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July 2011

Jimmy's All Seasons Angler / 2011 / July (Page 4)

Small Streams 7-11-2011

Some of these are rounding into shape.  These include the Salt River tribs which can offer some good browns and cutts.  Look for sallys, caddis, PMDs and a few golden stones to be present. Along with their life cycle patterns traditional attractor will be effective.

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South Western Montana 7-11-2011

A few gulpers are showing on Hebgen Lake.  The Madison River below Quake is still running high but is beginning to clear.   Streamers and San Juan worms are taking some good fish. They don’t pay much attention to the big dries that are commonly fished this time of year when there are plenty of  things to eat on the bottom. But the big stoneflies are working their way up the river as it clears and drops.  So look for patterns for them to soon be effective.  Want to fish a great small stream here?  Try the West Fork of the Madison River. It’s  clearing and dropping, so wet and dry attractors will be effective.

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Still Waters 7-11-2011

Damselfly emergences are bringing action everywhere, but a few speckled duns are making an appearance.  Damsel adults are on the water in good numbers, too.  All this means a chance for top water fishing on all still waters.  So be sure to have a floating line and long leaders in your gear.

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Small Streams 7-8-2011

Add Robinson Creek to the list of good small waters now offering good fishing.  It’s a great small stream with brookies, browns, cutts, rainbows, and a few whitefish thrown in.  They take almost anything offered, but right now for specifics, caddis, sally, golden stone, and PMD life cycle patterns work.  Sure, most of what you tie into will be a foot or less, but there are some real surprises here, especially in the lower reaches.

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Henry’s Fork 7-8-2011

We’ve past the peak of the gray drakes on the lower river, but they remain quite numerous. Some green drakes are present, and at nearly dark, brown drakes emerge.   PMDs are everywhere, and so are evening caddis.  A few golden stones also remain, and flavs are coming on.    We cannot be specific about what will work at a given time, so taking  life cycle patterns for all these insects (and then others like midges or BWOs) is the best strategy.  So the fun of fishing now is finding what they are taking during your visit.

It’s the same deal on the upper river which is finally coming around to great fishing.  As with the lower river, approach it with patterns for whatever could be emerging during your visit. Also be prepared for fish to switch interest from one insect to another.

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Still Waters 7-8-2011

All our southeast corner reservoirs  (Chesterfield, Daniels, Hawkins, Springfield, Treasureton, and Twenty-Four Mile) are worth fishing for big trout now. Damselfly nymphs are the way to get into the best action. Fish will be hanging close to the bottom to stay in cooler water now that warm weather is here for sure, so a line that gets you down to them is the way to go unless you do some midging or just plain drifting damselfly nymphs, all on a floating line.

A word of caution for the benefit of releasing fish to live another day.  Water temps near the surface are warm, in many of these reservoirs around 70 Degrees F.  That means the longer fish are played close to the surface, the tougher it is on them because the dissolved oxygen levels are lower than their comfort level.  So if we play them quickly, and spend time to revive them their survival chances go up. It may take a while to revive them near the surface, especially the bigger ones, but it sure is worth it when the reason for our visit is to encounter them.

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South Fork 7/7

Flows have been increased to 23,000 cfs. They are trying to increase the buffer of the lake filling so we don’t have 30,000 cfs plus in the next week. We don’t recommend fishing until the flows decrease.

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Still Water 7/3/11

Chesterfield Reservoir-Sunday July 3, 2011

What a different year this is. The reservoir is still full, and I am finally seeing damsel nymphs in the shallows.

The fish are big, fat and strong. Either fish leeches and damsels with an intermediate or #2 sinking line in the deeper water, especially if you know where existing weed beds and structure are prevalent.

Or come in to the shallower waters (around weedbeds and dropoffs) and indicator fish in anything from 1 to 10 feet of water. Fish chironomids early and then go to your favorite damsel pattern. Fish will be cruising the edges , even where the dropoff is immediate and deep.

Also-Look for Callibaetis nymphs and drys along with adult (dry) damsels. Fish Chesterfield “Hebgen ” style with a  callibaetis /damsel nymph hung from a Callibaetis or dry damsel. Look out-the fish are STRONG

TB

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South Fork 7/6

Flows have been increased to 19,000 cfs. We are not recommending people to fish the river, we are strongly recommending people staying off the lower river. If you must fish refer to my earlier report for fly suggestions.

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