A Goldmedal Town -by Buddy Robichaux

Missoula, Montana is billed as “A Quaint Drinking Town with A Fishing Problem”. I don’t know about the quaint drinking (it is a university town), but I do know what the fishing problem is. Where to fish!!

The Clark Fork of the Columbia runs through the downtown part of the city. The Bitteroot joins the Clark Fork just north of town after skirting much of the residential section. The holy waters of the Blackfoot River, of “A River Runs Through It” fame, joins the Clark Fork 8 miles south of town. The famous Rock Creek joins the Clark just 15 miles south of the city. Each of these offers from 35 to 50 miles of accessible gin clear water carrying large, feisty Rainbows, Cutthroats, hybrids and Browns. And Rock Creek throws in Bull Trout for good measure. Add in a few lesser known streams in the vicinity-the Little Blackfoot, Lolo Creek, Ninemile Creek, Fish Creek, and more, you get the problem of “Where to Fish”. Drive 30 miles in any direction from center city and you have passed by 30 miles of water inhabited by native fish looking for a fight.

Having sampled this region last year after the fires subsided, three of us decided to try again. AFF members Lance Whyle, Don Watkins and I met in Missoula the last week of September for another go at quality trout chasing.

This time the weather was different. All summer long good rains had filled the rivers keeping the water cool and greening the surrounding forests and meadows. Our thinking was if the fishing was slack, the outings would be worth the trip. We need not have been concerned. Our weather consisted of overcast mornings followed by sunny afternoons with soft breezes. Ideal flyfishing weather. Our first outing was on Rock Creek with John Havek, a guide from Missoula Anglers. At this time of year, Rock Creek is a wade only stream. And, also, it is relatively unoccupied by other fishers.

John put us on some beautiful water where Rainbows were rising to a BWO hatch.

It was great sport to wade and cast 18s and 20s to rising fish in the clear, gravel bottom stream.

Lance, Don and I fished other locations on other days without guides. But not knowing the right spots to fish, we were not as successful with catching as under the guidance of locals. But we fell back on our original thought--the scenery and the views were worth the effort.

Another outing on our last day was a float trip on the Clark Fork north of the city. That’s downstream as the river flows south to north here. Kurt Long and Brad Potter of Grizzly Hackle in Missoula set us up for a great, long river ride. Fishing was great. Catching made it even better. Most of the fish, large Rainbows and Cutthroats, were taken on wet flies of various patterns. A few were taken on small dries-16 to 20s. All fish were stream bred and unwilling to surrender to a hook without a fight.

One of the treats of this trip was the shore lunch. Marinated pork loin grilled on the spot and served with 3 kinds of salads and dinner rolls. All served sit down style on a cloth covered table with china dishes and silver. Only a good wine was missing.

It was after dark when we quit the river and headed for town to check on the “quaint drinking” part of the town’s billing. Maybe next year we will fully solve that part of the motto.