While you were watching football...

...the Bitterroot was on fire.  Contrary to what you may read on some of our local fly shop's fishing reports, the local fly fishing is great.  The lower Bitterroot streamer bite is great right now, there is absolutely NO shore ice, and the water is clear and perfect for wade fishing or a float!

Rainbow missing his maxilla

Another rainbow in the net

Nice cutbow eats the EZ Bunny

See Ya!

So, thanks to the local fly shops for telling everyone the fishing is essentially "over" for the year.  I like to have my rivers to myself anyway.  It is still November.

I caught fish on streamers (EZ Bunny in white) all day and the only other people I saw were some friendly duck hunters.  I'm not trying to sell you anything so go ahead and keep watching football and leave the rivers to me.  I got this!

Missoula area fishing report - late October

The East Coast does not have a monopoly on fall colors!

So far it has been a busy fall here at RBM headquarters.  Since I've been back I have taken three sets of people out fishing and finally yesterday, I got to fish Rock Creek until it hurt.  I've been waiting until I fished most of our local options before I wrote a report.

The Clark Fork:  The lower river was amazing last week.  It is one of my favorite places to fish in the fall.  We were still in that sunny, hot spell so the hopper dropper was king.  Those huge Clark Fork rainbows and cutbows were all over it.  Watching those big trout come up from the deep swirlys and slow sip your hopper is just too much fun.  Every type of hopper we used worked with the largest fish succumbing to the Unabomber.  Now that fall weather has arrived, it will be back to a mayfly game.  BWOs, mahoganies and the flies that represent them will catch you fish all day down here.  Look for sippers everywhere along the banks, in the scum lines, and the big swirlys.  Throwing streamers on the lower river in the clouds can also be amazing.

This weekend I had the honor of taking an international visitor, a policeman from Japan, out on a short float through town.  It was the last day of hot, sunny weather and the last of the summer hee-haw's were out in force.  We struggled a bit and even though we had an interpreter, the language barrier was tough.  I owe that guy a big long float down the MO or something.  This stretch of water should improve drastically with the clouds and cooler temps.

The Bitterroot:  The lower end of the 'Root was also slow in the sun and heat of last week.  We did get some nice ones on the hopper dropper rig though.  It was rough because right as things started to get good, the wind came up.  For whatever reason, the fish in the root are very sensitive to the wind as compared with the other streams in the area.  That same float on a cloudy day like today would be a whole different story.  The lower root is a great place to throw streamers in the fall as well.

Rock Creek:  I had been playing guide since I got home from CA so yesterday, I took advantage of the incoming storm and went out to Rock Creek for a whole day of intensive fishing all by myself.  The morning was tough.  It was still sunny and there were dudes everywhere.  I mean everywhere!  Then, the storm came through and all of a sudden, I had the place to myself.  Rain, clouds, October, no wind, and some new wading boots; I was in freaking heaven.  I put on a white bunny streamer and moved so many fish it was unreal.  The big boys were out in force.  I caught some great browns and the large cutts also came out to play.  I fished and covered water until it hurt.  I put in a full ten hour day and limped and moaned the whole way back to the truck in the dark.  I'd been waiting two months to do that!  There were fish up on BWOs and mahoganies but the streamer fishing was too good and exciting to even think about throwing a dry.  Nymphing was really slow, even with eggs.

I'll have detailed reports from the Mo and the Blackfoot soon as well as the upper Clark Fork. 

Missoula area fishing report - Bighorn Edition - Early August

Handsome Ram

Rock Creek:  The fishing at Rock Creek is elementary and outstanding right now.  The hell with salmonflies, give me the spruce moth!  The spruce moths have cyclical hatches (like a lot of our bug friends) and this year is a heavy one.  I've been seeing them on all the local streams and the fish are more excited than me about it.

Get off the paved road and away from people.  Make sure to have decent wading boots with studs because the rocks in the creek are super slick right now and the flow is still good.  Fish the shallow faster-fast riffles with your Elk Hair Caddis selection and move your way downstream hitting above and below every mid-stream rock.  When there is good pocket water or riffle which runs up against the bank, stand in the middle of the river and cast towards the bank.  You should be catching bucket-loads of small fish with lots of bigger fish mixed in.  If not, your fishing skills need some work because it is unreal up there right now.  Honestly, your fish count will directly correspond to your ability to move up and down the stream to cover water.  I covered about 2 1/2 miles and caught fish on the dry, all day long.

