GAZETTE FISHING REPORT The 4th is coming; choose wisely By JOHN LETASKY Of The Gazette Staff Over the last week, anglers have been reporting quality fishing at places such as the Madison River near Ennis, the dam area of Fort Peck, the Bighorn River and Yellowstone National Park. Although the fishing is slow in some areas, like Ackley Lake, overall it sounds as if many of the rivers are starting to clear and many of the reservoirs are producing. With it being the Fourth of July Sunday, some places may be packed this weekend. So it might be better to do your fishing today or Friday or wait until next week. If you're going to buck the weekend crowds, choose your fishing spots wisely. Here's The Gazette's Weekly Report. Montana Absaroka-Beartooth Mountain Lakes Snow pack is at the 8,750-foot level. More of the higher lakes and trailheads are opening. Lake at The Falls is open, and should see some pretty good fishing soon. Be prepared for afternoon showers. The reports we're getting back are some good fishing right after the rain. Peacock soft hackles are taking trout under the surface followed by a red prince nymph. - Jim Yeager, Old West Anglers & Outfitters, Columbus. Ackley Lake It has been slow. There hasn't been a whole lot of action. - Dave Storfa, Don's, Lewistown. Bighorn Lake This weekend it was really good. Some guys had good luck trolling with worm harnesses. One boat caught 20 fish on Sunday morning. On Monday it wasn't too bad, but on Tuesday it slowed down a little. Some guys limited out with a yellow jig. The water is starting to warm up so the fish are becoming more active. - Josh Anderson, Ok-A-Beh Marina. Bighorn River Flow is at 7100 cfs. Fishing is still excellent. We are starting to see the PMD mayflies. Most guys are using size 16 or 18 PMD patterns. Nymph fishing is still producing the most fish. Try red or orange San Juan worms and trail a pink soft-hackle sow bug, in size 14, or a flashback hare's ear in size 18. A flashback pheasant tail, size 18, can also be trailed. - Todd Stapleton, Bighorn Fly and Tackle, Hardin. Boulder River It is also clear. The better fishing is above McLeod. Again, it is running fast. Nymph patterns have been working. Woolly buggers, bitch creeks, Montana Nymphs and large beadheads are all taking fish. The water temperatures are cold and the fish have not been taking dry flies up until now. It looks like the river has come down somewhat, so that is the good news. - Jim McCall, Rainbow Run Fly Shop, Billings. Canyon Ferry Reservoir Fishing is fair for rainbows in the north half of the lake. Use downriggers or leaded line and try to get 15 to 20 feet down. Walleyes have started biting. Try bottom bouncers and jigs. Chartreuse is the most popular color. - Terry McArdle, Towsend Marine. Cooney Reservoir The fishing has been fair. There is still plenty of action with smaller walleye and trout. Anglers from boats have reported some nice catches jigging or trolling with bottom bouncers and crank baits. Red and orange are the best colors. Had a good report that anise-flavored bait was working well from the shore. - Dan Montoya, Cooney Dam Country Store. Cliff & Wade Lakes They are doing quite well. You have to be out in a boat or tube, the bank fishing is dead. - Gordon Bennett, The Tackle Shop, Ennis. Deadman's Basin Mostly I think water skiers are going up there, but a few people have been fishing it. - Tracy Goffena, Enjoy Sports, Roundup. Fort Peck Reservoir: Big Dry Arm Fishing has been good. It is off and on. A couple of big walleye have been landed. On Friday, Doug Vashus of Glendive caught a 10 3/4 and 11-pound walleye at Nelson Creek using nightcrawlers. Roundup's Bill Allen caught a 241/2-pound northern Sunday. - Tren Schriver, Rock Creek Marina. Fort Peck Reservoir: Crooked Creek We had a couple nice days yesterday and the day before (Monday and Sunday). It's been a little slow on the bank. They've been doing a little better on the boat. The wind has been keeping it murky around the bay. It's not real successful around the bay. A few 9-12 pound northerns have come in off the bank, but overall it has been pretty slow. Boat fisherman are doing the best. Use minnows and jigs. - Ron Ronningen, Fort Musselshell Marina. Fort Peck Reservoir: Dam Area It is excellent. The walleye fishing is really turning on. The lake trout are doing good. A big walleye was caught by Sharlene Downey of Glasgow, it was 12 pounds. Her husband caught a 103/4-pounder