John and Terri pontificate on various topics, which sometimes includes fly fishing. Enjoy!
Apr24
Fly Fishing Report – Missoula Montana – Spring 2013
Tag Archives: blackfoot river
Mar22
March 2013 Spring Fly Fishing Report
Feb24
Late Winter Fly Fishing – It’s Go Time
This might be my favorite time to fish – likely because I actually get a few days in before the guiding season kicks in – but beyond that it is really good fishing! To make it through the ice season, trout and our neighboring steelhead have wintered up in deep runs. They remain in the same until snow starts melting and rivers swell, ultimately dispersing them again throughout the system. The time is now to find quality fish in good numbers stacked in small areas. We would love for you to get into the shop and buy as many nymphs and streamers you can carry but the truth is you’ll need about a hand full to get the job done…plenty of san jauns, pat’s rubber legs in a coupla shades, double bead stones, eggs, olive buggers and zonker type streamers… did I mention worms? Get out there before the skwala season and expect some exceptional action.
Feb2
Simms BOA Wading Boots – Why you need these.
Oct3
Early October fishing report updated.
We just updated our fishing report for the first week of October… and it’s looking good for those patiently waiting for fall dry fly fishing! Check in out by clicking the Report page above.
Sep8
Holy Case Caddis!
If you don’t think the October caddis hatch is worth looking into – you might want to look again. It would take more than a few bwo’s to make up for the pre-winter protein just one of these bad boys packs on. Toss in a coupla those salmon fly nymphs and you have a trout smorgasbord! We took this pic only about a foot from the bank on the Blackfoot yesterday and did see a couple adults in the air. It is go time!
Aug26
Missoula area fly fishing report newly updated
Click on the Missoula Fly Fishing Report tab above for our updated report… so you can catch a few of these!
Jul21
Freestone Fishing, you just never know.
Rob Felton with his best on an incredible day on the Foot.
I got a little reality check on the upper Bitterroot a coupla days back. After you see a few of these bad boys… even after the water drops… it feels like it might continue on right through the summer. My guys had never seen the Root and wanted to check it out; this, after spending 3 days on the Missouri picking off a bunch of big bows sipping spinners. I told them that we weren’t fishing tailwaters here and to expect smaller fish. Really, I expected to surprise them with not only numbers but some really good fish too, on big dries and see fewer folks. In my little mind the PMD’s, goldens, and a few sallies should be enough to have all the fish looking up. They were going to be impressed with free stone fishing.
We ended up turning around at my first choice of put ins in light of the number of boats putting in only to find a similar number at the next (so much for seclusion). The pmd spinner fall was already in full swing and we were hooked up on the first cast. A small brownie to be sure but the day is young. Golden stones were all over the place by noon. About 8 hours and around 50 fish later, we had topped the 10″ mark about three times including our day’s best – 17″ brownie hooked in the tip of the tail. The boat traffic never did really become a factor (I don’t know where those folks ended up?). We had a great day to be sure but it I had to remember; this is freestone river fishing in Western Montana and you need to appreciate those juveniles…they are the 22 inchers we all dream about just a bit younger… and you never know when one will be on the end of the line on any given day.
Jul14
Missoula Area Fly Fishing Report Updated – and Good!
