Bigfork Mid Summer Fishing Report

Chubby chugger.

It’s hard to believe mid July is here, the summer is flying by…. The fishing has been good despite the hot weather and higherish flows. It looks like we have a few more days of mid 90’s and then back to a much nicer/normal low 80’s. The rivers are all in great shape – still a little high but fishing well. Flows continue to drop here on our valley rivers (Swan & Flathead) and the conditions are improving for the dry fly.

Blackfoot River Report – The Blackfoot has been fishing consistent for us the last week or so. Dry dropper fishing has been productive. They are tired of the worm and turd(so are we) so we’ve been incorporating smaller beadhead attractor stuff into our dropper selection. Still plenty of fish eating the dry fly too so if your not the antsy fish counter type you can role a single dry and have plenty of action. A large purple haze or royal wulff works as well as anything but you can fish your techie home brewed foamies too. We’ve been going early to avoid the heat and traffic but the fish seem to be willing anytime of the day.

Clark Fork River Report – The earlier the better. First light til about 1ish has been best. A foamie with a turd or prince off the back works good. Still getting some good dry fly fishing in in the am but the 95 blasting sun in the afternoon will force you off or in the river. Nymphing or napping are your afternoon options…I prefer napping, but a cold beer and a swim are great too.

Flathead River – better and better everyday. Good reports of dry fly fishing the last couple days. It’s helpful to get the fly a few feet from the oar blade though. Golden stone dry flies and pmds have been the go too. Look around to find fish up on pmds in the afternoon. Small purple haze or pmd cripples take the risers…so do chubbies sometimes. This river is going to be in great shape for the rest of the summer. Stay out till dark and you’ll likely find more fish looking to the surface.

Swan River – Better dry fly reports the last few days. You still might have to look at a bobber to pad the stats though. Worms, buggers, and stoneflies…a chubby and a deep dropper is a good bet too, at least they can eat the chubby. Twitching the foam bug at last light is worth a try.