Missoula area fishing report - July

They're here 

Clark Fork:  The CF is still big but clear and fishing great!  You'll want a boat and someone who can row or hit your safe high-er water spots.  I saw a lot of summer weekender fishers struggling this weekend with the current conditions.  So, maybe this report will be more effective if I write about what not to do.  First off, it's summer and fishing on a bright sunny day at 3 in the afternoon is about the worst time ever.  Yet, for some reason, it seems that a lot of people wait all year to go fishing and then go at that time.  You need to get up early or get out at dusk.  As you can see from above, the tube hatch is in full swing.  A good rule of thumb: If there's tubes on the water, you should not be.  Also, if you'r not catching fish, move on.  I saw about 10 people fishing the Double Tree hole last night like they were on the Salmon River in NY with a guy skipping stones in between them all.  I mean, give yourself a chance people.  There are tons of rising trout less than 1/4 mile up or downstream and all these people were in the wrong spot and all over each other.  Weird. 

In the early morning there are tons of PMDs and huge Clark Fork trout gorging on them until about 11.  There is some mid-day fishing to be had but it tapers off hard in the afternoon.  Then, at about 7:30 +/-, the PMD spinners and swarms of caddis cover the water, and it is on all over again.  I caught some great fish on caddis dries this last weekend.  Finally!!

The Blackfoot:  I try to stay away from the shit show of guides, dudes, and tubers that take over the best reaches of the Blackfoot for the summer time.  Can anyone say “river permits are on their way?”  However, just like on any other body of water, the Blackfoot has its secrets.  If you actually spend the time to do your homework, you can have the best of the fishing and the whole place to yourself.

For instance, there are miles and miles of Blackfoot and some fantastic tribs up around the Lincoln area.  See my Mike Horse Mine post to understand why the fish numbers are lower up here than on the lower river.  However, when you consider people per fish per mile (something that should always be considered), you’re in the money. Instead of other fisherpeople and tubers, the only thing you’re going to run into up here is bears and moose.

Streamers are great in the morning and there are some great brown trout up here mixed in with the cutthroat. My best brown was caught dipping a Prince Nymph into a root wad hole.  In the evening, there is a massive rusty spinner fall and caddis are everywhere.  These fish don't see a lot of artificial flies and will destroy your Elk Hair Caddis without thinking twice. 

Buy a map, some gas, some bear spray, and some elk hair caddis and get it done!

The Bitterroot:  I can't give a really accurate report here.  I haven’t been on the Root since before runoff.  I imagine it’s shaping up like nobody’s business.  The caddis and PMD spinners on the lower Root are great this time of year.  You’re still going to want a boat for a little while longer with the above average flows.

Rock Creek:  This stream is so much fun this time of year!  An attractor with a dropper is all you usually need unless you get into a specific hatch.  Instead of tubers, you’re going to have to deal with a bunch of dudes.  The thing that you have to remember and keep telling yourself is that the majority of them have no idea what the hell they are doing and they are not catching all the fish, by any means.  The best way to avoid them is to get up early, get off the paved road, cover some miles on foot, and you will catch more awesome fish than you ever thought possible.  Don’t drive up next to the hole, make 1,000 casts in the same lame spot 500 other fisherpeople have pounded on for the past 3 months.  Try to remember Montana’s stay-out-of-sight ethic and try as hard as possible to make it happen.  

For this time of year, I like to fish a smaller golden stone attractor with a short nymph dropper in the daytime. Fish the knee deep riffle water. If you can't get up early to avoid the other fisherpeople, you will get double rewarded right now by staying out late.  As I mentioned earlier, most people want to fish in the heart of the afternoon.  Most of them will go home right before some great evening caddis fishing starts to shape up. In the evening, your favorite caddis pattern or a rusty spinner will nail em. 

Area lakes and ponds:  The trout lakes are fishing great.  For the most part, the summertime rules of early morning and evening still apply here.  I'd love to be up at Georgetown right now as I'm sure the damsels have the big rainbows all worked up.  I'll be fishing the Seeley-Swan region in the coming days and will have an expanded report on that.  The little stocker ponds are not the place to go right now.  They get fished out and hot and filled with swimmers etc.

So in a nutshell, avoid tubers, stale water, the middle of the day, and you'll have some really great, classic Montana, summertime fishing.

Western Montana - high water - fishing report

The large freestone rivers in western Montana are experiencing a nice, steady runoff.  It's looking like we are going to have a great summer and fall with full streams and fat fish.  The cool thing about Montana, especially now that true fishing season has started, is that there is always a place to fish, even during run-off.

Highway 434

You can drive over to the Missouri River which is fishing great.  You can also now fish the tribs here, there, and everywhere.

View of Craig, MT from the Craig Cemetery

RBM Chronicles thanks the people of ALL faiths, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and styles of fishing who have served our country on this Memorial Day.


Flint Creek below Phillipsburg is another great high water option.  Most of the flow comes out of a reservoir from the next drainage over (crazy!) so it has a tailwater aspect to it.  It is loaded with medium sized brown trout and the occasional rainbow and there are plenty of larger fish mixed in.  

Flint Creek in Six Mile Canyon with Pintler Mountains

Flint creek fished ok with small streamers in the sun last week.  They are brown trout though, so early morning or clouds are good to have on your side.  Nymphing with worms and stoneflies was productive lower on the creek where it carries more water and color.


