Water temps coming out of Holter are about 40 degrees, which is just a couple degrees from prime BWO temperature. It should happen soon and when it does, the dry fly action should heat up. The flows are a little high--up over 7,000 cfs so I'll be packing plenty of BWO nymphs and even more wire worms. The good thing is if you're willing to get down to them, fish are definitely there for the taking and the water isn't too high to completely blow out those flats where the first wave of rising fish will show themselves.
With all the snow we've gotten over the past few months, we should be in good shape for the season. It looks like the powers at be are trying to get out in front of it this year by releasing more water from the reservoirs sooner so we don't have what happened a few years ago. Looking at the stream flows from the Gallatin, Jefferson, and Madison however; they don't really have much choice. The Jeff is about double its normal flow for this time of year and the Gallatin is high too. Canyon Ferry, however, is only at 72% so we do have some buffer. I certainly don't envy those folks that have the job of trying to predict how all this will play out. A lot of what determines flows for the summer is how well they predict the upcoming spring weather. We shall see.
Early run-off also means early pressure on the Mo from folks looking for fishable water. All I can say is remember to buy local and it will come back to you. I'll certainly continue to support those shops that support us.
Keep 'em where they live...
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