Fly Fishing Report Brought To You By Our Missoula Fly Fishing Guides And Fly Shop Staff.
Enjoy and Good Luck!
Bitterroot River
The Bitterroot River is trying to drop, but is more staying constant with small daily bumps and a gradual decline in flow. The clarity is decent, and if you’re floating, you can get it done with Salmon Flies up top but quickly waning and Goldens are starting to show, as well as Green Drakes on the cloudy days. The wading is not easy on the Bitterroot right now, but if the river keeps dropping as it is now, we expect this to get a lot better in the next week. The forks are fishing well, again with few Salmon Flies and Goldens.
Green Drakes have been seen, and a few fish are taking advantage, but you need to find the soft spots to get the fish to come to the surface. The same is applying to the PMD’s, PED’s and Tan Caddis. As the river drops, these flies will become more important on the surface. The nymphs are important right now, and a PT jig, G Kes or a Caddis Pupa will move fish underneath the surface.
Streamers are definitely working, especially in the more colored water closer to Missoula. The Drunk And Disorderly, with it’s flat face, sends out vibrations to fish and moves them in stained water. Gongas, Dungeons, the Boogie Man and other streamers with bulky heads are working as well. If you have a sink-tip or a sinking leader, definitely bring it. While the water is slowly dropping, the Bitterroot is still big, and the extra depth will help your streamer perform.
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Blackfoot River
The Blackfoot is dropping steadily in this heat, which means it will start to drop quickly in the next few days. At the moment, it’s a lot more friendly to floating anglers, though the further you go up the river, the better the wading will be. Remember the first 5 miles of the Recreational Corridor road is being paved, and is closed from Johnsrud to Whitaker Bridge. If you want to access the recreational corridor, you’ll need to drive to Roundup and come down from the top.
The Blackfoot is really fishing well with Streamers right now. Big streamers, little streamers- the big fish are eating little fish, and the streamer fishing is really good. The lower river is still a bit off color, so darker streamers down there, but as you go upstream, a lighter streamer has been just as effective. Bring the big streamer stick if you have one- a sink tip is getting the fly where the fish are, especially down low. A sinking leader will work as well. Pick your streamers to match your rod weight. It’s more important to get the fly close to the fish. If you can cast a big fly accurately, the Blackfoot is for you!
The Salmon Flies and Golden Stones are being eaten with regularity on the Blackfoot. The dry fly fishing is better the higher up you go, as the clarity is better. Still use the bigger, brighter bugs, and again, accuracy is more important. The Blackfoot is bank full, and the trout are hugging bottom and sides. Better to have a thicker tippet for accuracy. The Morningwood Special or a Juicy Stone is good on top. The tweener fly of choice is the Juicy Stone Golden, which does double duty as a Salmon Fly as well. The Rogue Golden and the Half Down Golden are producing as well. Of course, a dropper or double nymph rig is very effective, and a Double Bead Stone or big Pat’s Rubberlegs are working their magic subsurface.
Green drakes are being eaten, but with the higher flows, it’s more about finding where the water is soft enough to allow the trout to set up for the hatch. If you find the hatch, most flies close in appearance are being eaten. Make sure to have a couple of Parachute Green Drakes and a Flash Cripple or two to meet the hatch. For subsurface action, a big PT Jig Nymph and the Emerald Salvation Nymph are pulling in the fish. Get them deep enough!
PMD’s, PED’s and tan caddis are being seen, but the flows are such that the fish are taking less interest in the smaller bugs and focusing on the Salmonflies and Golden Stones. The nymphs of these smaller bugs are working, so have the G Kes, Yellow Spot Jig or the Umpqua PT Jig to take advantage of the subsurface smorgasbord. The smaller dries will begin to assert themselves when the water drops a bit, so be tready in the next few days.
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Clark Fork River
The Middle and Lower Clark Fork river are still high and off color, though the off color is now more green than brown, which is a good sign! The upper Clark is fishing well on the upper, and the way upper stretch by Warm Springs is wading well.
The Golden and Salmon Fly hatches in the upper section are what we expect, present but not strong. It’s dry/dropper up here, with the dropper doing most of the work. A TJ Hooker or a Pat’s Rubberlegs is working well on the upper stretches. An Orange Chubby makes a great indicator, and will pick up a few fish. The goldens are being seen, and in the upper stretches, the smaller Goldens like the Henry’s Fork or Rogue Golden is working.
When it comes to the Middle and Lower sections, it’s going to be streamer time before it’s dry fly time. If the rivers continue to drop at this rapid rate, we expect the Middle Clark Fork to be seeing some good streamer action in 4-5 days, with the lower section a few days later. As the biggest drainage in the area, the Clark Fork takes a bit longer to round into shape. A bit of patience is needed from Missoula on down, but keep an eye our for that magical streamer green ,and take advantage.
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Rock Creek
The heat is here and Rock Creek is dropping, which means the river is definitely rounding into shape. There’s still some Salmonflies kicking around, and the big orange floaters like the Morningwood Special and Rio’s Juicy Stone are still productive. But as the river drops and the fish start to move off the banks, the smaller, lower floating flies like Gould’s Half-Down Salmon Fly, Rogue Stone, Cat Puke and the Morrish Still Stone are working too. If you have the bright orange bugs, a quick application of brown or black magic marker will get them looking a lot more natural.
Golden Stones and Yellow Sallies are along the length of the river. The bigger Goldens, like the Dancing Ricky and the El Camino. The same applies to the Goldens- as the river drops, the duller, more natural Goldens will start to work. The Henry’s Fork Golden, Rogue Golden and the Demoe’s Mill Creek are some low floating bugs that will move the fish. The lower the flows get, the more important the Yellow Sallies will be. Make sure you have them with you.
Looking for a tweener- A fly that may be a Golden, may be a Salmon Fly? The Juicy Stone Golden or the Fluttering Golden will fit that bill perfectly.
If you choose to go subsurface which you shouldn’t have to, a big Pat’s Rubberlegs in brown will cover both golden and Salmon Fly nymphs. If you’re looking for more realism, the Double Bead Stone in Peacock (Salmon Fly) and the Double Bead Hare’s Ear (Golden Nymph)
The Green Drakes are being taken, in more places every day as the river drops. The Carnage Drake and the Parachute Green drake are working well. If you run across a little fussier fish, a Sparkle Cripple Green Drake has been very effective. The Emerald Salvation Nymph is taking fish subsurface.
The PMD’s are starting to be eaten as well- again more as the river drops. The PED’s and Tan Caddis are the same. Make sure to have them, but they won’t be super important on the surface for about a week. Unless you find a soft spot, and then they’ll be important now! But the nymphs and pupa are important right now, so make sure to have PT Tungsten Jigs, Tan Caddis Pupa and Yellow Hot Spots to move the fish close to the bottom.
If you can take your eyes off the Salmon Flies and Goldens, the streamer fishing up here is pretty good! Sparkle Minnows are moving fish, as are the Mini Dungeons and Sculpzillas. The Dungeons are working on a sink tip or sinking leader, and right now Rock Creek is big enough to take a sinking line
Scroll to the bottom of this page for additional fly patterns and tips!
