Clark Fork River, St. Regis, MT
Thursday, May 5.
I spent a very enjoyable day on the Clark Fork River in the St. Regis, MT area. My guide was, Brooks Sanford of the Clark Fork Trout & Tackle shop in St. Regis.
http://www.clarkforktrout.com/
He and I started off with sunny weather. Because of the sun, nymphing was the best type of fishing so Pa''s Rubber Legs and a BH Hare's Ear started the day off with a nice feisty 12 inch Rainbow. For the next couple of hours we always kept the Pat's Rubber Legs fly on, but tried a variety of other flies as droppers, including BH Pheasant Tails, BH Prince Nymphs, a double bead body Skwalla nymph and simply two Pat's Rubber Leg flies. I had a total of 8 fish to the boat by the time noon arrived and fishing had slowed down. We could see some clouds trying to cover the sky, which is what we wanted for a good Skwalla stonefly hatch, so we took a break and had lunch.
As we sat there enjoying the peace and quiet of being on the river, the clouds formed thicker above us and the hatches started.
Blue Wing Olives started up first, along with some midge hatches. Then the Gray Drakes started coming off the water, climbing up into the air. Finally, the Skwalla stoneflies started climbing out of the water. We could see many dozens just in the area we were in anchored in, then the females started dropping out of the air onto the river, trying to drop their eggs.
We finished lunch and started dry flying with two different Skwalla patterns. A double dry is a great way to go, it gives the fish a choice and the double dries work the water on their own, giving a great imitation of the female Skwalla's that were on the water. More than once I would have my flies cast right in the middle of a couple of real Skwallas and it was very interesting watching the fish pick which flies they wanted. Sometimes they would take my flies first. A few times they missed my flies then took the real ones. A couple of the fish we got to the boat had huge bellies that were just stuffed with freshly eaten Skwallas.
I was catching some really nice 15 to 16 inch Rainbows, Cutthroats and Whitefish.
The Bows had recently spawned in the smaller streams and were out to build up their strength, which they were doing very well.
The wind decided to start blowing, 25 mph steady with gusts to 35. That made casting a double dry rig very interesting, but my 9 foot 6 wt Sage ZXL rod handled it well, casting to little pockets on the edges of reeds and rocks right along the shore when I wasn't casting to rises.
I ended the day with 20 very nice, fat and sassy trout to the boat.
I had a good day on the Clark Fork. Checking the river levels this Friday morning, I can see that the river continues to rise, it will be blown out in just a matter of a day or two as all that snow in the mountains (186% of normal in the Clark Fork River drainage) is just about to melt. I did notice a stream flowing into the Clark Fork that I have never noticed before. Brooks said it was 7 Mile Creek, and it was the first time he has seen water in it. I think it will be a very good flow out this year, the bottom of the river should receive a good scrubbing during the high water.
All the trout and whitefish were fat and healthy. They wintered good and had lots of food to eat. This will be a great year to fish the Clark Fork, something I will be doing a lot.
Guess I better get ready for my float today. Bye for now.
Larry ---sagefisher---
