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Post 21 Sep 2018, 11:09 • #1 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/24/14
Posts: 1896
Location: US-NC
I spent the week after Labor Day fishing some waters around Missoula, Montana. The scenery was spectacular, my accommodations (a cabin I rented off VRBO) were great and the fishing, unfortunately, was disappointing. I did catch a nice variety of fish (cutts, browns, rainbows, brookies, whitefish), but the numbers were poor, or at least below my expectations. I initially had planned to spend the entire time fishing Rock Creek, but because the fishing was disappointing I decided to venture out and explore some other waters, specifically the West Fork of the Bitterroot and the main Bitterroot. I thought folks might enjoy seeing pics of the various waters and so I've included some below.

My Home Base

I rented a cabin along Rock Creek. The views that I woke up to each day...

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Rock Creek

Rock Creek is about a half hour drive east of Missoula (the speed limit is 80 mph much of the way). Fishing access is quite easy as there's a road (Rock Creek Road) that essentially parallels the river most of the way with plenty of pull offs and other access spots. I found the river (I found the "Creek" part of its name amusing as it's much wider than most of the "rivers" where I live) to be incredibly difficult to wade. I was constantly slipping and sliding, which perhaps contributed to the poor fishing. In terms of numbers, I would say I averaged less than a fish per hour and one day I even got skunked (I hooked one but lost it and had several follows but no strikes with a streamer). The setting is gorgeous though....

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I had my best luck on Rock Creek my last day there fishing some side channels off of the main river. It was basically walk and stalk as in most spots the water was too shallow to hold fish, but the fishy looking spots (pools below dropoffs, back eddies) produced some nice fish, though the numbers still weren't great.

West Fork of the Bitterroot

The West Fork of the Bitterroot is quite a ways south of Missoula. From where I was staying it was about a 2 1/2-hour drive each way, but it was well worth it to me. I caught primarily cutts, which are always a treat for me since we don't have them where I live; some were quite small (7-9"), but most were in the 14-16" range. Access was somewhat limited, but I found plenty of places to fish. Going to the West Fork (I did it twice) was the highlight of the trip for me.

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Bitterroot

The Bitterroot also is located south of Missoula (though not as far as the West Fork). It had a very different feel from the other waters; at least in the sections I stopped at, it's meandering and rather slow moving and there's not a lot of vegetation along the banks. My trip to the Bitterroot was largely exploratory, though I did fish for maybe an hour without success. I did see what looked to be some very small fish feeding on Tricos, but didn't hook up.

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It was a bit hazy because of controlled burn somewhere in the distant area.

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Some Fish

I didn't take many fish pictures, but I did snap a few.

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Post 21 Sep 2018, 11:37 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/22/16
Posts: 1760
Location: SJC
Looks like fun, and I think of a 16" fish as not exactly something to sneeze at :) I always enjoy exploring new water, even if it isn't super great fishing.


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 11:54 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/22/12
Posts: 703
Location: US-IA
Very nice report Ed
As always your story and photos are detailed and excellent!
Rod


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 11:57 • #4 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/14/15
Posts: 684
Location: NM
Love that rock/pebble shore. Thanks for the pics!


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 12:20 • #5 
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Joined: 11/24/14
Posts: 1896
Location: US-NC
Odonata wrote:
Looks like fun, and I think of a 16" fish as not exactly something to sneeze at :) I always enjoy exploring new water, even if it isn't super great fishing.


Agreed. I always enjoy exploring new waters and I'm certainly not sorry I went. If my post came off as whining or complaining that wasn't my intent. Was just being honest--I had expected to catch many more fish than I did, especially after reading the glowing fishing reports from area fly shops leading up to my trip. And so while I did catch some really nice fish, overall it fell short of my expectations. But that's how it goes sometimes.


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 12:48 • #6 
Master Guide
Joined: 04/12/18
Posts: 457
"A bad day of fishing beats a good day of anything else."

Thanks for sharing your experience and the photos!

Tight lines,
Bob


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 12:57 • #7 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
nice essay


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 13:46 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4093
Location: USA-CO
Beautiful -- lots of fish or not.


