Road Trip: Fly fishing the Missouri in February

Hooked up at Eagle Rock

Well, it finally happened. Cabin fever got the best of me and I had to get out of the house for some fishing. Usually it's a steelhead trip to Idaho this time of year, but the conditions have been miserable over there so I joined up with friends Jason and John for a road trip to the Missouri. I pulled my boat and Jason towed his killer trailer over to Craig. If you've ever been over to the Mo' then you know there's not a lot in the way of services and there's even less in the winter. Unless you're content to sleep on the floor of Joe's Bar or Headhunters Flyshop then you had better bring your own accommodations. 

Jason with a Big Streamer Bow

We arrived in Craig around 3 p.m. on Fri. afternoon and after catching up with the guys at the fly shop and setting up the trailer in the campground we headed up to put the boat in below Holter dam. It was fairly nice weather, partly cloudy, no wind and 40. The nymph fishing was nothing short of spectacular. After an hour or so of non-stop action on nymphs we decided to slide downstream and look for some rising fish. Dry flies in Feb????? When the conditions are right there can be some great, but technical dry fly fishing for big pods of sippers on midges. As soon as the sun slipped behind the ridge we had an inside bend that was covered in rising trout for over 100 yards. It was a great scene, but it was by no means easy pickings. The fish were very selective but Jason and John were both able to connect with nice rainbows on dry flies.

On the Hunt for Meat Eaters

Day two was cooler and breezier. Since Sat. is typically the busiest day on the Mo' we decided to float below Craig to avoid other anglers. It was also an opportunity to check out the winter streamer fishing. It's hard for me to believe that these fish will move for a streamer in 34 degree water, but they will. Slow water was key and a slow swing/strip was the retrieve that they wanted. We didnt' see the numbers of fish that we hooked up by the dam on nymphs but I thought we did really well considering the conditions. We landed over 20 fish on the big bugs, most were rainbows from 15-20" but once we got below the mouth of the Dearborn we boated 4 or 5 browns up to 19".  Of course, Sat. night is big in Craig, MT so after dinner we headed over to Joe's Bar for some pool, some lies, and a few drinks with the boys from Headhunters.

Bugger Brown Trout

 

Sun. started warm and calm, but the wind kicked up in the late morning and cold hands were part of the day. We headed back up to float the dam to Craig knowing that we would have good nymphing and hoping to find some dry fly fishing. We parked the boat in one spot up by the dam and the fishing was insane. The kind of stuff you really don't want to describe because most people won't believe you. It's the first time I've ever seen a quadruple! John and I doubled up on nice rainbows. We netted both of them, got the hooks out and before Jason could release them, John and I were doubled up again. It was quite a sight to see 4 big Mo' rainbows in the net at the same time. We probably could've stayed in that spot and caught fish all day long but we decided to move downstream. The wind never really let up and the temp never got to 40 so our dry fly prospects didn't happen, but the nymphing remained good until the cold wind had us rowing for the take out around 5.

Nice Double with Mr. Double Up Himself

It's so nice to have a river like the Missouri only 2 hours away. Any time of year that a trout fix is in order we can just roll over Rodgers Pass and a bent rod is only a cast and a good mend away. I shot a lot of video over there as well and hope to have something up later this week.

 

Most of the 2012 season is already booked. If you haven't made your fishing plans yet this year you should consider doing so as soon as possible. Skwalas are only a few short weeks away and I can't wait to start throwing big dries on the Bitterroot this March.