on the same day (Sunday). The walleye and sauger are starting to pick up near the river. The pike fishing has been hanging in there. It is a little bit early for the salmon as we are still about a month away. - Gene Moore, Lakeridge Motel, Fort Peck. Fort Peck Reservoir: Fourchette Bay It is getting better and better. There are still lots of 12-inch walleyes, but the bigger ones are starting to bite. The fishermen are jigging live minnows. The water is still a little murky, but any time they should start biting on crawler harnesses. The road is a little muddy right now, because we keep on getting some small rain showers. The fish are active in 8-12 feet of water. - Robert Twiford, Malta Marine. Fort Peck Reservoir: Hell Creek A lot of small walleyes, with some big fish scattered among them, are being caught. Jigs and minnows and crawler harnesses are both working. Active walleyes are in 6 to 20 feet of water. Walleyes are running up to 12 pounds. Northern pike and smallmouth bass are also biting. - Joe Herbold, Hell Creek Bar, Jordan. Gallatin River It is starting to clear up. It is still high, but fishable. It is now featuring better visibility. Try big princes, hare's ears and streamers. - Brian Wainright, Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman. Hebgen Lake It is fishing good. Try stripping streamers. Some guys did well trolling with lures. - Drew Mentzer, Jacklin's Fly Shop, West Yellowstone. Madison River: Ennis The Madison is wonderful. It is fishing great. Use nymphs down along the bank. Fish are hugging the banks. The guides say they are knocking the heck out of them. The fish haven't been pounded to death because the water was so muddy. The water is still high, but it just cleared up about four days ago. Some guides say their clients had a 25-fish day. Use big flies, like bitch creeks and girdle bugs and fish a dropper off of it. - Gordon Bennett, The Tackle Shop, Ennis. Madison River: Lower It has come down 1,000 cfs since this time last week and is at 4,000 cfs. It is fishing well. It is starting to clear up. It usually fishes well the first few weeks after it comes down from the spring runoff. Streamers are the key. - Brian Wainright, Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman. Madison River: Upper San Juan worms are fishing well. One could also try scud patterns and stonefly nymphs. A couple guys have landed some nice ones out of there. - Drew Mentzer, Jacklin's Fly Shop, West Yellowstone. Martinsdale Reservoir They are still doing really good trolling. The rainbows are 11/2-2 pounds. Some little ones are being caught. An occasional nice brown is coming out, as well. Try Rapalas, spoons and cowbells. They are not doing so hot off shore. - Dan McLaughlin, Mint Bar, Martinsdale. Missouri River: Below Holter Fishing real good. Use PMDs, elk hair caddis, lightning bugs and a MFG. The woolly buggers are always working good. The river has gone down, so it is fishing good, especially for waders. - Duane Lund, Montana Fly Goods, Helena. Missouri River: Fred Robinson Bridge I do believe they are still catching catfish and some walleye. But I haven't heard of a lot of action. - Tammi Combs, Bohemian Corners Cafe. Musselshell River: Lower The river is actually going down some. It is clearing up. I bet it will be really good in certain places and in the deeper holes. Try using cut bait. The bass might start hitting if it clears up some more. - Tracy Goffena, Enjoy Sports, Roundup. Musselshell River: Upper It's about the same as last week. There haven't been many changes. So elk hair caddis should work. So will mayfly patterns. Blue-wing olives would be a good choice. Girdle bugs should start working. - Ron Hinand, Ray's Sport and Western Wear, Harlowton. Nelson Reservoir The weather has been so lousy, so hardly anyone was out. Try jigs and bottom bouncers and leeches. - Robert Twiford, Malta Marine. Rock Creek The water is still high but clearing up above Red Lodge. The best bets would be a beadhead prince nymph, in size 12. Rubber legged hare's ears in size 10 would also work. Bitch creeks in size 10 and beadhead pheasant tail in size 14 should also attract fish. - Todd Stapleton, Bighorn Fly and Tackle, Hardin. Smith River It has gone down a little bit and is running at 207 cfs Tuesday morning. The beadhead San Juan worm and the prince nymph are working good. Yuk bugs are always good here. - Duane Lund, Montana Fly Goods, Helena. Spring Creek It is doing pretty