Montana Flyfishing 2022
Tuesday I fished with local angler, Steve, and his good friend, Michael. We met super early for a float down the Blackfoot canyon. I started Michael off with a big nocturnal stone dry up front and a dry/dropper for Steve in the back.
The early dropper fishing was better than last week. It was mostly small trout, but Steve was getting some action and managed a nice cutt on the dropper too. Michael had a few eats on the big dry as well. At Munchmore we switched over to spruce moths and the guys tagged a pair of fish in there before we moved on.
The next produced a solid double on dries and we were off to the races from there. There weren’t a ton of moths around, but just enough to produce one or two quality fish in each run. Michael and Steve had a blast throwing dry flies through the canyon and while it was mostly cutthroat, we did find a few rainbows and a handful of smaller brown trout too.
Once we came out of the canyon I switched Michael to his trusty black ant and put Steve on a hopper. The ant worked well in cutthroat alley before we pulled into the shade at lunch. We had the river to ourselves all morning and it was worth getting up extra early, but boat traffic started to catch us by lunch. I’m not sure if it was the boat traffic, or the hot sunny weather in the afternoon but the fishing certainly dropped off.
We caught a few and moved a handful of other fish. Overall the trout did not seem to excited to rise for a dry in the final stretch. Fortunately the afternoon session didn’t last long and the great fishing on single dries through the canyon made the day a success. I always enjoy fishing with Steve and it was a pleasure to have Michael in the boat today.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
Wednesday I was back on the water with local angler, Herb. After our lackluster fishing on the main Bitterroot last week we decided to mix it up and head for the West Fork today. In the morning that seemed like a very bad decision. The West Fork is always beautiful, but we couldn’t hardly buy a fish.
I switched flies a bunch and focused on different water types all to no avail. When we finally pulled into the shade for an early lunch Herb had tagged one smallish cutt and had one other trout look at his dry. We couldn’t even get action from the dinks. At lunch we debated fishing a dropper, but both of us would rather catch them on dries so we set off in the afternoon and hoped for a change.
The first several runs was more of the same with great water and no fish moving for the fly. None of the normally productive patterns were working so I changed Herb up to a small terrestrial, and the first good run produced an immediate eat from a nice cutthroat. The next spot gave up another solid fish and we were starting to put it together.
The next two hours was good fishing with a small dry. Getting tight to the bank was key and Herb was connecting with some really nice trout. The best was a 19″ cuttbow. After a dreadfully slow morning we managed to salvage the day with some exciting action in the afternoon. It was almost the exact opposite of yesterday and both days ended up with a good result.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
Friday I was finally able to get on the water with my son, Thomas. Baseball season eats up a lot of his time and since that is finished I am trying to pack in as many days with him as I can. This time of year it is a no brainer that he is going to want to chase smallmouth bass so we loaded up the dogs and headed out.
Fishing was great early and Thomas was outfishing me 2 to 1 in the first several runs. I was able to catch up a little because he still doesn’t tie knots as well as his old man and broke off a couple times. The good runs were producing 5 or 6 smallies each with good size on some of the fish. We also had the bonus of seeing a black bear and 2 cubs on the river.
The action tapered off a little in the afternoon but we still managed to find a fish or two in the good spots. It was a great day on the water and I am looking forward to a few more in the coming days.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
Sunday I was back fishing with Thomas, and this time his good friend Colton was able to join us. Colton loves to fish and I wanted to help him check a few things off of his list. We were back smallmouth fishing again and the first couple of spots were loaded. In the second run Colton had 2 single doubles, where he had two smallies on at the same time.
The day had barely started and Colton was already having his best fishing day ever. Not long after that Thomas connected with a heavy fish and we were all surprised when a big northern pike went streaking by the boat. He hooked that fish just right on his smallmouth gear and was able to land it even though he didn’t have a steel leader.
It was his biggest fish to date. From there it was back to smallmouth and the boys beat them up in all of the spots we fished. We finished the day off with another pike session. It was awesome to watch a nice pike shoot out of the shallows and smash Colton. He couldn’t believe how hard that fish fought and was ecstatic with his first ever pike.
Thomas picked up one more pike in that same spot. We had a couple more grabs on the way out but never came tight to another fish. It was a ton of fun fishing with the boys today. Colton caught his first smallmouth, northern pike, and ate a fish he caught for the first time. The fish fry in the evening was a perfect way to cap off the day.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
It was a good few days on the river this week. I am back on puppy duty for most of next week, but the guides will still be hitting the rivers early and taking advantage before it gets hot in the afternoon.
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Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516
