Missouri River
10/10-10/17/2007
Stayed at Craig FAS at Craig. Great spot to stay right on river at edge of town. 10 camping sites.
10/11 float trip with Scott Sample of Paul Roos Outfitters and Susan.
Nyphing-tungsten head#12 or 14 with #18 dropper. I got one very nice Brown and a couple of smaller RB, Susan a good RB.
Streamer - White with sparkle. Very fast retrieve. One good Brown and missed a couple of others.
Drys - #14 Caddis parachute as indicator 1 foot from #18 BWO. Worked several pods of fish, missed more than hooked, landed a couple of nice fish. Dead drift and placement critical. BWO thick in water. Fish won't move to fly with so many BWO available.
10/12 didn't fish, drove to Holter dam and Lake. Bought pontoon at Crosscurrents Fly Shop in Craig.
10/13 & 10/14 drifted in pontoon from Craig to Stickney FAS. About 4 hours. Caught fish on streamers and nymphing - San Juan Worm with #18 beadhead below. Got one nice RB on BWO set up.
10/15 & 10/16 drifted from Wolf Creek Bridge FAS to Craig. About 5-6 Hours. Similar results, bigger fish, all in 15-16"+ range. Largest 23". Caught 24 total fish during the four days I floated by pontoon. Several 0ver 18".
9/28 - 10/4/2008
After Estvold gathering at Chelan drove to Missoula Sunday, 9/28, and to Craig on Monday 9/29. Picked up pontoon boat at Crosscurrents but did not fish on the 29th. Temp 80s, sunny til Friday, then overcast and cooler and many more feeding fish.
9/30 with Dave Payne guide. Floated canyon area from Mid Canyon launch to Prewett - about 7 miles. In water about 0930 - out about 1830. Very sunny all day = tough fishing. Had quite a few strikes and hook-ups on both drys and nymphs. Dry rig = #18 BWO w/ small nymph on short dropper. Excellent day with Dave. Use him again. Woodworker, built his boat. Canyon area much different from farther up, lots of cliffs, etc.
10/1 - 10/4 floated Wolf Creek FAX to Craig. 10/3 was best day with cool mostly overcast weather, few showers in area. Quite a few feeding fish along banks on 10/3. Most fish on other days on nymph rig. 10/3 & 10/4 got at least a couple of nice fish each day.
10/3 floated canyon from Mid Canyon to Mountain Palace, about 5 ½ miles. Got one very nice 18" Brown at riffle on left of island where Dave showed me.
9/28-10/3/2009
Arrived AM 9/28 after Extvold Chelan gathering via Jim and Mary RV Park in Missoula. Craig FAS campsites closed for construction so stayed at Mid Canyon. Another very nice spot right on the river. 6 miles north on the interstate from Craig. Floated from Dearborn FAS to Mid-Canyon in the afternoon. Lost a fin early so didn't fish much. Only took about 35 minutes.
9/29 Launched at Craig about 1030 to Mid Canyon about 1600. Very warm (82-85 degrees) and sunny. Little surface activity. Got a few strikes casting drys to rising fish, caught a couple nymphing. Forecast for cooler and cloudy should help.
9/30 Rain and colder with temps low 40 AM. Floated Stickney to Pelican Point with Dave Payne. Rained all day, Susan decided not to go along. Got fish all day: NYMPHING deep with 2 #16 - 18 nymphs about 2-4 feet below indicator, or shallow using Stimulator and indicator with 1 #16-18 nymph 1 ½ foot below. One 21 inch Brown took the Stimulator
STREAMER weighted head wooly bugger. Got a couple of very nice fish. DRY using Royal Coachman indicator w/ #18 nymph or #16-18 parachute Adams or similar, or Fuzz Ball. Excellent day.
