The fish are starting to act like they know fall is here, but they haven’t exactly agreed on a game plan. Some are shallow, some are deep, and a few seem determined to make you work for every bite. Water temps are cooling, patterns are shifting, and there are still plenty of good opportunities out there if you’re willing to hunt around a little. Here’s what Don Wilkins (406.407.6648) found this past week:
Pike – shallow weed beds with 6-10 FOW over the tops of them are holding some good fish. Casting 5/8 and 3/4 ounce spoons,and some top water lures have been working well the past week. We haven’t found many fish far back in the bays yet.
Smallmouth – most of the better fish we found are deep on main lake points with some rock structure nearby. Jigs and minnows or slip bobbers and minnows worked the best for us
Lakers –fish are deep still but moving around a lot now. Areas holding good amounts of fish one day will be a bust the next. The fish weren’t real aggressive for the most part and we had to work our jigs within 6-8 feet of the bottom to get any reaction
Salmon – seems to be fish being caught everyday now in either the Fort Peck Marina or duck creek bays. Casting KO wobblers or similar spoons is catching some of them and some shallow running crankbaits as well
Water temps around the main and west towards the Pines were 63-66 most of the week.
Montana's outdoor week, in your inbox at 7am Friday.