Discharge from Libby Dam is presently 6000 cfs, water is gin clear, and the generally speaking the river is in excellent shape. Fall conditions are hear with chilly, crisp mornings and cool evenings. It’s a wonderful time of year and there’s good wading access up and down the river. Hoppers and droppers are still the primary mover and shaker rig. But it’s a small world after all. Each afternoon for several days millions of size 20 flying black ants have hit the water and the trout are loving them. Rises and feeding fish doing the sippy-sippy thing can be seen for miles but in this case the fishing can be great but the catching very difficult. Long leaders and 6X are the name of the game if you happen to find yourself in the middle of an ant fall. It’s also important to target specific fish instead of flock shooting since most of the time feeding trout will be cruising around in slower currents and not necessarily stationary. Threading the needle can be difficult with literally tens of naturals on the water competing with your bug. But give it a shot, take yourself to school, and challenge your abilities with some ultra technical conditions. In moving water parachute adams and other attractors are moving fish and there’s still a smattering of caddis and pmd’s in throughout the day. We’re also seeing the occassional fall caddis (big stimulator will work) and also the occassional aquatic moth (#10 tan tarantula) as well. All in all the fall is a ball and big fish are getting the feed bag on!!!
G-man does it again! 17 inches of Kootenai rainbow!