I don’t know about you but it is hard for me to believe that this weekend marks what most people have come to know as the end of summer. Its Labor Day weekend and for me summer has gone by in a blink of the eye. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was fishing trout on Holter Reservoir in April and now it is time to get ready for archery season. If you have a few days off this last three day holiday of the summer than don’t despair there is still a lot of fishing to be enjoyed.
The whitefish bite has slowed down on Flathead Lake but Dick Zimmer from Zimmer’s Tackle had a good day in east Polson Bay on Flathead lake recently with a couple of fishing partners, Joe Ferguson and Marlon Star Blanket, as they targeted perch but also caught an occasional smallmouth bass, “We were positioned just north of the mouth of Hell Roaring Creek in 9 ½ foot depth. My first cast I had a bite and reeled in two perch. After having Marlon throw in the anchor I cast again and for two more consecutive times I brought in two fish at a time. At the point I began thinking maybe we were in for a great day of fishing. 86 keeper perch and 7 small mouth bass up to 3 ½ lbs. later I was correct .The water temperature where we were was 74 degrees. The small mouth will continue to bite until the water temperature is around 55 degrees which normally happens late September or early October. The perch will continue to bite until the water temperature is between 45 degrees and 50 degrees which takes place about mid-October. Zimmer likes the opportunity to catch smallmouth bass while fishing for perch and he thinks that if you want to introduce your kids to fishing mixing perch and bass fishing might just be the ticket, “Fishing these perch is a great way to introduce the younger set to a positive experience and if they should land a big smallie they’ll definitely be hooked”, he said.
Holter Reservoir might be a good body of water to fish this weekend. Troy Humphrey from FWP has this report, “Rainbow fishing is good while trolling cowbells or perch colored crankbaits in the mornings from Split Rock to Holter Dam at depths of 20 to 30 feet. Shore fishing for rainbows is slow. A few walleye are being caught around Gates of the Mountains, Split Rock, Cottonwood Creek and the bays by Holter Dam. Most walleye are being caught on jigs and a worm or leech in 15 to 20 feet of water. Perch are being caught throughout the reservoir in small bays, around weedbeds and from the docks at the boat ramps in 10 to 15 feet of water while using jigs and worms”.
Another popular lake to spend a long weekend is Canyon Ferry Reservoir and the walleye fishing has been good but not much for size. “Fisherman are catching walleyes most of them mid reservoir a lot of numbers but most are in the 12-15 inch class”, reports Sharon from the Silos RV park on the south end of the lake. She also reports that the late summer algae bloom is happening on the south end of the reservoir.
Rainbow trout fishing on Canyon Ferry continues to be slow, but some fish are being caught using cranks or cowbells, tipped with a worm, in 20 to 50 feet of water. Shore fishing for rainbows has also been slow, but anglers continue to target rainbows from shore at Confederate Bay and Duck Creek Bay using worms reports Adam Strainer from FWP
(Written by the Captain)
