Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Tuesday was another chance to get out with the jet boat at the Gates of the Mountains. Fellow guide, John, was in town so we ran up for a short day of fishing. The boat ran well and I was able to scout a little more of the river.

The scenery in the Gates is spectacular and I am excited to share that this season. John is a big streamer angler so he started off stripping streamers, but the fish wanted no part of that as he didn’t have a grab or even a chase in several good runs.

At that point, he switched over to a deep nymph rig and hooked up on nearly every pass we made. By the time he had landed a handful of nice rainbows, the weather was starting to turn sour and we decided to call it a day. We ran back to the dock with rain on our tail but managed to stay dry. Another good scouting mission is complete.

Cloudy morning at Gates of the Mountains- Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Wednesday was the first of 3 days with long-time angler, Bill, and his friend Stephen. We launched at Wolf Creek and started off fishing deep nymph rigs. I was a little surprised when we didn’t touch a fish in the first two spots, then Bill had a couple of brief hookups.

We rowed back up that spot again and Bill got the skunk off with a nice rainbow. He added another one in the next run and then Stephen joined the party. From there it was a steady morning. The reliable spots were all holding fish and the guys ended up with some great trout in the net.

Just before lunch Bill tangled with a big brown that jumped several times and then Stephen tagged a nice, colorful rainbow. It was more of the same in the early afternoon. We hooked two right away as soon as we started fishing again and boated a fish or two in all of the good spots. Later, the blue-wing olive hatch came off thick and we changed over to a short leash rig with a couple of mayfly nymphs.

That was the ticket the rest of the way. The big foam swirl runs were loaded with trout and the faster banks and shallow riffles all produced as well. We landed one double in the afternoon along with several other doubles where one fish got away on us. It was mostly hard fighting rainbows, but I was happy to see 7 or 8 browns in the net today too.

The action was steady all the way to the take out where Bill had a hot fish that came unbuttoned right at the boat ramp. Pleasant weather, very little wind, and good fishing made it a great day to be on the river.

Stephen hooked up in the morning- Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Classic Missouri rainbow- Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022 — Classic Missouri rainbow – Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Thursday I decided to take Bill and Stephen down in the canyon on Mo. We started off with deeper nymph rigs and Stephen didn’t waste any time with 3 fish in the first run.

They were eating mayfly nymphs early and once I switched Bill over he came tight on a nice fish too. We had tons of action all morning from a pile of 10-14″ rainbows and browns with a few bigger fish mixed in. After lunch, we changed to a short leash rig as the blue-wing hatch was massive again today. That setup was deadly, and I don’t even know how many doubles the guys had.

It was a lot of those mid-sized fish on the hunt, but as the afternoon progressed we started finding bigger and bigger fish. Bill had a couple of browns near 18″ and Stephen had a number of rainbows in the 17-19″ range. Every run we fished produced, and we usually had multiple hookups in each of those spots.

The weather was absolutely perfect with mostly clouds, decent temps, and no wind all day. I always feel fortunate to float Mo with no wind and the trout certainly responded today with action from start to finish. Stephen landed the last fat rainbow of the day with the boat anchored at the take-out.

Beautiful day in the canyon- Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

No shortage of great trout to the boat- Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Missouri River Fly Fishing 2022

Friday was my last day with Bill and Stephen. We had an ominous forecast with rain/snow and cooler temps scheduled for most of the day. The good news was the rough weather forecast caused many anglers to cancel, and the best news was the weather turned out better than expected.

It was cool and rainy in the morning so I decided to play it safe and launch at the dam. There were only a couple of private boats around, and we basically had the river to ourselves today. Bill connected on the first pass with a healthy bow and when we went back up and fished that run again both anglers hooked up.

The next good run produced a bunch of hookups, several big rainbows, and our first double of the day. It’s always impressive to see some of those thick rainbows on the upper river.

The rain let up mid-morning as the guys continued to tangle with hot fish in every spot. We landed a couple more 18+” bows before ducking under Wolf Creek bridge to avoid a rain squall and eat lunch.

The bugs were a little behind schedule with the cooler weather so we stayed with the deep nymph rig for most of the afternoon and Stephen didn’t waste any time with a solid hook up 30 feet from where we had lunch.

All the normal spots were giving up nice fish until we had a little lull in a couple of runs around 2:30. I switched the guys over to mayfly nymphs and they immediately doubled up and we were off to the races again. At the end of the day the bugs finally showed up and we changed over to the short leash nymph rig.

We picked up a couple in a big foam eddy and then Stephen capped off the trip with 3 more bright rainbows in the last two spots including his last fish which he landed right at the takeout again today. These guys are a true pleasure to fish and I look forward to seeing Bill again at the beginning of June on Mo.