Glacier National Park — At Avalanche Lake, Hidden Lake and upper Two Medicine Lake, fish Royal Coachman and black Woolly Buggers. On the North Fork of the Flathead River, the bite is changing to orange Elk-Hair Caddis, orange Parachute Madam X or Stimis. Parachute Adams and Parachute Black Gnats will work when the hatch is coming off. Prince Nymphs and October Caddis Nymphs will also work. The Middle Fork is fishing the same as the North Fork with the cooling temperatures. — Arends Fly Shop, Columbia Falls.
Lake Koocanusa — Mature kokanee salmon are swimming to the creeks and starting to spawn. Overall, kokanee fishing is slow. Rainbow fishing is getting a lot better. The native rainbows running 6 to 20 inches are biting small plugs or bait near the shore. Good tactics for the native rainbows are presenting PowerBait, crawlers or really small spoons and spinners. Smaller Rapalas will also work. For the bigger Kamloops rainbows that run 5 to 15 pounds, fish a bigger dark-colored plug at depths of 70 to 100 feet. — Koocanusa Resort and Marina, Libby.
Madison River, Upper — With all the recent storms and cloud cover the streamer bite has been awesome in the mornings. After the morning streamer bite has subsided, a full dropper rig has been the best bet. For droppers, anything small and flashy will get the job done: Green Machines, $3 Dips, Purple Deaths, Goblins, Copper John, Prince Nymphs, Perdigons, Worms, Shop Vacs, black and brown Rubberlegs, and your favorite Caddis Pupa are all good bets. Quite a few big brown trout have been caught very early in the morning on big streamers. Streamer color has been variable lately, but typically black and olive are great colors on cloudier and rainy days and yellow and white are our favorites for sunny days. — Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman.
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