The Big Hole is dropping and water clarity is three feet and tea colored. The nasty weather from last week has given way to high blue and afternoon cloud cover. The caddis have slowed down except for an evening egg laying event and we are starting to see some Grey Drakes and BWO during the cloudy times of the day. Still the best bet is nymphs and streamers fished tight.

The river is full of food now and the fish are fat. No big bugs yet but we have seen a few Golden Stones around. Had a nice bite last evening on a Black Magic in a #10, who knows why? We do not ask. Fish Ahead!

After a slow start the water has finally warmed up to a desirable temperature (for the fish at least ! ) and with that have come the first good days of fishing out of Oregon inlet for the nearshore fleet.

Plenty of Spanish and blues around but the prize fish has been the seasons first consistent showing of Cobia.

We have been fortunate to catch several fish that exceeded the minimum requirement for an award citation from the state with a couple breaking the 70 lb mark !

We have been a catch of Coho salmon and a mix of Rainbow trout and lakers, The fish have been moving around from shallow water 18 feet to 30 feet to Deep water 185 feet to 325 feet. They have been biting small peanut fly's behind a red double 0 dodger, also a verity of spoons. Fishing 7 days a week keeps me on these fish.

With June coming up quick, it's time for a Montana fishing report and short range forecast for you, our fishy friends. May has brought us some great moisture this year, with lots of rainy days and relatively cool temperatures which has helped to preserve our snowpack and fill the reservoirs that feed our tailwater rivers. Things are looking quite a bit better for our summer flows and fishing than they were a few weeks ago - keep it coming Mother Nature!

Current fishing is of course specific to the river you want to be on, but generally we are in moderately high water levels, but not so high as to keep a guy off his favorite freestone river or creek, and most of the fish are feeding well below the surface. For productivity you'll have to embrace the bobber and break out the big bugs - remember, there is a lot of food in off color water and this is when trout will stuff themselves full of worms and other dirty water delectables.

Don't give up on the dry fly game though, and if you look hard enough in the right spots you may find some good ones; the brown trout above ate a fluffy caddis fly after we spotted him on a soft bank below an overhanging tree a couple days ago. Island channels and back eddies are the other obvious hangouts for trout that want to eat a caddis or early stonefly for you.

Stay up speed on river flows here, and get excited for the trout explosion and dry bonanza that will be coming along in a few short weeks across the Big Sky state as the pmds, caddis, salmonflies and all sorts of other river insects emerge as our rivers come out of run-off and into the primetime summer season.

Enjoy your holiday weekend, remember who we're honoring, and put a trout or two on your to-do list.

We are currently entering early Summer here in Montana and runoff is in full swing. Do not be discouraged by the fact that some waters are high and muddy, the waters that are fishable are spectacular right now and this is one of our absolute favorite times to target local waters. There are few out of state anglers and often you can have incredible fishing with light pressure. The only fisheries that you will see a good number of other anglers on right now are the famous tailwaters like the Missouri or Bighorn. In a few weeks to a month the freestone rivers will be getting ready to fall out of runoff and we will experience a golden period of casting to trout who have not seen flies in weeks or even months. The most anticipated hatch of the year on the Spring Creeks, the Pale Morning Duns, will be starting any day now and Salmonfly Fever is slowly building.

Generalities

Warm weather is currently melting our snowpack and water levels are up on all fisheries except spring creeks and stillwaters. In general, freestone fisheries are a tough option right now. Freestone rivers and streams are those that rely heavily on overland flow from rain and snowmelt. These streams and rivers (think the Gallatin and Yellowstone) become high and dirty with sediment during run off and are not fishable most of the time. Spring creeks are fed by groundwater and are completely unaffected by run off. Some rivers are also fed from reservoirs that trap sediment. These tailwaters (Bighorn, Missouri, Madison etc) do increase in flows during spring run off but they retain good water clarity and often great fishing. Stillwater reservoirs, ponds and lakes are also a very good option this time of year.

Hatches

We are currently in a holding pattern between the spring and summer hatches. The BWO’s, March Browns, and Caddis (for the most part) of spring have dissipated but summer hatches are right around the corner. Stonefly nymphs like Salmonflys, Golden Stones, and Yellow Sally’s are extremely active subsurface right now and will begin to hatch soon. The Pale Morning Dun’s, which are the main event each year on the Spring Creeks, are days away as well. Some Caddis are still hatching as well and will pick up steam quickly. This is a time to imitate the subsurface bugs that will soon have the trout rising voraciously to dry flies.

Safe bets

The safe bets right now are the waters that are protected by run off. These include tailwaters below reservoirs, spring creeks and still waters. The good news is that these three categories of fisheries are lights out right now and occur in abundance across Southwest Montana. Spring creeks have some lingering baetis and Caddis hatches and the PMD’s, the best hatch of the year, will soon be starting to get going. The fish are still fresh and haven’t seen a lot of artificials yet so catch rates are often high. Tailwaters are also fishing well right now as water temps rise and the trout put on their feedbags. Dry fly fishing is variable and depends on flows and if they are bumping the dam releases or not. Nymph fishing is predictably good. If flows are on the rise fishing closer to the dam is often better because moss can often get dislodged and if you are too far downstream it can foul hooks. Stillwaters are also a great option and catch rates can be very high slow stripping streamers. Early Callibaetis mayflies can also produce good dry fly action on some waters.

