Bigfork Montana Fly Fishing – River Report

Cruiz'n down the river on a warm September afternoon.

General Outlook.  Looks like another week of warm summer weather. Hoppers are on the menu and will continue to produce with the warmth. Fall caddis and Fall Drakes (hecubas) are starting to show up and will be worthy search patterns in the coming weeks if the weather cools down. The kids are back in school and folks are off bird hunting so the rivers are starting to see fewer fisherman. The shadows are getting longer, the days shorter, and fall is around the corner. It’s a great time enjoy the rivers.

Blackfoot River: Consistant fishing on the B-foot with attractors and droppers. We have been fishing long 30″ droppers off mid sized foam flies and picking up fish on both. Not a bunch of big fish around but enough 15″ fish to keep things fun with the occasional shot at a bigger one. Nymphing deeper in the holes will get bigger fish but who wants to do that.
Bugs / Fly Patterns: hoppers, October Caddis, Hecubas / smaller fuzzies, chubbies, morrish hoppers, fat franks, p-tails, micro mays, Red & Pruple Holo Princes, Oct caddis, Oct caddis poopas, turds, and worms 

Lower Clark Fork River: We had a couple boats on the lower river yesterday and hoppers produced some good fish for several hours mid day. A long dropper of the P-tail, prince, turd, or sjw, variety will pick up a few extra fish too. Twitch it on the slower banks to get some attention.
Bugs / Fly Patterns:hoppers, beetles, ants, hecubas, mohos, oct caddis / smaller fuzzies, chubbies, morrish hoppers, fat franks, p-tails, micro mays, Oct caddis, Oct caddis poooopas, turds, and worms 

Flathead River: Productive surface action with the big dry fly the last few days. The warmer weather should be good for all day dry fly fishing over the next week.  A few better than average sized fish recently. Fewer crowds and fishing pressure will have a few nice fish looking up over the next few days. small foam attractors, larger cripples / c-duns, small hoppers, and whatever else you want to throw should get fish.    
Bugs / Fly Patterns: Terrestrials, oct caddis, fall drakes / small pink morrish, little purple franks, ants, small home brewed foam variations, purple holo prince, golden turd 

Swan River: The colder weather over the last few days has made the morning dry fly fishing sluggish but dropper fishing has produced some great fish early in the day. Hoppers and foam attractors are still getting good attention and with the warm up this week should produce more strikes. A decent angler will get a few good shots a bigger fish on the dry if you are patient. Bobber fishing is productive if you get desperate and streamers will get a few big looks. Some bull trout starting to stack up in certain runs so don’t target them.
Bugs / Fly Patterns: Terrestrials /  willies ant, Pink morish, whitecloud hopper, chubbies, fuzzy wuzzies, fat franks,  black / olive / white streamers, PRLs in golden/salmon/black/brown, prince nymphs, SJWs in all flavors, tungsten 20 inchers, DB poxy rubberleg stones.