Montana Fly Fishing Report

   The season is winding down, but the fishing continues to be very good.  The weekenders are gone and the tubers have hung up their tubes, along with their limited cognitive abilities. Hooray!

   We have had happy anglers in all of the guides' boats, with many trophy-sized fish coming to net. Our waters of choice have been the lower Clark Fork, lower Bitterroot and the Missouri. Best bugs continue to be October caddis patterns, #14 purple haze, #18 MagDel baetis. There have been some baetis around, as well as a ton of pseudos. Adult October caddis are out sporadically, too. The point is, if you hunt around you will find risers. But I know that some of you only know how to chase colorful plastic orbs around the middle of the river. Maybe it's time to evolve. If you want to hang a dropper try the #16 peep show, #18 zebra midge, or just go old school and tie on a P.T. Rock Creek has been good with the purple haze, black buggers and Wulff patterns being the best bets. Think twitchy/skating if you head up the crick. The weather is great, and looks to be staying that way, so you might consider one last fix. This is the best October fishing that the RFO team has seen in a number of years. It's only a matter of time before it gets nasty.

Joe W. with a streamer caught Missouri River brown.