As the new school season starts, look for less activity on the water ways. Less boat activity means better fishing. Water temps are slowly dropping which increases the activity as well.

Ashley Lake
Reports of Salmon has slowed some. This should change later in the week, so look for schools that are active on your sonar. Troll with cowbells and wedding ring lures.

Blanchard Lake
Look for fish to be hiding in cover under lily pads or docks. Jig smaller lures in the pads for Perch. Use heavy punch style lures for Bass. Cast spinner baits along side weed formations.

Church Slough
Good reports of smaller Pike in the 5-8lb range. There is still good top water action early and late in the day. Vibrax Spinners are great for Pike. Lots of 6-8” Perch using Pete’s Crappie Candy.

Echo Lake
Reports of good Smallmouth action. Drop shot plastic worms for best results. Pike can be tricky so get them to bite on a flashy spoon like DareDevil.

Flathead Lake
Whitefish are still doing well. Best action is still in Elmo Bay with bigger and more consistent fish. Also, some decent Perch action. The Delta and Somers Bay are doing well too. Use Trick Tackle to get the best numbers.

Flathead River
Now is a great time to get out and enjoy the river system for fishing and floating.
North Fork – Excellent for nice Cuts and Bulls by Trail Creek down to Polebridge. Good flies are Blonde Caddis and Purple Haze
Middle Fork – Great action by West Glacier. Use a Panther Martin with a chrome blade. Fly fish with a Hopper pattern and a Nymph.
South Fork – Now is the time to be by Crossover Bridge with good numbers of Cuts being caught.Handkerchief Lake
A short drive up Graves Creek. A good and scenic place to catch Grayling. Use a red and white Mepps spinner or use a Royal Wulf fly.

Horseshoe Lake (Ferndale)
Excellent spot to catch small Bass and medium Perch. Drag a craw plastic on a Texas rig along the bottom or cast Pete’s Crappie Candy.

Koocanusa
Another good week for Salmon fishing. There are numerous locations close to Rexford launch to catch 14in Salmon. Jig with a Hali Jig using corn or maggots. A few decent Kamloops trolling steep drop offs with a flasher and a PlugIt lure.

Lake Mary Ronan
Good Perch fishing out in front of Camp Tuffit and State Park. Jig with a Forage Minnow tipped with maggots. Also, try a Rebel Crawdad lure for good action.

Lake Five
Good spot to catch medium sized Perch. Fish a couple hundred yards to the West from boat lunch in 18ft of water. Drop shot small Demon Jigs for best results. Bass action should pick up with less boater activity.

Little Bitterroot
Good sized Salmon are found deep. Downriggers are a must for trolling. Jigging that deep required braided line.

Lower Thompson
Good Perch action in 10ft or less. Look for small pockets in weed beds and jig a leech 6in off the bottom.

Middle Thompson
Another good lake for Perch. Focus by launch and around the rushes near the boat docks. Reports of decent Pike in these areas also.

McWenneger Slough
Good numbers of decent Perch as well as smaller (2-4lb) Pike. Use a Ratso Jig with maggots.

McGregor Lake
Great Smallmouth action on the East end. Small plastic craws on a Ned Rig jig works well to get medium sized fish. Trolling for Lake Trout is OK in 80-90ft of water with a red/white FlatFish.