Fishing Report

What a great June! Low snow pack and an early end to run-off has made for fantastic fishing on our west side freestone rivers. The recent rescue rains we received have added some much needed water and cool temps to our low flows helping to extend the fishing a bit before the dog days set in.

We have been mostly operating on bankers hours lately enjoying the cool air and water temps. That’s about to change with the hot weather in the forecast. Dawn patrol is around the corner. Water temps on the Clark Fork and Blackfoot are already creeping up into the mid/upper 60’s. The forecast is calling for our first summer heat wave with hi temps in the upper 80s/90s for the foreseeable future. That will cook the Clark Fork and Blackfoot as they are running about a third of their average flows for this time of year. Hoot Owl will likely be in place south of town in the next couple weeks. That’s just the cold hard truth.

That being said, the rivers are all still fishing well. Dry fly fishing on the Flathead has been productive enough(if you can cast) to forego the dropper. Hope it continues.  Fingers crossed we get another dose of wet cool weather to save us. Not likely… Early morning half days on the Flathead are in the near future. Lucky for us we have cold water coming out of Hungry Horse reservoir to maintain favorable water temps through-out the summer months.

Fly patterns – Small golden stone variations, mayfly cripples/parachutes, stimis, chubbies, elk hair caddis, and whatever other small-ish attractor dries you want to try should produce. We are also starting to see some small hoppers, ants and terrestrials. We are looking at an early terrestrial season this year as low flows and hot temps burn off the aquatic insects over the next couple weeks. Not a bad idea to mix in some hoppers and ants on the hot afternoons the next few weeks.

As the water continues to drop and clear, try sizing down your tippet and flies, especially if you’re seeing reluctant fish slashing and refusing your offerings.  4-5x with smaller, skinnier/low-profile foam flies(no yarn puffballs), and smaller natural fiber flies will often do the trick, but these patterns are harder to fish and see.

As for droppers, the usual suspects have been producing. Perdigons, TB PRLs, SJWs, hares ears, princes, PTs, and variations of all these will continue to work. Droppers will usually help pad the stats if you’re a numbers over method type of angler.

Flathead River – The Flathead is fishing well. A decent angler can roll dry flies ramp ro ramp and have moderately productive fishing right now. It is really busy out there and that can often disrupt the fishing a bit. Try to fish the whole river and mix up your tactics a bit rather than pounding the piss out of the handful of obvious spots. Fish are pretty spread out and dry fly fishing some of the second and third tier holding spots will produce. Golden stones, caddis, & pmds are the main bugs to fish.

Blackfoot River – Low, clear and so-so fishing. Salmon flies have waned but there are still a few around. The fish just aren’t that excited to eat them.  Golden stones, pmds, caddis, sallies are still in play. Super busy out there with fishing and rec traffic so take a deep breath and relax.

Clark Fork River – fishing really well. Foam attractors are getting lots of attention. Mayflies and caddis are present in the afternoon so adding a cripple or para chute off the foamie will pick up fish. The hot weather in the forecast will likely take it’s toll on the afternoon fishing in the coming weeks so keep an eye on the temps and plan accordingly.