Ahhh August! Warm sunny days, dropping river flows, hoppers, as the fishing gets a bit tougher the crowds slip away and before you know it we’ll have cool, crisp mornings. This week we chatted with long time guide Cole Sutheimer. Cole has been working at the lodge since he was just 14 years old! To my knowledge he’s the only guide on the river that was born and raised in Swan Valley and literally grew up on the water. His deep knowledge of the area and the river make a day with Cole really awesome.
We chatted with Cole this week while he was picking out flies. It’s always fun to watch Cole pick out his flies as he’s a dry fly guy…his motto many days is “dry or die” While most of the guides were picking out nymphs especially small beadheads Cole was picking out rusty spinners, caddis, flying ants etc. Cole reports that the previous week fishing was tough, the “severe clear” he calls it…hot bright sunny. But Cole had success being patient in the slower water with small dry flies.
This week things have changed a bit for the better, cooler weather this weekend along with a drop in flows will really help the fishing. The pro tip for this week is the “mutant” golden stone fishing. Fish are looking for these mutants at first light and pretty much stop eating them by 10:00. So get out early and fish your favorite wingless golden stone pattern ie. Chernobyl Ant and make sure you fish it with a twitch!
Other things to look out for are hoppers, pmd’s, caddis etc. If fishing gets tough many guides and anglers have been fishing nymphs with great success. The standard set up is a size 6 stonefly nymph with a bead head behind it but some of our guides reported better success with two small nymphs.
If you have questions, need a shuttle, or some of the top producing flies swing by our shop or give us a call 208-483-2222
Have fun out there!