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 BaseI rented a cabin along Rock Creek. The views that I woke up to each day...
Rock CreekRock 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....
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 BitterrootThe 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.
BitterrootThe 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.
It was a bit hazy because of controlled burn somewhere in the distant area.
Some FishI didn't take many fish pictures, but I did snap a few.