Brook trout clown suit

Brook trout skin

Here in Montana, we have plenty of those little dink brookies that come to most people's minds when you say "brook trout." They are not native here and they cause some ecological trouble with our native and threatened bull char.  However, in Georgetown Lake, they are somewhat isolated from the rest of the watershed and they are managed for in a positive way because they get huge.  Some of them can get to Labrador, Canada-type sizes.  In the fall, they put on their clown suits and are the most colorful fish you can find.

Big boy guarding his redd in Emily Spring

As of now, the brookies in the lake are in full to late spawn and are just about impossible to catch. The good pre-spawn fishing is over but you can find some schooled-up roamers moving around that are not on the redds.  Throwing a big streamer at them may piss one off but at this point, it's a lost cause.  However, there is a fun alternative.  The rainbows will also join these moving herds. Throw an unweighted double egg rig right in front of the moving school.  As they all move over it, watch your line tip.  Once it starts following the school, set the hook.  It will be a big G-town rainbow every time!

Take your kids up to see the kokanee and brookie spawners in Emily spring and the hoards of eagles. I'd be surprised if you made it all the way around the lake and did not spot a moose or 2 as well.

Autumn is about more than just brown trout...

Giant Georgetown Lake brook trout

I absolutely love brown trout!  I live in a part of Montana which is lousy with tons of huge, angry browns and fall is like the Superbowl of brown trout fishing.  However, it's always good to remember that there are some other great fall spawners worth pursuing as well.

Georgetown Lake, Silver Bow Creek, and the Big Hole River all hold larger-than-average sized brook trout.  The monster male shown above was over 20" long!  I bet folks back east didn't know they could get that big.  Our brook trout here in SW Montana (especially in Georgetown Lake) rival those found in Labrador, Newfoundland.

Other fall species to chase in Montana are:

• Kokanee salmon (landlocked sockeye) - great fun and good food
• Lake Trout moving out of Flathead Lake (yes, in the fall you can catch them on streamers in shallow water and the Flathead River)
• Bull Trout (only in the South Fork of the Flathead!!)
• Pike seem extra feisty in the fall and are easy to spot in the Lower Clark Fork and Bitterroot
• There is even a strain of fall spawning rainbow in the Upper Missouri (above all the dams)

For all of these fish, you'll want to throw streamers.  Check out the streamer factory on my dining room table.  Priorities.

Red Boat Mark's dining room table

It's fall, get out there!!

The Big Hole River, Montana in the Fall

Maiden Rock Bridge

The Big Hole is arguably one of the most beautiful rivers anywhere.  In the Autumn, it is really out of control.  This river is predominantly a brown trout stream, making Fall even more mystic and exciting!  This is my first Autumn in Butte and the closest large river is the Big Hole.  I have a lifetime of exploring to do here and I'm really happy about it.

Yesterday, the fishing was great.  I'd rather have been in my raft all day but this was a quick after-work fix. The streamer bite is on!!  Yellow bunny streamers and darker Skiddish Smolts were the ticket.  The fish were in faster knee-deep riffles and absolutely pounded the fly.  It felt like I'd hit a boulder and then there'd be that brown trout, throbbing head-shake.

I had the place to myself with the exception of this guy who fished for a little while in one spot.  He had brought his wife and kids who waited stream-side in their truck.  Poor bastard!!

It was mostly cloudy but when the sun would break through, the Fall colors were outstanding.  I saw some really slappy rises from big fish here and there and figured there must be some remaining October caddis.  I put on an appropriate foamy and skated it over a shallow riffle and Boom, rainbow trout!

There were some signs that the spawn is getting going.  I caught a couple rainbows on egg-type stuff and a guy came by and told me that he saw some browns sitting on redds in the upper river by Wisdom.  He also mentioned that the fishing was slow up there and that is was really weedy.  He was from out-of-state so it may just have been him.

