We took Amare out on his first fly fishing trip the other day and he and his girlfriend got some Cutthroat on dry flies. Legendary Bigfork Guide Andy Guy got them into some good action on the Flathead River.  

Amare with his first fly caught trout.

Ready to dominate the river

Volunteers are needed to help with the seventh annual Blackfoot River Cleanup on Saturday, July 31.  

Cleanup participants should meet at 3898 Rainbow Bend Drive, between mile markers 8 and 9 on Highway 200, just east of Bonner. Volunteers with boats and scuba divers should meet at 8 a.m.  All other participants should gather at 9 a.m.

Blackfoot residents Bob and Marietta Pfister, in cooperation with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Blackfoot Home & Community Club, organized the first cleanup in 2004 as part of a larger effort to keep the river corridor clean and safe.

A free barbeque will be held at the Pfister’s for all participants following the cleanup. For more information, call (406) 244-5442.

Every yard in Montana is part of the local watershed, the flow of water that ends up in our streams and rivers. And there are trout in those rivers, such as brown trout, rainbow trout, native cutthroat, brook trout and native bull trout. As Montana continues to grow in size and population, each different type of trout will likely share a common threat – more potential sources of water pollution. But there are a few easy things that every local resident can do to make our waterways run cleaner.

Trout Friendly Lawns encourages local landowners to avoid chemical pesticides and lawn fertilizers, while advocating for responsible watering in the summer. Chemical fertilizers can wash into streams and rivers and contribute to algae blooms, which deplete oxygen in the water and stress trout. Pesticides work in water the same as they do on land, killing aquatic vegetation and the insects that trout feed on. They are also harmful to family pets. Trout Friendly Lawns gives small yard signs to residents that have made an effort to use some of the following “trout-friendly” lawn care techniques: 

Sometimes it might seem like there is only one fish per mile on the lower Swan but if it’s like the fish that Brent landed yesterday then it makes for an ok day.

Nice bow from the lower Swan River

There are salmon flies, golden stones, & caddis on the lower Swan right now. Will the fish decide to eat them soon?

April has been quite the thrill with weather. After our freezing winter like beginning we had some summerish 80 degree weather last week followed by another dose of freezing weather this week.  All of our western freestone rivers responded to the heat with a big push of water and the fishing was put off for a few days. The rivers have all dropped back into shape now and it’s back to business as usual, but we had to bail out to the Missouri for a couple days for better fishing. And better fishing it was. 

A nice brown from the Missouri

This is nothing new. It seems like every April we have a push of water that will send us over to the Missouri for a few days. Lucky for us the Missouri isn’t too far and the fishing is usually good in the spring. The only problem is that once you take clients to the Mo and they see the size and quantity of  fish you can put in the boat in a day, they never want to go anywhere else. 

Lots of healthy, hard fighting, chrome rainbows around.

It was odd to see so many rainbows around. We caught a ton of nice bows so they are either done spawning and back to the river, or they have been spawning in river this year. Either way it seems like more than usual for this time of year. 

I stayed an extra day and did a little streamer fishing on the lower river as well. We caught a few nice fish on streamers and found a few fish willing to eat March brown dry flies too. Sure nice to throw a size 12 parachute on the Mo. 

Streamer brown from the down low.

 I’ll be back in the shop this week putting away all the new bugs we just got in. We have some nice new hoppers, and foamies to check out. Also, we just picked up Ross reels so they should be here soon.