Montana Fish Report

Trolling anglers are catching quality fish- usually mixed kokanee/trout limits.   Trolling spoons and spinners seem to be producing quality fish. Tie on a Needlefish, or a Rocky Mountain Serpent Spoon trolled behind flashers, or a Mack's Wedding Ring tipped with a crawler.   Bank-anglers fishing Melones should target deeper water near the main lake and throw shad or rainbow trout patterned Rapala Countdowns, or other minnow style baits.  Or use a worm threader to thread a nightcrawler on the hook and fish it with a Berkley Power Egg or a marshmallow to float your bait off the bottom.  Night Fishing under submersible lights has been very good.   Drop Power Bait, Gulp Minnows, or live minnows under a submersible light near the spillway/dam, or under the Highway 49 Stevenot Bridge. Good, with most anglers getting easy limits of fat 13-14" fish. The fish are growing quickly now.   Troll 40-80 feet deep in the spillway/dam area or near the 49 Bridge.  .  To catch larger fish, use baits that have a large profile and produce a lot of action.   Try using Rocky Mountain Super Squid or an Apex to target these larger fish.   Pink is always a good color on this lake, but the fish are moving into deeper, darker waters, and pink/purple, watermelon, and blue will be more visible to these deeper fish.  Troll all baits behind a dodger or Slingblade, or the new Fatal Attraction dodgers- they really create an erratic action that kokanee can't resist.  Be sure to add scent to your bait. Garlic, carp spit, kokanee special, and anise have been good choices.  Don't forget your corn soaked in the same scent. Bass anglers are reporting catching fish all day long. Most fish are 12-15 inches with a few 3-pound plus fish caught.  Bass are post-spawn, and have moved out to main lake structure. Try using topwater (poppers, spooks, and buzz baits) in the mornings and switching to soft plastics (Stick-baits, creatures, and hand pours) as the sun comes up.  There is good drop shot bite on submerged island tops and main lake points at 25-45' deep. Catfish:  Wide open.  Melones cats tend to be fish-eaters rather than bottom foragers, so use frozen shad, mackerel, chicken liver, or anchovies for best sucess.  Larger cats will also feed on natural bait like crawlers, so to target large cats try using a big ball of crawlers.Glory Hole Sports  (209) 736-4333, (209) 586-2383