The new year has come, and we’re relieved to finally see some snowpack in the mountains. It’s been an unseasonably warm winter here in Missoula, but the last few weeks have brought us some much needed relief from dry and warm conditions. Usually, we find ourselves inside at the vise or out ice fishing at this point. but the rivers are wide open and there’s nearly no shelf ice, so we’ve been enjoying some wonderfully productive fly fishing this winter.

There is some opportunity to fish dry flies, though this time of year the focal hatch is midges which can be daunting for some anglers to fish, being very small #20-#24 patterns.

Nymphing is the usual pattern this time of year. Unless there is a heavy midge hatch going, most fish will be tight to the bottom, so running a tightline or indicator rig is the most reliable pattern to get on. With turbid runoff water and overcast skies opt for larger darker colored nymphs that will provide good contrast in the water. Large stonefly nymphs can be as big as #6-#8, so don’t think a nymph is “too big” for the trout in our rivers. Patterns like the TJ Hooker, Pats rubber legs, double bead stone, and even bugs that border on being streamers like the Chicago ovwercoat or the classic wooly bugger are very productive. On clearer sunnier days smaller nymphs with a bit of flash can be productive if larger patterns aren’t producing, and the abundance of whitefish certainly breaks the monotony.

Streamer fishing has been spectacular this winter. Without much ice on the surface there’s a lot of spots that can be fished that are usually covered with flowing ice this time of year. Rarely do we get such accessible streamer fishing in January. Much like the nymphs, big dark contrasting patterns fished low and slow. Slow swinging a Marabou leech or a dungeon is a killer way to be targeting the largest fish in the river right now.