A couple of buddies and I are planning a trip to Montana in the spring or early summer (May, June). We will probably stay in the Missoula area. The plan is to fish for at least five days. I have a few questions that I would like to hear opinions on.

1. I have a drift boat. Is it worth it to take it along considering the shuttle hassle(only taking one vehicle)? If yes on the boat, what are some good rivers with fairly easy drifts(have drifted Nooch, Satsop, Hump, Cow, Yak ect.)?

2. If no on the boat, how much of the public access areas have good fishing water. Also, any of the rivers better suited for walking.

3. None of us does much fly fishing and would like to fish with spinners as we normally do. Anyone had success with spinners? If so, types, colors, and sizes would be appreciated.

Thank in advance for any help.

1. Bring the drifter and do the Clark Fork (Call the Grizzly Hackle in Missoula for put-ins and take-outs)

2. Lots of public access and places to explore. We got into fish easily in the area.

3. Not trying to be elitist, but leave the spinners at home if possible. This is the Mecca for flyfishing and rather awesome to experience. This is the place that 'hooked' me on FF and now I have 6 fly rods in addition to my conventional gear. Well worth the learning curve.

Good luck.

.... to see if I would Yaak up MT some more? Not details or zippers.

But 4 other well known rivers in 4 directions from Missoula I'll mention; in addition to the Clarkfork Saltine posted. For good bank angling there are the Blackfoot R. and Rock Creek; northeast and southeast of town, respectfully (check the regs - great fly waters). South of town is the Bitteroot R., which has some good boatable sections. My favorite river to driftboat, and worth the further drive, is the Kootenai R. in the northwest corner of the state. The Libby C.of C. can advise you about launches and sections to boat, and names of local d-boat guides.

May and June high cold runoff can sometimes mean using sinktip lines and weighted nymphs. As Saltine mentioned, that fly shop in town can advise you best. They may reveal some great smaller zipper fly streams too; keep 'em quiet. Sections open to gear and bait can be great that time of year. You can even use steelhead techs on the big 'bows of the Kootenai. Good luck on the water conditions.

Take the boat. Get a GOOD bug flipn stick and go later in the summer (July). had my first experience with fly fishing last summer on the big MO. what a blast!!!! I had never fly fished. I am already planing this summers trip. the bug hatches are better when the weather is warmer. we fished near a small town called Wolf Creek. great little tackle shop that does shutle service and can get you going on the local streams.

dc

e7, if you come in may or june i would recommend that you consider the missouri between helena and great falls or the bighorn south of billings. the rivers around missoula are in some state of runoff that very often make them if not unfishable, a difficult propopsition. the missouri has better bank access but definatly bring the boat as all of the nearest communities have shuttle services. i know that i am repeating some earlier posts here but if you come to missoula earlier or later would be better. the bitterrot is a great float as bank acess is limited. you can email me when the time gets closer. i live 2 miles from the bitterroot and grew up on the clark fork. and chrome 22 please excuse any spelling, typing or grammer errors. 5th grade is proving to be very difficult..... :p

Mt. Mike,

Born in Missoula, when Dad couldn't take my older brother Gary and I over to Rock Creek, our Grandpa used to take us right down to the big Clark Fork near town to fish. Or south of town to fish the Bitteroot near Lolo, or in Lolo Cr.

It's been the Blackfoot and Kootenai, and a few zipperlip streams, in the many summers going to visit our grandparents and cousins since moving to Oregon at 6 years old. I love it there! Here too.

RT

e7,

We fished the Blackfoot and Missouri Rivers last summer with Joe Bloomquist of the Missouri River Lodge. Shoot him an e-mail at bloomquist@aol.com (website at www.missouririverlodge.com) and he'll give you tons of info...and it will be current.

If he doesn't get back to you immediately, remember that this is Apple Cup week (he used to be a linebacker for the Huskies) and he might be out hunting cougars.

K

Lots of good advise above. As was already stated May-June are runoff time and the rivers are often high and muddy,especially the bitterrot. However if you catch the runoff on the receeding side ,particularly on Rock Creek you have a good chance of running into the Salmonfly hatch which can make for phenomenal fishing. As others have stated I encourage you to at least bring fly rods. The Salmonfly hatch is a great time to fall in love with fly fishing. With large trout comming up and splatting anything big and orange on top.
Spinners will ofcourse work very effectively for you but take a good supply of them because te fish will be on the banks and I don't mean a foot out more like 1 or 2 inches or even under the bank! You will lose lots of spinners. Unless your a pro bass fisherman and can put a lure anywhere you want from a moving boat. However you decide to fish please use only single barbless hooks and no bait!
shuttles are easy to arange for about any stream you'd want to float.

I'll chime in on the run-off theme too. For a Plan B, I would suggest looking for some ponds and lakes, and use either the boat or bring float tubes.

There are some/a indian reservation in north central MT. that are supposed to offer fishing for hog 'bows. Somewhere around Havre maybe, sorry don't have a map here.

