River – Clark Fork

Blown top to bottom and rising.  Don’t be fooled by this seemingly ‘calm’ face of the river in many places – there is a tremendous volume of water flowing.  I’ve seen some drunken rafters drifting sections they should never be on this weekend.  I know I sound like a grouch, but I’m on search and […]

The days are numbered even on the upper with flows really starting to push up starting with yesterday’s highs pushing 85 (at least at the Missoula airport).  If there is a shot to be had today, it’s going to be on the highest parts of the river (above the Rock for sure).  A friend who […]

Sadly there’s not a lot to report regarding the Clark Fork today.  The river is once again on the rise basically throughout its length, and she’s pretty much blown below the Blackfoot confluence.    Fly fishing options at this point in time are pretty much the upper river, and conditions are far from optimal up […]

Given the warmer temps and the rains of the past few days the Clark Fork has been on the way up pretty much throughout its Montana based course; the lower river has experienced increased flows at a more impressive rate that the upper river over the past few days.  Feeling lucky today?  Try the upper […]

I find myself up a bit early today (meeting with a business partner in Missoula for breakfast), just off the phone with my lawyer daughter, and thinking a bit more positively about the Clark Fork today.  My daughter swears that her most fishable combo last year at this time was a purple bugger with a […]

Al wasn’t kidding this morning when he posted about the Clark Fork – the top pic was taken on the Higgins Bridge downtown (Missoula) this afternoon – she’s muddy with lots of debris coming down.  Even the kayakers have been off the last couple of days.  The pic below was taken just below the bridge….

Not much to even talk about for the Clark Fork today; she’s blown above and below Missoula – basically the entire system.  Flows above Missoula are pushing 9000 cfs this morning and still climbing; today’s average flow is 4360 cfs.  The debatable point is whether or not this flush is due to the low and […]

Just a couple of other pics from my walk by the Clark Fork in Missoula yesterday afternoon.  She’s way up over the past couple of days and dirty….

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words – the flows on the upper river have skyrocketed this week – the word I’m hearing is that she’s pretty much blown.  Maybe the cooler temps this week will slow down the low and mid level melt.  After nymphing all winter it’s hard to say goodbye […]

To be honest I haven’t been on the Clark Fork in a few days, but here’s what the scuttle has been. With the really warm weather yesterday (I heard some areas in town were pushing 70) flows should be up on both the upper and lower river, though the most significant weather related impact will […]

There is a lot of great fly fishing water in Montana – most of it is pretty darned well known to those who frequent the area, some of it is not so well known.  In addition to the Yellowstone National Park waters that we’ve been covering for the past several years at Best Fly Fishing […]