Flip Flops one day Snow Boots the next!

You’ve gotta love, or at least respect Montana weather in the spring.  It’s not uncommon to experience all four seasons in a single day.  So, 84 degrees yesterday and a high of 39 on Sunday.  How does this affect the fishing over the weekend?  Opening day on the upper Beaverhead is on Saturday.  It’s a mess but everybody will be catching some big fish.  This year’s opening day has the Beaverhead River at 500 cfs, much more water than in many previous openers.  The good news is this, It is closed to guiding below High Bridge on the opener as well as non-resident float fishing.  If you own a boat and live within a few hours, where is the better option?  Also, the Big Hole looks to have crested and will drop over the weekend.  Lot’s of amazing options in our part of the state.

Beaverhead River – The highly prolific, big fish laden upper Beaverhead River opens on Saturday.  It’s like football season, there is the time of the year when the upper Beaverhead is open and then there is the rest of the year, which is kind of boring.  Sure, it will be crowded, but I’ll guarantee that if you ditch the crowd and float below High Bridge, you’ll find big fish that haven’t seen a fly in 7 1/2 months.  Cigarette butts will probably work well at the opening bell, but expect sow bugs, San Juan worms, a few small olive patterns and some weird stuff to work well, it is opening day.

Big Hole River – We lost some water with the recent hot weather that would be nice to have later in the summer, but the Big Hole will drop over the weekend with the falling temperatures.   The big question is this, when will the big bugs pop?  I’ve fished it my whole life and guided it for 36 years, and I would not bet a dollar on Kalshi.  San Juan worms will rule the day and water levels are up enough to improve the streamer bite.  Don’t forget, the Yellow Yummy was born on the Big Hole.