An old friend moved to Hamilton, MT several months ago and has been tantalizing me with pictures of the area, and has invited me to come visit and try out the fishing. He is not a flyfisherman, and really doesn’t have that much experience at fishing of any kind. He has mentioned a few streams in the area, but I am none too certain that he has the best handle on things. I am mainly interested in small stream fishing, although I wouldn’t rule out the larger rivers. I know the Bitterroot runs through the area. If anybody can give me some general (or specific) information about fishing in this area, I would greatly appreciate it. I am tentatively scheduling this trip for June or July of next year. Which month is generally better?
Definitely July, everything is blown out in June, even if it isn’t high enough to kill you (which they probably will be) the water will be brown and will stink as the trees move downriver mixed with the occasional dead animal. But by July the best summer hatches and fishing are in full swing. The Bitterroot has more small streams than you can shake a stick at along it’s entire length. My personal favorite is Kootenai Creek, very scenic and amazing fishing for cuts and brook trout, their is the occasional brown, rainbow, and bull mixed in but your majority will be cuts with a few brookies, and the rare other. A very nice trail follows the stream through a canyon and stays within 10 to 150 yds of the stream, with plentiful camp sites, 9 miles from the trailhead are a few small lakes, good fishing. From here you can make a horseshoe north to Bass lake and Bass Creek which are also good trails but heavier use on Bass Creek renders the fishing not as good as Kootenai creek, but again very scenic. Also my second favorite on the Bitteroot is the West Fork which is small and is fed by a small reservoir so flows are pretty consisent throughout summer. It is accessable by road through the entire length up to the reservoir (Painted Rocks) above that it is not very good fishing, and I have never fished the reservoir. Another very real option is Rock Creek by way of the Skalkaho highway which goes from near Hamilton over the Sapphire Mountains and follows Skalkaho Creek, which gets more pressure than most small streams so it is tough fishing. But the drive is worth it and leads to the upper reaches of Rock Creek where there is a very real chance of catching West Slope Cutthroats over 15" in places that most people dont like to go to and it is all accessable by dirt road.
Any more questions just email or PM, I love Rock Creek and small stream fishing.
Thanks for the information. I had pretty much decided on July, fearing the rivers would still be high in June. I had planned to do a lot of reading about the area in the next few months, but I figured a note here on the BB would probably gain me some first hand information. Again thanks.