A recap of RIO’s annual key dealer trip on the Missouri River.
RIO fishes with a few dealers on the annual Missouri River Trip.
| WHERE | MISSOURI RIVER, CRAIG, MT |
| WHO | TRAVIS CAMPBELL, ZACK DALTON, SIMON GAWESWORTH, WAYNE PETERSON, PHILIP CHAVEZ AND NUMEROUS DEALERS |
| WHEN | OCT 12, 2010 |
| SPECIES | TROUT, OH YEAH! |
| CONDITIONS | WARM.. TOO WARM AND SUNNY, TOUGH WINDS (TO 40 MPH) – NOT GOOD FOR FISHING, BUT NICE TO BE OUT IN! |
| BEST FLY | STREAMERS IN BROWN, COPPER AND YELLOW |
| FLY LINES | THE NEW 2011 STREAMERTIP, TROUT LT AND INDICATOR LINE |
| LEADER/TIPPET | 7.5 FT, 2X FOR STREAMER TIPS AND RIO MAX PLUS, 9\’ 4X FOR NYMPHS WITH POWERFLEX |
| TACKLE | A GRAND OLD MIX OF RODS AND REELS FROM SAGE AND REDINGTON |
| TECHNIQUE | HIT THE BANKS AND MID RIVER WEED BEDS WITH STREAMERS, NYMPH THE SEAMS AND LOOK FOR THE ODD HEAD! |
This annual trip took place October 12 – 18
this year – a week later than usual as we wanted the cold weather and the baetis. Crazy sun and warmth made this plan fail, but there were still plenty of fish to be caught on nymphs and streamers.
The RIO trip fished with the guys out of the HeadHunters trout shop in Craig this year, and with ace guides Mike Kuhnert and Mark Raisler.
The dealers on the first trip were Andy Partlo from Old Ausable, Grayling, MI, Andy Kurkulis, Chicago Fly, Chicago, IL, Tim Mansell, Idaho Angler, Boise, ID and Dave Steele, Highwater Tackle, Vancouver, BC. The second trip had TJ from Orlando Outfitters, FL, Charlie Craven, Charlie’s Fly Box, CO and Michael Bennet, Pacific Fly in WA.
The best floats on the river were Dam to Craig (or Stickney) and Pelican to Cascade. The middle section of the river teemed with smaller fish (great for the future) of 8 to 12″ and 
so was mostly avoided.
The best fish of the trip was caught by Dave Steele, a brown of 25″ that he caught on his 5th cast of the first day. It was Dave’s first brown trout!!!
It wasn’t too hard to find numerous heads up, feeding on midges and pseudos, but it was rare for any of these fish to be bigger than 12″. The bigger fish were waiting for the baetis which never came.
Everyone caught fish each day, despite the lack of dry fly action with shallow fished nymphs and medium sized streamers doing the job.
