Central to Eastern Montana Fishing Report 8.29.18
By angelamontana

Posted: August 30, 2018

Summer is slowly winding down  and with it comes sudden changes in weather and changes in water conditions.  Outdoor enthusiasts including fishermen need to pay attention to these changes.   Storms  can   happen    quickly so fishermen or fisherwomen need to   keep in touch with the weather service. The fire season also means we all need to be alert to be actions and conditions.    Enjoy yourself but remember alcohol alters your judgment. So use it sparingly while enjoying the outdoors. Keep an eye on the weather as conditions such as temperature, wind, fire and precipitation   can   come  in fierce strength very fast.  This report is compiled on Monday and Tuesday and reflects conditions and results of fishing from the past week.  If you wish other information feel­­ free to contact most parties for current daily information. Good luck fishing from the Montana Outdoor Radio Crew.  

 (Compiled by Carol Henckel)

 Rock Creek Marina- Monty LeTexier , Wyatt  1-406-485-2560

Monty   says, “ We have had rain for3 days this week.  Today is looking like we will have no rain. It should be dry by tomorrow (Wednesday).  Guys are really crushing the walleye right now heading south using bottom bouncers.

 I went fishing yesterday and had good results.  I got 8 lake trout fishing.  The lake trout are biting.  We were using Brad super bait.  Go to 70 to  110  feet to find them.  We were going down  92 to 95 feet  with  downriggers.  We headed toward York Island.   Guys have caught some little salmon fishing deep. ”

 “Our hours are Sunday to Thursday 7 am to 9 pm.  Friday

 to Sunday 7 am to 11pm.  We are willing to open early or later than these hours depending on the need.  We are excited to get people fishing and hear their fishing stories , “Monty says.

Tongue River Reservoir Raymond /Spencer/ Greg

Raymond   says,” We had just a little rain this week.  I think fishing was a little better this week.  I spoke to quite a few people at the fish cleaning station.  People are catching predominately  bass.  I have seen more people catching crappies during the week. I saw walleye, northern pike, and bass. Hoppers seemed to be pretty steady  and working, They are finding them at 20 feet. The water temperature is cooler at 69 degrees.  .”

Tongue River Marina  1-406-757-2225 Wade, Stephanie, Greg /Warden Jordan Staley

Wade reports, “We saw better  fishing this past weekend,  I saw more boats coming in with their limits. .  People   are  catching crappies at 20 to 30 feet using cranks  and trolling 1 ½ to 2 mph .  They are vertical jigging. Quite a few walleye , not limits were yet.  The walleye and bass are shallow at 5 to 12 feet.  They are shallow. I have heard of an occasional  northern pike being caught.

We will have music from 5 to 10 on Saturday.  Roy Buzzard and the boys will be playing.  It is free.

   The   Marina is now open every day.  Our  hours are 8 to 5 Monday to Thursday  and  Friday and Saturday 7 to 9.  On Sunday we will be open   from 7 to 5 pm.

 Hell Creek Marina- Clint Thomas-Layne 1-406- 557-2345

Clint says, “ Guys are catching walleye and northern pike.  It is not a hot bite.  They are at depths of 20 to 25 feet.  Guys are  hammering the  bass . Mostly at 18 feet.  They are going out on the main lake.    Lake trout and  very few salmon  are being found towards the dam  at depths of 100 to 110 feet. “

 The Marina is open 7 days a week, 7 am to 6 pm.  ­­­­­­­

Lake Ridge Motel Eddie and Carrie Mindt 1-406-526-3597

Carrie   says, “ We have had rain for 2 days.  It has also been cooler.  Fish are biting. They are catching salmon,  that seems to be mostly what they are bringing in.  The salmon are  small ones, 2 to 8 pounds with an occasional 20 pounder .  They are at 50 to 95 feet depths over a canyon ball at 110 to 170 feet of water.  Some lake trout are being caught   pulling spoons at 90 to 125 feet of water.  Use a jig or troll with a downrigger.”

We do have minnows, suckers, fatheads, Smelt, night crawlers,  hooks, floaters, full suckers, wax and   meal worms and white and pink maggots here for the guys to use.  Our hours are   7am-6 pm Monday through Sunday. ”

Cooney Reservoir – Marina Matheson. Shauni, Cynthia

 With the rain this  week  fishing was pretty slow.  Some were on the boat all day and caught very few  fish.  The water is lowering.  There is some algae blooming. “

Lake Elmo FWP Bob Gibson

 The rain has definitely slowed fishing.  Not as many people are out since  school started.  Fishermen  are catching a few fish. They  are catching trout, and bass.

 Yellowstone County still has  fire restrictions which will affect all fishing access sites. It did rain this week  but remember that conditions are still dry.  Please be careful .

 The Indian Fort Access at Reed point will be closed the rest of the summer.  It is restricted to walk in only.  There has been some damage to the road which has narrowed the road and is dangerous.  That has to be repaired

The East Bridge Lockwood fishing access is closed as there is   construction going on,” Bob explains

Deadmans Tony Stefani

 Pat reports.” The water is going down.  Not as many campers.  We did have the rain everyone else had. Not as many people  catching. ”

 Deadmans/Martinsdale Cozy Corner Bar Lavina 406-636-22

   Terry says “ With the rain there were a lot of people splash and dashing. Not hearing   any fish are being  caught  right now.  Maybe over the labor day weekend things will pick up. ”

Checkerboard Inn   Checkerboard, MT   Rick and Judy Geordge  406-572-3373

 Judy  says, “ It was poor fishing this week.  No one wanted   to go out in the rain. It really was miserable. It rained, lots of wind and it was cold.   Not too many people were hardy enough to go out.  ”

Sports Center  Lewistown, MT   535-9308  Colby / John Tognetti

 John says, “ It has been busy at the new store.  We have moved our store to 120 2nd Ave. South in Lewistown.  The building is the old Don’s Sporting  Goods building.  Come on in but  pardon our chaos as we work to serve you.

