Montana Fall Fishing Report
If you noticed a lack of fishing reports lately, it is because I was on a late summer break to spend time with the family and a few days of bird hunting on the prairie with my dogs. In the middle of that I did manage to sneak out on the river for a day with local angler, Jim.
We floated the upper Bitterroot and had good action in the morning on droppers. Good sized fish were eating in the likely spots. We switched to dries in some shallower water and moved some small guys, but an early lunch was in order to let it warm up some. In the afternoon the fish started looking up a little.
We had to switch through different fly patterns to find something they really liked, and once we found that Jim was picking up at least one quality cutthroat or cuttbow in every run. The highlight of the day was a thick 17-18″ rainbow, but there was a good number of 12-16″ fish that hit the net today too.
The fishing held up right till the end as Jim tagged his last trout with the truck in sight at the takeout. It was a great day on the upper Bitterroot with Jim.
We put a good collection of nice fish in the net today – Montana Fall Fishing
Wednesday was the first of 2 days with local anglers, Jeff and Jim. I picked a stretch of the lower Bitterroot with hopes of trico and hopper dry fly fishing. We launched early and started of with hopper/dropper rigs.
The droppers weren’t moving any fish and after several good runs I pulled into to change out flies. Jeff kept fishing while I was changing Jim and he connected with a hot rainbow on the big dry. From there we went single hoppers for a while. We had to work at it early with a few fly changes and then Jim stuck a solid cuttbow.
Not long after that the tricos started hatching and we had a good dry fly session with tiny dries. Trico fishing is always challenging with delicate presentations and perfect drifts required to fool those discerning trout. Jeff and Jim took turns on risers and they both did really well. 3 big bows and one decent one were landed in the same long run. I thought we might find more risers downstream so I kept Jeff ready with the trico while Jim prospected with the hopper.
Jim picked up a healthy cuttbow on the hopper, and when we didn’t find any more trico fish we took a break for lunch. The guys fished single dries the rest of he day, most of it with hoppers. It was hot and cold action. We fished through some juicy water with nothing and then pick up a couple fish in one spot.
I tried all different hoppers, even ants and big mayflies. No fly seemed to be the secret as the fish that wanted to eat just showed up randomly. Later in the afternoon we took some time to fish for northern pike. Neither guy had ever fished for them so it was time to give it a shot. 4 casts into the spot and Jeff had a big flash on his fly. He strip set and came tight to a heavy pissed off pike. He did a great job keeping the fish out of the submerged trees and a few minutes later had a northern pushing 10 pounds in the net.
Then it was Jim’s turn and it was about the same number of casts before his line went tight and he was on to a jumping mid-sized pike. 2 nice pike in 10 minutes is great and the icing on the cake was seeing a sow black bear and her cub on the hillside right as we started fishing the spot.
We didn’t have much water left after that but Jeff managed to pick up a couple smaller bows on a big mayfly and Jim closed us out with a colorful cutthroat on the hopper in the run above the takeout. It was a fun day on the Bitterroot with decent fishing and not another angler in sight.
Montana Fall Fishing Report
Thursday I took Jeff and Jim way down on the Clark Fork to St. Regis. We met early and it was surprisingly busy at the ramp with a few boats already launched and gone. We started the day with dry/dropper rigs and it was hard to figure out what dropper the trout would eat.
I made a few fly changes and Jim eventually picked up a couple, but there wasn’t any consistency with the dry/dropper game so we grabbed the dry fly rods and threw a big mayfly in the shade. That produced better results. On the first bank Jim came tight on a decent rainbow and then we had a lot of action from smaller fish before we took a break for lunch.
In the afternoon we stayed with the dry fly, but changed over to hoppers. Jim had the hot hand early with a few nice cutts and cuttbows to the net. Once I rigged up Jeff with the same fly he went on a roll from there with a string of healthy fish in the net. They were eating the dry in all different ways today.
A lot of the trout would sip the hopper down in a strange looking eat, while some others absolutely pounded the fly especially when it was twitched. Once we got away from the droppers and went dry we had good action throughout the day and the guys enjoyed being on a new stretch of the Clark Fork for them.
