A Face Only A Mother Could Love

One of the things that attracts a person to fishing is you never know what you're going to catch. I mean, when you're fly fishing on the Missouri, you have a pretty good idea that you're going to get some rainbows and a few browns mixed in and maybe a couple whitefish but that's not all...check these suckers out.

The first three fish a client of mine caught the other day were these two suckers and a whitefish. Yeah, you might say he was feeling a little snake bitten but really; how awesome is that? In 12 years of guiding on the Mo, I've had maybe 4 of these caught and this guy gets two in one day? And, what he was catching were truly indigenous species of fish. The rainbows, browns and brook trout were all brought here at some point. The suckers and the whitefish have always been here and I believe, this guy actually caught two different species of suckers--the longnose and the mountain suckers. (I'm not an expert at identifying suckers so don't quote me on that.)

So what are some of the other fish I've seen caught on a fly in Missouri? Walleyes, which are not indigenous to Montana regardless of what people may tell you. (Saugers are. Walleyes are not.) Carp--and again, not indigenous--yellow perch, brook trout, rainbows, browns, Yellowstone cuts, and whitefish. I've also caught burbot but not on a fly. I think that's about it but I have heard of people at least seeing small mouth bass and northern pike. 

Like I said, that's kind of the fun behind fishing in general and I know folks are a little down on the fly fishing this time of the year because you have to chase bobbers around in the high water but just think of that feeling every time your indicator moves of not really knowing what you might have. It ads another element that's pretty cool if you ask me.

As for the water conditions? The Missouri is up to 15,000 cfs. The tribs are leveling off and not dumping too much silt into the river so visibility is decent. What does that mean for my bet? I'm still good. I took the under at 17,000 and I'm sticking with it but we did hit that ideal level for a good flushing. 

Keep 'em where they live...