A great guide but out of print I think is The Montana Anglers Guide by Fothergill & ?. Has all the rivers, detailed pullout maps, good info, spiral bound and water resistant. Search the used book sources for one - you won't be disappointed

You may have some opportunities at higher elevation streams. Some of my favorite memories are fishing wet in the AM and switching to dry for the afternoon hatch, during a late spring snow storm, the Gallatin R.

Used to drive over every spring/summer and float the Beaverhead and bank fish the Ruby. Our biggest fish 4 - 6 lbs came on small sculpin/bulheads that we strirred up in the riffles and then caught in a piece of 1/4 hardware screen 4 - 10 feet downstream. Had some great days on both of these rivers. Saw some good success with rapalas fished toward the bank on a fly rod. Good luck wherever you choose to fish..............

Great advise above. That time of year I'd concentrate on the lake fishing. A few hours south of Missoula is Clark Canyon Reservior. Home of huge hawgs (not to be confused with those disgusting Dawgs). It is the headwaters for the Beaverhead River which would alsobe a good bet (few miles south of Dillon). Along I-90 the Anaconda Settling ponds kick out some monster fish. As was stated in an earlier post, Tthe Blackfoot reservation has some phenomenal pond and lake fishing for big trout.

But if you are staying around Missoula don't miss the entertainment at Freds!!!! Also, get Steve Probasco's book on Montana. It has great recent info on the waters mainly in Western Mont. Geg Thomas' Montana Fly Fishing Guide is also a good bet.

Good guide book: An Angler's Guide to Montana. Find it at Amazon.
My favorite if you get there before the runoff is the Big Hole. Easy river to run. Go to Wisdom for shuttle info. Best lures are Rapalas and Big Super Dupers. Best flies are The Kauffman Stone and the B-itch Creek. Get it in the willows for the browns during high water.One day a couple of years ago, I caught Cutts, Bows, Browns, Brooks, Whitefish and Grayling, all on a Bead Thorax Pheasant Tail

Beaverhead is also a great river in the area, but a boat is very important. There is a low Highway bridge that can cause headaches to drifters, ask around in Dillon.

Couple of other good bets if you wanna drive are the Mussleshell, and if the runoff is late, the Yellowstone, Paradise Valley, especialy if you got a boat. Some nice zippers drain into the Yellowstone from the mountains to the east.

OOPS- Forgot.
If you get there and the Rivers are blown, Fish Georgetown Reservoir. Fantastic fishing for Bows and Kokes.

I haven't tried these in Montana, but in higher spring water I bet the pink worm would catch fish! So would 1/8 oz. steelhead jigs in various colors (black/brown, black/red, brown/orange, etc).

yikes, i feel like my poker hand was just exposed. but what the heck, anybody out there ever hear of the madison????? i mean besides you movie stars is everone out there from montana or just good tourists?
RT1 you must have lots of good memmories of mt, i was told i caught my first fish on the bighole. my family is from butte but was lucky enuf to live on the clark fork and the blackfoot for a summer during highschool. of course there weren't may fishermen back then....but man the fish

MT MIke
I spent the last 3 summers working at the Madison River Fishing Company in Ennis Montana.
I have fished somewhat extensivly on the Madison River. It is a great river to Float. The rivers lower section from Ennis lake to it's confluence with the jefferson and Gallatin just might have the most large trout per mile than any river in the state. The Madison above between Ennis lake and Quake lake is the most popular area. It has good numbers of fish of all sizes browns and rainbows over 20 inches can be very much expected to for skilled anglers. The shuttle service is avaliable at either on the fly shops in ennis but spinners are only avaliable at the hardware store. Be careful of the regulations here!!!

Any more specific questions let me knoe

Thanks for all the advice and I will take even more. I do have some flexibility in the time that I go. It sounds like maybe I should consider postponing the trip until July or August. If so, what month would be best? With regards to gear, I always fish with single barbless hooks in rivers no matter what I am fishing for and even when I am not required to pinch the barb. However, I have only done a limited amount of flyfishing and neither of my buddies have ever flyfished or even own a fly rod. This is one of the reasons I was asking about alternatives to flyfishing. Any additional advice is appreciated.

Thanks

E7, if I were to pick one month it would be July. June has spring snowmelt runoff concerns and the hot August weather can put the river tempts too high on fish that have had a lot of summer pressure on them. The exceptions for August are for some of the glacially fed larger rivers such as the mentioned Kootenai. And the 3 forks of the Flathead river system near GNP (Glacier National Park). They will usually have a good cutt bite still going in August. The Yellowstone and Madison get some cold spring water that can keep them up and cool thru August also. But July is tough to beat for overall good fishing conditions. Usually .

RT

I used to fish the braided channels above the Slide Inn. Had some phenominal winter/early spring fishing there. Also the water mentioned just below Quake lake was great for good sized bows and browns when swinging big leeches at dark...Freds was still my favorite.