Wild card options

While most of our freestone rivers are still experiencing heavy runoff, each river system behaves differently and will exit runoff at a different pace. Generally speaking, the smaller the stream/drainage, the quicker runoff will subside. The Yellowstone River, which is a large river draining an immense area, is typically the last river in the state to clear up. However, some smaller tributaries like the Boulder or Stillwater will be fishable up to several weeks earlier than the main river. Knowing how to read hydrograph data will help you determine when runoff is coming to an end. During runoff, the hydrograph looks like a series of waves as the water rises and falls each day with snowmelt. As the melt subsides, the graph will start to flatten out and decline steadily. You only need a foot or so of visibility to catch fish along the banks as the water is dropping, so don’t be afraid to target these kinds of conditions even though other anglers might consider the river to be unfishable.

- See more at: http://www.montanaangler.com/montana-fishing-report

Good news for fishing in Ketchikan , Alaska, Fishing & Game changed the rules for king salmon No size restriction for King Salmon this year : ) : ) Non -residents can have 6 King salmon per person, not 2 as last year. ......

The Big Hole is big and starting to drop, but still clear. Cold weather has the bugs in the hiding mode, but the streamer fishing and deep nymph fishing has been pretty fair . The trout are in great shape and getting bigger by the day. Warmer weather will help the bugs and very soon the river will fish well.

Here we go!!! For those anglers looking for that shot at a fish of a life time on spin or fly now is the time to hit the waters of the Nature Coast for some of the best BIG fish action of the year. Every May Nature Coast anglers keep a close watch on local water temperatures waiting to see that magical 78-degree mark. 78-degree water temperatures have historically been the catalyst to jump start major movements of baitfish onto our local flats and near shore rocks, wrecks, and reefs. For those anglers planning on hitting the waters off of the Crystal River and Homosassa in the coming weeks, keep your eyes peeled for acre sized schools of whitebait, ballyhoo, and needlefish. It’s within these large schools of baitfish where many Sharks, Cobia, and Tarpon will be landed in the coming weeks.

The beauty of fishing the many structures of the Nature Coast this time of year is that anglers actually have the opportunity to target all three of our largest pelagic species all with in the same day on the same structure. Structures such as wrecks, channel markers, and anchored shrimp boats are great places to target Cobia, Sharks, and Tarpon considering they all hold tons of bait and make great ambush areas to target prey. Of the three varying structures by far boat wrecks are the most optimal for fishing success. While some wrecks are exposed during certain tides the best fishing wrecks in the area can be found hidden in water depths between 15-25 feet. The common denominator when fishing a wreck is being ready for whatever fish may be lurking. Often when fishing wrecks once an anchor is deployed a variety of fish will rise to the surface to scope out the situation. Spadefish, Spanish Mackerel, Jacks, and often Cobia will usually show themselves with in minutes of arrival. Deploying a variety of baits and rigs can be beneficial for targeting many of the larger fish that call these wrecks home. Free lining Pinfish, Pigfish, or White bait will surely get the attention of many hungry Pelagics especially Cobia.

On a recent trip with Luke and Cory of Gainesville, FL we planned on targeting Cobia and Sharks on a wreck in 15ft of water. On this day the water was crystal clear making the wreck extremely visible from a distance. Our game plan was fairly simple on this day as we planned on anchoring up current and chumming down current to the wreck below. Upon deploying our frozen chum and chunking a few threadfin herring into the slick we were immediately inundated with Cobia of all shapes and sizes. Normally, chumming takes a little bit of time and patience but on this day it took only 15 minutes to have my crew doubled up on Big Cobia before I placed a pinfish in the water to set up the Tripleheader. Although my fish was by far the smallest fish it was still a respectable 33”+ slot fish that I promptly released to ensure the 35-40lb double that my crew was hooked into had a fighting chance. After boating the three Cobia and releasing the other smaller fish we couldn’t help but hook up with two more that were using my boat as shade. It took a total of 15 minutes of chumming to yielded 5 keeper sized Cobia ranging from 20-40lbs. Life was Good on this day!!

As much fun as it has been targeting and chumming for Pelagic species roaming around our local waters this month, the most consistent action has still come in our backcountry waters where some of the years largest Redfish and Black Drum are beginning to enjoy the fruits of the spring season. Targeting oyster bars from Yankeetown to Homosassa has been a sure bet for anglers interested in trying their luck with a variety of lures, live baits, and fly’s. With water clarity beginning to return to its gin clear form backcountry anglers are going to find that sight fishing will continue to be the most optimal way to target these two drum species. Fishing the lowest of low tides this month will offer skinny water anglers and wade fishermen the opportunity to actively target both Redfish and Black Drum during their tailing feeding phases. As the old saying goes “A tailing fish is a feeding fish.” Delicate presentations are key when targeting unsuspecting feeding fish in the extreme shallows making flies and free lined medium sized shrimp ideal.

TARPON SEASON 2016 IS UPON US. STAY TUNED FOR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS FROM THIS YEARS SEASON!

With so much great weather ahead of us and plenty of fish to choose from think about the Nature Coast of Florida for your next inshore fishing adventure.

Capt. Kyle Messier

(352) 634-4002

kylemessier@yahoo.com

WWW.FLORIDAFISHINGADVENTURES.COM

WWW.CRYSTALRIVER-FLYFISHING.COM