Southwest Montana Spring Creek Fly Fishing Reports

The Paradise Valley creeks of Depuy's, Armstrong's, and Nelson's are a GREAT place to spend a day fishing in the winter. You know the kind of day I'm talking about. You just gotta do something outside and skiing or, God forbid, snowshoeing! just aren't cutting the mustard with your thoughts for the day, grab a rod, your spring creek nymph boxes, waders, and $40.00 and head to the creeks. Chances are you may run into a friend, fish the afternoon, and nurse a beer and burger at the Murray in the evening. Now, that's what I call a good day!

It's March and

Plenty of midge activity and we've had reports off/on about baetis showing as well. It's got to be one of those cloudy, threatening to be kind of snotty days to get the blue wing olives going. They are spotty right now and not a consistent hatch, however, when they are present, the fish will eat them.

There are a lot of big rainbows starting to come into the creeks from the Yellowstone. I'm sure there are even spawners in the big prime riffles on Depuy's and starting to show on Armstrong's as well as Nelson's. Please be careful where you walk this spring. The little trout of the future depend upon you to not walk on the redds.

flow: both Armstrong's and Depuy's spring creeks have had restorative work done in the last week or so. The clarity will be back to it's former self soon. In the meantime, the work done to clean out the silt and muck will greatly benefit the creeks later in the summer months!

hatches: midges; some sporadic baetis

patterns: wd-50s in gray & olive, downey's masterbaetis size 20; morgan's para midge, bat wing emerger olive size 20, black beauty, disco midge, miracle nymph, biot midge pupa, RS-2, zebra midge, skinny nelson, xtra small san juan, to some extent pink and champagne colored eggs.

these creeks can be the hottest thing going!

Spring Creek Fishing Reports