depending on river choice, a sink tip may or may not be in order. The Blackfoot River and Clark Fork River always have sink tip water, while the parts of the Bitterroot River and Rock Creek may not be perfect for sink tip streamer fishing. In all the local Missoula rivers, big fish are moving for streamers! (Click here for 13 tips for fishing streamers)
In Missoula Montana, fall means a lot of other things to its residents. There are two distinct seasons that arrive with the cool weather, hunting season and Griz season. The University of Montana fields a very competitive football team, and Washington Grizzly stadium holds 26,000 rabid fans every Saturday when the Griz are home. From the angler’s standpoint, you know where 26,000 of your closest friends will be from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Not a bad time to go fishing!
A wide angle shot of the Griz football team taking on an opponent inside Washington Grizzly.
Other residents live here for the hunting. Antelope, deer, elk, Bear, Turkey, Pheasants and Waterfowl are all calling to the sportsmen of Montana. With such a limited season in the woods, most angling hunters put down their rods to pick up bows and rifles, and they head to the mountains. For those who angle, that means another large segment of friends are off the rivers as well. The crowds we’ve experienced throughout the summer are clearing out for football and hunting. Just like the grasshopper population is knocked down by fall’s cold weather, the fishermen population is knocked way down by fall’s cold weather activities. The rivers open up in the fall.
There are other issues that come up in fall fishing. As this is being written, there is a cold front coming in, bringing some winter weather. Water and cold weather are not a good combo. Hypothermia is a real concern, whether from falling in or just extended wading. We all know the fastest way to chill beer is put it in an ice bath. When you’re wading, especially as the water temps cool, you’re just like that beer, walking in a cold water bath. That drains energy and heat. Late season fishing means you need to plan ahead a bit. Have a spare change of clothes in the rig. Doesn’t need to be a tuxedo, just dry! Extra food and some water doesn’t hurt either. Maybe a thermos of hot coffee or soup. You get the point. Fall in August, and your friends laugh. Fall in on a 40 degree day, and it’s a bit more serious.
Missoula fly fishing guides and fisherman look forward to the amazing hatches and streamer fishing that the Fall has to offer. The seasons are turning, and long winter is just around the corner. But before the cold gets here to stay, the cool weather will make the fishing something wondrous to behold. Streamers move the big fish, hatches Like BWO, Mahogany and October Caddis bring the anglers out for one last hurrah. To many in town, fall fishing is the pinnacle of the entire year.
For many anglers, the truest sign of Fall is the emergence of the Blue Wing Olives (BWO). Arriving after the first fall rains, the cold, cloudy days bring BWO’s out in big numbers. They continue hatching through October, and sometimes later. BWO’s hatch from late morning through mid- afternoon, bringing trout to the surface to gorge. With such a long hatch window, how do you time the emergence on the rivers? You look for the heat of the day. As the days get shorter and colder, the hatch begins to move from morning to afternoon.
The Clark Fork River and Bitterroot River have phenomenal BWO hatches, and these insects can be found along the length of those rivers. Rock Creek will get good BWO hatches, but you’ll need to find the slower, quieter water where fish are feeding. The BWO is not an important hatch on the Blackfoot River. As Missoula’s highest elevation and most northern river, the Blackfoot isn’t known for it’s fall hatches. It IS known for its fall streamer fishing!
The BWO’s in Western Montana vary in size from 16 to 22. Why such a large size range? Because the “BWO” hatch is not a single species, but a complex mixture of multiple species. While the species, mostly baetis, are taxonomically different, they’re all basically the same size and color. Which means the same fly will be the correct imitation for any species that is hatching.
When many people think of late-season fishing, they think of a lovely day under the autumn sun, enjoying the crisp fall weather. For the BWO’s, change your thinking! Some of the best Blue Wing Olive fishing comes on the worst days of the season. 45 degrees, cold rain mixed with a little snow, maybe some wind, and the BWO’s will come off in droves. The fish respond to the cloud cover, and the fishing can be epic. If any hatch defines the value of cloud cover, it’s the Blue Wing Olives.
With so many different species in the rivers, it’s tough to find a place where some species of BWO nymph isn’t present. Most of the Baetis nymphs are very strong swimmers, capable of moving in 3-6 inch bursts. With this type of swimming strength, baetis nymphs are very active on the bottom, and very much a part of the trout’s diet. Frank Sawyer’s Pheasant tail nymph was designed to imitate the BWO’s found in his native British waters, and the pheasant tail works wonders in Missoula as well. Even better, Once in a while a moving pheasant tail can be effective. A slight jigging action on a slowly swung pheasant tail ban be a strong tactic in the fall.
