The bait usually used is worms. May and June mark the best months for bait fishing-on all parts of the river. As the water drops and clears enough for trout to see at least a couple of feet, lures come into their own. Try Mepps, Thomas Cyclones, and Panther Martins. Red and white lures do not work well.
Gold metal brings more fish to the net than silver or brass.
Using a 6.5 to 7.5 foot rod with fourth-ounce lures, cast upstream and reel back fast or cast downstream with a slow retrieval. Above Nye during high water, some anglers believe gaudy streamers are the only flies that work. Anglers should stick to the backwaters, sloughs, and shallows. In mid-June around Absarokee and ten days later near Nye, a medium size stonefly known in Latin as doroneuria emerges and provides some surface action if the water has cleared sufficiently. Several other smaller stonefly hatches come off the water in the next month, occasionally bringing on the spectacle of 2-pound brown trout rolling on the river's surface like tarpon.