Montana Fish Report

Amazing kokanee fishing, with most trollers picking up limits in an hour or two.  Kokes are 14 to 16 inches, and very fat and healthy.  Trollers should begin trolling right off of Glory Hole Point and head to the spillway and the dam.  The mouth of Angels Creek/Angels Cove toward Black Bart Cove over the submerged islands there is another great spot to fish.  Kokanee are being caught anywhere from top-lining on the surface, all the way down to 50 feet, but most anglers have best luck around 30 to 45 feet deep, especially over shallower (60-foot deep) water around islands and humps.  Kokanee had been primarily caught on micro hootchies, and they are still working, but now that the kokanee are getting bigger, action on bigger baits is picking up.  Try a pink, orange or Kevorkian Apex, regular sized hootchies, or Wiggle Hootchies behind a dodger or Slingblade in addition to the smaller micro-hootchies and tear-drop dodgers. Nor-Cal held a bass tournament on Melones this past Saturday.  Tim Paes and Art Romero, who didn't have a fish in the boat until an hour before weigh-in time, managed to catch two 10-pound plus on spinnerbaits in the last hour to weigh in 20.26 pounds with only two fish. Many bass are chasing schools of big shad, and are not oriented to structure.  A variety of lures are working right now, from jigs to Spooks.  Top water and swimbaits have been producing the big fish.  Look for shad balls in the backs of creek arms and protected pockets off the main lake in the early morning, and throw swimbaits such as Lunker Punkers, Toad Thrashers, Super Spooks, and Pencil Poppers.  Later in the day, target main lake points with Senkos or other larger-profile soft plastics. (209) 736-4333, (209) 586-2383