Notes from Kingfisher Lodge

The river is still up at 12,500cfs, but it is lots of fun. We just had a group from the Seattle, WA. area (Division 9), that had a blast! The fishing was great, and they really appreciated Keith’s cooking. From all of us at the Kingfisher, “Thanks for a great week Boys and Sandra!”

Matt

As the saying goes, “what a difference a day makes”! The current flow is now 10200 cfs. Fishing still remains good, but you gotta throw some lead, and a long leader to get down to where they live. Also, at this flow the wade fishing is virtually gone (except for a few spots). We are hoping that this is about the maximum flow during run off, but I am not so certain we won’t see a little more before it starts to go down. The good news is that our little fishy friends continue to put on weight. They have been enjoying an “all you can eat” worm, scud, and sowbug buffet for several weeks. You better bring your “A game” folks, cause these fish are fat, healthy, and ready to fight!

As of today the river is still at 7071cfs. The fishing throughout has remained solid. We are definitely seeing these fish put on a lot of weight and quickly. Within the past 2 weeks I would say these fish have increase there body mass by 10-15%. In short, these fish are fat healthy and ready to rip !

P.S  Thanks you to last weeks guests: Clay, Mark, Louis, Tom, John, Morgan, you all are wonderful to have at the lodge! Sorry about poker night. Also, many thanks to the Franzens. It’s great to have 3 generations of comic relief at the lodge! We hope to see all of you again.

Matt

As of today the river is sitting at 7070cfs. Fishing remains good from the boat with lots of lead. There aren’t a lot of wade spots available at this flow, but there are a few nooks and crannies to pick a few off while wading. We are starting to see the fish looking for a few more “garden hackle flies” aka san juan worms, as well as the bigger scuds and sowbugs. I think we are going to see a lot more water before it’s all said and done with (maybe as much as 10000 cfs.). Either way the fish are happy and eager to bite!

The river is rising, and I don’t mean the fish! We have been experiencing a lot of rain during the cold front that’s descended upon Montana and much of the North West. The river has gone from 4500 cfs to 5950 in the past 2 days. The first day they raised the river it shut the dry fly fishing off.  Any time the river flow gets altered significantly there is a large water temperature change as well. This will often shut the dryfly hatches down.  The nymphing has remained solid despite the rising flows. We will see how it fishes today now that the river has stabilized a bit.

P.S Thanks to Joe and David Brown. It’s great to see father and son spend time on the water. Also, thanks to Bob Marriotts Travel. Pete, Jim, Tom, and Norm were absolutely wonderful to have at the lodge. Many thanks as well to Off the Beaten Path and the Gillmans as well as Mark and Kristen Billowus. The past week was great thanks to all of you!

Well the water level remains the same around 4500 cfs. This is great news for the fish and even better news for the angler. We are continuing to have decent top water action on BWO’s and midges (depending on the wind and weather). We are experiencing a cold front
this week, which has dropped temperatures from the mid 80’s to the high 50’s low 60’s. I will let you know how the fish and bugs respond to the temperature drop.

Well folks it is the end of May and the Bureau has somehow managed to keep the river around 4500 cfs. The fishing has still been great on midges and olives on top water. Scuds, sowbugs, midge pupa, and BWO nymphs have done the trick under the surface. Believe it or not, we have had a few fish caught on hoppers to date! We are hoping that is a good sign of things to come. Keep checking in for up to date posts.

Here’s another update from the Horn. The water situation has stabilized once again after the Bureau finished the new gaging system for actual discharge at the Afterbay dam. For those who fished the river during the upgrade, it was a wild ride. The water flows varied from 1400 cfs to almost 5500 cfs. The fishing was really good on the draw down, but got a little tough on the up-flow. Now the river is sitting at about 4o40cfs and fishing is good! We are still having good migdes (all day depending on the temp.) and good baetis in the afternoon. We are still waiting to see what the spring run off will do to the lake levels, which will ultimately dictate our June river flows. Right now it’s anyones guess. The upside is that no matter what the flows this river is in great shape with lots of fish. The only variable is that higher flows mean more time in the boat, because there is less wade fishing opportunities when the river gets above 7000 cfs. I will keep you posted.

Matt

In one word the fishing on the Horn this Spring is GREAT! Besides the usual nymphing with scuds, sowbugs, midges, and BWO’s, the dry fly fishing has been steady. If we get a cloudy windless day, you can count on some excellent midge and BWO top water action. In short, the Bighorn of days believed long gone is back!

Matt McMeans