Mike Monsos
09-16-2007, 07:10 AM
We took a nine-day run to Montana. Our first stop was in Helena and we drove up to Houser Dam to fish the Missouri tail water there. The water was deep and fast and my friend Don landed one fish. We decided to move down river to the Craig area to do a bit more fishing. The water looked nice but there were lots of weeds coming down the river. We did see some nice fish though. The weeds won out and we stayed at Cascade for the night at the Badger Motel (Nice place for $60 per night). Don needed to pick up some flies and we stopped into Crosscurrents Fly Shop and got some great information. The next morning we fished the Missouri again, we fished till about 2pm and I landed one Brown about 13”. I liked the river but not the weed flow. This river does hold some huge fish; I wish I could have tagged one.
We then headed down hwy 200 to fish the Blackfoot river. Fished the Dearborn River on the way for a short time and landed a couple of White fish that beat the bows to our flies. The Blackfoot is a very interesting river, more my style. We landed some nice rainbows and a few browns for our efforts. We then headed to Missoula and stayed at the Creek side Motel. Stopped in at the Kingfisher Fly shop and got some good information on the area and picked up some gear and flies. We decided to fish Rock Creek first as it had just reopened and with the help we got from the fly shop had a nice morning in the lower part of the creek. Drove up about 20 miles and fished a bit more. This was yet another nice piece of water.
Wednesday we fished the Blackfoot river around the Clearwater Bridge area. We proceeded to land a few more fish and another nice area. We then headed up the North fork of the Blackfoot river. We got down in the canyon right around the trailhead after hiking up the trail and realizing that we were not going to get down to the river for quite a ways. After making our way down to the river the wind came up and pretty much blew us out of there. That canyon can really push some wind!
Our next outing was to the Bitterroot a bit south of Hamilton. Now this was my favorite river. Landed some nice browns to 17” and bows in the pounds. This is a very nice place to wander around and hunt for trout. The river is a very easy wade and there are lots of interesting places to try the flies. We fished here for two days and explored about three miles of water. We did find one very active area of trout rising and spent quite a bit of time there working the water.
This was my first Montana fishing experience and I can’t wait to get back next year. We traveled about 2,000 miles total, 90 gallons of gas, and the rooms we rented averaged about $60 per night for the two of us. Breakfasts ran about $20, for two and dinners and a beer about $36 or so. So I’m guessing this whole trip cost about $800 or so to split between the two of us. Purchasing a fishing license, map and gear and beer on my half brought my cost to about $600. To me this was a lot of trip for the money and we could have cut the cost quite a bit by camping in the many campgrounds available. They were all pretty much empty when we passed them by, and many on the rivers we were fishing. But it was nice to just hit the motel for a shower and a bed after a day of exploring and fishing. I'll be adding some pictures soon.
Mike :thumb: :beer2:
We then headed down hwy 200 to fish the Blackfoot river. Fished the Dearborn River on the way for a short time and landed a couple of White fish that beat the bows to our flies. The Blackfoot is a very interesting river, more my style. We landed some nice rainbows and a few browns for our efforts. We then headed to Missoula and stayed at the Creek side Motel. Stopped in at the Kingfisher Fly shop and got some good information on the area and picked up some gear and flies. We decided to fish Rock Creek first as it had just reopened and with the help we got from the fly shop had a nice morning in the lower part of the creek. Drove up about 20 miles and fished a bit more. This was yet another nice piece of water.
Wednesday we fished the Blackfoot river around the Clearwater Bridge area. We proceeded to land a few more fish and another nice area. We then headed up the North fork of the Blackfoot river. We got down in the canyon right around the trailhead after hiking up the trail and realizing that we were not going to get down to the river for quite a ways. After making our way down to the river the wind came up and pretty much blew us out of there. That canyon can really push some wind!
Our next outing was to the Bitterroot a bit south of Hamilton. Now this was my favorite river. Landed some nice browns to 17” and bows in the pounds. This is a very nice place to wander around and hunt for trout. The river is a very easy wade and there are lots of interesting places to try the flies. We fished here for two days and explored about three miles of water. We did find one very active area of trout rising and spent quite a bit of time there working the water.
This was my first Montana fishing experience and I can’t wait to get back next year. We traveled about 2,000 miles total, 90 gallons of gas, and the rooms we rented averaged about $60 per night for the two of us. Breakfasts ran about $20, for two and dinners and a beer about $36 or so. So I’m guessing this whole trip cost about $800 or so to split between the two of us. Purchasing a fishing license, map and gear and beer on my half brought my cost to about $600. To me this was a lot of trip for the money and we could have cut the cost quite a bit by camping in the many campgrounds available. They were all pretty much empty when we passed them by, and many on the rivers we were fishing. But it was nice to just hit the motel for a shower and a bed after a day of exploring and fishing. I'll be adding some pictures soon.
Mike :thumb: :beer2: