Montana Fish Report

Wacky.

That's how its been this season, no snow in January, and then Ka Pow!  74" inches of snow if February, with most of it coming down in a 4 day period. 

And its already melting like crazy.

Several seasonal creeks and streams are flowing. Bank fishermen should look into these feeder streams as fish will be holding, looking for food from the run off.

Prattville near the USFS ramp has a nice little stream feeding in, several fins breaking the water at the same time indicates that they are there. Snowshoes recommended.

Bailey Creek is another good spot to check out, by boat or Snowshoe.

Not to many fishermen out this past week, just too much weather for most guys, and rightly so.

Boats with tops and side curtains, like mine, kept us comfortable and out of the direct wind.

The wind would not allow us to stay on anchor and bait fish, so its been trolling, or drifting crawlers.

Trolling threaded crawlers in the top 10 ft. of water, and Strike Master Dodger's with crawlers at 15ft. got fish over to the boat for a better look. We managed to hook several Rainbows, and small, and a couple bigger Browns around 2 lbs. releasing 6 fish before the wind got to be too much.

There's a couple of small storms due in through the weekend, but they should not have the bunch that the last 2 storms had, it will be the wind that will have to factored in.

Bottom line is, winter is winding down, and Spring time is on the horizon, longer days coupled with a warming trend is all we need for the bite to rapidly escalate.

The folding lawn chair anglers are still working Geritol Cove at Canyon Dam. This very popular area has still been the most pressured area the past 3 weeks.

Catching fish on a variety of bait applications like Power baits, salmon eggs,crawlers and even jigs..Its not hot action, but and the fish have all been on the small side, averaging 15" and mostly Rainbows.

Hamilton Branch parking lot has not been plowed, and the trail has heavy snow, its steep, so if you feel like heading down there use caution, there's no one around if you get into trouble, besides the water is brownish and fast.

Access accurate lake data @

http://www.project2105.org/lake_levels.htm

Lake levels are still low, watch for hazards.