Prime Time Fishing at Hauser and Helena Valley Regulating Reservoir with Jonathan Miller, Capital Sports

Dust off the tackle box and double-check your leaders—between dialed-in kokanee at Regulating and heavyweight walleye sliding into their fall patterns at Hauser, it’s officially prime time to get on the water. Here are reports for Hauser and Helena Valley Regulating Reservoir by Jonathan Miller with Montana Outdoor Approved Capital One Sports in Helena, Montana:

Hauser:

Trout are showing up strong again in front of Spokane bay at about 17’ of water. Usually around this time is when the browns start moving into that are to begin their spawn. I would recommend a marabou jig or a zonker and casting. The North end by the dam to White Sandy has also been a productive stretch. It is much more of a trolling game in this stretch. Same colors as Canyon Ferry: silver, black/gold, rainbow trout or fire tiger.

Walleyes are biting well still off the weed lines. In fact at the John Arnold, first place team weighed in 40lbs for 5 fish. Hauser is starting to throw some big fish again. Notably, the guys I have talked with have all noticed big clouds of bait. We haven’t figured out what they are yet but they are small minnow of some kind. It is exciting. Hopefully that is a sign that forage is making a strong reappearance. Also of note, the walleye seem to be returning to rocky point and reefs. So I would guess that is the indication we will start seeing more and more fall patterns emerging. Which coincides with the Causeway arm starting to fish well again. I would recommend jigs and jerk baits. Perch, goby or electric minnow seems to be the hot colors for jigs right now. Silver, gold and perch colored jerk baits are my go to colors to start with. Just remember to have a leader for the pike as they have been very active as well.

Regulating Reservoir:

Kokanee are biting decently well from the little I’ve heard. Depths range from 10’ down to 35’. Mainly trolling out of kayak. Using a dipsy diver or small snap weight to get to depth with a wedding ring. Hot Pink or Chartreuse are safe colors to start with. If you have the means to find the schools, jigging a silver or gold kastmaster or Swedish pimple is effective tipped with corn.