Summer is Winding Down but Fishing is Still Hot – Captain’s Column 8/21/14
By Kamp Cook

Posted: August 21, 2014

Fishing reports have been reasonably good as of late so it might be a good idea to get out and enjoy the lakes or rivers before the kids have to go back to school in a few days. Whether you like to fish for trout, walleye, bass, or northern pike there is bound to be a body of water that you can catch some fish on. The cooler nights in August are keeping the river water cool in Western Montana and the hit and miss thunderstorms with rain have also helped. “When fishing the local rivers I would suggest using tricos in the afternoons,” reported Bill Brown from Bob Wards in Missoula. “A couple of days ago I spotted a lot of copper colored tricos so you might try that when fishing the Clark Fork or the Bitterroot Rivers”, he added. Later in the day you might want to try some streamers. “Browns lake has been fishing well using power bait with cowbells and a color and half of leaded line and if you want to catch kokanee salmon then head to Georgetown lake where the salmon have been biting on a glow hook tipped with a piece of raw shrimp”, said Brown. There have been reports on some good northern pike fishing on the northeast side of Seeley Lake with anglers pitching spoons or trolling along the weed line. “I think that the kokanee salmon fishing might be worth a try on Salmon lake”, said Ladd Knotek FWP fish biologist for the lake and an avid fisherman to boot. “In our spring netting surveys we get quite a few salmon so I would think that they would be worth a try on Salmon Lake”, he added. I have spoken to a couple of anglers recently that have success on Salmon Lake so I am planning to make a trip sometime this week. You can hear how I my trip went to Salmon this Friday on Catching the Big Ones on KGVO 1290am/101.5fm from 8-9am.
The reports for walleye fishing out of Holter Reservoir are getting better. I have heard from a handful of anglers that they have had success in catching 15-16 inch walleyes on Holter above and below Split Rock on the reservoir. Most are fishing the deep drop offs by the cut banks and tossing in a jig, tipped with a night crawler, toward shore and retrieve it slowly back. Trolling a floating jig head behind a bottom bouncer tipped with a crawler might also work. Holter Lake is full of perch so look for schools of perch and you will probably find some walleye that are on the bite. The nice thing about fishing Holter is if you don’t have any luck fishing for walleye you more than likely will be able to troll rapalas for trout and have some success.
Flathead Lake will be home to the annual Great Montana Mack Attack and Whitefish Jig fest this Saturday and Sunday. The two day fishing derby will be help out of the Vista Linda in Somers. “We are hoping for a good number of anglers this year”, said organizer Gene Fincher 406 261-6445. Tickets are only $25 to enter and are available at Zimmer Tackle or by calling Fincher. There are a number of different categories to win cash and prizes in both the lake trout and whitefish divisions plus they will have a fish fry on Sunday after the awards ceremony at 2pm

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