We just got back from our annual pilgrimage to Western Montana. We keyed in on Rock Creek and the Blackfoot this year, and hoped to get a day in on the Upper Clark Fork, and another pretty secret river we fish in the area. We were back there for 9 days and rented a house on the banks of Rock Creek for 4 days, and one house in Lincoln for the following 5 days for the Blackfoot.
There has been a lot of late spring/ early summer rain in Western Montana, so the rivers are running high. Day one was decent fishing on our float on the Blackfoot, but a 3 day winter type storm came in at the end of the day. We got almost 3 inches of rain over the next 48 hours, which took care of most fishing for the next 3 days. We had 2 floats washed out from the rain . . . very strange for summertime in Montana. We were able to fish some of the braids and side channels of Rock Creek during this time, and even got into some decent fish wading these areas.
After the rains, we pulled an audible and went up to the north Fork Blackfoot and this fished pretty well for good sized cutties all day. My buddy had a cutthroat of what looked to be about 18" on and his rod took a huge dip after a LARGE Bull Trout came up and ate the cutty. After about a 10 minute battle, the Bull came off, with the cutty as well. Very exciting battle to watch.
We then floated the Blackfoot once again and had a bang up day. It warmed up, the weather was beautiful and the Salmonflies, Golden Stones and Yellow Sallies were hatching in abundance. I love floating this river, a chance at some big fish and a beautiful river. The only bummer is seeing what the Paws Up Glampers are doing to this section of river. The resort is putting up to 16 drift boats and rafts on the river in one section!!! Many of the guides are getting pretty pissed about this.
The last couple of days we waded on the Upper Blackfoot and had some pretty good days as the river dropped and cleared up.
This was our 16th consecutive year of this trip, and it just never gets old. We try to see some new turf every year, and staying in Lincoln was it for us this year. It is not your traditional Montana fishing town, but there is plenty of good fishing in the area. Good restaurants and watering holes as well. The lesson this year was don't forget to pack your skivvies, or else your driving back to Missoula to buy some.
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