The fish are clocking in for fall, and they’re punching the time card all over northwest Montana!
Chancy’s Fish Camp Report as of September 25, 2026 reported that lake trout are stacking up on Flathead Lake as the water cools (the big spawn party hits around Halloween–Thanksgiving), whitefish are still grabbing jig-and-swimbaits in the delta at 55–75′, and the river crowd near the Columbia Falls bridge should brace for a mid-October whitefish pile-up. Basically: grab your jigs, check the regs, and go get ’em.
- Flathead Lake — Whitefish deep in the delta (55–75′), plus action by Cedar & Shelter Island; lakers crushing tube jigs & swimbaits at 120–150′ near Woods Bay and Painted Rocks to Cedar Island.
- Flathead River — Cooler temps = trout turning on; bring small spinners, spoons, or dry flies. Mind the regulations!
- Lake Mary Ronan — Perch finally waking up at 25–35′ (White Rock Bay, Camp Tuffit) — feed ’em Taildraggers, tiny crawdads, or tube jigs; salmon staging at a fat 12–15″.
- Graves Creek & Tobacco — Snagging season’s still paying out, and yes, they’ve got your hooks.
- Hungry Horse — Nice cutts on small gold/copper spoons trolled slow.
- Church & Fennon Sloughs — Pike falling for dead bait or big jerkbaits.
- Bitterroot Lake — Salmon at 50–60′ trolling depth; ramps are low but not low enough to stop anybody.
- Noxon — Bass, pike, and walleye all on the bite — try Martin Creek or the islands.
- Ridger Lake — Grayling up to 16″ — dainty, but worth the trip.
- Whitefish Lake — Small lakers off the points at 50–80′ on Zimmers glo grubs; sneaky-big pike lurking in the bays.
- Dickey Lake — Jigging’s the move for salmon up to 14″.
And don’t sleep on the fall whitefish contest kicking off mid-October — weekly prizes plus a top-5 leaderboard, so sign up at the shop. Tight lines and good catching!
Feature photo via Chancy’s Fish Camp Facebook page. CLICK HERE to see more photos.
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