The Clarck Fork is the largest of our main rivers, experiencing extremely fast and turbid flows through the weekend. The rain has only darkened the river underneath Missoula, and you have to go much higher up until you find anything with decent clarity. In saying that, many of the different sloughs and tributaries that connect to the Clark Fork might be your best bet to finding that large May fish you've been hunting for all spring.

The dry fly eaters have been mild this last week, with some of the cooler weather turning the hatches off. You can certainly find caddis and larger drakes coming off the water in smaller numbers through the evening. With some fish selectively eating on the surface, the BWOs, Mother’s day caddis, and grey drakes have been producing alright days. Parachute patterns in the 14-16 size range and foam stonefly patterns in the 6-12 range are also working well.

If the rising fish are few, or the dry fly bite hasn’t quite gotten going, try running a small nymph as a dropper under a stonefly. It’ll keep the fishing active, as nymphs are always on the menu, and it’ll tell you when the fish start keying in on the dries. When the fishing’s really a grind, running the indicator rig or tightline nymphing is a proven way to put a bend in the rod. Pat’s rubber legs are a bread-and-butter fly around here, though any bead head stone will get it done well.

Spring streamer fishing is always productive, and can make for some of the best trophy trout fishing all year. Overcast days and muddy water gets the big fish up shallow and feeding aggressively. Fish undercut banks, boulder fields, and the shallow heads of pools. Those big fish are hungry, though they’re trying as hard to find food as you are trying to show it to them. Opt for natural but visible colors On overcast days, dark black is preferable, though with some sun, brighter cream and yellow patterns are very visible in the mud. We like Galloup’s Kill Whitey, Lynch’s DnD, and the Dungeon for good shallow-fishing streamer patterns.