Fish Food - Swan River

The small rivers and streams opener is this Sat. Per usual it will accompany high water. We stopped by the upper Swan at Piper yesterday and it looked great. But it’s gonna blow in the next few days.  FYI they are putting in a new bridge at Piper Creek.  As of now it will be difficult to launch a boat.  Hopefully they will make a spot for us before the project is complete.

Our snow pack is still at 100% of average. We might actually have a normal run-off……barring any 2 inch monsoonal rain events in May and June. So far it’s looking to be a great summer.

The Pterognargnarcys Californicators (Salmon Flies) are out along the Wild Mile right now and it’s not too wild yet. You could probably get a fish or two to eat an adult. Twitching and skating it along the edges of the Mile or in the Bay is worth a try.

Orange Trout Steak

Lower Swan Bow

The Lower Swan is fishing decent right  now. The warm weather should get some bugs moving too. We had good luck on stonefly nymphs a couple days ago. It’s still on the drop. Should be decent for a few more days before it starts to rage again.

Casey from Many Springs tipped us off on these new nets. They look sweet and come in a bunch of sizes. We have some on the way. The price range is from $69-$99

Ego S2 Slider REACH Medium – Clear Rubber Mesh Net

• Floats
• Innovative Grip Design
• 48″ Slider Handle Extends To 108″
• Non-Tangle Lightweight Clear Rubber Mesh
• Flat Bottom / 15″ Bag Depth
  (Stretches up to 1.5X with load)
• Medium Hoop Size 17″ x 19″

Hump Back Hen

The sun was out, the river is clearing, bugs are everywhere, but the fishing sucked. We fished the mainstem of the Flathead today and it sure looked great. 3+ feet of visibility, march browns and skwalas everywhere, and lots of great looking water to fish…..But not much happening. We fished for a couple hours and never saw a rising fish. Even with seam lines littered with skwalas and march browns nobody was looking. I did here the upper river had some decent dry fly fishing but we fished down low and that was not the case. Maybe tomorrow.

The flow continues to drop so we should have another couple days of fishable conditions. It’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow.

To salvage our day we stopped by our local sneak spot and yanked on some fat bows.

We have some new NRS stand up paddle boards in the shop. Pretty sweet for site fishing in lakes or slow moving rivers like the Mo.

Check out the video.

A Modly Chum repost.

Our friend from Whitefish Clint Muhlfeld is lead author of a study connecting a small bone in a westslope cutthroat trout’s ear with its history of growth and migration patterns. Muhfeld is an aquatic ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Glacier Park field office.

Here is the story in the Missoulian.

General Outlook:  Most of the freestone graphs look about like the one above.  The weather is calling for cold nights around the  freezing mark so levels should continue their downward trend. Highs will reach into the 70′s again by mid week so the flows could shift upward again but we will see. The next few days are looking pretty good.

Blackfoot River Report: Still pretty big and not a great option but if it continues to drop you could probably dredge up a couple big ones on streamers.
Bugs / Fly Patterns: March Browns, Caddis, Skwalas, BWOs / 20 incher stones, double bead stones, rubber legs, princes, glo bugs, San Juans, beadhead whatevers, streamers

Lower Clark Fork River Report: Still dropping steadily and if it continues it should fish by mid week. All you need is a few feet of vis and things will happen. The warm weather in the forecast should have the caddis out and skwala patterns twitched of the bank could get some eats. March browns & bwos are still a factor and might have some fish up in the right spots. We’ve had some exceptional fishing this time of year in these conditions.  It can be a gamble but it can also produce some banner dry fly days with big foamies. There can be some prolific stonefly hatches in late spring on this river. I’ve heard it called an Acranaria (spring stone) but it looks more like a skwala with a brighter yellow thorax. The main difference is that they fly like crazy and are a little bigger. We’ve seen them come off like locusts and create aggressive strikes in high off colored water. Worth the gamble?
Bugs / Fly Patterns: March Browns, Caddis, Skwalas, BWOs / Rogue Skwalas, Silveys little olive, Fat Franks, 20 incher stones, double bead stones, rubber legs, princes, glo bugs, San Juans, beadhead whatevers, coffee minnows, urchin buggers, general streamers.

Flathead River Report: Still pretty high but starting to green. A few feet of vis is all you need. Focus on the soft back eddies and seams with big stone nymphs and SJWs and you should get a few. The weather is going to be nice for a boat ride anyway.
Bugs / Fly Patterns: March Browns, Caddis, Skwalas, BWOs / 20 incher stones, double bead stones, rubber legs, princes, glo bugs, San Juans, beadhead whatevers.

Swan River Report: Upper is closed. The bay is starting to fill up so wade fishing wil be difficult. The flows have been dropping like all the other rivers and there are always a few nice fish around this time of year. The lake trout should start to show up soon so the streamer fishing will entertain. They like white and flashy.
Bugs / Fly Patterns: March Browns, Caddis, Skwalas, BWOs / 20 incher stones, double bead stones, rubber legs, princes, glo bugs, San Juans, beadhead whatevers, urchin buggers, flash fry, skiddish smolt, sparkle minnows.

Other Stuff: The Mo is fishing VERY good right now. Tons of March browns on the lower river and some big fish showing themselves. And of course bobbers at the dam. Looking to mix it up from the Missouri? The Bitterroot, Bighole, Upper Clark Fork above Garrison, & Little Blackfoot are all fish-able. Mother’s day caddis erupted on the Bitterroot today and it fished fantastic with a single dry all afternoon. Should be epic the next few days in the warmer weather.

Sunday Mostly Sunny Hi 54 °F

Sunday Night Mostly Clear Lo 31 °F

Monday Sunny Hi 66 °F

Monday Night Mostly Clear Lo 36 °F

Tuesday Mostly Sunny Hi 72 °F

Tuesday Night Partly Cloudy Lo 43 °F

Wednesday Partly Sunny Hi 67 °F

The above picture pretty much sums up the fishing on our freestone rivers right now. Toast….. Look to the tailwaters and lakes for the near future. The good news is a bunch of water is coming out right now so things are going to fish much sooner than last year. The Bay is producing a few and will be a decent option for coming weeks.