About this tournament

Chancy and Dave’s Fish Camp in Evergreen runs this fall-long derby to celebrate one of northwest Montana’s most underrated cold-water fisheries: mountain whitefish on the Flathead River. The festival runs from mid-October through late November, when the main-stem Flathead and its tributaries fill with pods of whitefish staging and dropping back through riffles. Anglers fish on their own schedule across the six-week window and bring qualifying catches to the shop for weigh-in and photo, with the leaderboard updated as new entries land.

At $10 per angler the festival is built for accessibility — families, fly anglers, and gear anglers all enter on equal footing. Whitefish are a perfect derby target this time of year: they school heavily, eat nymphs and small baits readily, and provide steady action even when trout fishing slows. Chancy and Dave’s typically posts updates, leader boards, and weigh-in details on their Facebook page through the run of the derby.

The festival doubles as a quiet promotion for catch-and-keep whitefish fishing, which is encouraged by FWP across most of western Montana under generous bag limits. It’s a chance to learn one of the state’s best winter table fish on water that — outside of derby week — most anglers drive past on their way to the trout.

Schedule

• Monday Oct 12 — Festival opens; entry and weigh-in available at Chancy and Dave’s Fish Camp
• Oct 12–Nov 21 — Six-week derby window on the Flathead River and tributaries
• Saturday Nov 21 — Final day of weigh-in; final standings and prizes awarded

Entry & Prizes

Entry: $10 per angler. Weigh-ins at Chancy and Dave’s Fish Camp, 2211 US Hwy 2 E, Evergreen, MT through the run of the derby.

What to expect

Fall whitefish on the Flathead stack in deeper riffles, current seams, and the heads of long runs. Small beadhead nymphs (Pat’s Stones, Lightning Bugs, Prince Nymphs in size 14-18), pink worms, and maggots fished on a tight line all produce. Fly anglers do well with a two-nymph rig under an indicator; gear anglers can drift small jigs or bait on a slip-sinker rig. Cover water — a pod of feeding whitefish can save the whole derby weekend.

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