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| The Clark Fork River is one of the
rivers Tom Jenni learned to flyfish on and is still one of his favorites.
The lower Clark Fork is big, mostly flat water, connected by relatively
short riffles, and one big whitewater canyon. From Missoula downstream there
is enough water and scenery (trout too!) to create a week long vacation,
and never fish the same water twice. |
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| The fish count in the lower Clark
Fork sounds low compared to many of the state's better known fisheries but
the rainbows and increasingly the cutthroat trout provide outstanding and
consistent dry fly fishing. The fish tend to be in pods so there are long
relatively fishless stretches; this is another river where it really helps
to have a guide, even for the very experienced fisherman. |
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Early in the season, starting in
March, there can be good stonefly hatches with both skwalas and nemouras.
From the first blue-wing olives of the year there are usually some mayflies
hatching on the river all the way into October, and caddis flies play another
important roll, particularly in the evenings as summer progresses. The hard
fighting rainbows and cutthroat in this river will often fall for hoppers
or juicy attractors or they may require a little more technical skill during
the incredible trico hatches of August. |
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