Fishing Reports

 MIDDLE FORK of FLATHEAD RIVER REPORT: We fished the MF over the weekend and had a lot of success.  The river is running about average for this time of year and is the perfect glacier green color.  We focused most of our efforts from Essex bridge to Paola Creek.  For those who haven't fished/floated this river, you need to be very careful (there are a lot of class II - IV rapids on the river, but manly below Paola Creek access).  There are tons of cutthroat in here and it doesn't take much to catch um.  It was somewhat cloudy and rainy when we fished, but that didn't stop um from comin to the top and whackin a bushy dry.  The streamer fishing was also really good, but you also have to be careful with the size of streamer you use because there is a HUGE population of native bull trout that are in the river that are protected.  I would recommend those on foot and boat alike to focus their efforts in the higher reaches of the river because it seems to hold larger fish and is somewhat easier to manage on the sticks.  As always, if you are headed over here anytime soon, call the shop and we will help guide you in the right direction.

-Cornfed

Belt Creek is fishable!  It's clear...it's raining right now but hopefully that won't last too long.  Wading is still tough, however fishing from the banks is possible.  In a week the creek will be in really great shape.  Savannah fished up high last night and got them eating caddis. 

 Fished Harry Morgan to County Line (Russel Gates) on Friday.  Fishing was somewhat above average considering the clarity of the water.  The NF of the Blackfoot is gin clear and the MF had zero clarity whatsoever.  Nymphs worked, moved a few fish to the top, but overall streamers were the best.  We caught the majority of our fish on black, but had some luck contrasting it with white.  There were no more salmonflies out, but we did see a few golden stones, some green drakes, pmds, yellow sallies, and lots of caddis towards the evening.  I'm sure that section of water has cleared by now and dries should be the ticket.  If you do head over here, check the flow charts.  If they're moving up or cresting, choose a section of water on the lower river.  The closer you get to Missoula, the cleaner the water is.

Suggested patterns: Big R bugs golden, carnage stones golden, Kyle's king kong hopper (trim the red legs off the back and it turns into a killer golden stone pattern), madam x's, pmx's, elk hair caddis, sparkle pupas, purple haze, SJW, princes, copper john's, yuk bugs, JJ's, sparkle minnows, skiddish smolts, what ever else big and horrific your streamer box may have in it


-Cornfed

The levels have lowered on the Missouri....... Fishing is starting to come back to the norm. We went from a double worm set up on Tuesday and Wednesday, to Saturday picking more fish up on scuds, caddis, and PMD stuff. Although a brown did puke out a 5" night crawler that looked like it came straight off of the harness. Few fish up here and there nothing real consistant. A storm roled in and kind of shut things down for a while. The flows are flushing the river out really nice and should be whipped back in to shape soon.

With the water this high, there are only a few fishing options on the rivers around here.  The Mo being one of them.  The Sun being the other close to town (although the lower sections will be very muddy, the upper section stays regular due to Gibson Dam).  The Mo has been fishing okay to good for the amount of water in it, however, it can't be fished the same way we fish it when there is 3-4,000cfs.  Deep nymphing with scuds, San Juan worms, disco worms, Eggs N Bacon, ray charles, Keller Goodnights, Tailwater Charlies and other like flies will be the ticket.  Three to four split shots and the indicator all the way at the top of your leader will be necessary to get fish nymphing.  Streamer fishing may be okay off the banks, although fish are sitting on the width of the river, when the water is up getting a streamer in front of the fish is the main concern, and fish on the banks are an easier target.  Some new cool streamers in the shop include Keller's Sleezeburgers, and the new Ghostbuster Craw!