 Check out our online Store! http://stores.ebay.com/blackfootriveroutfitters?_rdc=1 |
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River Name
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Current Fishing Conditions
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Current Hatches
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Current Hot Patterns
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| Blackfoot | The Blackfoot continues to slowly drop and just below the historical norm for this time of year. We are still seeing salmon flies every day and this might be the best time of the year to use them on the river above River Bend CG. It is running around 1500cfs and clear. It fished really well yesterday both on streamers and dry dropper rigs and we caught some really nice fish… averaging over 15″. A worm, MT prince, or double bead stone under a salmon fly dry is money as is tan sculpins or sparkle minnow streamers towing a double bead stone, marvin or worm — swinging off the slow drop offs is key. | salmon flies, golden stones, yellow sallies, caddis, and a coupla pmds. | >Dries: Bullethead salmon fly, Clacka caddis #12, Noble chernobyls in orange, tan or red. >Nymphs: Red or pink SanJuan worm #8, prince in sizes 10-8, double bead stones, and green copper john in 14-10 >Streamers: Bunnies in tan, sparkle minnows |
| Bitterroot | The Bitterroot is still greatwith the goldens and sallies. we are dropping a silver bead phez tail, copper john or prince nymph on a about a 2foot dropper for insurance. On the right day in our opinion, this is the single best time to hit the lower sections. Cloudy weather that is called for this weekend could be killer with pmds. Look for sippers on the spinner fall in the morning – follow up purple haze with a rusty spinner or pmd cripple and make sure you are right on line as the more bugs the less distance they seem to move. | pmds in force, caddis late in the evenings,a few salmon flies on west fork, goldens, yellow sallies all up and down the river | >Dries: Bullet head rogue golden #12, goldie hawn #16, tan, golden chernobyls >Nymphs: Big prince or #10 copper john, peacock double bead stones, red worm and pink also gets it done. >Streamers: Olive black buggers, marvins |
| Clark Fork | The lower sections of the Clark Fork are a really good choice right now! Cloudy warm weather is best on this water if you want to fish dries to rising fish but you can catch them just fine dead drifting nymphs. We c some great fish with the double nymph rigs and large attractors with long droppers this week – of continue to catch some exceptional fish everyday. In fact, one of our clients caught a legit two foot rainbow!!! just a coupla days back… on a dry. The largest we have seen (actually taped and pictured – a no bs giant) The worm is still hard to beat as a dropper but expect action on phez tails #s16, #10 prince and copper john. If you are planning on fishing above Missoula use the same rigs or try swinging streamers off the banks… bunny and a bead is a good call or trail a smallish black or olive bugger behind a large streamer. | pmps coming out heavy on lower, caddis too, golden stones, sallies, | >Dries: Carnage golden stone, pmd parachutes #16 elk hair caddis, bwo #18-16, purple haze #14. >Nymphs: SanJuan worms in pink and red. phez tails #14-18, big prince size 10 or #16 copper john. >Streamers: Sparkle minnow, jj’s, black buggers, marvins |
| Rock Creek | Waders are delighted to have the Rock to themselves again… and the fishing is pretty good. Caddis heavy in the late afternoon while the sallies and goldens are a mid day affair. Pale morning dun action this weekend should be off the hook with the cooler weather and clouds “they” are calling for. This is a great time to wade fish the creek and at 522cfs a good level. | Goldens, yellow sallies,pmd’d in the morning, caddis, and just a couple salmon flies lingering on the upper reaches | >Dries: Carnage or rouge goldens,goldie hawns #16, swisher caddis #14, purple haze, pmd parachute. >Nymphs: The worm – red, pink, orange in #12, phez tail #16, prince in sizes 14-12 and copper john in 16-14 >Streamers: Olive zonkers and buggers, sparkle |
| Georgetown Lake | Georgetown is fishing exceptionally well right now and I have yet to put on a dropper or streamer on of any sort – the are really looking up! Damsels are out in force and the fish are all over them. And, in the hot sun, they start early in the day. Expect calibeatis early in the day (but they eat a purple haze just fine)and finish late in the evening pitching giant olive sedge dries – the carnage skwala is a dead ringer for these bugs but a para green drake works equally well. | Blue damsels, olive sedge (caddis), calibeatis, leaches,scuds and midges. | >Dries:midge parachute #18, para madam X olive or carnage skwala #10, blue damsel dries, purple haze #16. >Nymphs: Zebra midge, orange or olive scuds. rs2 emergers. >Streamers:buggers in olive and black, thin bunnies. |
| Alternate Rivers and Information | |||
| MISSOURI RIVER: The Mo is on fire again… expect plenty of shots at rising fish on pmds, caddis and even sallies below the Dearborn. If nymphing is your game plan on multiple hook ups with pt’s, lightning bug, split back pmd mymphs and even small prince. If you go over there we do have a good stock of the little nymphs that did do well for us and can set you up. Questions about an upcoming trip or fishing in Western Montana? Call us at our new fly shop in Missoula at 406-542-7411 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 406-542-7411 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (open 9 – 6 M – Sat., Sundays 10 – 3) Our Philipsburg shop is now open on all week so stop in on your way to the Creek or G-Town. Good fishing – John, Terri, Matthew, and Kynslee | |||
Jul7
The Unknown Angler catches trophy whitey!
