Missoula Fishing Report 2024
Monday was the first of two days with the 2 Sisters crew, Sheila and Laura along with husbands, Jeff and Jason. I had Laura and Jason with me while fellow guide, Nick, took Sheila and Jeff. We talked about the dry fly prospects, but with bright sun and big winds predicted we decided to start out nymphing.
The first long run only produced a native whitefish for Jason, but he connected with a hot rainbow on the next inside and added another one just below that. Then Laura got in on the action in the next spot with a bright rainbow. The nymphing was consistent with a solid fish coming out of nearly every run.
As the morning progressed our fishing improved. The first double of the day was a pair of big, fat 18-19″ rainbows. We doubled up again just below that and continued to find nice fish the rest of the morning on the deep nymph rig. For the afternoon we switched over to short leash rods and and Laura found silver and gold with one rainbow and one brown trout in the first two spots.
We made one attempt at dry fly fishing with a couple risers, but they were super spooky and really didn’t even let Jason get one cast to them. Back on the short leash and Jason came tight on a solid rainbow at the bottom of a fast bank. Then Laura tagged a couple out of a big back eddy.
It wasn’t easy in the afternoon with bright sun and some big winds, but good drifts were rewarded in the right spots. We finished off the day with both Laura and Jason landing brown trout on their last casts of the day just above the takeout. Laura landed a stunning 21.5″ brown and Jason’s was a little smaller than that. It was a great way to finish my last day on the Missouri this season. Solid fishing with a good number of rainbows and a few browns thrown in the mix.
Missoula Fishing Report 2024
Tuesday I was with fellow guide, Scott, as we took the crew up to the Land of the Giants for their first experience there. I had Sheila and Jeff in my boat today and we motored up to the upper river to start things off. Jeff’s flies were in the water for maybe 20 seconds when he came tight on a fat 20″ rainbow.
That was a super fast start and Sheila landed a big rainbow of her own at the bottom of that drift. We stayed on the upper river for a few passes and averaged a fish or two on each pass. They were all thick rainbows in the 20-21″ range. We dropped downriver to another faster run and Sheila picked up a hot rainbow and then a gorgeous 19″ brown.
We hit that spot a few more times and hooked a fish or two on each pass. We floated one more run further down and both Jeff and Shiela hooked one before we motored out on the lake to find Laura and Jason. We ran down into the Gates of the Mountains for lunch and everyone loved the scenery.
Then we spent the afternoon out on the lake. It was hot early for Laura and Jason as they had a couple doubles right away. Once we made it to the lake there were still some fish feeding as we hooked a few and Jeff landed a nice chromer. Then the action tapered off. We had a couple strikes in our next spot and then it died completely. It was too late in the day to run back up the river so we stuck it out on the lake for a little longer but the bite never came back. The morning was good for Sheila and Jeff in the river while Laura and Jason did best on the lake just before and after lunch.
It wasn’t red hot fishing, but everyone had a good time, enjoyed the spectacular scenery, and put a few big trout in the net. Always a fun time with this crew and we will be back out with them around Missoula in just a couple weeks.
Missoula Fishing Report 2024
After a couple days off to get all my gear moved off the Missouri I was back on the water around Missoula with local angler Jim on Friday. Jim always likes to throw streamers up on the Blackfoot during runoff so it was now or never as the river is dropping and clearing fast.
It was nice to see a few salmonflies in the bushes at the put in so we rigged up a streamer rod and a dry fly rod for the day. We started off with the streamer and Jim came tight to a heavy fish in the first good spot. It was on for a bit and then came unbuttoned before we ever saw what it was. I rowed over to the other side of that same run and Jim connected with a 17″ bull trout to get us going.
