Blackfoot River, Montana

Lincoln to Ovando: the upper river

The Blackfoot gathers below the Continental Divide near Lincoln and runs west through forest and ranch land to Ovando, where the North Fork comes in. This is the most wade-friendly water on the river, remote enough that it gets little pressure, and it is mostly a cutthroat fishery best fished with attractor dries and hoppers from mid summer on.

The Blackfoot Canyon and the Recreation Corridor

Below Ovando the river enters the Blackfoot Canyon, a box canyon of limestone walls and plunge pools that is essentially float-only because there is little room to wade and limited public access. Downstream, the Blackfoot Recreation Corridor from Russell Gates and Whitaker Bridge down to Johnsrud Park is largely BLM and state land with campgrounds, boat launches and road access off Montana 200, and it takes both wading and floating anglers.

Johnsrud to Bonner

Johnsrud Park, twenty minutes from Missoula, starts the lower river: wide, deep runs with boulder gardens and a higher share of rainbows and browns. The float ends at Bonner, where the Blackfoot meets the Clark Fork on the site of the old Milltown Dam, removed in 2008. The Bonner gauge on this page reads this lower reach.

Westslope cutthroat

Native westslope cutthroat are the signature fish of the Blackfoot, dominant in the upper river and common throughout, and they are catch-and-release on the main stem and every tributary. Decades of restoration work in the drainage are why the river Norman Maclean wrote about fishes as well as it does today.

Rainbow and brown trout

Rainbows and browns are wild fish; Montana does not stock its rivers, and nothing is planted near the towns. Both become a larger share of the catch in the lower river. The salmonfly hatch starts on the lower river in early June and works upstream through the month, with golden stones and green drakes joining by mid June, so a late May trip will usually be too early. August brings the spruce moth and hopper fishing the Blackfoot is known for.

Season and regulations

The general season runs from the third Saturday in May through November 30. The main stem stays open in the extended season from December 1 to the third Saturday in May for whitefish and catch-and-release trout, artificial lures or maggots only; tributaries are closed then. The combined trout limit is 3, with only 1 rainbow over 14 inches; cutthroat are catch-and-release; brook trout are catch-and-release below the Landers Fork because bull trout, which are common and protected, are mistaken for them. Artificial lures only within 100 yards of the mouths of Belmont, Copper, Gold and Monture Creeks and the North Fork.

Runoff runs from May into late June. Local guidance puts comfortable wading on the lower river at roughly 300 to 1,000 cfs at Bonner, with wading difficult above 1,500 cfs while floats remain good well above that. Hoot-owl restrictions are common in hot, dry summers. Check the current Montana FWP regulations and restrictions before you go.