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 14:19 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/10/07
Posts: 1632
Location: The Netherlands
Great report, sorry about the fishing.

Maybe there’s no link but I fished two streams in BC and they were both very disappointing. The streams looked gorgeous but way small numbers of fish and the size of fish caught were small too.

Another river that didn’t deliver for me was the Henry’s Fork. Maybe the heat was part of it but I never saw a sizable fish (16+ inch).


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 14:28 • #10 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
Quote:
would say I averaged less than a fish per hour


that's my rule of thumb too - a fish an hour average is good fishing..
slower, and it's possible to be a mite downhearted, though not in scenery like that ;-)


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 18:00 • #11 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/23/05
Posts: 4966
Location: US-MT
As I've gotten older the number of fish is not the point. And if you don't know the water you usually are not gonna slay em.

I fish a crick that is full of beautiful cutts. I mean BEAUTIFUL. Never over 12". Watching them slide up out of the rocks to take a fly is heaven. But,......Did I say full?? I get tired of it fast. Every pool, every spot behind every rock. Every cast a rise sometimes for 10 minutes. Boring.

A lot of that water around Missoula gets pounded. When I am there, especially in the middle of the day, a fish an hour is about all I get too. Keeps my interest going !!


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Post 21 Sep 2018, 22:10 • #12 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/22/16
Posts: 1760
Location: SJC
WNCtroutstalker wrote:
I had expected to catch many more fish than I did, especially after reading the glowing fishing reports from area fly shops leading up to my trip.


Haha, isn't it funny how those reports are sometimes :) Still, your report (and others like it this season) made me realize that I have never fly fished in the Rockies. I've been to WY, MT, CO and various places in Canada for climbing purposes, mostly in the winter. But that part of my life is pretty much done with, and I really should take more time off to visit places outside my fly fishing comfort zone, so to speak. One of these years...


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 03:03 • #13 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
I have a good friend in Missoula, a guide and fishing author. He put me on some fish, but nothing lights out prolific.


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 06:23 • #14 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/03/06
Posts: 687
Location: US-VA
Very, very nice - much appreciated. Really enjoy the many pics of the rivers and the narration - that lets me travel along. Really adds to the coffee in the am. (Or the many times I will revisit.)
Again, great shots of the Rivers...


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 07:45 • #15 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 10/09/09
Posts: 2796
Location: US-NM
Thanks for a great report Ed........Aurelio


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 08:28 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/26/14
Posts: 3578
Location: US-MN
Awesome photos, thanks for the report!


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 11:55 • #17 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
ibookje wrote:
Great report, sorry about the fishing.

Maybe there’s no link but I fished two streams in BC and they were both very disappointing. The streams looked gorgeous but way small numbers of fish and the size of fish caught were small too.

Another river that didn’t deliver for me was the Henry’s Fork. Maybe the heat was part of it but I never saw a sizable fish (16+ inch).


No-one wants to talk about it, but the Henry's Fork is a shadow of its fame, after the fires in 1988 and many years of drought and below-average flows.
https://www.henrysforkanglers.com/fishing-info/blog/looking-back-on-40-years-part-two

the first time I fished my way across the US in 1991, I realized there was famous fishing, and good fishing. Famous fishing is basically about history.. used to be good, now the river is pounded hard from first light to last and sometimes after, you have to be on top of your game with the right flies to catch anything at all, never mind do well. Often you have to bring your own rock to stand on, as all the river rocks are occupied by fishermen. That was in '91.
As a slow learner, I have fished many of the famous CO and WY rivers, but seldom had good fishing there.


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 12:04 • #18 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/10/07
Posts: 1632
Location: The Netherlands
Maybe two days (actually only 1.5) days on this river is too short to get a good impression. The days were very hot.

Another member who was there in July said that there were hardly any bugs and the size of fish caught being way smaller than usual(?).

Anyway I can understand the grandeur and myth of this river. I’ll be back again to explore it again.


