If you’ve driven through Missoula and written off the idea of finding quality fishing access in the middle of a city of 75,000 people, Kelly Island might change your mind fast. The crew over at Redbandia Outdoors just dropped a new video spotlighting this Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks-managed fishing access site, and it’s a solid reminder that some of the most underrated water in the state is hiding in plain sight.
Where Kelly Island Is and How to Get There
Kelly Island sits along the Clark Fork River on the south end of Missoula, tucked between the river and the railroad tracks off Spurgin Road. From downtown Missoula, you’re looking at roughly a 10-minute drive. Head south on Reserve Street, turn west on Spurgin Road, and follow it until you reach the FWP parking area. The lot is gravel, there’s room for a handful of rigs and trailers, and access to the water is on foot from there. No boat launch here — this is a walk-in site, which honestly keeps the pressure lower than you’d expect given how close it sits to town.
The site is managed by Montana FWP as a fishing access site, which means public access is the whole point. No trespassing concerns, no permission needed, no locked gates. Park, grab your gear, and go.
What You’re Fishing For on the Clark Fork Here
The Clark Fork through the Kelly Island stretch holds brown trout, rainbow trout, and mountain whitefish. Browns tend to run larger and are more likely to show up in the slower, deeper runs and undercut banks — early morning and late evening are your best windows, especially in summer when water temperatures climb through midday. Rainbows are scattered throughout and will hit dries during good hatch activity. If you’re there in late summer or early fall, look for trico hatches in the morning and PMDs during afternoon hours — the Clark Fork has reliable midge and mayfly activity through much of the season.
Whitefish get overlooked by a lot of anglers, but they’re abundant in this stretch and will keep your rod bent on slower days. Small nymphs — zebra midges, RS2s, pheasant tails — fished through the deeper slots will produce year-round.
Current Clark Fork regulations for this section (Perkins Lane Bridge near Warm Springs to the mouth of the Flathead River) allow a combined trout limit of three daily and in possession, with only one over 14 inches. That said, regulations can change season to season, so pull up the current Montana FWP fishing regulations before you head out and confirm what applies. Summer flows on the Clark Fork vary considerably depending on snowpack and upstream irrigation demand — checking the USGS streamflow gauge for the Clark Fork at Missoula before your trip takes two minutes and can save you a wasted drive.
It’s Not Just a Fishing Spot
What makes Kelly Island worth a closer look isn’t just the trout. The site offers walk-in access to river bottom habitat that feels surprisingly wild for an urban setting — cottonwood corridors, braided side channels, and brushy edges that hold white-tailed deer, waterfowl, and a solid mix of songbirds year-round. Early-season bird hunters have used this area to scout access points and pattern birds before seasons open. Wildlife watchers and photographers will find it productive too, particularly in the mornings when deer are moving through the timber and waterfowl are working the side channels.
For Missoula locals, the math is hard to argue with: you can be rigged up and fishing within 20 minutes of leaving work. That kind of access doesn’t exist in most cities, and it’s worth using.
How Kelly Island Fits Into a Bigger Western Montana Trip
If you’re passing through Missoula on a broader fishing trip, Kelly Island makes a logical first or last stop. Missoula is already a natural hub for exploring the Blackfoot River to the northeast, the Bitterroot River to the south, and Rock Creek to the east — three of the more well-known trout fisheries in the region. But don’t blow past what’s right in town. Kelly Island offers a no-pressure morning session before you push toward bigger water, or a solid evening option if you’ve already put miles on during the day.
Give the Redbandia Outdoors video a watch for a ground-level look at what the site has to offer, then bookmark the FWP Angling Access map to find other fishing access sites worth hitting on your next swing through western Montana.
Editor’s note: Corrected the Clark Fork trout regulation for the Kelly Island stretch to match the 2026 Montana regulations: 3 trout daily, only 1 over 14 inches (not 5 daily/1 over 22 inches).
