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Hello all!
I'm going to be staying in the Bigfork area for a week in august and want to know what kind of fishing I can get into that time of year. it will be the later part of august so I'm sure much like Missouri, August can be the warmest part of summer.
I am open for any/all types of species, I have plenty of gear for trout fishing, fly fishing, bass fishing and pike fishing. If I had to order, pike > lake trout > whitebfish > trout > bass/sunfish. I live in STL Missouri, and pike lake trout and whitefish aren't in our waters.
I'm not really a fan of paying a charter for trolling lake trout, I wouldn't be opposed to guided fishing on flathead (non trolling) if you guys have some recommendations.
what do you guys recommend targeting and where should I fish come this August?!
edit: we will be staying on swan river somewhat close to the dam, and will have kayaks for fishing swan river, but I'm also interested in fishing Flathead lake.
thanks for your help! [fishon]
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Sorry I didn't see your post until now....only get on here occasionally. My parents live in Bigfork and it is my second home....been fishing the area for a long time. How did you do on your trip:?
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I ended up doing pretty well. we stayed in a cabin on Swan River. I fished from kayak on the river, caught mostly Pike. they ranged from 18-24" or so, but caught a few 30+". We ended up using classic Yellow or Red Daredevle spoons, I did take a few smaller Pike on streamers with a 6WT flyrod.
My brother in-law actually caught a 26" Rainbow on a yellow diamond spoon which was suprising especially since we were using 65LB braid, and steel leaders for the pike!
We didn't get to Trout fish too much, I ended up getting food poisoning and missed out on Flathead river fishing. the People that did go caught some 12-14" browns and a couple rainbows with terrestrials. black ants had the most success, but there were a couple fish taken with hoppers.
All in all it was a great trip, got to experience beautiful hikes, and lots of wildlife. we were within petting distance of goats and bighorn sheep, we also a few Moose. We here hoping to at least get a glimpse of a bear (from a distance of course) but missed out.
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Glad you guys did alright....there are quite a few pick in the area above the diversion dam. The guys fishing the Flathead River must have been catching cutthroats as there are no brown trout in the whole Flathead Lake drainage. I would have suggested you fished up above Swan Lake on the Swan River as there are a great many bull trout up there you often catch incidentally while fishing for rainbows.....some of the bulls get over 30 inches but they are heavily protected. IF you're ever heading up that way again let me know. I was there through until the 11 of August myself.
Brian
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If you're ever back in this neck of the woods I suggest you do some early morning smelt fishing on Swan Lake. Generally, I have had good luck going straight out from the boat launch and then to the left where the lake drains out. There are massive weed beds in there and some huge Pike that are there. I've had really good luck but only in the early mornings. If they aren't hitting smelt the next thing I would try would be some white and red spinnerbaits or some rubber imitation baits. If none of those do the trick, well then I guess they aren't biting. I would also check and see when the Whitefish are running on the Flathead River. You can usually sit at the mouth of the river when they are running and catch 20 fish no problem. I don't remember when they are running off of the top of my head so you will have to look that up, but it makes for some fun fishing! Plus Whitefish taste great!
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Welcome to the site and thanks for sharing this info you posted.
WH2
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Its a good post..keep posting and update the information.selfie stick....
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Welcome to the site Syefdsmmol, what kind of fishing do you do in Belarus, Minskaya voblasts', Minsk?
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