Further up the drainage, Georgetown Lake is an amazing fish factory and will begin to fish like the Dickens soon.  The rainbows are in full on spawn mode which has slowed the fishing at the moment.  They will be done soon though and if you saw the pics of the east shore and Emily Spring from earlier this week, you know there are more than enough huge trout in this lake to make anyone happy.

Rare afternoon glass on Georgetown Lake

Georgetown fished best with egg and worms thrown to trout cruising the shoreline and rainbow trout or brook trout looking streamers fished the same way.


The Beaverhead River is a small tailwater in SW Montana.  It is one of my favorite streams to fish on the planet.

Christine on the Beav

Beaverhead Brown

Tailwater nymphs work here but that's not what I like.  The Beaverhead is one of my favorite places to fish streamers.  This last trip was no exeption.  We were lucky enough to get afternoon clouds and thunderstorms which made sweeping little Matukas through untouched side channels into something I have't stopped thinking about for the last three days.  I had mega chase-downs by mean browns and my fly had the effect of an electro-fishing wand where I could at least move, what seemed like, every fish in the river.  God, I love that stream.

The Beaverhead Mountains of SW Montana

Happy Memorial Day and happy spring fishing!

Western Montana Fishing Report

Ancient alien monolith near St. Regis

I've been out and about all week and here is the report of what is going on.  The next couple of weeks are going to be the last chance to fish the big rivers for a while.  Once runoff gets going this year, it's going to be especially crazy for some time.

Bitterroot River:
The Root is in full recovery with the flows leveling out and the water clearing.  Today is going to be sunny with some wind.  I'd expect the best fishing will still be with be nymphs or with dry/droppers.  If you do start to see surface feeding and the trout are ignoring your big foam skwala, put on a Goddard caddis for the numora.  Things could get really good on the Root later this week with some clouds.  Hopefully, it wont rain too hard and the river won't get huge again.

Blackfoot River:
I still have yet to fish the Blackfoot this year.  I drove alongside it two days ago and it looked to be shaping back up after the last push of water.  If everything stays stable, the Blackfoot may wake up, for real, in the next couple of days.  You may see an afternoon March brown hatch but a double nymph rig (turd and worm) is the safe play.

Rock Creek:
Rock Creek fished pretty well right through that last push.  Wading safely was more of a concern than anything.  Now that it's on the drop, I'd head that way if I wanted a safe bet on catching some great trout.  At this time of year, especially in the lower reaches, once you find one, keep fishing the same spot because there are probably 10 more right there.  I would also expect some action on top here in the middle of the day. Skwalas and march browns were hatching strong during that higher flow and I'm sure the trout are ready to munch them now.  If my life depended on catching a lot of great trout today, I'd go to Rock Creek.

Clark Fork River (above Deer Lodge):
The release out of the ponds is over.  The flow is right back at the historical mean.  This is also another good fishing option for the next couple of days.  Nymphing and streamers should be productive but keep an eye out for sneaky rise forms in the foam lines.  A very small red/orange wooly bugger can be the bee's knees up here in the spring.

Clark Fork River (below Missoula):
I did a great float yesterday with a former and well known Clark Fork fishing guide and his friend yesterday.  It was a day in the classroom for me.  I love chances to fish with people that are worlds better at fishing than me. Just like with any skilled craft or art, fishing with folks that are better than you is the best way to learn and get better.  The Clark Fork is on the drop overall although, there was a small bump yesterday.  The water has still got a bit of color, but is shaping up.  There was a solid march brown/grey drake hatch in the afternoon but it went mostly unnoticed by the trout.  We were hoping to hit the flying skwala hatch but we didn't even see one big bug.  The hatch must be right on the cusp though because the hot fly was the rubberleggs.  It out-fished the worm so....  During the hatch, the fish were higher up in the water culumn and the dry/dropper rig with a rubberleggs or p-tail/hare's ear dropper worked good.  Most of my fish were caught when the dropper was getting dragged.  I suspect that swinging a size 16-12 soft hackle in some swirlies could be tons-o-fun.  Then, later in the day, the deeper nymph was more effective. 

Area Lakes and Ponds:  
Beavertail is fishing great.  Bring a box of buggers and get to it.  In the next couple of weeks, there will be hatches of really large chrironomids.  They are about a size 16.  The fish target the huge nymphs right as they are hatching. All of the fish are brood stockers and have live thier entire lives in a tank so don't think to hard.  I just grease a hare's ear and give it micro wiggle in the film.  One fun thing that happens at the pond is when there are large flying skwala hatches on the Clark Fork which is just across the highway.  A handfull of the skwalas actually fly over and oviposit in the pond.

Harpers Lake is also fishing great for brood stockers.  They are a bit more picky here than at Beavertail.  I think that the only logical reason for this is that the water is crystal clear and they can see better.  A brown wooly bugger has been the key here.  You'll want to have a boat for fly fishing although, it is not absolutely crucial.  These fish will also eat on top but they are stupid fish so don't over-think it.  I was eating sunflower seeds and spitting the seed shucks in the water.  The huge brood stockers were eating them off the surface.  I guess they look like hatchery pellets.

Browns Lake is currently having some access issues.  The majority of the shoreline (especially where people like to fish on the eastern banks) is private.  I guess the landowners are now enforcing their no trespass rights.  Stream acsess does not apply to lakes, so don't go here if you don't have a boat.