Little Missouri Fly Fishing

Maybe the city water will start smelling bad again and the Corp will let some water out.😷😷

Always hated that stuff! 😑

Sounds like the heartiest of the hearty are hanging in there! But this was always the time of year I'd mention not to fish after noon or so and maybe come back out once the sun was off the water! 😏

15 August 2025

The water temperature at the wall hole yesterday was 71 degrees, which is great for August considering how much flow we have had. We still have live fish, even though they are few and far between. There is a really bad algae bloom building up in the skinny water toward the dam. I usually take the temperature reading in the wall hole this time of year, it's the deepest part of the river with any fish remaining. The bloom makes it almost impossible to run a fly without getting slime all over it. Least little slime on your fly and the fish won't touch it. This happens every year!! 

Any updates on water conditions, like water temperature. Have you been down to the wall hole lately.

Thanks Mike, your explanation clears up a lot of confusion for me.  Let's just hope they get through working on it by November and maybe things get back to normal.

7% is what they ran at for about 5 months last year. 7% is the level they ran at for about a year about 3 years ago. It's when David's rock is out of the water about a foot. Lately they have been doing "minimum flow" at about 11%, David's rock is completely under water, that's uncomfortable to fish. I think 5% would be perfect, but Mr. Mitchell (the dam head man here in Murfreesboro) sez they can't run below 7% because it causes a vortex and the bunger sucks air. So 7% is best we can get for minimum flow. There is no rhyme or reason on how much they open the bunger valve. Sometimes they run it at what I'd call 15 %, not full river but also not fishable. I know it confusing but the Corp itself is confusing!!!!🫤

And a couple more pics!

Been a very long time since that happened, but we had the occasion to get to the South Fork area in Colorado in June! It's a long trip for us as we're not going much more than six hours in a day, but Sandy made it OK - her daughter and partner have built a cabin in South Fork, so that's REALLY convenient, to say the least!

At any rate, I did fish every day. Mostly on the South Fork of The Rio Grande, some on Beaver Creek and a little bit on the big river itself. Had to wait for it to come down a bit before I got in it.

All caddis, all the time, by the way. The Unknown Caddis did all my work the entire trip! So here's just a little of what happened. I'll try to sit down and do a full write up for the website before too long I hope!

Mike, when they do open the Bunger as they have been doing, is it 7% or much more?  It would seem that if it's much more or fully open, then 7% all the time would keep the temps down.  Is that feasible?  And what are the wading conditions at that point if you have seen it at that opening.  Maybe they've never had it at 7%.  Confusing.

They have advised me they can't go below 7% due to a vortex or something!!  Hate that. 4% would be ideal I think