Late June Fly Fishing Report

Blackfoot River Fishing Report

Fishing on the Blackfoot was pretty solid today on a rising tide, with a mixture of salmonflies, golden stones, and green drakes in play. Droppers in the Pat’s/Worm/Prince realm can help, but they can also hinder if you’re looking to make tight-to-the-willows reach casts, which make for long drifts, which pay the rent when the feeding lanes are tight. Yesterday at lunch, I watched one of our guides teaching a client how to make an effective reach cast, then watched said client stick a 21″ brown later in the afternoon on just such a drift. Practically speaking on the Blackfoot, it makes sense to start big with a salmonfly or some gargantuan foamie and work your way down in size as the day goes on, golden stones, then green drakes in play late afternoon to evening.

Bitterroot River Fishing Report

On the Bitterroot, it’s still a nympher’s game, and with a lot of water still pushing over the grass beds, there are plenty of trout still eating Girdle Bugs and worms. Big foam bugs have been getting solid looks, but there are too many slots where even a 3ft dropper won’t cut it, so most guys on the upper river have at least one nymph rod rigged.  The lower Bitterroot is still massive and flows are rising throughout the day and dropping at night with an overall upward trend.

Susan “earned a beer” with this one from the lower Bitteroot

Clark Fork River Fishing Report

The upper Clark Fork is on the rise but we had a great window of dry fly fishing last week.  The lower Clark Fork is still a gamble at nearly 20k cfs, but we’ll be thankful for all of that water in late July.

Vivian with a dry fly eating upper Clark Fork browny

It’s still worth noting that the flows are high enough to be dangerous in places–so, be careful out there now, and be thankful, because come July we’re in for one of the best months of fishing we’ve seen in a long time.