The trout weren’t super grabby on the streamer but we did get some other chances. Jim picked up a nice cutthroat, had another solid fish throw the hook and a few other bumps. Then it was time to give the dry fly a shot. Despite the bright sunshine the trout were looking up in most of the runs. Jim stuck a few on the salmonfly and then we downsized to a golden stone and had several eats on the next inside and boated a decent cutthroat. The golden stone was the ticket as Jim fooled a big 19″ cutt and a solid 18″ cutt in a long run just before lunch.
The first spot in the afternoon produced another hungry cutthroat and Jim fooled a rainbow in fast water. It was decent action for mid-sized cutts after that until we had a little lull in a couple of runs. I pulled over and decided to put on a fly tied by legendary guide, John Foust. Jim and I both had a long history with John so it seemed fitting. The very next spot Jim had a big fish slide up and hover under the fly for several feet. I thought the fish was going to refuse the fly, but at the last moment it gobbled it. Jim came tight and the fight was on.
He managed to keep the fish clear of a bunch of boulders and eventually slid a big 22″ brown trout in the net. That is why I love the Blackfoot so much this time of year, giant trout on dry flies. And to get that fish on one of John’s flies made it even more special. Almost immediately after that the wind start to blow and blow hard.
We toughed it out for a while and Jim caught a couple more, but it was nearly impossible to cast at times. With a couple more in the net we decided to call it a day and push to the take out. The streamer fishing wasn’t as good as we hoped, but Jim did have a couple of big tugs. The dry fly fishing was solid though. Jim had a grand slam in the boat with 4 different species of trout, and a big gorgeous brown that made the day.
Missoula Fishing Report 2024
Saturday was day one of the annual Extravaganza. Ron has been putting on this event for over 20 years and MTO has been the outfitter for the last several. I always fish with Ron on the first day of each group and today we were joined by his son Tyler which was fitting the day before Father’s day.
Ron really likes to fish dry flies and despite a challenging weather forecast I felt like our best shot at that would be up the Blackfoot. We launched at Scotty Brown and I had Tyler with a golden stone in the front and Ron with a salmonfly in the back. The trout were on Tyler’s bug right away but he was too fast on the hook set and kept pulling the big dry away before the fish had a chance to eat it. While Tyler worked on his timing Ron started stroking decent cutts and cuttbows on the salmonfly. Then Tyler had a big fish pound his golden and the fight was on.
That rainbow jumped a few times and ran through a couple boulder gardens before hitting the net. It was an 18″ bow that was stuffed full of big stoneflies. The salmonfly was the clear favorite of the trout and once I switched Tyler over we had fast action the rest of the morning. The guys had one double and a few other near doubles.
Ron continued to fish well and picked of a colorful 18″ brown in fast water and followed that up with a smaller bull trout at the bottom of the run. That gave Ron a grand slam with all four species of trout, rainbow, cutthroat, brown, and bull, and all on a dry fly. That doesn’t happen very often. After lunch we stuck with dry but the pace of the fishing slowed down.
It was cold, very windy, with a little rain and the big stoneflies weren’t moving at all. We switched up bugs several times with various different golden stone and attractors. Everything we tried caught fish, it was just more hunt and peck fishing with a trout coming here and there, but there was no real secret fly.
Ron and Tyler kept at it and were rewarded often enough to keep us interested. Toward the end of the day we started seeing lots of PMDs and some green drakes. Small trout were keyed on the PMDs but I put a green drake on Tylers rod and he stuck a few decent cutts before we saw a better fish on a slow seam. Tyler put the fly in upstream of that fish and he gobbled it on the first drift.
That turned out to be our biggest of the day, a 19.5″ cuttbow. Tyler capped it all of with one more cutthroat on his last cast of the day at the takeout. It was a good day of single dry fly fishing with a few big ones, lots of quality trout, and just about every type of weather you can imagine.
Missoula Fishing Report 2024
The crew is all back in Missoula for the rest of the season. The rivers are all dropping and just about everything is an option right now. June always provides some of the best fishing of the season and I am excited to see what the rest of the month has to offer!
Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516