The Fall has really just begun here in Southwest Montana.  I can't wait to float the Jefferson for the first time, hit the awesome streamer maddness on the MO as always, the Yellowstone beacons as does the Madison, and there's huge brook trout on the spawn in Georgetown Lake.  Not to mention the Upper Clark Fork and the brookies in Silver Bow.

Too much awesomeness, too little time!!

Fish Butte's Blacktail Creek

Blacktail Creek brook trout

Butte's Blacktail Creek flows out of the Highlands Mountains and right through town.  This little, urban gem is often overlooked by fly anglers.  Blacktail has tons of access right of the city trail system and has a great population of brook trout.

There are some signs of old Butte along the banks.  These old bottles were fun to sift through.

Blacktail is not your average Montana wilderness stream but it is a great option for a quicky after work or a good excuse to bring a rod when you go on that walk with your significant other or child.

Blacktail near the confluence of Silver Bow Cr with Big Butte in the background

While some sections go through beautiful parks and ranch lands, other sections are very urban.

Blacktail baby geese

Blacktail brook trout

You don't have to travel far to get that small stream fix when you live in Butte.  Check out Blacktail!

The Upper Clark Fork in winter

Mt Powell and the Upper Clark Fork in January

The Upper Clark Fork, from the outlet of the Anaconda Settling Ponds down to around Galen, is essentially a tailwater fishery and it fishes all winter.  It is full of of brown trout, has some giant rainbows which fall over the spillway from the ponds, and has the occasional cutthroat and brook trout mixed in.

Frozen foam disks

This stretch of river sees a lot of pressure because the fishing is awesome so, it can get really technical.

Ice in the guides

It can get crowded at times.  This is easily avoidable though, so long as you fish at odd times and during the off season.  Also, similar to Rock Creek, most of the people fishing here have no idea what the hell they are doing.  If you have half an idea, you can usually come right behind them and catch fish.  Just try to stay out of sight.

 Staying out of sight is going to be harder for a while as two major sections of the floodplain and stream are closed right now due to some restoration work.  An area about a half mile down stream of the spillway (near the first bridge) has been closed for a while and there is another section on the Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch that is under construction now.

See ya later Mr. Brown

All I can say is that I'm stoked about the restoration work and the future of the fishery.  I'm also excited to now live 20 minutes away.  Want some good advice?  Fight the urge to fish nymphs and throw SMALL streamers.  There are also some epic midge, BWO, hopper, and caddis hatches up here at the appropriate times.

A little surprise

Upper Clark Fork brook trout

So, my "work/school fishing trip" to the Butte area turned into a work/school fishing trip.  Turns out, getting all the required documents to my new school is a lot more laborious than I expected.  However, I did have to shoot back over there yesterday to look at an apartment.  That left me like 45 minutes of daylight in a snowstorm to hit the Upper Clark Fork below the ponds.

I had been fishing for like 5 minutes when I hooked into this male brookie all colored up for the spawn.  I've never caught a brook trout this big in the Clark fork.  There are huge brookies upstream of the ponds and the tribs in the area are loaded with them but this big boy was right in the main stem and was surely a post spawn holdover.

There are redds everywhere in the upper CF right now from the browns (and some brookies I guess) which have been abandoned.  I'm sure you can still find some fish on redds, but it looks like the spawn is over.  Be really careful up here, don't be a dick and fish for trout on their redds.  More importantly, don't walk on the redds.

Redds are easy to spot in small streams like the upper Clark Fork, especially redds from fish who spawn in the fall.  The bottom is usually covered in dead organic material which is a darker color.  The redds are dinner plate to dinner table sized areas of stream bed which are clean gravel.  They are usually in slower water and at the tailouts of deeper holes.

You can see that this fish is wrapped in my leader.  I didn't take the time to try and get a perfect picture because this guy could potentially still be trying to find a mate and he most likely just had a long voyage from wherever he came from.  This was a quick lift out of the net, snap, and release type deal.  Notice the EZ Bunny hanging out of his mouth.

Winter fishing is full of surprises.