We've had a bit of a change in the weather over the past few days - we went from 100 degrees on Saturday, to 30 today and pretty heavy snowfall up in the Black Hills. The fishing has been solid over the past week, and the cooler temperatures should make for even better fishing over the next week!
Rapid Creek above Pactola is fishing well, from the lake all the way past Rochford. Hopper Dropper rigs have been working really well, but with the cooler nighttime temperatures you're going to start catching less fish on the dry and more fish on the nymph. Micro Chubbies and Hippie Stompers are good bets for the dry. Perdigons, French Dips, Assassins, Mic Drops, and Pheasant Tail Jigs have all been good bets in size 14-16. There are a few hatchery rainbows near Silver City, but as you get upstream it transitions to all wild browns and brook trout.
Rapid Creek from Pactola to Rapid City is fishing well, and is flowing at a perfect 70cfs. There are PMDs hatching midday in the catch and release area, and the fish are definitely eating them. F Flies, Comparaduns, and Brook's Sprout Emergers are good bets if you run into rising fish. The further downstream you get the less picky the fish become. Nymph fishing has been good if you don't see rising fish. Perdigons, Mic Drops, Split Back PMDs, Tungsten Zebra Midges, and Assassins are good bets. If you're not catching fish, keep mixing up your dropper until you figure out what they want on that particular day. The streamer fishing will pick up with the cooler weather - Kreelexes, Home Invaders, Sculpzillas, and various bugger style flies will work well.
Rapid Creek in town has been fishing particularly well, and we will hopefully see the cranefly fishing start picking up over the next couple weeks. The best dry fly fishing of the year last season was when the craneflies started in town, so we're hoping to see it again! The nymph fishing has been the best bet in town right now, but you'll still get a fair number of fish on hoppers. Micro Chubbies, Fat Franks, and Morrish Hoppers are good bets for the dry. Olive Perdigons have really been working well, but a wide variety of jig flies in 14-18 will work well. French Dips, Mic Drops, He Man, and Skinny Jigs will all work great.
Spearfish Creek has been fishing fantastic over the last week, and will fish great throughout the month. There's a fair amount of snow in the canyon today, but it should be mostly melted by later in the week. Nymph fishing has been the name of the game lately, but you can get some fish on hoppers still both in the canyon and in town. The same flies as Rapid Creek will work great. The water temps are still fairly warm in the canyon, so don't shy away from some of the faster water and fast edges. The Blue Winged Olives have started hatching, and should get better with the cooler weather. CDC Thorax Duns, F Flies, Students, and Parachute BWOs are good bets in 18-20. Fall is one of the best times to be fishing on Spearfish - the fishing is fantastic, and the scenery can't be beat!
Castle Creek is fishing well, but they got a significant amount of snow in the higher elevations of the hills last night so it may be best to leave it for a couple days until it warms up a few degrees. The same flies as Spearfish will work great, and the BWOs should be starting any day on Castle Creek below Deerfield as well.
Pike fishing has been decent lately, and should get better with the cooler temps and less traffic on the lakes in the hills. Most of the fish lately have been in the 8-15' range, but you can find some fish in the shallow weed edges as well. Once the water temps dip into the low 60s and high 50s the pike fishing will be great.
Fishing has been solid, and it's nice to be out when it's not 100 degrees! Swing by the shop for all your fly fishing needs or up to the date information.