Missouri River Spring Fishing
Missouri River Spring Fishing – Challenging weather but some great fish including some nice-sized brown trout and lots of rainbow trout. The rivers around Missoula bumped up early this week. It was fishable, but after the great dry fly action I called off Mon. and Tue. with locals.
Then I met long-time anglers Bill and Dan over on the Missouri on Wednesday for the first of three days. It was a bright sunny, but chilly day as we launched at the dam. Just around the corner Dan connected with the first fish of the trip and Bill followed that up with a big rainbow.
At that point the wind started, and it blew hard for the rest of the day. It was tough to control the boat, hard to cast, and tricky to get a good dead drift. The guys persevered though with fairly steady action. Most of the runs were good for one solid fish with a couple of spots giving up 2 or 3.
The sun and the wind weren’t doing us any favors but despite those challenges the action was decent. Later in the afternoon Dan scored with an awesome brown trout in a tail-out and after a couple more rainbows, Bill stuck a great brown trout of his own.
I was very impressed with the average size fish today. The rainbows were all big, fat, and healthy and it’s always nice to find a few brown trout on the upper river.
Missouri River Spring Fishing
Thursday was cooler yet and cloudy. The forecast called for a storm to move in around 4 so our plan was to do the same float and get off the water before the weather caught us. We launched by ourselves at the dam and Bill picked up a good rainbow in the first spot.
We fished that run again and Bill boated another bow while Dan had one throw the hook on a jump. The action was a little better early on as the guys were fighting two or more good fish in each run. Dan had an absolute slab of a rainbow that fought for a long time in the morning.
As we rounded the corner to Wolf Creek the wind started again. The guys managed to land 3 in that long run and then we pushed around the corner to seek refuge. Out of the wind a little we picked up 2 more and then stopped for some hot soup.
The wind was getting even worse and then it started to snow. With temps in the 30’s, 20 mph winds, and sideways snow we decided to pull the plug on the rest of the day and I rowed off. Fishing was good, but the weather was brutal.
Missouri River Spring Fishing
Friday we delayed our start as I woke up to a couple of inches of snow and cold temps again. The delay helped as at least the roads were cleared by the time we met in Craig. It was still cold, but calm and after learning our lesson yesterday I picked a shorter float and we launched at Wolf Creek.
Dan hooked 2 fish in the first run that came unbuttoned and then we doubled up with a pair of nice rainbows in the next spot. The action continued from there with Bill going on a hot streak with the next 4 fish.
Then we settled into a good spot that produced 3 big bows before taking a break for lunch. Lots of blue-wing olives were hatching while we ate so I rigged up a couple of short leash rods to see if the fish were looking for small mayflies.
We made a couple of stabs at that technique with no success. Every time we switched back to the deep nymphs the guys found fish. Nice, steady action with one or two quality rainbows in every run.
Late in the day we even had a stretch with 3 brown trout in a row. Eventually, the temps warmed up and it turned into a gorgeous partly cloudy afternoon. It was nice to enjoy an hour or two of warmth on the water after the cold and wind the rest of the trip.
Bill and Dan are always an absolute pleasure to fish with. They have great stories, an easy manner, and we always put some good fish in the net.
Missouri River Spring Fishing
Sunday was the first of 3 days with local angler, Bob, on our annual Missouri River trip. We drove over from Missoula in the morning so it was a bit of a late start. With the cloudy, cool weather we decided to float through the canyon today and had 3-rod rigs to start.
It was tough out of the gate as we fished a deep nymph rig, short nymph rig, and a dry fly with no success in the first few runs. Then Bob connected in a foam back eddy on a solid fish. After a good fight he had a fat 18″ rainbow trout in the net.
We picked up one more fish before pulling in for lunch. The first spot in the afternoon produced a great brown trout in shallow water and Bob followed that up with another brown just downstream.
The fishing was consistent the rest of the day on the nymph rig. Most of the likely spots produced at least one solid hook up. Bob tangled with a few more classic Missouri rainbow trout in the 17-19″ range and a handful of spunky teenagers.
We tried fishing the big dry a couple times with no success and only found one rising trout all day. There was a huge blue-wing olive hatch today but the trout didn’t seemed to care. Bob got the one riser to eat the dry but the hook didn’t connect.
After that we nymphed one more long bank and stuck two final trout before coasting to the take out. It was a solid first day of the trip.
Always look forward to getting on the Missouri River Spring fishing each season. The average size of the trout are impressive this year and I’m looking forward to some warmer weather when the short nymph and dry fly game will come into play. Schedule your next fly fishing trip here!
Check for current river conditions around Missoula and near Wolf Creek on the Missouri River here
