Tag Archives: dry fly and dropper

midges and movement

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Midges. Some dries and nymphs. Fairly small: size 20,18. Sometimes I tie smaller. On one of my favorite tailwater rivers in central Montana I’ll fish a midge dry down and across to a rising or bulging (midging) trout on a flat water section. If no response after a few drifts then I try a few other other patterns including some suspender types, etc. If still no success then I’ll tie on a lightly weighted Zebra nymph (plastic clear bead on head and a few wraps of wire on body to help it break the surface) just 3 or 4 inches below the dry. Then I go with the same presentation angle (down and across). If still unsuccessful then I try slightly twitching the dry and nymph (upstream movement) just in front of the feeding fish. Often this will elicit a response, sometimes on the dry but usually on the nymph which is hanging slightly below the surface and with the movement/ twitch may look like it is emerging/ rising in the water. Sometimes the movement catches a trout’s eye and it lunges for the impression (dry or nymph). Some of my best Springtime angling has been midge fishing in the morning in a protected area where the wind is light or non-existent and some fish are “up” on them. On those days I’m usually just hanging-out hoping for a good Blue Winged Olive hatch to begin in the afternoon. A few solid trout on Springtime midges is a great way to kick-off the season…

zebra midge

golden midge

High Water, Dropper Required

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I was out-of-town for awhile and have been at work this past week so I kind of feel out of touch with the rivers in my area. I did get out a few times in the evening after work and fished until dark. My local river has been fishing poorly. Usually post run-off it is dynamite (rising fish) but not this year, so far. Last year was a similar experience. On the weekend I checked the flow rate (cubic meter stuff) on several of my favorite rivers out on the plains and in the foothills. The numbers were high. I then drove around to have an actual look. One tailwater was really off-color. The other tailwater was half off-color. It was clear on the spillway side of the river and dirty on the other side where water is released from the bottom of the dam. Fishing it looked a little dicey so I drove above the sizeable reservoir to where it is simply a large freestone river. There it was high but the clarity slightly better. I decided to fish the edges and reachable slow spots with a dry fly and a dropper. I couldn’t negotiate (wade) much of the river. The angling was slow but I managed several small fish and then eventually one good brown trout which I got a photo of.  All fish were taken subsurface, on a dropper. Usually at this time of the year I see some stoneflies and pmd’s but I saw no noticeable insect life. There are not many sight fishing opportunities on these rivers at present due to high water. I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for levels to drop and keep my fingers crossed for continued heat and little rain. In the meantime I may have to go up into the mountains to find some low, clear streams and search for cutthroats.

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brown trout