[ARCHIVE] Stillwater River Report 05/27/2019

Heavy localized rains and warmer weather have bumped up the flows. The lower river will still likely be high and off color, but the upper river may clear enough later this week to fish, but it’s an iffy proposition. If so, nymphing is likely the best option, with black, brown and coffee colored rubber leg patterns like girdle bugs and Pat’s rubber legs, or a san juan worm as well as similar colored stonefly patterns along with a beadhead trailer fly like a prince nymph, hare’s ear, batman or pheasant tail. Fish the very edge seams. In off color water, use a color contrast of darker color patterns like black buggers or the Grinch either dead drifted or stripped. There is still a great deal of runoff ahead of us, and the river is likely to continue to fluctuate for a few more days in response to temperatures and rain events. Once we string together a few warmer days and nights in a row it will be runoff to stay. Look for smaller tributaries, tail waters and lakes to fish in the meantime.