Fly Fishing the Blackfoot River

Made famous by Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It, the Blackfoot is a classic Montana freestone, with immense stonefly hatches, strong summer terrestrial fishing, and wild cutthroat and brown trout holding in gin-clear water east of Missoula.

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When to fish

April–October

Best months: April–October

Best
Off-peak

Skwala Stonefly: late March–April. Salmonfly: mid-June.

Today's conditions

Where to fish

Along the Blackfoot River

Missoula8 shopsHelena2 shops

Wye1 shopCraig2 shops

Highway 200 follows the river from Missoula east toward Lincoln, with Montana FWP fishing access sites at Roundup, Johnsrud, Russell Gates, and Scotty Brown Bridge. Canyon sections are most productively fished by drift boat; wade fishing available in open sections.

The water

Freestone

Key hatches

March Brown
Blue-Winged Olive
Pale Morning Dun
Salmonfly
Western Green Drake

Hatch calendar

Conditions

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6-day forecast

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Forecast from the National Weather Service ↗

Hatch calendar

Months each hatch is active on the Blackfoot River, with hook sizes and local timing notes.
Hatch · hook	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O
March Brown(mayflies)hook #12	March	April	May
Blue-winged Olive(mayflies)hook #16–20September–October		April	May	June			September	October
Pale Morning Dun(mayflies)hook #16–18July–August				June	July	August	September
Salmonfly(stoneflies)hook #4–6mid-June				June	July
Western Green Drake(mayflies)hook #8–10				June	July
Callibaetis(mayflies)hook #14–16					July	August	September
Lime Sally(stoneflies)hook #14–16					July	August
Pale Evening Dun(mayflies)hook #14–16					July	August
Trico(mayflies)hook #20–24					July	August	September
Yellow Sally(stoneflies)hook #14–16					July	August
Mahogany Dun(mayflies)hook #14–16						August	September	October
October Caddis(caddis)hook #8–10							September	October