well. Dry fly action is on parachute Adams. Mayflies have been working well and so have elk hair caddis. For nymphing, try a beadhead prince or a beadhead pheasant tail. - Dave Storfa, Don's, Lewistown. Stillwater River Generally speaking it's usually clear in the upper part and the lower is usually dirty. However, at the beginning of the week, it was all mainly clear, but it is high and fast. The best fishing is in close to the banks with mainly nymph patterns, large beadheads (size 10), prince and hare's ears, size 8-10 bitch creeks and stonefly nymphs. - Jim McCall, Rainbow Run Fly Shop, Billings. Stillwater River: Lower We're starting to see some fishable water along the banks and above the Rosebud inlet. Hit the banks with weighted nymphs - pheasant tails, hare's ears, bitch creeks and princes. We're still a few days out from fishing this stretch of the river. - Jim Yeager, Old West Anglers and Outfitters, Columbus. Tongue River Reservoir They have been limiting out on walleye in the 11/2 to 2-pound range. A 41/2-pound walleye was caught last week. The crappie aren't too big, but everybody is catching quite a few. The bass are biting good. My uncle caught a 3-pound smallmouth Saturday. Everybody is jigging. - Clint Carleton, Tongue River Marina. West Rosebud River Lower Rosebud is cloudy. The upper river is clear but high. Fish are holding along the banks and behind boulders. Good dry fly fishing in these spots. Use attractor patterns and big caddis patterns. - Jim Yeager, Old West Anglers & Outfitters, Columbus. Yellowstone National Park The park is fishing well. The Firehole is fishing using PMDs and caddis. The Madison is picking up. Use rusty spinners around six at night on the Madison. The Gibbon is fishing pretty good and fish are taking an elk hair caddis. Yellowstone Lake is still fishing well. - Drew Mentzer, Jacklin's Fly Shop, West Yellowstone. Yellowstone River: Billings No report. - Minnow Bucket, Huntley. Yellowstone River: Columbus It is high and cloudy. It looks like it is trying to clear. - Jim Yeager, Old West Anglers & Outfitters, Columbus. Yellowstone River: Livingston It is still high and muddy. It is dropping pretty quickly now. Some gravel bars that weren't there four or five days ago are starting to appear. If the rain holds off, I'm shooting for 3 more weeks until we see some fishable water. The spring creeks are offering great dry fly fishing, with PMDs being the best bet. - Will Lassiter, Dan Bailey's Fly Shop, Livingston. Wyoming Bighorn River They were still dumping 6000 cfs out. I haven't saw any drift boats on the river. As soon as it goes down, people will start fishing it again. - Ken Kucera, The Outdoorsman, Worland. Boysen Reservoir They had a tournament last weekend and I believe the winning walleye poundage was 33 pounds. They had 133 teams and the fishing was pretty good. I did see a few big fish weighed in. The biggest fish was over 11 pounds. A 10.95 pound walleye was caught by an angler using a crankbait. I would say the fish are getting smaller as the season goes on. You'll have to leave the points and fish the deeper water. - Ken Kucera, The Outdoorsman, Worland. Buffalo Bill Reservoir It is still off-color. You can catch some fish, but it is fairly slow. Use Thomas lures. - Scott Aune, Absaroka Angler, Cody. Clarks Fork The upper end of the river on Monday was green and very high. The lower end was still very, very dirty. On the upper end, try hare's ear pheasant tails and large stonefly nymphs. - Scott Aune, Absaroka Angler, Cody. North Fork of the Shoshone The lower end is awfully dirty. The lower end will open up July 1. The upper end of the river was fishable Monday with hare's ears. There is no dry fly fishing. - Scott Aune, Absaroka Angler, Cody. Ten Sleep Creek The creek came down a little bit, but it is still pretty high. You could fish it up high, by West Ten Sleep Lake you could fish it. Try a bitch creek or a halfback or a hopper, although it could still be a tad early for a hopper. Nymphs would probably be the best bet. - Ken Kucera, The Outdoorsman, Worland. Perry Backus of the Montana Standard contributed to this report. The Billings Gazette Fishing Report runs each Thursday in The Gazette and billingsgazette.com. For comments or questions, contact Gazette outdoor editor Mark Henckel by phone at: (406) 657-1395, or by e-mail at: henckel@bsw.net

Updated: Thursday, July 1, 1999
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