Helena, Montana

[Charlie]

My fisshing buddy and I are flying into Helena on July 21st and staying until late afternoonon on the 22nd. Then we are drtiving driving to Dillon. I also have the 23rd open to fish anywhere within reasonable driving distance of Dillon...even back to the Helena area. Our intention is to wade fish. I'll be in Dillon for a few days after that but have that part of the trip covered.

So the question is would Rock Creek or the Little Blackfoot be a good choice? I've never fished either before. I have fished the Ruby though.

Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Charlie

[mtangler]

The river SEELEY is talking about is the Little Blackfoot. I've only fished it once, but caught a few browns and a bunch of whitefish. It is looking really good right now...maybe I'll try it out this weekend.

How's the fishing been around Seeley Grizfan??

[cea]

The Little Blackfoot is definitely not looking really good right now. I live in Helena and fish it fairly often, and tried this past weekend. It is very high after 3 straight days of rain, making access difficult and wading impossible. In a few days it should clear up and water levels down a bit. It gets a decent run of browns up from the Clark Fork, and has holdover browns and cutthroat, and lots of whitefish througout the year. In its upper reaches its good for little cutthroat and some brook trout.
If you are in Helena, the Missouri is the best river fishing for trout nearby. You won't be alone there, or any of the rivers in this area in late July for that matter.
If you are driving to Dillon, the Big Hole is right next to the interstate, and the Beaverhead is just past Dillon. You have plenty of options that, if the water keeps pouring down from the sky, should be good fishing in late July.

[mtangler]

SEELEY, I've never done well fly-fishing Harper's Lake either and don't really enjoy the crowds that usually end up there. I'd rather fish the mountain lakes for cutthroats. There are tons of these lakes in the Seeley/Swan valley that are awesome once you to get to them and have a float tube or something to get you out on the lake. I caught some nice trout on the Clearwater about a month ago also but haven't been back. I'm hoping the Blackfoot will be shaping up for a good float this weekend or next.

Good fishin'

Go Cats

[sm2k]

You mentioned Rock Creek, which is quite a ways from Helena unless there's another Rock Creek near Helena. Rock Creek is about 35 miles east of Missoula. It's fantastic fishing.

If you're going to go as far as Rock Creek, then you might try the Blackfoot, which is the river I grew up on. It's on 200 between Helena and Missoula.

Since you'll be in Dillon, there are a whole bunch of rivers. The Ruby, Beaverhead, and Bighole are all right around there and come together to form the Jefferson. Within a hundred miles you also have the Gallatin and Madison...and of course the Missouri. The Bighole, Madison, and Gallatin are very well-known. Another short clip and you've got the Yellowstone, but that might be a little out of range. Avoid the lower Madison and lower Gallatin on the weekends.

I have no idea what Rock Creek is like now, but when I used to fish it 15 years ago it wasn't terribly crowded, and the fishing was always great. Nice cutthroat. If the lower accesses are overrun then you can drive way up and find more (although it can get low in the late summer). I don't think you could go wrong with Rock Creek, and hit the Blackfoot on the way. (I'm not going to give detail, but around twenty to thirty miles from where the blackfoot hits the clark fork is where it starts to get good). If hopper season comes early then you could have a hell of a good time on that river.

[This message has been edited by sm2k (edited 14 June 2006).]

[This message has been edited by sm2k (edited 14 June 2006).]

[rockymountain_brown]

I just fished the Little Blackfoot and rock creek this past weekend. Decent fishing on both despite high flows. It was fun fishing dries after a long winter of nymphs. Saw tons of green drakes on both rivers.

[Benjo]

I would fish Rock Creek before the Little Blackfoot. If I were you I'd maximize my fishing time by not driving all over the state. The Big Hole and Beaverhead will both be options. The report here is really good: [url=http://www.bigholetrout.com/:9beee]http://www.bigholetrout.com/[/url:9beee]
This guy is honest and knows what he's talking about.

If you must drive far, all of the freestone rivers around Missoula will be fishing well by then and Rock Creek will have plenty of water in it still.

[Charlie]

Thanks for the info guys guys.

As I posted we will be hanging around in the Helena area for a day and a half or so. Then staying in Dillon for 5 days and six nights. We have a 5 day guided package there. Then a couple days on our own in the same area then back to Helena.

Thanks again
Charlie and Jerry

[John Rhoades]

If I were going to be in Helena, and hadn't been there before, the first place I'd head for would be the Missouri River between Wolf Creek and Craig. In fact, if I were going to be arriving in Helena at that time of the year, I'd probably fish the Missouri and never drive all the way to Dillon.

I'm heading to Montana next week for my annual several month fishing trip there. We usually end up in or near Helena for a couple weeks each year.

John

[sm2k]

My parents live on Holter, so I've fished that section of the Missouri a bit. Personally I don't care for it. It's big smelly water and full of people and...*looks around nervously*...wooorrrrm fishermen. Big smart trout though. Caught an amazing rainbow on a midge with 7x tippet there once, major FUN! A boat is most recommended. When they open up that damn dam the water can get huge.

Right there in the canyon though is *****ly Pear Creek, which has some pretty suprising browns in it. There's several miles of access around Wolf Creek (the town).