Mayfly Game

If it’s sunny, go hopper-dropper to catch a whopper; if the clouds come in, let the single mayfly roll.

That’s been the jingle for the past week or so, and we expect it to continue through the month. For the next week, count on fish on all three of our rivers to munch the pork-chop mayfly (Hecuba), both blind and rising fish. As more and more baetis and mahoganies show, the rising fish will begin to key on smaller mays, with notable exceptions, of course. Sunny days will produce more tricos and more fish sipping in seemingly impossible spots.

Do you go long and lean for the big snout?

Or pop a hopper on his head to elicit the reaction strike?

Every fish this time of year behaves differently, and the constant adjustments are what make fall fishing so fun.

Blackfoot River Report

Cloudy days were a bit tougher than we expected up here. It’s tough to move a streamer fast enough in these low flows. That said, the next few weeks will produce more “attacks” than any other three weeks of the year. Can you land a 30″ trout on 5x — it takes a very steady hand!