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 12:08 • #19 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/06/07
Posts: 1437
Location: US-VT
Rock Creek was slow the week before the clave. Temps were warm(Missoula hit 104 one day), and the major hatches past. Spruce moth was just winding down and the hoppers hadn’t started up yet. I did pick up a couple nice fish right where the big tree shadow points to in your first river photo. The nice brown in the photo of Doug was picked up just upstream from where you standing to take that shot. Rock Creek certainly is one of the most slippery to wade of all of the streams I fish out there. Combination of water chemistry and the smoothness of the free stones. I might buy felt just for the days I fish over there.


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Post 22 Sep 2018, 14:53 • #20 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/25/09
Posts: 2319
Great report. Love the Missoula area fisheries.


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Post 23 Sep 2018, 01:48 • #21 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/09/05
Posts: 2069
Location: Monroe, WA
Thanks for taking the time to post! I love Rock Creek and miss Doug Persico’s presence at The Mercantile. I used to work in Missoula more frequently and was
Lucky enough to fish Rock Creek a lot. I agree that it’s one of the slipperiest places to wade. Yes, without felt, studs, and a Folstaf you’re bound to slip and may take a swim. I love the upper part, but have spots I like throughout. Think I did the best there early Summer and late Fall. Anyway, I appreciate the many pics you posted. That was fun!


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Post 24 Sep 2018, 17:40 • #22 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/16/05
Posts: 2537
Location: Georgia
I like that area a lot, especially some of the smaller waters. FWIW when I’ve mentioned happiness with my Rock Creek experiences and others have demurred, I’ve usually found that their negativity has been formed on weekend days and my positive views reflect weekday fishing.
And for at least 10 years, a folding staff has been on my mental “must take” checklist before leaving the car. Usually remember and probably would regret bad memory badly there.


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Post 24 Sep 2018, 18:34 • #23 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/31/15
Posts: 1238
Location: Northern Rockies
Great report, and some fantastic streams. You really found some beautiful fishing. Did you make it up to Painted Rocks Lake on the West Fork, or just below there? That canyon rivals the Mid-Canon area for beauty, but it's all so compressed and on top of you.

FWIW, I was in the Bitterroot valley family camping the same time you were there. I didn't get to fish but 30 minutes on a small stream coming out of the mountains, but I talked to some guides at Freestone Fly Shop in Hamilton, and the consensus was that things were off. Fishing was a lot harder than it should have been. Fish were there, and they got caught--even some really nice ones, but everyone was working harder for it than they thought they should have to.

I just spent the weekend on the West Fork of the Bitterroot and on Rock Creek, and I'd say things were still off. I couldn't get a fish to take a dry on the West Fork, but I caught good numbers of fish, including my biggest cutt of the year, on a pheasant tail dropper. They wanted very little to do with my October caddis patterns or a hopper. I had to call it quits before the evening hatch, so that might have picked things up a bit. Rock Creek was better, but they were definitely picky and selective. Both of those places get hit hard, so the fish can be pretty finicky and sometimes unpredictable. Everything I caught over a few inches had clear scars from multiple hooks in the mouth.


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Post 25 Sep 2018, 12:41 • #24 
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Joined: 11/24/14
Posts: 1896
Location: US-NC
GlacierRambler wrote:
Did you make it up to Painted Rocks Lake on the West Fork, or just below there?


I only fished below the dam. Not to sound too down on Rock Creek, but if and when I go back to the area I would love to further explore the West Fork and some of the other nearby waters.


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Post 25 Sep 2018, 17:29 • #25 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/09/05
Posts: 2524
Location: US-CO
Wonderful post! The clave was the first time I had ever fished there. What I found fascinating about Montana was that it seemed that everybody there was a fly fisher. The woman at the outdoor store, the clerk at the supermarket, even the guy at the Mini-Mart late at night was a fly fisher and happy to talk about it. It does appear that catch-and-release ethic is strong there though. I do look forward to another trip there sometime in the future. I had a great time at the clave and we got some good and honest recommendations for some nice fishing. Thanks!

Both Colorado and Montana have a lot of people moving there...but, it would appear that those moving to MT are quite possibly fly fishermen. In CO, I think they are mostly people looking for legal dope, and most of them are not fishermen.


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