Somewhere on the Blackfoot the unknown angler caught a trophy white fish — it is said to have an adipose fin the size of a quarter…Please be on the lookout for this individual as it is quite likely he has ties to al-Qaeda and should be reported to the authorities immediately!
Jun21
Summer is finally here and with it will come smaller fish.
Unlike most anglers, many of our guides revel in swollen rivers. Not high and muddy but bank full and green. In fact I would argue that the biggest trout in a river are more accessible in high water situations than they are in low clear conditions. This is counter intuitive to be sure, Common sense says that the lower the water – the more confined the fish – thus the more easily they are to locate and catch. Reallity is that when a river is low and clear the fish are spread accross the river, anywhere from bank to bank and, they are spooky. Running full, river trout are typically very site specific. In wandering rivers like the Clark Fork or Bitterroot they are congregated in sandbar drop offs and slick deep slow backwater channels. In boulder strewn rivers like the Blackfoot, they find refuge in the soft inside corners and long slow moving banks. In both instances trout will be aggressive and disregard shadows overhead and oars splashing around them. Green water is good!
I am not saying that we won’t catch any more large fish now that the rivers are clearing and dropping. But the days of easy targeting top end fish will continue to get more callenging with each inch of dropping water and visibility. Now is the time when hatches matter more and weather tends to effect catching the top end fish more severly.
Speaking of catching … I need to go pick up my clients and prove this theory wrong! Good luck out there.
Father and daughter get in on maybe the last day of easy big days... One of plenty-a-big bow eagerly awaiting our offerings on sand bar drop offs recently.
Jun15
Weekend Fishing Report for June 15, 2012
Jun14
Where are all the anglers??
It never ceases to amaze me how few folks we see on the rivers fishing in mid June. A little recap of my last few days of guiding to prove my point: upper Bitterroot – one boat, middle Bitterroot one boat (two guides on day off), upper Blackfoot – no anglers, lower Rock Creek- three wade anglers, upper Bitterroot – one boat, upper Rock Creek - one boat, upper Blackfoot - no anglers, upper Blackfoot – one boat, lower Clark Fork - no anglers, upper Rock Creek – three waders one boat. Wow, that is a bunch of driving, but more importantly in 10days on the water we only noticed 6 other boats and 6 wading anglers! Where is everybody?
Admittedly, we haven’t had very good dry fly fishing but for those willing to swing a bunny and a bead on the Foot, drop a worm below a chubby on the Root, double down with a prince on the Clark or fish a dropper tight to the bank on the Rock… expect some exceptional fishing in both numbers and size. Get out there!
Jun10
Mark is so cheap. He buys twelve flies and draws on them all season. This is a shot from Rock Creek last week as he turned a golden stone into a salmonfly. Plenty of salmonfly adults on the lower river. John fished Rock Creek again from the confluence of the forks of the creek at Skalkaho Road and took out at concrete bridge two days ago. Don’t believe there was much sign of salmonflies up near the forks. They caught a ton of fish subsurface and the pink worm was king again.
Another one of our guides, James, was on the lower Bitterroot two days ago and the nymphing was great. The flows on the rivers have dropped a great deal and, while the water is still high, the conditions and fishing are good. John was on the Bitterroot on Saturday and we’ll try to get a report from him tomorrow. I don’t have any recent reports on the Clark Fork or Blackfoot, but I will try to pass those along as soon as they come in to us. Should be some good salmonfly fishing on the Blackfoot in the near future. Good fishing to you and check back soon.
Jun1
Fishing report updated for the weekend – looks like it is going to be a good one!
