Hoppers in SW Montana

Typically the grasshopper fishing in SW Montana is one of the highlights of our season. Things are just beginning to really warm up as far as the hopper fishing goes.

The big floating rivers: The Beaverhead, Big Hole, Madison and Jefferson are only so so for hopper fishing at the moment. You will find periods during the day when each river will offer some good top water fishing with hoppers but you may have to be more aware of what is happening hour to hour on each stream.

The Beaverhead still has good hatches of pmd's and yellow sallys as well as some hopper fishing on the lower end. You should also consider nymph fishing deep with yellow sally nymphs and pmd patterns.

The Big Hole While temperatures are warm during the day is best fished early in the mornings. Things really slow down in the afternoon. Black Magic dries as well as hoppers on the lower river will produce fish. Think about trailing a small bead head nymph off the back of the dry. On the upper river you may find smaller dry fly fishing as well as limited hopper fishing.

The Madison is erratic top water fishing. More consistent fishing is found deep with bead head nymphs and some dead drifted streamer patterns.

The Jefferson is still floatable in some sections and you can throw hoppers off the banks. Again think about trailing bead heads off the dry fly.

As always, Clark Canyon Reservoir in August is producing large fish. Use small midge patterns off an indicator or strip small leech patterns with a sinking line.

Good luck