The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Prime time on the Big Hole is June during the SalmonFly hatch but it gets pretty crowded. The shop probably has other spring creeks it can take you to. I think this year the Big Hole opened back up in September when the weather started to cool. It was still open very early in July. It really depends on the heat and snow pack. It gets pretty dewatered in the summer. This summer it started with a noon to sundown closure and then went to 24 hours mandetory closure. Even the Clark Fork and parts of the Yellowstone were under restrictions this year. It was just a bad year with little snow pack. There are a number of rivers fed by dams that should be in good shape because they remain pretty cool even during the summer. Let's just hope for a heavy snow year and things will look up.