Fly Fishing The Clark Fork With My Friend Jake, aka Missoulaflyguy

 

Let’s be honest, I’m a lucky guy.  One of the most unexpected things that happened to our family in the odd year of 2020 is that our daughter choose to attend college at The University of Montana in Missoula.  We booked a long weekend trip to fly out for a visit, meet her new friends, and find some of the most beautiful trout in the world.  

 

Hiking The M with my son Max

 

Fall is such an incredible time to visit the mountains.  The leaves are turning, the fish are hungry, and there are sometimes less anglers on the water.  I fished with my new friend Jake In June, and instantly knew he was the real deal.  Jake is an incredible guide, and invests greatly in his business.  He wanted to take me out on his jet boat and cover 22 miles of river in search of some solid rainbows and maybe even a giant pike on the fly.

 

 

Flying these days is a bit of an experience, but the good news is I didn’t need to worry about my fly fishing gear.  I traveled with two El Jefe combos in my carry on luggage.  Our packable El Jefe rods are incredible, I wish I had them years ago!  I brought a six weight and an eight weight.  Next time, I’ll also bring a 3/4 weight to look for some of the small trout in the little creeks around Missoula.  

 

 

Floating twenty two miles of river requires a special craft.  If we just had a drift boat, it would have taken a ton of time to get from good hole to good hole.  The jet boat was incredible.  Some guides frown on them, but it’s just my guess that they don’t own one.  

 

 

We got into fish right away, landing some solid rainbows.  The fish were full of fall colors, and Jake took fantastic pictures as you can see.  I’m sure you can all tell when I fish with someone as the fish pictures change from fish selfies to professional looking photos.  Jake also took some great video, which you can find on our YouTube channel.

 

The highlight of our trip was trying to catch large pike on the fly.  Spoiler alert, I didn’t land one.  If you are anything like me, I’m sure you enjoy the hunt as much as the catch.  We spooled up the El Jefe eight weight with a GIANT streamer, perhaps 8-10 inches long with a sinking line when we arrived in the special spot called a slew.  We would toss this giant streamer to the other bank, allow it to sink, and slowly strip it in.  I had one solid bump of the fly, and many follows.  Trust me, it’s pretty awesome watching a 3-4 foot fish follow your fly regardless if it eats or not.  They didn’t eat today, but it was fun!

 

 

We went back to trout fishing for the balance of the afternoon, again landing several amazing 16-18 inch rainbows full of color.  If you are ever in the Missoula area, let me know and I will introduce you to my friend Jake.  Until next time, tight lines my friends!