Little Missouri Fly Fishing

Thanks a ton for the report, Mike! I thought about dropping you a text earlier just to see if you were even seeing fish, much less getting to know any of them!

Nice to know there was some rain around there to get anything "muddied up"! 

It has been ridiculously hot down here, as most all of us know. We have now had 11 straight days of 105 or higher here in the Port!  The last four, including today, have been records of 109, 110, 110, and 106! So just be glad you're not in Shreveport. And you know what - people are still getting out for tennis lessons!

Anyway, it was a great thing that we did have a good core of water from the winter and spring! The lake is still at 538.43', but it has dropped 2 feet this past week! There needs to be some water coming back in soon...

It has been a wild summer for me going all the way back to June and maybe I can sit down long enough to get a "Latest" report together. I haven't been to the river since early June, due to THE storm, my bride's stay in the hospital, prolonged house work and a tree (from THE storm) through the roof of my office that stayed there for about five weeks! I didn't turn on my computer for three weeks!

My tying stuff is packed up for the most part! Vise and tools are all okay, lost a significant amount of materials, but not the most important stuff. The hole in the roof was directly over my tying bench! I was able to cover it quickly and save a bunch.

SO! It's really nice to know there are fish still in the river and the brutal heat is about to break a bit. Maybe I can get back up there sometime in the next few weeks... Keep a close eye on them, Mike! 

 

Hen,  I enjoy your posts.  I'm still learning the Little Mo and your posts have been invaluable for me and has been great in helping me teach my 11 yo son how to fly fish.  (I'm trying to learn all the geographical references that you make, like Sycamore Run and Couch Hole)

This past winter with all the rain and the water releases, your posts helped keep me from driving an hour just to have my son disappointed by the unfishable conditions, so if I haven't thanked you for that, I want to thank you now.

The stocking reports last winter were great too.  I've fly fished for 30+ years and this is the time I am now trying to teach my son the joys of fly fishing.  The Little Mo is an amazing water for teaching if the conditions are right (stockings/generation/etc) , but there are so many nuances, having your updates is what really makes it shine.

Me and my Son thank you.

Needless to say, the fishing here is poor this time of year! You just gotta like to cast a fly rod and maybe catch a limit if fish. The weather is hot but the water temperature is staying around 60 degrees because of all the generation.  The water is even staying cool down river but don’t waste your time, the fishing is even poorer at River Ridge and Hinds Bluff. I tried it last week just to see and caught ONE  fish at RR and one at Hinds Bluff. Both very small and poor health. Remember, just because the water is cool there now, doesn’t mean it didn’t jump way up in temperature in the past, when we had a big rain and big run off of hot water into the river. Watch for a day with a really good wind to give a sustained ripple, a cool morning, and a rising barometer, some kind of hatch and your luck will improve.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been posting here for a year now. I’ve done over 60 posts so I’m averaging one a week, that’s a lot for me!!!  I hope it has been helpful, if not I’ll quit. I also hope I haven’t given any misinformation or misleading statements, if so I’ll stop!  Let me know Jeff if you want me to continue. Most people have been appreciative of the postings. Jim and Judy even sent me a fine Ham from Petit Jean farms, wow!!!  Thank you both so much. Hopefully I’ll have better news to post in November when they start stocking again.

I’m still fishing most every day, that’s what I do!!  Today I caught a few on a “Slider”. That’s one of Jeff’s secret flies that he didn’t use to sell. Maybe he will now that he’s not up here so much, you could ask him. Also still catching some on dry midges and Griffiths Gnats. Sometimes a squirmy worm will work (hot pink) then again sometimes just nothing works, the fish just won’t cooperate.

I’ll keep you posted of any great happenings here, but there just aren’t many this time of year. Does seem that everyday that I go to the park I have to let someone know they can’t fish now with bait, barbed hooks, and they shouldn’t have that stringer full of fish!!😡😡. My standard question now is “do you not know you’re breaking the rules, or do you just not care”. I’ only fish a couple of hours a day but I’m sure it goes on all the time. That’s what happens to our summer fish, either killed or hauled out. If you’re fishing and you see something, say something! 

Summertime trout fishing, gotta love it.

Not a lot to report in the dog days of summer on the Lil’ Mo’. Most all the fishing is now between Sycamore Run and the dam. We had two days of big rains (six inches in two days) and the run off into the river was fast and furious. That made the water temperatures down river jump up to 76 degrees and above. That and all the muddy silt most likely got most of the fish below the Pipeline.  The fish at the park are still plentiful, strong and feisty. The generation schedule they have been doing has kept the water temp at the park around 60, which is great.

The dry fly fishing on this river is one of the most fun anywhere this time of year. The fish are not large but they are plentiful and the action is fast. Size 18 to 20 Gnats and Midges are preferred, but they will hit a variety of size 16 dry flies. 7X tippet is best, but for us heavy handed guys, with a good cast we can get away with 6x tippet. Sometimes, due to no moving water, a little slow stripping will help induce a strike. It’s always best in the early morning and late afternoon, about Prime Time!! 

UPDATE @ 10:00 am.  :   Caught a lot of fish this morning on my Slider. You could do same by stripping Jeff’s “extended body” May fly, it’s similar in size and shape.  Good morning for sliders, very foggy and overcast.

Some days there are quite a lot of people fishing and some days none, but seems there is always a place to get in and catch a few fish. Please try not to stress the fish in the heat of the day. What fish we have left need to last us for another 3 months. If we will all keep advising the poachers that the park is a catch and release area and no bait or barbed hooks, maybe it will continue to be a good summer of fishing on the Little Missouri River.

We have about settled into the summer fishing season. There was no generation for the past 6 days, but the water temperatures have remained good. This morning the water was 58 degrees at the park and 65 degrees at River Ridge. That’s great for the fish. Also, the water clarity has been superb!!  I caught quite a few fish at River Ridge from the stocking pipe to the top of the couch hole. Don’t know how much longer they will last there, but the deep holes continue to hold fish.

The past week has provided some really good opportunities to throw a Griffith Gnat with really good results.  It’s been a lot of fun,hope it continues throughout the summer. There is nothing like the good dry fly fishing on this river. There are so many fish at the park that when the fish are “sipping”,  the water rings seem to touch each other endlessly. I’ve had good luck on the Griffith from size 16 to 22. 

The river seems to be really busy this summer. Saturday when I left the park about 10:30 there were 23 fly fisher people scattered from the dam to the meat hole!!  Mr, Guerin had 5 or 6 clients with him!  Hope they all had a good time and learned something. That’s a lot of people in a small stretch of river, you just kinda have to stake out your territory and wait on the fish to come to you!! 

Mr. Posie is still doing fishing surveys on the river so please make time for him. The other day he said something about a big fish die off at Albert Pike??  I haven’t heard anything more about it. If you have any info on it please advise here.

They finally generated today at 2:00 so we have all new water!!!  New river to fish. 🤗🤗. The barometric pressure is holding down around 29.66, that’s not good for the fishing. Hope it starts rising and stimulates the fish. Until then I always ask, that when you come to this river, that if you will take out just one more piece of trash than you bring in, we will never have a dirty river.