Hatch

To any seasoned angler, the word "Salmonfly" conjures up images of large trout slashing at the surface, gorging themselves on 2 inch long stoneflies after a long spring of high, muddy rivers swollen with snowmelt runoff.

The annual madness that makes anglers drop whatever is at hand and chase after the possibility of some of the best dry fly fishing of the year is about to happen here in the Rocky Mountain West. Where will you be?

"When you hit it, exclaims Angler's West guide Justin Martin, "it's just awesome. No other hatch creates such a buzz. You're fishing a size 4 dry fly that you can see from across the river and fish are smashing it. I've had clients hook into fish that when we got them to the net, they were so full of adult salmonflies that they were choking on them and yet, the fish had to eat just one more, ours. It's crazy!"

Pteronarcys californica- the salmonfly to you and me, is the largest stonefly species living in our blue-ribbon fisheries in Southwest Montana. The nymphs take multiple years to mature before crawling to the river's edge sometime in early June to mid July depending upon what river we're talking about. Along the banks, whole legions of nymphs will congregate waiting for the right moment to drag themselves free of their aquatic world and join the world above.

The first gluttonous feed by the trout often occurs at this point. While crawling toward the banks, many of the nymphs become dislodged and are caught up in the river currents. Trout seize upon this as a feeding opportunity. Hence the reason why fishing big black girdle bugs, yuk bugs, and bitch creeks several days before any adult stoneflies are spotted can be so deadly. The second frenetic feeding takes place after the adults have successfully mated and the female salmonfly takes wing back to the water to lay her egg sack . It's this fluttery, auto-rotating, crazy, splash down on the river that we dryfly fishers are looking for. As the numbers of female stoneflies crashing to the surface increases, it's like ringing the dinner bell at the Bonanza. Every hungry trout in the river is looking up!

The salmonfly hatch is truly a super hatch of epic proportions. There really is nothing like it in the flyfishing world. And once the salmonflies hatch, it's just the beginning. Often times the salmonfly emergence sets the stage for a number of hatches to follow. It's not uncommon to actually have multiple hatches coincide. Salmonflies, Golden Stones, PMDs and caddis are often on the water at the same time. So, even if you miss the peak of the salmonflies, it's not like there's nothing going on. If you haven't experienced the cult like craziness of chasing "The Hatch", it's time you did!. We all have jobs, families, responsibilities. Well, at least most of us do. The rest of us are about to check out flyfishing's Nirvana.

The biggest hatch of the year is looking to kick off after the spring runoff recedes. We want you to be sure to get in the game! Come fish with us for the annual Salmonfly bash. The following rivers have excellent hatches and this is when we think the  "Big Bugs" will be happening in 2008:

Big Hole River: week of June 15th look for Big Bugs starting somewhere around Glen and moving upstream to Melrose and into the canyon reaches.

Madison River: week of June 8th this year(Lower river below Ennis Lake).  Nymphs will crawling and migrating toward the banks likely just before that.  For the Upper river (Ennis and upstream), It's typically about 10-14 days after the Salmonflies are on the Lower river.  So, judging from when we think they'll be on the Lower, look for bugs by about Father's Day in and around Ennis.

Yellowstone River: Runoff is going to be big this year!  Because of this, we're going to guess that the hatch is going to be a a bit later than when we've been accustomed to for the past 8 years.  Traditionally we have the salmonflies through the Emigrant area around the 25th of June.  This year we have revamped our thoughts and think that Salmonflies will be here more like the week of July 1.

Gallatin: Same thing as the Yellowstone and Madison.  It's going to be late this year.  The Gallatin should be fishable by the week of July 1 and Salmonflies will be right there with the clearing water.

Make your reservations today!