Black Hills Fishing Report - 5/31/2019

We've had more than our fair share of moisture over the past week, and a lot of the streams around the area are pretty high. It looks like the weather over the next week should be much drier, and the creeks should continue to recede to a fishable level pretty quickly. In the meantime, there's still plenty of options for fishing in the area. Here's the bad part - Rapid Creek, Spring Creek, Castle Creek below Deerfield, Box Elder, and pretty much all the other streams in the central hills are high and unfishable for the time being. Rapid Creek will be the last to come down more than likely. On the plus side, the higher water makes for fantastic fishing later in the season! Spearfish Creek is fishing great, and should continue to drop over the coming days. Big flies fished in the slower water and on the edges will work the best. Pat's Rubber Legs, Tungsten Worms, Squirmy Wormies, and big Caddis nymphs are good bets for lead flies in size 8-12. Good dropper patterns are Jig Pheasant Tails, Slim Jims, Walts, Peacock Jigs, Hare's Ears, Red Butts, Perdigons, and various other jigs in size 14-16. The water is pretty high, but is more than fishable. The fish are going to be stacked up on the edges and anywhere the water slows down. The water will get progressively dirtier as you get downstream - as long as there's a foot of visibility the fish can see well. Little Spearfish Creek, Hanna Creek, and Spearfish Creek along 85 are fishing well also, and are going to be the cleanest of the streams in the Black Hills. Lake fishing has been excellent as well. Center, Sylvan, Iron Creek, Roubaix, and Dalton are all good options. Fishing Balanced Leeches, Mini Leeches, and various size 12-14 jig nymphs 3-5 feet under an indicator is deadly effective. You can do well stripping wooly buggers and Booby flies as well. Lake fishing will be a good option for the next week or so while some of the creeks come down a bit. Stream conditions are high overall right now, but there's definitely still some options. High water now makes for great fishing the rest of the season as well!