We’re visiting family in Montana - first time since 2019. For the last 15 or so years, Montana has meant family time for me, but this trip I carved out a little time to fish (first time fishing in the state 8 years) and headed up to a tributary of one of the big name Montana rivers for a half day. The lower section where I went is petty well known, but I decided to try my luck a few miles higher up near the headwaters. The upper section promised smaller water, less pressure, and also smaller fish.
It’s pretty water - and also challenging fishing. Not the fish so much, but the geology/topography. Lots of the creek was very even depth, lined with uniform cobbles, and uniform too-fast flows right to the mostly-brushy edges. There was much less structure than I am used to seeing on Sierra freestone rivers. Where I did find structure, I also found lots of eager native cutthroat. The fish looking up were mostly holding in surprisingly shallow inside lines. They were pretty opportunistic - I got takes on little Stimulators, Royal Wolffs, and Parachute Adams. The only annoying part was my inability to stick landings. I got tons of takes, had many that felt the hook, but only landed 3 or 4. A number came off after about 3 seconds on. Frustrating. For what it’s worth, the lower river had lots more structure - deeper runs, big corners, channels, and also (on a Saturday) a pickup truck or SUV in every pullout.
My LLBean/Timberline pack rod worked well. 7’ is a good length for bushwhacking, and the 5wt line on this rod didn’t feel too heavy - I got perfectly satisfactory presentations. All in all, good times.
Pics follow…
Pretty water - easily wadeable, but deceptively fast flowing
My rig for the day - Bean/Timberland and Bean/Hardy
Silvery little west slope cutthroat
The bushwhacking was pretty too - wild rose