Advice on Fishing Montana

[Timbers]

Hoping some of you can steer me in the right direction with somethings. Please feel free to add ideas for us.

My wife and I are planning a two week bucket list trip (for us anyway) to Montana. Ideally head to Twin Falls ID and stay overnight or two nights. Then head into Montana and stay 7-9 days, head to CDA ID 2-3 days, lastly maybe Bend OR. then home. Having a tough time booking a VRBO near Missoula (late to plan I'm finding out), finding some places near/around Hamilton. Someone know of a secret house rental on the river??

Current places of interest are West Fork Bitterroot and Rock Creek. May try to get to Little Blackfoot and some areas near Kalispell, don't know for sure, trying to find a home base and decide what else is within driving distance. There seems to be so many great choices to fish. Trying to keep it to 2-3.

Hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction if I'm wrong. I'm hoping my river choices are similar in size and type like the McCloud and Pit River? Wanting to wade fish.

Would sometime in July be a good time to go, trying to avoid bad weather and big runoff/not being able to fish these areas?

From Hamilton, is the Skalkaho Hwy. 38 open in July to get over to Rock Creek Road? Is that the best route to take?

Might decide to camp a day or two. Has anyone camped at any of the places on Rock Creek Road? Are they packed this time of year?

Thanks all for any suggestions I really appreciate it.

[PV_Premier]

You don’t need more than a night of sleep in twin falls. It’s not that nice a town. If you can make it to Hailey on day 1, stay there instead and fish nearby. Late July/early August is more reliable for dodging runoff on all streams but many will be fishable early/mid month. There will be weekday construction on US93 Wells to TWF all summer so consider going via Boise or planning for some delays.

[Timbers]

You don’t need more than a night of sleep in twin falls. It’s not that nice a town. If you can make it to Hailey on day 1, stay there instead and fish nearby. Late July/early August is more reliable for dodging runoff on all streams but many will be fishable early/mid month. There will be weekday construction on US93 Wells to TWF all summer so consider going via Boise or planning for some delays.

Don't really know the best route to go, thought that it would be through Twin Falls. Have not been to Idaho either. If there is something to see I'd maybe take an extra day but would rather get to where I'm going quicker ideally.

Thank you for this info I appreciate it.

[PV_Premier]

Don't really know the best route to go, thought that it would be through Twin Falls. Have not been to Idaho either. If there is something to see I'd maybe take an extra day but would rather get to where I'm going quicker ideally.

I am not sure the "best" route either, never driven to that part of Montana, I just know that US93 from Wells to TWF will be a bit of a nightmare on weekdays this summer because of the road work.

TWF is an industrial town on the big part of the Snake. Not so fishy, at least for trout. If you can make it to Sun Valley/Hailey on day 1, you will find some good fishing options on the way to Missoula that is worth more than an overnight visit, if you take the US93 route. If you are bent on getting to Montana, drive as far as you can manage on day 1 and find a place to crash when you run out of patience.

[Timbers]

I am not sure the "best" route either, never driven to that part of Montana, I just know that US93 from Wells to TWF will be a bit of a nightmare on weekdays this summer because of the road work.

TWF is an industrial town on the big part of the Snake. Not so fishy, at least for trout. If you can make it to Sun Valley/Hailey on day 1, you will find some good fishing options on the way to Missoula that is worth more than an overnight visit, if you take the US93 route. If you are bent on getting to Montana, drive as far as you can manage on day 1 and find a place to crash when you run out of patience.

Yes, I understand. Don't like to sit at a standstill, trying to avoid that kind of thing getting away from populated areas where we live.
Thanks again.

[Fly Guy Dave]

I agree that the Hailey area is much nicer than Twin Falls and it is easy to get there in a (long) day of driving. I have never rented any places to stay up there, only camped, so I don't have any info on that. There are plenty of places to camp along the WF of the Bitterroot and along Rock Creek. Some are free, others have some kind of fee, usually not very much. Many of the places are first come, first serve, so you take your chances on getting a camping spot. Weekends are busy, the weekdays, not so much.

I would avoid going over Skalkaho Pass. A lot of the water on that upper part of Rock Creek is fenced off and private and very skinny. The road up to the pass is narrow and winding and it is very slow going. Driving north on 93 through Missoula and then east to Rock Creek on I-90 and fishing the lower sections works better.

Rock Creek is LONG and most of the water in the lower and middle sections are easy to access. There are places to rent along there as well, but again, I don't know anything about them. Camping along Rock Creek is similar to the places on the WF of the B-root. There are many miles of stream, so there are a lot of places to camp. Some campgrounds get more traffic than others. I had an entire campground to myself one night, but there are usually a few others around. I am usually there in July, so the runoff is over and the skeeters aren't too bad.

Both the B-root and Rock Creek are easily waded and are Pit and McCloud in size. I've found that the best fishing on both streams is in the evening, from sunset until it gets dark. Being that far north that is usually around 10 in the evening that time of year. Lots of surface action and nice fish.