Black Hills Fishing Report - 9/6/2019

This report will be a bit of a shorty, but we'll get a more detailed one out in the next day or two. Fishing around the area has been nothing short of fantastic, with flows coming down considerably over the past week. Most all of the area streams have cleared up nicely, and fish are finally looking up a bit more. There's good terrestrial fishing on all of Rapid Creek, Castle Creek, Spearfish Creek, Spring Creek, and nearly everywhere else - there's a ton of smaller hoppers around the area right now, and the fish are definitely looking up on them. There's a good caddis hatch most evenings on Spearfish Creek, and our fall Blue Winged Olive hatch should be starting within the next week or so. Various small terrestrials are great options as well - Foam Beetles, User Friendlies, and Parachute Ants are all good bets. Don't forget about Craneflies as well - they're overlooked pretty frequently but the fish dig them. This is the first time in quite awhile that we've had good dry fly fishing, so take advantage of it! Nymph fishing is solid everywhere, both with dry droppers and standard nymph rigs. Big front flies have been working well - Pat's Rubber Legs, Mop Flies, and tungsten worms are good first flies, as well as Soft Spots, Purple Pheasant Tails, and various other big jig flies. Good droppers include Assassins, Skinny Jigs, Tungsten Midges, Frenchies, and many other slender bodied flies in the 14-18 range. The fish in town have been particularly fond of smaller midges in tan and black, but adjust accordingly. Streamer fishing has been solid on Rapid Creek, with medium sized flies working pretty well. Kreelexes, Grinches, Thin Mints, Home Invaders, and various bigger style patterns will work well. The water has been low enough that you can get away with just fishing a straight leader, but if you're in the bigger deep holes you might want to put a Versileader to help keep you down where the fish are. Fishing has been great and should continue to be solid throughout the month! Look for a more detailed report in the next couple days, or feel free to give us a call at the shop at 605-341-2450 for the latest conditions.