Montana Trout Scout

Floated Jeffery's to Whitebird Wed. Sunny and very windy. No bugs. Fish would not eat a dry or a nymph. Caught some nice ones on the streamer, though. Slow swing through the deep holes got it done. Nothing fancy, just a black bugger. The Stilly is very low due to cold temps. The mountains are magnificent with their heavy load of snow.

This brown ate an olive wooly bugger. Great time with Ron on the Big Horn!

This one ate a #18 pheasant tail.

This one ate a #18 parachute.

Spent two days fishing the 'Horn. Great baetis hatches around 2pm. Big fish up on 'em. Also caught nice fish on streamers and nymphs. Not picky fish right now.

Made a recon trip to the Stillwater yesterday. Started up past Dean, looking for spawning activity. None yet. Still winter up there, with midges the only bugs in evidence. Worked my way down, found my first indication of mayflies at Spring Creek. Found some Blue Winged Olive (baetis) and March Brown (Rithrogena) shucks in the eddies, but only saw a couple of adults all day. Caught some nice pre-spawn rainbows on a #18 baetis nymph. It produced some hard, splashy rises fished in the film and the bead head version worked dropped under a parachute. It's just going to get better!

Floated the Stone yesterday. Sunny and warm for a change, but the wind came up in the afternoon. No bugs, some baetis shucks and dead adults in foam piles. Not enough to signify a hatch. Caught fish nymphing and a few on streamers. Pheasant tails, prince nymphs and black wooly buggers. Slow on Rock Creek this afternoon. A few little black stoneflies on the snow. There are several different mayfly nymphs evident near the banks. The baetis and rith nymphs aren't overly abundant yet and they aren't really looking mature. I think (there I go again) that the first good hatches are a couple of weeks away.