Trout Fishing the Mo

Tuesday was the first of 3 days with a crew that local angler, Jim, has been bringing over to the Mo for years.  The weatherman said we would get clouds in the afternoon so we decided to head down into the canyon today.  I was paired up with Jim and Sall and we started off with deep nymph rigs.

Jim tagged a nice rainbow in our first spot, but I knew something was off when we fished a big inside just after that and didn’t touch a fish.  That’s usually good for a few trout so we switched to the short leash rods and ducked into a side channel.

There were fish in there, but they were all whitefish so we pushed out to the next fast bank and Jim connected with another nice rainbow.  Below that we settled into a back eddy that produced a few fish.  Jim got a couple bows in there and Sal found 3 in the back of the boat.

Jim added another nice rainbow in fast water and that brought us into lunch.  In the afternoon we started back with the deep rigs and after fishing a great run with nothing I switched the flies up and Jim found a solid rainbow.  Then we went short and the guys doubled up with a rainbow and brown off a foamy seam.

I thought that might be the start of something but it was still a bit of a struggle.  Sal found a hot rainbow on another fast bank, but then some very good water didn’t produce at all so we changed flies and went deep again.  The last hour was probably our most consistent of the day.

Some of the big foam swirlies were holding fish and we hooked up in each one of those.  Jim landed a couple hard fighting bows in the first one and then Sal closed us out with a good rainbow and nice brown in the last couple of spots.  They raised the river level yesterday and we had over an inch of rain.

That big weather change along with bright sun almost all day made the fishing more challenging than it usually is.  We had fun and put to some nice fish in the net, but we will be looking to improve on that tomorrow.

Trout Fishing the Mo

Wednesday we headed upriver with Jim’s crew to Wolf Creek and were greeted by a stiff downstream wind for most of the morning.  I fished with John and Fred, and we started off with deep nymph rigs.  Like yesterday, the trout were not super grabby early.

We didn’t move anything in the first two spots and then John hooked two rainbows in the next run but they both came unbuttoned.  Meanwhile the whitefish seemed to be in love with every fly Fred was throwing as he couldn’t keep them off early.

John hooked trout in all of our runs but they kept getting off so we swapped out his fly with the exact same thing minus the bad karma.  That worked as he landed the very next fish to get us on the board with trout.  From there our fishing started to improve and we netted healthy trout in all the runs including a couple doubles before we pulled out of the wind for lunch.

We stayed deep to start in the afternoon and Fred immediately hooked up to a hot rainbow and then added another one in a deep foam eddy.  Then we switched to the short leash rods and the fishing really turned on.  John landed the next 3 rainbows off the same bank including a thick bow in skinny water that dragged us way downriver.

Fred and John doubled up several more times in the afternoon and continued to pick off singles on the good banks.  Fred boated a great brown trout and John stuck a bright 20″ rainbow.  We finished up with another double right at the take out.

It was spotty fishing to start the day, but the momentum continued to build and it turned out to be Fred’s best day on the water ever and a really good day for the whole group.

Trout Fishing the Mo

Thursday I took Jim and Mitch up to Land of the Giants in the jet boat. We pulled off the dock at 8:00 and headed upriver early. We started off in the middle river and the fish were grabby right away. The first couple passes produced several strikes and a nice rainbow in the net on each drift.

The fishing remained steady as the guys averaged one big rainbow every pass. I switched around the flies a little to see if there was something that could have been even better, but everything worked about the same with a couple strikes in each run. In the late morning we ran to the upper river and fished there just before and after lunch.

We hooked some big slabs in the fast water up there as Jim and Mitch both put heavy rainbows in the net. It was really good up there and we would have stayed there longer but the wind started to blow hard and it just wasn’t possible to keep the boat in position up there so we slid back down to the middle river.

We fished the opposite side from the morning and it was loaded with big fish. The guys were hooking a couple fish on each drift and we had a number of doubles in the late afternoon. Big rainbows were making long, screaming runs upstream and Mitch and Jim both had big grins.

The guys doubled up one last time on our final drift and after releasing those thick rainbows we motored back to the marina. It was Mitch’s best day ever at LOG and the guys were bent on hard fighting rainbows all day long.

Trout Fishing the Mo

Long-time angler, Dianne, was in town this week with her son Paul and nephew Todd. They fished a couple days with fellow guide, David, and on Friday I took Paul and Todd on the first trip to Land of the Giants. Todd has been fly fishing for years, but this was Paul’s first fly fishing trip.

After a day on the water with David he was pretty dialed in but I did a quick review before we started. Paul got us started with a nice rainbow on the first drift and then Todd followed that up with one of the smallest rainbows I’ve ever seen at LOG on the next pass.

That 10 incher gave us a laugh and then we were back to business. The guys put a couple more quality bows in the net on the middle river and then we motored up toward the dam in the fast water. The fishing up there was lights out good with multiple hook ups on each pass and a couple doubles for Todd and Paul.

It’s hard to leave fishing that good, but I wanted to give the guys the grand tour since it was their first time so we ran out to the lake to try the chronimid fishing. Just a few minutes on the lake and Paul was tight to a bright fish.

Then Todd went on a heater with the next 3 fish including a hot rainbow that ran him all the way into the backing. After that we took a ride down into the Gates of the Mountains for lunch. It was a gorgeous boat ride and there were a bunch of bald and golden eagles flying around.

For the afternoon the guys wanted to fish the river so we shot back upstream. The fishing was great right away with several more big rainbows in the first few passes and then they tightened up a little. We switched the flies around a little and started finding them again.

Paul had a big fish run him straight upstream into his backing before coming unbuttoned. I would’ve liked to have seen that one. Our last drift produced another thick rainbow for Paul, and as he was hooking up his flies Todd hooked a bright fish and both guys were able to finish the trip with a nice trout on their last cast. It was another solid day at LOG with great scenery and a bunch of big trout.

Trout Fishing the Mo

We had several other groups in this week with some great fish in the net.  The fact that everyone we have fished with this spring on the Mo is already planning their return trip next year speaks for itself!

Tight Lines,

Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516