Category: Big Hole River

Our crew came back from the Big Hole River with some great news…the new flies float!!! Just kidding. Well, they do float well, but they also catch fish, a lot of fish. So, swing on in here and take a peek! The big bugs on the Big Hole were definitely out in full force. Salmon flies, golden stones and caddis were all on the smorgasbord. The crew floated from Dewey Canyon to Melrose. The golden stone bite was really good in the beginning of the float but it eventually died off and went to just salmon flies for a bit. The salmon fly golden stone bite was good and lots of fish were put in the boat! Dan Delekta’s Secret Salmon Fly size 6 and the Secret Golden size 6 were hot but not as hot as his newest bug, the Delektable Royal Chubbyness size 12. The new chubbyness patterns from the Delektable fly factory are in and we are fully stocked!                                                            

Marty also went to the Big Hole River yesterday with a father and son combo who are friends; Ross and Emmett. You have seen photos of them before as they fish quite a bit and send us reports. Emmett is building his own rods and fishing them. They beat them up on the Delektable Royal Chubbyness size 12. They threw salmon flies and golden stones too but the chubbyness in a size 12 was just what they wanted. It was a day where the trout would swirl around and go up to the fly, take a look, and swirl again depending on the fly pattern. That is typical of the Salmon Fly hatch action as the trout eat like crazy then are full but take a look anyway. It’s really fun action all day. More news on the Upper Madison coming soon….Happy Fishing Everybody!!!  -DanG

Happy Birthday! DanG and Ross!

Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis, Mother’s day Caddis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <– Each Mother’s days Caddis has 3 exclamation points to express the severity of how hard the fish ate it today.

To experience this on any river in the west is unbelievable! When the right conditions come together, (overcast, water clarity and warming of the water temps) it is the perfect storm for the dry or die guy. This happened to Tim and Dan. Rainbows, browns, cutthroat and cut/browns between 12 and 17 inches were caught non-stop from Jerry Creek to Divide Bridge.

Days like this are never forgotten! The three day period of the mother’s day caddis is hard to target, but unbelievable when the perfect storm happens. The bugs we used were the Delektable Sparkle Bug size 14 and 16 in the tan or gray, and the Delektable Halo size 14-16 also in the tan or gray. We tried other patterns, but these were the ones that the fish destroyed. Get out there and fish!!!  -Big Dan

Dan took our long time friends and brothers who have fished with us many years, Tim and Brian to the Big Hole. There were plenty of hatches going on with PMD’s, Sallies, and Caddis. They fished both dries and nymphs, tightlines with small beadhead nymphs into the banks. Small PMD Cripples worked. They had Caddis mania all evening.

Dan and Nancy

Road trip!

Dan and I took clients to the Big Hole River on Monday, and had another incredible day of fishing.

We had very favorable weather; cool and clear in the morning, warm and clear most of the day with one potential rainmaker that passed without incident. It was a little breezy in the afternoon, but much less wind than our trip there a few days earlier.

The big bugs had passed; I saw no adult Salmon Flies and only four Golden Stones during our float. But in the post-Salmon/Golden hatch, the fish were still looking for the big meals. The Stone dry with a Stone nymph suspended under it was once again the winning combo, catching fish after fish throughout the float. There were multiple double hookups, including one on the same line, with one fish on the dry and one on the nymph; both fish jumped in the air at the same time on the hookset.

With a decent Caddis and Mayfly hatch coming off, a couple of the fisherman also threw Caddis dries and Caddis/Mayfly nymphs, which also drew strikes.

Another awesome day on the Big Hole!

The dries that produced best were Dan’s Secret Salmon and Secret Golden, and Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis. Nymphs bringing the strikes were Delektable Sure Strike Peacock, Tungsten Special BH Epoxyback PMD, Delektable Mega Prince, and Pat’s Rubberlegs Tan/Brown.

While the big-bug bite is tailing out on the Big Hole, it’s just getting into high gear on the Madison. So get out and get in on the action!

Marty

There are good days on the river, and there are really good days on the river.

Thursday was a really good day.

It was a day off for myself and the bosses, Dan and Nancy. We heard the reports of the Salmon Flies on the Big Hole river.

Road trip!

