The Clark fork above Missoula is still quite low, sitting at 679 CFS down from 880 CFS from 8/15. Cool overcast weather has helped bring temperatures back down, and fish and game has terminated hoot-owl restrictions for this season, but the river is still very low and warm. Afternoon highs are now down in the mid-sixties and nightly lows in the upper mid-fifties. Which is better than we were doing during the worst of this summer heat, but still quite warm for September.

We’re still on the border of late summer to early fall hatches, and with a few more rainstorms we will be right on the regular fall patterns. Terrestrial patterns are still a reliable move, with hoppers having the most success. With the first proper frost of fall the hoppers will rapidly disappear and that will be the first sign of fall fishing. Tricos have been coming off heavily, with most activity concentrated in the lower river. If you see fish sipping tiny, near invisible mayflies about size 20-24 and are refusing most everything else, that’s the Trico hatch in action. You’ll see them hatching most in early morning and their nearly identical compatriots, the pseudos, in late evening. This is especially true on cool overcast days. Cool, smoky days like today sometimes seem to have more bug activity than when it’s wet and overcast. If it starts raining or rained the night prior, they’ll usually shut down. Usually, the move then is to alternate to a small perdigon nymph, or a rubber legs and fish the nymphs that have yet to emerge. Fishing over deeper pools and boulder fields with a large streamer can turn some true giants that would otherwise not move for a smaller offering. On sunny days or after the sun has warmed the air and the Tricos have slowed back down (usually about 10-12am or when temps hit the low seventies) the move is to alternate to the tried-and-true hopper/dropper or just plain nymphing. As you roll into late afternoon and it begins to cool down again the Tricos will start up again as will mahoganies and caddis. Pretty soon we’ll see the true early fall hatches of BWOs, Hecubas, and October Caddis. Curiously Nocturnal stones have been hatching unusually late into the year, while I imagine they’ll be finished shortly, we may see a few stragglers in the early mornings for the next few weeks.

Streamer fishing for trout has been alright, but much less active with the heat. Pike fishing is very good right now with loads of fish up in the deeper sloughs that still hold water and in the slower sections of river below Missoula. To escape the dreaded pike and get back into the trout, fish smaller flashy patterns in shallow swift water. Pike will gravitate more to sloughy backwaters and slow flowing timber packed river bends whereas trout will gravitate more to cool well oxygenated fast flowing water.

The nymph fishing is always dependable, and a good alternate if the dry fly fishing is shut down. Pat’s rubber legs and the TJ hooker is a great combo for running a nymph rig, and a single rubber legs or a perdigon is a great alternate for the hopper/dropper rig.