The mercury climbed to a steamy 95 degrees as my wife and I exited the rustic airport in Missoula, Montana. Mountains enclosed the valley and a faint fog of smoke from distant forest fires created a haze in the distance. Yep, we finally made it “out west,” and this would turn out to be a wonderful trip.
Mountains, Mountains, Mountains!
As we drove to our cabin in Seeley Lake, we crossed both the famous Clarks Fork, and then the Blackfoot River; both of which were beautiful, and the latter of the two was of course made famous by “the movie.” They were both beautiful and to my surprise had many access points.
Our first excursion was to Rock Creek, and after stopping by the home of the Testicle Festival for some Rocky Mountain Oysters (yes, they are exactly what you think they are!) and Moose Drool Ale, we were ready to put the steel to some fish. August is Hopper season in Montana. BIG hoppers. It was like cicada season all over again. The bigger, goofier, more rubber-legged the imitation, the better. We fished droppers, although fishing nymphs at this time of year tends to call attention to mountain whitefish, as the trout are looking up. This was a beautiful medium sized stream with plenty of fish in it. The big combo here for the locals was a hopper with 18-30 inches of tippet to a San Juan worm. I felt that as being morally troubling so we stuck with big #10 golden stones. I didn’t fly to Montana to dunk a fake worm!
Getting ready at Rock Creek
The Clarks Fork is a much broader, much more demanding stream. A variety of tactics worked here including big streamers, hoppers, caddis, and big, nasty nymphs. I was fortunate to take a beautiful 18” cutthroat out of a wicked, deep run with snags on both sides. He took a big golden stone nymph. Again, if you choose to fish small nymphs like I traditionally enjoy, whitefish will plague you cast after cast. This stream would be more suited to floating; and my next time out will definitely include a float trip.
A fat cutt from the Clarks Fork
The rest of our trip was spent on the Blackfoot. I thought that because of “the movie” that this would be a river full of weekend yuppies and guides that would have $4000 worth of gear on, and their noses aimed in an upward manner. I was pleasantly surprised. There was a lot of access, and the people that I met were very nice and willing to help. On that note, I must say that I met a ton of people out there from PA. In fact, I don’t think that we went into a fly shop that didn’t have at least on Pennsylvanian either working in it or guiding. (Maybe that is saying something about us…)
A Blackfoot Cutt
Anyways, I found that the fish in the Blackfoot were very responsive, but lacked the overall size of other streams in the area (I was told this before I went). We caught lots of fish in the 8-10” range, with a few exceptions. Juls had a hog on at the head of a beautiful run, and it made a glorious escape by breaking water and allowing us to get a look at exactly what it was- a big burly bow. Oh well, we had a fantastic time, and I will return. On a different note, I must say that western trout lack the selectivity that PA trout do. Accurate imitations are rarely needed, and a well-presented fly will almost always work. There was so much water to fish in this state, and it is so vast that a week just won’t cut it; especially if you want to see some of the other sights this beautiful state has to offer. Tight Lines.
Some of the hoppers and big stones I was throwing
The gear that I used was pretty basic. A 9 ft 6 wt Sage SLT with a Ross Evo 3 Reel, a ton of huge tippet (1x-3x) for throwing those huge monstrosities, and felt boots with BIG STUDS. Wading many of these waters in not for the faint of heart. A wading staff may be a good idea, although I am too stubborn to use one.
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