It felt like early winter out there today in Montana. The morning air temperature was around 40° and it got a little bit higher, but not much. Almost no bugs.
I threw jig streamers again, hoping to get another strong morning, but the fish did not cooperate. The water temp had dropped about 15 degrees overnight.Â
I figured the trout were hugging the bottom and so I decided to put on a drop shot nymph rig. I wanted to fish small flies, including midges, and I did not want to put on a weighted sacrificial nymph to get the rig down.
I would not say it was lights out, but the action was episodically consistent. Nearly all of my hits were on a size 20 midge with a small glass bead on it. I show photos of it below. It is Forrest Dorsey’s Manhattan Midge with the magical wing bud material.
I did a lot of walking today and explored new stretches. After throwing nymphs all morning, I stubbornly threw big dry flies and got some eats but not many. At some juicy spots, I went back to the drop shot and I’m glad that I did. A beautiful 18 inch brown showed itself after a tussle. It was the fish the trip so far for me given its size and its beauty.
After eight hours of fishing and a lot of walking, it was time to head back. It looks like temperatures will be going back up, and I’m eager to see some rising fish.
Pays to be versatile! Nice fish!
Thank you!
Thank you for this interesting post.
Day in, day out, how would you compare the effectiveness of a drop shot rig to that of a Euro rig when fishing an average size tailwater?
Hi! It really depends on: where fish are in the water column and the amount of snaggable material at the bottom.