Southwestern Montana 8-19-17

If you are looking at fishing the upper Madison River and its West Fork or the Gallatin River and its Taylor Fork, be sure to include spruce fly patterns in that fly box. Certainly there are specific patterns for this insect, but such as an elk hair caddis, small stimulator, or blond humpy work just as well when presented under the same conditions. On most streams the current effective strategy, besides these, is presenting early AM trico spinner patterns, daytime terrestrial patterns, and evening caddis life cycle patterns.