The expected boat hatch was in full bloom, so we put on a little later, and slipped in behind the flotilla. Despite the estimated 50 to 60 boats dredging the water ahead of us, we had hot action for the entire 18-mile float. With Salmon Flies in the air and in the bushes we, of course, started with Salmon dries. We were barely out of the launch when we had our first of many double hookups. Dan also ran his favorite double-rig; a Salmon dry with a Salmon nymph under it.

The Salmons drew incredible bites for about half the float, then cooled at the same time we started seeing Golden Stones flying. The Golden dries went on the lines and the action was right back to hot and heavy.The Goldens, dry and wet, produced for most of the second half of the trip, turning off shortly before the end. Despite there being no other bugs in the air, and the weather turning dark and threatening rain, Dan decided to go back to the Salmon dries, and the bite was back on all the way to the ramp.

What a day!

The nymphs that worked were the Delektable Mega Prince in #6 and #8, and the Tungsten Bead Goldenstone #8. The Salmon and Golden dries were some of Dan’s “Secret” patterns that are in “field-testing” at the moment, and should be available in the shop next season. Sorry guys.

It was beautiful and very green in the valley. And…The day ended with doubles again….Fun! Happy Fishermen and Women!

Marty

Fishing with a father and son has always been one of my favorites. Especially with Harry at

84 years old and Wayne being a similar age to me. It brings up memories of fishing a lifetime with my own dad. We fished from Jerry Creek to the Powerhouse two different days on the Big Hole.

There were Tricos, small PMDs and Caddis; the pictures tell the story.

Big Dan

A stormy day with #8 and #10 Royal Chubbies with Soft Hackle Trailers.

Dan

This was a notable day off for three shop boys: Big Dan, Young Dan, and the Montajun. It was a great day for fishing and topped off with very entertaining company.  Fishing was consistent throughout the day with the bite beginning on nymphs, then dries, then nymphs, then dries again. There were fish in every section of the 23 miles we floated of the Big Hole. The nymphs that worked were Damien’s Sick Stone and the Delektable Goldenstone, Lil’ Spankers PT, Gold Lightening Bugs, and a Partridge Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle. The dries included: Dan’s Secret Golden, Delektable Royal and Peacock Halos, and Delektable Royal and Purple Teasers. We saw three Moose with two bulls together. It was a fantastic day for the catching. We were so busy catching, Dan was the only fish photo….Truth!

Big Dan, Young Dan, and Marty

June 12th and 13th and we were killin the trout with the salmon flies! Purple haze worked some but mostly with the big nasty salmon flies! Dad and I fished through two days and it got pretty chilly and rainy down at the Big Hole! We still had a blast!

David N Lamm

We had a great family day off. It was big to get Me out of the shop for a full day of fishing away. It was great fun and very entertaining. The salmon flies were there and golden stones and caddis. Even the fish entertained us. We saw one good sized trout rise twice above the surface almost jumping into our raft, it jumped so high. The water was perfect, the true tea color of the Big Hole.

We had a full mix of weather conditions similar to the previous day with changes in wind patterns to 30 miles an hour against us and some pretty big storms, then sunny and calm, then big weather again. That was very interesting casting and rowing. We started off with a Royal Chubby and a nymph trailer with some action, more on the top. We were seeing tons of Caddis out and seeing rising fish so I changed to a double dry Caddis and Allie changed her dropper. Allie got more hits on her combo and I did not get hardly any hits on the caddis combo. Then we started seeing more Salmon Flies and switched to one of Dan’s special Salmon Flies with a custom dubbed body. I call them furry tummy Salmon Flies. The trout really went for this fly on a regular basis. The next trick was to figure out how to land them. I was out of practice and with the salmon flies, you have to wait an extra second to let them gulp it. I was very entertained while missing a several trout. Allie was the champ scoring many, both on the dry and the dropper.

Dan stopped in a side channel and got a really nice fish in the quiet water but we missed getting the photo. He caught a half dozen more fish in the same area same fly combo. Further down river the Goldens were really coming off and we switched to the furry tummy Golden and it was my turn to catch more. The fish were really biting. Funny thing is with Salmon flies, the fish do tend to hit more with the wind and weather than in the calm as that is what causes the big flies to fall in the water.

What a fun day! Thanks for rowing Dan!

Nancy