Lower Flathead River
Montana Fishing
Mar 22, 2023 15:12:26 #
Ringleb
Loc: Montana
Spent Monday fishing for smallies and pike using a variety of lures and bait and didn’t get a single bite! Clouds had moved in and maybe the pressure change did that.
Mar 23, 2023 06:27:41 #
Is that the river below the dam on Flathead Lake? If so, wish I had known it had pike and smallies. We caught some beautiful bows and sqawfish (used for bait on the Lake Trout) there.
Mar 23, 2023 20:03:42 #
Mar 30, 2023 16:25:17 #
Were you fishing river below Flathead Lake ? Curious where you launched (or were you shore fishing). No ice ???
Mar 31, 2023 00:30:02 #
Shore fishing in August. It was damn hot but that lake water felt like it came straight from a glacier.
Mar 31, 2023 00:52:08 #
Ringleb
Loc: Montana
Fished from shore near boat launch just below the reservation line. Once was a terrific pike fishing spot but not anymore. Things change!
Mar 31, 2023 09:02:31 #
In spring, there’s a really good smallmouth migration into the lower end of Flathead Lake. The issue has always been being able to fish it because of ice, low water to launch, etc. is it safe to assume the conditions are the same ?
Mar 31, 2023 11:48:03 #
Ringleb
Loc: Montana
I haven’t looked at the lake yet. I don’t know of any smallmouth fishing on the lower lake. I would like to find some. I do fish for largemouths And the perch bite happens late April normally. But this is not a normal year, so we’ll see!
Apr 4, 2023 00:16:59 #
JB134 wrote:
In spring, there’s a really good smallmouth migration into the lower end of Flathead Lake. The issue has always been being able to fish it because of ice, low water to launch, etc. is it safe to assume the conditions are the same ?
JB, I know couple guys that float the lower Flathead below the lake for smallmouths. They mainly fly fish and said good action but mostly little ones. Not sure where they put in or take out but can find out. Near reservation line is probably above Dixon, and I do know of a launch few miles below Dixon.
Apr 4, 2023 00:33:33 #
bric wrote:
JB, I know couple guys that float the lower Flathead below the lake for smallmouths. They mainly fly fish and said good action but mostly little ones. Not sure where they put in or take out but can find out. Near reservation line is probably above Dixon, and I do know of a launch few miles below Dixon.
Just looking on google maps, looks like a ramp at Sloans bridge, but scratch the one I was thinking below Dixon. It’s a fishing access site but looks like no ramp.
Apr 4, 2023 16:30:35 #
Thanks Tim. Looks like I’ll be just waiting a few more weeks before splashing the boat.
Apr 4, 2023 19:20:11 #
JB134 wrote:
Thanks Tim. Looks like I’ll be just waiting a few more weeks before splashing the boat.
Yeah we still have a lot of ice here.
Apr 5, 2023 17:03:19 #
Ringleb
Loc: Montana
There’s a decent boat launch below Dixon, just outside the Reservation boundary. I have fished the area for forty years both boat and shore fishing. It was once excellent pike fishing, fishing from shore produced decent sized pike, five to ten pounders. Some years back, the river froze over solid in most areas. This resulted in wiping out the larger vegetation in the river, and the pike haven’t done well since. Strange! But the smallies are doing fine, with lots of smaller ones about. It’s a different river nowadays, at least on the lower section,
Apr 5, 2023 17:43:50 #
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