While I was climbing on top of a log jamb, I looked down and saw a huge bull trout hiding in the shade right underneath me. I froze and tried to slowly reach for my camera as he slid slowly into better view.  Then, I could see him look right up at me and, POOF- gone.

Clark Fork:  The Clark Fork is in great shape and the fishing is really good, even around town, and even with the tubers.  I caught some great fish right in between tubers this week.  It's funny to have a drunken audience when your catching fish, especially because most people don't realize that there are such great fish right around town.  I just wish the tubers didn't trash the place. Anyway, the spruce moths are gonzo and the big fish are one em, big-time.  The Kingfisher Fly Shop put a great tip in their fishing reports.  They mentioned using a Prince nymph as a dropper under your whatever.  Boy, whatever the trout are taking that for, I don't know.  But the Prince nymph dropper is working like an electrofishing wand right now.  I switched over to a double Prince set-up but that was not as effective.  It seems like the trout want the dropper on a pretty short leash.  Anyway, in the afternoon, cut the prince nymph off and trail an Elk Hair Caddis of the back of your smaller hopper for the spruce moth.  The big fish are eating on top - nuff said.

Bitterroot:  The lower Root is also fishing great with smaller hoppers and spruce moths as well as some remaining PMDs and caddis in the evening.  Although it's been hotter than a two dollar pistol here in Montana, we are still maintaining good flows on all of our streams.  Hopper season on the lower Root is really fun.  There are a lot of BIG cutthroat down here love to slow-sip the hopper.

Blackfoot:  I haven't been up there in a while but with the insane amount of spruce moths I've been seeing everywhere, I'm thinking the Blackfoot would be really fun right now.

Lakes and ponds:  You tell me.  It's up in the air whether I'll be fishing an alpine lake, wildeness stream, or restored mine disaster this week.  Stay tuned.

Hey baby, why the long face?

Montana traffic jam

Missoula area fishing report

Downtown March browns getting pelted with raindrops

Gorging swallows

Brown water fishing report:

The rivers are all huge!  There was a drop yesterday but the upcoming warm weather is going to make everything crazy.  This spring has been tough for fishing with all the low elevation snow.  Every time it rains or gets warm, there is a huge push of water on top of the already elevated flows.

Clark Fork (around Missoula)
Big and brown with the occasional tree.  Two days ago, I witnessed a very heavy March brown spinnerfall during a light rain/snowstorm.  There was a massive showing of shore swallows.  Some dinks noticed them as well.  The large trout are eating other things subsurface.  If you just need to fish and you don't have a plan B, you can make it happen here.

Fishing the Clark Fork during high water is possible and can actually be really good sometimes.  You just have to safely locate the various places in the river where the fish go when the water is high.  When the river is high and crazy, the amount of places that trout can hold is reduced.  Find these places and you'll find happiness. Don't be afraid to fish irrigation canals, side channels, and slow winter-type water (if you can find it).  The mouths of the tribs are the safest bet.  Throw your junk into the mud and let it drift into the clean.

The Clark Fork trout are generally less put off by colored water, relative to the other streams in the area. Sometimes, they will even eat on top.  Generally though, using bright worms, large rubber legs, bead head nymphs, and eggs is the most effective.

Bitterroot River (around Missoula)
See Clark Fork Report.  The upper river is fishing great but I have not been up there to give an accurate report.

Lower Rock Creek
The creek is also huge.  It will be a struggle to access fishable water on the lower stream but if you find it, there will be a lot of fish.  Going around the P-burg way and fishing the upper reaches is the way to go.  The problem with that is, you drive right past Flint Creek.  Flint Creek fishes great during high water.  Those brown trout love it.  Anyway.

Area Lakes/Ponds
This is a great time to diversify your fly fishing world.  All of the area lakes and ponds are fishing great.  The lake hatches should start with the warm weather and I'll report on that when it happens.