Montana Fall Fishing Report
Friday I was on the Bitterroot near Hamilton with local angler, Herb. We met a little later and just floated to start out as Herb finished his coffee and cigar. I found a couple fish rising to tricos in a foam spot and I took a few casts at them but it didn’t pan out so we kept on floating.
As we approached a really good run Herb picked up the rod rigged with a single dry fly. Halfway through the run I spotted a rising fish tucked back into a shady pocket. Herb took a couple shots at him and on the second cast he was connected to a jumping brown trout. He picked up two more fish on that bank fishing super tight to the structure. It was nice that the fish were looking up despite the bright sunshine. Around the corner from that Herb picked up two more and then he fooled a big fish in an out of the way spot.
He did a good job keeping that one out of submerged branches and put a gorgeous 17.5″ cuttbow in the net. The balance of the morning was solid with trout eating the dry in most of the likely spots. After lunch Herb was tight to a decent cutthroat at the bottom of our first spot.
I expected the dry fly action to continue throughout the afternoon, but it started to fade not long after lunch. We picked up a couple smaller trout and then it got quiet. Several fly changes did little to improve our results. Herb picked up one more on an ant pattern but the dry fly bite essentially shut off for us. After having some good dry fly action we decided against trying the dropper game and just coasted to the takeout. There was a good window of opportunity on the dry and it was a beautiful day on the Bitterroot.
Saturday was the start of the annual Grizzly Ride and I have been fishing with this crew for years. Today I had Bill and Warren in the boat and we went back to the Bitterroot around Hamilton. We were on the water a little earlier than yesterday so we started with dry/dropper rigs.
Warren picked up a little bow right away on the dropper, then a better cutthroat, and when he landed the third a couple runs later I set Bill up with the same fly. Bill landed a rainbow in the next run, and a few runs later Warren came tight on a nice 15″ cutthroat out of a foam hole. The dropper fishing was decent but I decided to give the dry fly a shot and we switched over to single big mayflies.
Getting tight to the bank was key as Warren boated a couple smaller guys and then Bill fooled a big cuttbow tight to structure. That was a nice 16″ fish and the biggest of the day. Around the corner from that Warren connected with a colorful 15″ cutt just as he was getting ready to recast. The guys boated a couple other small ones before we stopped for lunch. With the bright sun in the afternoon we went back to the dry/dropper and Bill stuck a rainbow off a root ball in the second spot and then the fishing completely dried up.
We worked some great water and I switched dries and droppers a bunch, but we couldn’t move a fish. After cycling through every dropper I could think of we went back to single dries, but that wasn’t much better. Finally toward the end of the float, a small mayfly started to move some smaller fish and Warren did have one good fish eat right above the takeout. It was a tough afternoon. The action completely shut off and I was disappointed that I couldn’t find anything the fish would eat.
Montana Fall Fishing Report
Sunday I was out with Bill and Mike, and we ventured up to the canyon of the Blackfoot. I started the guys off with dry/dropper rigs and Mike stuck a small cutthroat on the dropper in our second spot. After he picked up a rainbow a couple runs down I switched Bill over the the same nymph.
Bill’s first fish of the day was a gorgeous 16″ brown that came out of a deep trench. We didn’t spend much time in Munchmore today but pulled a pair of fish out of there. It was mostly smallish cutts and rainbows on the dropper. Mike and Bill doubled up once as we had action in most of the spots in the morning. We stopped for lunch with a couple other Grizzly Riders and switched over to single dry flies in the afternoon.
I had Bill on a hopper while Mike fished a smaller ant. The ant was hot early on as Mike was picking up fish in every run, and even had a giant cutthroat come up for the fly but the hook just didn’t stick on the set. In one run Mike nailed 3 cutts and just as I was starting to doubt Bill’s hopper he went on a run with several decent cutts and cuttbows. We stayed with that set up the rest of the way.
It was mostly 10-12″ trout on the dries with a handful of 12-14″ fish and Bill connected with a thick 16″ cutt on the hopper just above the takeout. It is always a beautiful float through the canyon and we had decent fishing today.
It looks like this fall weather pattern is here for a while with highs in the 70’s to low 80’s and mornings in the mid 40’s. Now we just need a little cloud cover to get our mayfly hatches to kick in to gear and the fishing should improve even more!
Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516