Film Critic Fly pattern.
The BWO can be a blanket hatch, and with all blanket hatches, you have fish focusing on various stages of the insects emergence. The Missoulian Angle Fly Shop carries flies for all stages of the BWO emergence, including the Last Chance Cripple, Hi-Vis Spinner, Silhouette Dun and the TiltWing Dun. With the largest fly selection in town, we’ll have the hot BWO pattern. When buying flies, make sure you vary the size and shape of your purchase. Make sure to have cripples, spinners, emergers and duns to make sure you have the needed stage on the water. Nothing worse than watching fish rise without the right fly!
Tungsten Jig Pheasant Tail. One of Missoula’s most popular fly patterns from March-Novemeber.
The BWO will also emerge in the Spring. Once again, the species are completely different, but the same flies will work. This also explains why a small Pheasant Tail nymph always works in our area. With two separate life cycles, there will always be a size 16-18 little brown mayfly nymph swimming in 3-6 inch bursts. While the BWO might define fall for many anglers, it’s just as effective in the spring. Still loves the cold, still loves the clouds. The only difference is now it’s Spring!
Trout eat constantly. If they’re not surface feeding, they’re sub-surface feeding. It’s a well-known fact that nymphs live in the rocks. It’s a more well-known fact that rocks live on the river bottom! So if you want to get your fly to where the fish are, you need to get your nymph on the bottom. Which is why Euro Nymphing is so effective.
Euro nymphing has been around for 100’s of years. Historic records have anglers fishing deep flies on tight lines in central Europe in the 1600’s. Fast forward to the 60’s, and you find anglers across the United States high stick nymphing, which is also Euro Nymphing. And of course, the competitive anglers across the world have dominated the river portion of the World Fly Fishing Championships with Euro nymphing techniques.
Euro nymphing traditionally uses a long rod (10-11.5 ft.), a FIPS (Fédération Internationale de Peche Sportive Mouche) Euro Nymphing line and a long, monofilament or fluorocarbon leader. The variations from that are endless, but that is the basic setup. The long rod allows for better line control on the water, while the line and leader are chosen for their ability to sink rapidly. You can definitely use a Euro nymph set-up on your 9 ft rod, however the shorter rod will not give you the coverage a longer rod provides, nor will you get the length of drift. But tightliners have been nymphing with 9 ft rods for years with great success.
Perdigon Fly Pattern is one of our most effective Euro Nymphs we carry. Also a very popular dropper off of a dry fly.
The flies are also different than many of the traditional nymphs used in Missoula. The Euro nymphs, like the Perdigon, are designed to sink rapidly. Many feature Tungsten beads on jig style hooks. The jig style hook rides point up, so they hang up less on the bottom of the river. The Missoulian Angler has the largest jig nymph selection in Missoula, and it’s expanding on a yearly basis. These nymphs sink rapidly, snag less and take trout.
The Euro nymph fisherman is running a relatively a relatively short line (10-25 ft) with 1-2 flies and maybe some weight, depending on depth. The FIPS line is quite thin, and not utilized as a classic fly casting line. The cast is accomplished using the weight of the flies and the flexibility of the long rod to cast the nymphs. The design of the Euro nymphs takes them to the bottom quickly, and the long rod allows the angler to control their depth and speed with incredible precision. The graphite rod translates every bump and tick back to the angler’s hand. As the flies ride close to the bottom, where the fish are, the tight line instantaneously allows the angler to set the hook upon take.
Working at such a close distance, euro nymphing is more suited to faster moving water. You can definitely Euro nymph in slower water, but your wading game had better be in top form! Euro nymphing does not work well from a boat. You need to have a bit more control over your flies depth than is achievable from a boat. Additionally, it often takes a couple of passes through a viable lie before the proper depth and speed is achieved, which is quite difficult from a boat.
Euro nymphing is all about getting the fly where the fish live, allowing the fish to expend minimum energy to feed. There is no method of fishing that is more effective. The relative water currents are slowest at the bottom of a river. The nymphs in the rocks are at the bottom of the river. The fish get a maximum return for a minimum effort when feeding, so they spend the majority of their time hugging the bottom. When you get your fly where the fish are feeding, you take more fish. Simple as that. So if you’re all about catching a lot of fish, call and ask the Missoulian Angler Fly Shop about Euro nymphing opportunities in Missoula. Once you get the technique figured out, your catch rate will jump exponentially.
