Montana Fish Report

Water temperature is really dropping now, and is currently 56 degrees. The Department of Fish and Game is planting Melones every week now, plus we are seeing some beautiful 2-to-3-pound holdovers. Trout are feeding heavily on schools of small shad. Most the fish are being caught in the top 10 ft of the water column. Bank anglers have been bringing limits of planters, as well as some 2-3-pound holdovers. Glory Hole Point, Angels Cove, and Glory Hole Cove have been the most productive areas. When you are fishing lures, they work well if you cover a lot of water. Walk up and down the bank until you start catching them. Throwing spoons has been working well. Using casting spoons such as Kastmasters and Krocodiles in chrome/blue, gold or rainbow-trout patterns. Power Bait, Power Eggs, or night crawler/marsh mellow fished on a sliding sinker rig and a 24" leader are the two best set-ups for anglers walking the bank. Bass fishing is pretty good.The fish are healthy and full from gorging on shad. Most fish are holding on structure from 10 to 35 feet. On Saturday Dec. 3, Norcal Bass had a tournament. First place went to Aaron Cole & Colin DeGeough. They caught five fish weighing 19.08 pounds with an 8.04 pound big fish. 18 out of 24 boats weighed in a limit that was 9 pounds or better. Those anglers who did well reported catching their better fish on jigs and swim baits. Also, there were many fish caught using a drop shot rig with 4-6 inch straight tail Roboworms.

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