 Spring Creek is crystal clear. It  is fishing   well using flies and spinners.  They are seeing a  small caddis hatch in the afternoon. The hoppers are also working.  Use the Panther Martin,  the blue fox and the caddis fly.

At Achley fishing is better in the morning..  They are catching trout and   Muskee.  It is not steller.   The Muskie are at 12 to 15 feet depths.

Cats are being caught on the   Missouri right now. So are sauger and  walleye.

 The bite is okay.  Use night crawlers or  cut bait as they are working.

 Crooked Creek Marina Winnett, Montana   James  (Slim) and Abbie Craig, Carri Craig   406-429-2999

Carri  explains,” It was rainy but on the weekend    fishing  good.  No salmon or lake trout were caught.  To catch fish head to  shallow  depths and use a bottom bouncer.  Try a diver plug.  The guys are half way out from shore and finding fish.   No one had to go out to far to catch fish.  Slim caught 3 varieties right from shore.  He caught bass, northern pike and walleye.  There are crappie caught.  They are using bottom bouncers for them and going shallower.  Of course it is a ful moon so that affects the fishing.”

 Silos Canyon Ferry-Sharon

  Sharon   reports,”   The walleye is still  good.  It is about an eight on a scale of 10.  The algae is still there but you can work your fishing around it.  People are catching some perch as well.  The water temperature is 72 right now People are catching walleye. “

The Marina is open. Hours are 7 am to 7 pm.

The Flamingo is now open.

West Side Sports Jim Mayer 1-406-654-1611  

Jim says, “ We got one inch of rain.   Nelson is fishing okay.  They are catching walleye and   perch  using worm harness’.  The water is slowly going down..

 Forchette has not been  fishing  well so I have not heard anything.”

Stop by the store.  We do have minnows here if you need them.

Shop hours are 8 to 6 Monday to Saturday and closed on Sunday.

 Billings-Scheels Jayce, Tanner, Matt

Jayce   said, “I fished on the Stillwater.  We used a size 14 purple haze and we did well.  We were wading and caught trout.

On  the Yellowstone by Pompeii and catfish fishing was okay.  The water was getting cloudy.

I did hear from people heading to Hysham and they were doing well on catfish on the Yellowstone.

The Stillwater and the Boulder are  fishing well.  They are using  something   purple, or hoppers  or a  parachute Adams.

Yellowtail on the north end is good fishing.  They are catching some nice walleye closer to Wyoming.  They are catching a ton of  small mouth bass.

 On the Yellowstone they are catching a lot of walleye.

I heard of one salmon being caught on the dam.

Rich’s Tackle Richard  406-285-4540

 Canyon Ferry is good  fishing.  They are catching some walleye and nice trout. You do have to deal with some algae in places. They are also catching some good size perch in sizes of 12 to 13 inches.  ”

Stillwater Anglers-Chris 406-322-4977 ,Bill, Ken

Ken  says, “  The water is cooler   on the Yellowstone because of the cooler temperatures.

The  Stillwater and the Yellowstone are really good fishing right now.  It has been great on each of them.  Big dries are working well  on both rivers.  On the Stillwater use a dropper with a bead head. Use a big  chubby,  a purple Haze or Jack Cabe as they  are definitely working. There are lots of hoppers.

The Yellowstone went up because of the rain.  That helps with the things floating  in the river. Pay attention to the river.   Try using a Purple Haze .  Dry flies work now.  Use the Chubbyl. The Grinch is working.  You can nymph fish with  a Prince, a hairs ear, pheasant tail or the Batman. ”

We are   open Monday to Sunday from 9 to 5 pm.”

 Montana Adventures and Angling in Fort Smith  Beau McFadyean 406-855-3612

Bea says,” Fishing  the  Big Horn is not great really about fair.  The tricots in the morning are better. Then the action just shuts down at about 2 pm.    The water is still mossy.  Try using cray fish, sow  bugs or a size 12 pheasant tail “ Beau explains.

Big Horn Trout Shop Fort Smith 666-2375

Rick  reports,”  The cfs is still  3000 cfs right now.  There are tricots out there   only in the early hours.   The water temperature is 65 degrees.  The water is off color like brown tan.  There are a lot of  great places to wade. It is good walking access.  It is fair fishing with streamers.  It works good on rainy days.   Dries are working better, nymphing is so so.  Try a gray or tan ray, a zebra, black pheasant tail,  olive pheasant tail , caddis or an emergent. The water is  mossy.  The black caddis are out   at night. There is a little hopper action. ”

Our summer hours  are   8 am to 5 every day.

Riverside Anglers in West Yellowstone : Alice Owsley, fishing guide and outfitter  406-640-1698.

Alice reports,”

Madison

With the recent cool weather and moisture we have seen a return of the mayflies on the Madison. Blue winged olives have been back in the last few days. Nymphing has been good when the warm winds aren’t blowing hoppers on to the water.

 Yellowstone National Park

The change in the weather has slowed down the bug activity on the higher elevation streams. Pale Morning Duns are ever present. Fish are still eating hoppers and beetles. Look for more aquatic insect hatches with the increased clouds over the next week.  Don’t forget your bear spray and rubber soled wading boots.”

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