Late Summer Missoula Fishing
Monday was my last day of the season with local angler, Cindi, and we were joined by her good friend Linda. I picked a scenic stretch of the middle Blackfoot and we launched under sunny skies. There was no shortage of action right from the beginning.
The ladies were fishing hopper/dropper rigs and the fish were on the dropper. They were mostly smaller trout and it wasn’t long before we started working on a “mini” grand slam with a rainbow, brown, cutthroat, and whitefish. We almost had the bull trout too as Cindi hooked up on a cutthroat and a bull trout gave chase in the tailout but never connected.
Rainbows were the most prolific today as it seemed like we boated a small bow or two in nearly every run. I changed droppers a few times looking for some bigger fish, and all the different droppers worked but they continued to mainly get attention from the smaller guys.
After lunch we fished single hoppers for a while and that was decent with a little better class of fish looking up, but the big fish either just looked at or bumped the fly and wouldn’t eat it. We finished up the day back on the dry/dropper set up. The ladies doubled up coming down the homestretch and Cindi hooked the best fish of the day, a big cutthroat that put up a good fight and broke off just before hitting the net.
It was an action packed day and we had a lot of fun on the water. The big fish didn’t want to play, but the float was gorgeous and the rods were bent early and often.
Late Summer Missoula Fishing
Tuesday I was up on the West Fork with local angler, Martha. We met a little later since the West Fork is cold water and it was nice to see fellow guide, Robert, and his angler Herb with pups Grace and Molly in tow at the put in. Martha started off with a single stonefly dry and we had looks from a lot of small fish early on and eventually connected with a couple of those.
We changed flies a few times early and the trout didn’t seem to love any particular pattern with a few eats here and there until Martha came tight on a decent fish in fast water. That proved to be the story of the day. We would throw on a new fly and get a couple eats and then it would go quiet until we changed again. There were some flurries of activity.
A small ant produced a couple solid cutts in one run and a couple other eats, and hopper patterns would yield 2 or 3 good eats in certain spots and then nothing in other good water. Later in the afternoon the wind really picked up and that made things even more challenging.
Martha persevered as we continued to change flies and ran into fish here and there. We just never had that window of opportunity today where the trout seemed to be really feeding. Martha landed a couple of nice fish in the 15″ range, a few others just below that and there was decent action from smaller fish.
Traffic on the river was light and other than the wind toward the end of the day, it was beautiful weather. Martha is always a treat to get on the river with and I just hope the trout feel the same way next time we head out together
Late Summer Missoula Fishing
Wednesday I welcomed the arrival of September with local angler, Jim, on a stretch of the upper Bitterroot. We started the day with a dry/dropper rig and Jim didn’t waste any time with a solid hook-up on the first bank. The first 2 fish of the day came on the dropper and they were both thick 17″ cuttbows.
The dropper was the ticket early and yielded a nice fish out of nearly every run with a few looks at the dry. Once we reached some water better suited for dry flies we changed to a single dry and there were small to medium sized fish looking for it right away. As it warmed up we started to see a little better quality on the dry and we pulled into lunch after Jim tagged a couple of nice ones in fast water.
The fishing in the afternoon remained steady on the big dry. In one run we switched to a small ant pattern that I thought would work but it didn’t raise a fish. Jim went right back through the same water with the big dry and immediately stuck a decent fish.
There was good action from 10-14″ cutts, bows, and even a few browns mixed in that kept Jim busy. Then every few runs he would move a bigger fish on the fly as he landed a fair number of quality trout from 15-17″. There were some great takes today on the surface and a number of very colorful fish in the net.
We had chamber of commerce weather, sunny and 72 with little wind, and no other boats on the water all day. Jim brought in September in style with fish from start to finish and things should only improve as the month moves on.
Late Summer Missoula Fishing
Thursday was the first of two days with one of my high school friends, Tommy. He was out a couple years ago with his son and this time he brought his friend, Larry. We met late and went up to the canyon of the Blackfoot. Larry had never fly fished before so a quick lesson was in order before we started floating.
Larry started off with a single dry fly and he connected with a great cutthroat just a few minutes into the day. Tommy was on a dry/dropper rig and he picked off a fish in the first spot too. The dropper worked well as Tommy added another 3 or 4 before Larry had an explosive take on this dry.
It was a big fish that went screaming across the river and broke us off. After a few more runs it was clear that the dropper was more productive and with Larry fishing well I quickly switched him over. The next fish was a big, slab cutthroat for Tommy around 18″.
Then Larry got in on the action with a couple decent cutts in the next 2 spots. The action was steady through the canyon and culminated with another big cutthroat for Tommy near the bottom of the canyon. While taking pics of that fish I managed to drop my phone into the river in a deep spot. Fortunately there wasn’t much current, but I did have to go swimming to get it back.
The guys both got a kick out of that. From there we switched over to single hoppers the rest of the way. The trout were looking up in the late afternoon and the guys managed to move a few fish in nearly every run with one brief double.
It was a good dry fly session in the afternoon and Larry finished off the day with one last quality fish on top that managed to shake the fly on a hard run. Good action from start to finish and the guys really fished well today.
Late Summer Missoula Fishing
Friday I took Tommy and Larry down to the lower Clark Fork for a long float. We started off with dry/dropper rigs and after Tommy landed a small one in the first run, and after a fly change Larry picked up a couple smaller ones before coming tight with a bright cuttbow out of a fast mid-river shelf.
Then it was Tommy’s turn as he boated back to back big rainbows. The second was an 18″ slab that came out of fast water. By the time we pulled into shade for lunch the guys had seen decent action with a handful of quality fish and several smaller ones.
The afternoon started fast as both anglers hooked up in the first stretch of pocket water with nice cuttbows. Then we had to start working for them. The dropper fishing dried up for a while but Tommy managed to fool a couple solid fish on a single hopper.
We switched back to dry/dropper rigs for the final push. That worked out well as we doubled up in the next spot. Larry landed a colorful cutthroat while Tommy added another nice rainbow. The guys picked up a couple more in the next run and then Tommy finished off the trip with a final cuttbow just above the takeout.
Overall, not as much action as yesterday but we boated some quality trout and they really enjoyed seeing a different river today. It was a lot of fun catching up with Tommy on the happenings in my hometown and both he and Larry fished very well both days.
Late Summer Missoula Fishing
We have been enjoying the longer, colder nights recently. The trout seem right on the verge of switching into fall mode as we are all eagerly awaiting the mahogany and blue wing hatches. Looks like a short stretch of warm weather on the horizon with temps in the 80’s and 90’s early next week along with some haze again. We should be back into the 70’s by the end of the week with a good chance of some cloud cover!
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Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516
