Missoula Area Fly Fishing Report 6/23
This week's report is going to be straight to the point since I’ve been on the water so much and also took a road trip to Oregon to pick up the new drift boat. So here we go.
The Bitterroot River is fishing really well as of late. I have been throwing a TJ Hooker with a pink worm in the mornings and switching to a PMD cripple once the hatch starts in the afternoon. There are also some drakes out here or there so I would be prepared for those as well. The dry/dropper game plays if you have a dropper fly that can get down, run that fly at least two feet if not a little further to get you in those slots where the fish are holding.
Dry Flies: Chubbies in 8/10, Green Drake Cripple size 10, PMD cripple size 12
Nymphs: Pat’s Rubber Leg, Pink San Juan worm, PT Jigs size 14, TJ Hooker size 10
The Blackfoot is my choice of river at the current time. Salmon flies are still showing up everyday in the upper river and fish have been on the hunt. I am running a streamer in the morning and switching to a single salmon fly after lunch when I start to see salmon flies in the air. There’s a lot of boats up there so being off the edges and even fishing the drops mid-river has been producing some of my biggest fish. I did see a couple golden stones today, there’s a handful of drakes, PMD’s and yellow sallies. Lots of different options.
Dry Flies: Salmon Fly Patterns size 4,6,8, Chubbies size 6,8, Green Drake Cripple size 8, PMD cripples size 12, yellow stimulators size 12
Nymphs: Pat’s Rubber leg size 6,8, San Juan Worm, PT jig size 14, Prince nymphs size 12,14, TJ Hooker 6,8,10
The Clark Fork is finally fishable! I did a day this week and dredged up some good rainbows on a Pat’s and a red san juan worm, make sure you are fishing heavy and getting down, the swirl seams are hard to get through. I switched to a PT jig when I saw a couple PMD’s and Sallies come off in the afternoon. There was some fish up eating in a back eddy here and there so having a dry fly rod set up to poke a nose would be a great idea.
Dry Flies: Chubbies size 6,8, PMD Cripple size 12, Green Drake cripple 10
Nymphs: Pat’s Rubber Leg 6,8, Red/Wine San Juan Worms, PT Jigs size 12,14, Prince Nymphs size 12,14.
Hope everyone has a great week and puts a lot of fish in the net. Remember to be careful out there, rivers are still dropping and it’s changing everyday.