We are unable to update our video report as our production team is on strike – we will try to get back on board with it early next week… for now here is our written report:
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Check out our online Store! http://stores.ebay.com/blackfootriveroutfitters?_rdc=1
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River Name
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Current Fishing Conditions
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Current Hatches
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Current Hot Patterns
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| Blackfoot | The Blackfoot continues dropping for several days and fished decent this week already. This could be the breakout weekend for the Foot in that we have seen just a coupla salmon flies up in the Box Canyon and they should come out in force any day. We’ve done well with a worm under a salmon fly dry or with a blackbugger or marvin and a worm fished shallow under an indicator. The North fork and other tribs are now open and are fishing well. | coupla caddis, green drakes and salmon flies just starting. | >Dries: Bullethead salmon fly, Clacka caddis #12, Noble chernobyls in orange, tan or red.> Nymphs: Red or pink SanJuan worm #8, prince in sizes 10-8, double bead stones, and copper john in 14-10> Streamers: Bunnies; yellow, black, olive or tan buggers, |
| Bitterroot | The Bitterroot fished really well this week – exceptionally well for big rainbows – with san juan or prince nymph droppers under a large indicator dry. There are litterally no bugs hatching on the lower river right now but the salmon flies are going to kick in on the West and East Forks together with the river near Darby any day now. The mainstem near Darby took a little jump Friday morning but should fish well through the weekend. | salmon flies and green drakes coming on literally any day. | >Dries: Bullet head rogue salmon fly, green drake parachute #12, tan orange, golden chernobyls> Nymphs: Big prince or #10 copper john, peacock double bead stones, red worm is king but pink also gets it done.> Streamers: Olive black buggers, marvins |
| Clark Fork | The lower sections of the Clark Fork are a really good choice for this weekend – and no one has really been fishing it for about 2 months! Cloudy warm weather that is called for equals good opportunity on this water. We would stay with the double nymph rigs or large attractors with long droppers until we see some better hatches. If you are fishing above Missoula, use the same rigs or try swinging streamers off the banks… bunny and a bead is a good call or trail a smallish black or olive bugger behind a large streamer. | Couple caddis, salmon flies and green drakes coming on literally any day. | >Dries: Carnage salmon flies or skwalas, elk hair caddis, bwo #18-16, purple haze #14.> Nymphs: SanJuan worms in pink and red. phez tails #14-18, big prince size 10 or #16 copper john.> Streamers: Sparkle minnow, jj’s, black buggers, marvins |
| Rock Creek | Rock is rocking right now! We fished the upper reaches near Pburg this week and had a 40-50 fish day. Very little surface action up there but they couldn’t get enough of the worm. Streamer fishing produced nothing. Salmon flies are starting on the lower river so expect some company if you are floating down there. Reports are they log jams around the upper fire ring (mile 26-27) are really dicey…ultra experienced oarspersons only and even then get out and take a look before you go — scouting is not a sign of weakness, rather knowledge. | We saw just a couple salmon flies earlier this week not many caddis, green drakes any day. | >Dries: Carnage or rouge salmon flies, swisher caddis #14, purple haze, green drake parachute.> Nymphs: The worm – red, pink, orange in #8, phez tail #16, prince in sizes 10-8 and copper john in 14-10.> Streamers: Black buggers, bitch creeks, zonkers in |
| Georgetown Lake | Georgetown is now open but remember much of the lake shore line is still closed (from about 7Gables to the far side of Denton’s point). This time of year you want to fish black or olive buggers, leach patterns, or hang eggs or scuds off of an indicator. We look for the post spawners still cruising the drop offs and consider a sink tip to keep the bugs down. | Leaches,scuds. | >Dries: > Nymphs: Zebra midge,egg patterns, and scuds> Streamers:buggers in olive and black, thin bunnies, jj’s not bad off the deep drop offs. |
| Alternate Rivers and Information | |||
| Various small streams: This is a great time to fish some smaller waters – all of which are now open. Expect high and pushy conditions but clear water. Color changes are key as are deep plunge pools. Fish the worm or a prince under a smallish attractor dry.MISSOURI RIVER: The Mo is starting to get its tricky edge… you need to have the perfect pattern on or your outa luck. We were there recently and in spite of Craig’s Caddis Festivle – we didn’t see any! Other hatches of bwo’s and midges were limited as well. The wind is not helping and has been in your face on the Mo for about 2 weeks straight now. We were happy to get back over the divide again and fish something larger than size 18. If you go over there we do have a good stock of the little nymphs that did do well for us and can set you up. Questions about an upcoming trip or fishing in Western Montana? Call us at our new fly shop in Missoula at 406-542-7411 (open 9 – 6 M – Sat., Sundays 10 – 3) Our Philipsburg shop is now open on all week so stop in on your way to the Creek or G-Town. Good fishing – John, Terri and Matthew | |||