Missoula Fall Fishing

Monday I was out with local anglers, Mike and Nancy, for a dry fly day on the upper Bitterroot. We met a little later with the intention of experimenting with different bugs today for their upcoming One Fly competition next week.

Mike started off with a bigger mayfly while I put Nancy on a small purple haze. Not much happened in the first couple of spots and then Nancy tagged a pair of feisty cutthroat. Then we worked a foam pocket in a back eddy. I could see a couple rising fish in there but the foam was so thick it was impossible to find the fly.

Nancy made a perfect cast and I guessed right when the fish ate where I thought her fly was and she was tight to a big trout. That ended up being an 18″ cuttbow and our biggest of the day. The rest of the morning was mostly smaller fish until Mike and Nancy hit a nice double right before lunch.

In the afternoon Mike went with a big mayfly and that proved most consistent early while I kept switching flies for Nancy. Just about everything we tried moved a fish or two, but none of those bugs were the real answer. Eventually we put on a small plan B attractor and that proved to be the ticket the rest of the way.

Nancy started tagging some good fish through the rest of the afternoon. The big mayfly faded for Mike and he picked up a couple more on a different plan B that he switched to. It was an interesting day on the upper river.

We had a lot more sunshine than the forecast called for and some strong winds at times. That limited the mayfly hatches and made the fishing a little spotty.

We were able to piece the day together and boated some nice fish throughout. There are always a lot of laughs fishing with Mike and Nancy, and I wish them luck next week.

Nancy with big fish of the day in the morning, and also 1st place for best coordinated outfit with the guide for 2024 - Missoula Fall Fishing — Nancy with big fish of the day in the morning, and also 1st place for best coordinated outfit with the guide for 2024 – Missoula Fall Fishing

Doubled up just before lunch - Missoula Fall Fishing — Doubled up just before lunch – Missoula Fall Fishing

Mike hooked up to a solid one - Missoula Fall Fishing — Mike hooked up to a solid one – Missoula Fall Fishing

Quality cutthroat and cuttbows looking for dries today - Missoula Fall Fishing — Quality cutthroat and cuttbows looking for dries today – Missoula Fall Fishing

Missoula Fall Fishing

Mid week we were able to participate in an event benefiting current and former Navy Seals. My long-time angler, Jim, did all the heavy lifting of organizing and coordinating this event.

We had the privilege of taking some truly amazing folks out on the water. The guides had a lot of fun with this group and we were honored to take part.

Navy Seals can do anything around the water, including catching some nice trout on fly rods - Missoula Fall Fishing — Navy Seals can do anything around the water, including catching some nice trout on fly rods – Missoula Fall Fishing

Missoula Fall Fishing

We also had a group in from the east coast. This crew fished with us last year in October and returned for more this September.

The cloudy days were especially good on the Bitterroot and guide David sent me a pics of a couple of the bigger fish this week.

Missoula Fall Fishing

Thursday I was out on the water with the L.A. ladies, Penny and Dianne. This was the first day of their 3 day trip, but the only one with me so we met early and headed up to the canyon of the Blackfoot.

We started off with dry/dropper rigs and didn’t move a fish in the first run so we pushed downstream to better water. The next spot produced a double. Penny stuck a spunky cutthroat while Dianne came tight on a nice brown trout. The dropper fishing was respectable from there.

Penny found a couple of decent rainbows and smaller cutts while Dianne tagged a couple cutties. Then I started to notice a few tricos around and we switched over to smaller dry flies. Fish were looking up for the dries but they were all small trout.

We played around with some bigger dries and only got refusals so it was back to the small mayflies and we eventually found a couple decent cutts willing to play. By lunch the wind had started to pick up and put an end to our little dry fly game.

We tried hoppers and bigger ants early in the afternoon and they didn’t move much. The best combo was a small black ant for Penny and a black attractor fly for Dianne. It was still mostly smaller fish eating but we were hooking up in every run.

Later I put Dianne back on a dry/dropper rig. On the first cast she hooked a small cutt and then a big bull trout came out of nowhere and tried to attack it. That provided an exciting moment, but he never did grab her trout. We continued to find fish the rest of the way, but the bigger trout didn’t want to play today.

I hope we got all the little trout out of the way today and they will find some big ones with Scott and David later in the week.

Morning light at River Junction - Missoula Fall Fishing — Morning light at River Junction – Missoula Fall Fishing

Dianne got us started with a nice brown trout on the dropper - Missoula Fall Fishing — Dianne got us started with a nice brown trout on the dropper – Missoula Fall Fishing

Penny hooked up to a hard fighting rainbow - Missoula Fall Fishing — Penny hooked up to a hard fighting rainbow – Missoula Fall Fishing

Missoula Fall Fishing

The last 10 days of September are upon us and we are excited to see how it plays out. We are firmly in fall fishing mode and those big fish can show up at any moment.

Cloudy days are what everyone is hoping for this time of year, but the trout are looking to pack on calories and the big ones can make a mistake even on a bright sunny day. It’s hard to beat fall in Montana!

Tight Lines,

Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516