Lower Rock Creek, Clinton to Norton Campground
Rock Creek flows north for more than 50 miles from the Middle and West Fork confluence near Philipsburg to the Clark Fork at Clinton, about 30 minutes east of Missoula on I-90. Rock Creek Road leaves the interstate at the Rock Creek exit and follows the creek nearly its whole length; the first 12 to 13 miles are paved and pass a mix of fishing access sites and posted private ranch land. Valley of the Moon and the other lower access points are the most convenient and the most fished water on the creek.
The canyon, Norton to Harrys Flat
The pavement ends at Norton Campground around mile 12, where Lolo National Forest land begins and most of both banks become public. The next ten miles run through a tighter canyon with boulder gardens, rapids and deep pools, and the Forest Service campgrounds along the road (Norton, Dalles, Harrys Flat, Bitterroot Flat) are the base camps for a multi-day trip. Nothing here requires a backpack; the gravel road is slow and rough, not remote.
Upper Rock Creek toward Philipsburg
Above the canyon the creek opens into meadows and braids again with well-known spots like the Microburst, and it can also be reached from the top by driving through Drummond and Philipsburg. Pressure drops the farther you drive, but the whole creek is road-side water. Upper Rock Creek is the reach most often placed under hoot owl closures in hot summers, so check Montana FWP before driving up.
Brown, rainbow and cutthroat trout
Rock Creek holds browns, rainbows, westslope cutthroat, brook trout and whitefish, and the Missoula shops talk about the possibility of a five-species day with a bull trout thrown in. Browns are the most common fish in the lower creek and the target of October streamer fishing; rainbows and cutthroat dominate the pocket water upstream. The June salmonfly hatch, which starts in the lower miles around Memorial Day and moves upstream for weeks, is what the creek is famous for, with skwalas and March browns in spring and goldens, caddis, PMDs and hoppers through summer.
Bull trout
Bull trout are present and protected. Intentionally fishing for them is illegal in Rock Creek, and any bull trout hooked must be released immediately without removing it from the water. They are most often hooked by accident on streamers in the deeper canyon pools.
Season and regulations
Rock Creek is a wade fishery. Guides in Missoula call 200 to 800 cfs at the Clinton gauge the wading window, with the best skinny-water dry fly fishing in late summer at the low end; runoff typically pushes it over 1,500 cfs from mid May into June. This page compares the Clinton gauge to that wading range. The short float season runs from the end of runoff until July 1.
From the Middle and West Fork confluence near Philipsburg to the mouth: 3 brown trout daily, catch and release for rainbows and cutthroat, artificial lures only (anglers 14 and under may use bait in the general season), and fishing from boats is closed July 1 through November 30. The general season is the third Saturday in May through November 30, with an extended catch-and-release trout and whitefish season December 1 through the third Saturday in May. Confirm the current Montana FWP regulations and any hoot owl restrictions before you go.