Beaverhead river Montana

[millerdvr]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have found nirvana, I recently took a job in Dillon, MT, I arrived here on Saturday afternoon. I had previously scouted out some possible fishing/camping options for the weekend, so after stopping in town to stock up on groceries and to talk with the local outfitters I headed down to the tailwaters of the clark canyon dam, there is a free campground there only feet from the start of the beaverhead river. I set up camp then started on the fishing, I didn't get started fishing until around 3 pm but managed to land 4 fish before dinner, 1 brown 18 inches and 6 pounds, and 3 bows the largest 21 inches and 8 pounds, the smallest was 17 inches.

Sunday I started out around 8:30 am, and finished at 9 pm, landed 13 fish all between 16-22 inches and 6-9 lbs, what a day !!! I landed maybe 1 out of 3 hooked but lost alot of leader and tippet not to mention the hooks, they were all caught on size 20-22 green PMD, yellow PMD and BHPT sizes 18-20. I still cannot believe the fight the bows put on, they would drag me across the river two or three times and some would drag me a hundred yards down river. I never saw any fish caught by anybody under 16 inches.
It cost me $60 today to replace all the leader, tippet, flies, strike indicators that were lost to these giants!!! Keep in mind that these are all native trout.
Just though I would share the joy and hope you can come enjoy the same.
Cheers,
Chris

[3wt]

an eighteen inch brown is not six pounds, and 16-22 inch fish would weigh no where near 6-9 pounds. I believe the length of the fish but the weight sounds fishy. how are you getting the weights??

[GrouseMan77]

Originally Posted by millerdvr

Keep in mind that these are all native trout.

I assume you meant that they were all wild trout. Congrats, those are some chunky fish.

[mstone]

millerdvr,
I'm not going to question the size of fish in that river, I've caught some good fish there and have not even been on the best stretch of river. Congratulations ! If you get a chance, for something different, try Mccoys spring creek, outside Dillon. Nice. Do me a favor, if your there long enough, find where Big Sheep Creek is, I believe it is south of town off of I-15, and see how it fishes. Some years back, a local told me about it and said then that it fished good for browns and said I needed to try it. Never got the chance when it was warm enough to try it. Also, Canyon Ferry lake there has rainbows that pull like I would imagine a bison could......strong. Anyway, have fun there.


mstone

[millerdvr]

Originally Posted by 3wt

an eighteen inch brown is not six pounds, and 16-22 inch fish would weigh no where near 6-9 pounds. I believe the length of the fish but the weight sounds fishy. how are you getting the weights??

If you are doubting the size of these fish, please come up here and try them on your line. Trout will get to a certain length then just get fat. The weights and lengths were all done by my guide. These are just hogs! I was out again the last couple days and they were routinely snapping my 2x tippet. A fellow next to me landed a 26 inch Bow !

[gmreeves]

I don't doubt you but don't trust a guide! I have enjoyed every guide that I have ever fished with but when I am paying them, they have always exaggerated the fish. Case in point, I was fishing the yellowstone one time and landed a nice brown. I got a quick picture of it and was about to release it when the guide said that sure was a pretty 22" brown. I quickly wanted to put a tape to it as it was going to be my first 20+" trout. 18". Just sayin. Some streams produce some heavy trout and I don't doubt a productive tailwater like the Beaverhead to be any different. Good job on some nice fish and enjoy your time out there.

[fishndoc]

"Lying 101" is the first course in Guide School.

A couple of years ago, when my neighbor and I made our annual spring pilgrimage to the hatchery section of the Davidson, he brought along his boga-grip. We were lucky enough to catch several 20 inchers - Even those pellet fed hogs only went just over 2 1/2 to maybe 3 1/2 pounds at 19-20 inches. Of course this was at the low end of the boga scale, so it may not be completely accurate.

We were more than a little disappointed, and both wished we had not found out we had not been catching 5 and 6 pounders all those prior visits.

[Blues Brother]

fishndoc,

Something must have been amiss with your boga grip. As someone who fishes the Davidson often and with good success, I have to say that a large number of the 20 inch fish I catch there are quite rotund...and certainly more than 3 lbs.

However, at the end of the day why does it matter whether or not you know the actual weight? If the fish was 5 lbs in your mind and you don't receive any criticism for claiming such, then more power to you!

On that note I will conclude my annual fishing forum diatribe. I hate hyper-analytical forum members so I will hereafter cease my rant.

And nice report, miller! Keep slaying 'em out there!

[Streamhound]

Glad you have found your Nirvana.

Please keep sending the reports since some of us live vicariously through the exploits of others.