Mother Nature’s Gift
Much has been written about the relationship between fishing and the weather. Mostly because anglers have a primal need to explain away poor fishing with a plausible excuse. We love our excuses, but they are out the window right now as some great fishing weather has descended upon Missoula. It is the kind of stuff that doesn’t make the tourists very happy, but every guide in town is gearing up in the morning with a big smile on their face.
Solid cloud cover, some rain, and below average temps are forecast to hang around well into next week. That is the perfect fishing weather for Montana. The rivers will pump out steady mayfly hatches and the trout will look up with more confidence as the cloud cover offers them more protection from predators. The small dry fly game promises to be excellent in places like the Clark Fork and lower Bitterroot. In the faster water of the Blackfoot and upper Bitterroot trout will throw caution to the wind and hammer big attractor patterns too.
The best part about this latest round of weather is dropping water temps. There are already some Hoot Owl restrictions in other parts of the state, but this cold front came just in time to drop our water temps back to ideal levels. At least for the next week or so, anglers can sleep in a little longer and take to the water on a civilized schedule.
There are plenty of trout looking up right now around Missoula. They love the clouds just as much as we do. If you get the chance you should take advantage of the best fishing weather of the month. It’s only a matter of time before the sun, heat, and excuses return to the rivers of Montana.
