Blackfoot River Fishing Report, July 14, 2026
2026-07-14 (July 14, 2026)
Regional summary
Conditions have held their line since last week, but the calendar has quietly turned a corner. The rivers kept dropping and clearing right through the weekend, and the real change is in the bug board: the big stoneflies that carried June are packing up, and the fish are settling into a smaller, steadier summer diet of PMDs, Yellow Sallies, caddis, and the first terrestrials. Salmonflies are gone and Golden Stones are on their way out, still worth a big searching dry but no longer the main event. Every gauge in the valley now reads lower than it did a week ago, so trout are tucked into defined summer lies, seams, riffle edges, shaded banks, and soft inside water, rather than pinned to the flooded margins. The one thing that runs the whole show this week is heat. Morning water is still cool and friendly, but afternoons are climbing into the upper 80s and 90s, so the productive window has slid firmly toward early and late. Carry a thermometer, start at first light, handle fish fast in the warm afternoons, and check Montana FWP for restrictions before every trip, since nothing was posted when the shops filed but a hot stretch can change that overnight.
At a glance: Dropping fast, great clarity from Ovando through the canyon | slightly off color to clear | ~64°F morning, upper 60s midday | ~1,440 CFS near Bonner (live USGS, down from ~2,390 a week ago) | GH rating: 3/5 (7/10) | Best window: early and late
Float hazard (FWP floater advisory, strainer tree). Unload and walk boats through the strainer-tree stretch roughly one mile below Harry Morgan campground (near 46.98791, -113.11272), where several boats have hung up and accidents have piled up in recent weeks. A separate obstruction on the North Fork below Harry Morgan has also caused wrecks: walk around it or put in at River Junction instead. Keep your hands on the oars and your eyes downstream.
The Blackfoot has shed a lot of water in a hurry and now runs low and clear from Ovando down through the canyon to the Clark Fork confluence. That clarity is a gift and a warning at once: the fish can see everything, so clean drifts matter more than they did a month ago. The heavy stonefly focus has faded, and trout have shifted their attention to the smaller summer hatches, holding on the soft inside seams, tailouts, willow lines, buckets, and the slower shelves that sit below the faster water. There is still plenty of cover and the river never really came off the bite, but the clock is what matters now: cool mornings and cooling evenings fish well, while the bright middle of the day goes quiet as the water warms.
Best techniques
- Cover water with a dry-dropper. Float a #8-12 Chubby Chernobyl (purple, tan, or peach), a True Wing Stone, or a Water Walker and hang a #14-16 PMD nymph, Frenchie, Duracell, Jig PT, or Perdigon two to three feet below. Start deep and shorten as fish rise in the column.
- When pods start eating up top in the afternoon and evening, go to a single dry. Big picky risers want mayflies and caddis: a Brindlechute, Purple Haze, Para-Wulff, or Parachute Adams for the PMDs, and a #14-16 Elk Hair Caddis, Corn Fed Caddis, or X-Caddis once the evening caddis come off. A Hippie Stomper is a fun searching attractor as the terrestrials nose in.
- If the foam gets ignored, reach for a small flashy streamer through the deep plunge pools, boulder pockets, and riffle drops: a Sir Sticks-A-Lot, Space Invader, Sparkle Minnow, or Goldie. The counter crew at Kingfisher can tell you which stretch cleaned up overnight, and it is a two-minute stop on the way east.
Hatches
Golden Stones fading but still worth a searching dry, heavy PMDs with evening spinner falls, Green Drakes whenever the light goes gray, Yellow Sallies through midday, and caddis thickening into the evening. Spruce moths and hoppers are on the near horizon.
The Fly Box
Nymphs: Pat's Rubber Legs, TJ Hooker, Double Bead Stones, Zirdles, Twenty Inchers, Frenchies, Split Case PMDs, Duracell, Green Drake Nymphs, Perdigons, Pheasant Tails
Dries: Chubby Chernobyls, True Wing Stones, Water Walkers, Golden Stones, Green Drakes, Yellow Sallies, Elk Hair Caddis, X-Caddis, Corn Fed Caddis, Purple Haze, Parachute Adams, Brindlechute, Para-Wulff, Hippie Stomper
Streamers: Sir Sticks-A-Lot, Space Invader, Sparkle Minnows, Goldies, Swim Coach, Mini Dungeons, Peanut Envy, Sculpzilla, Woolly Buggers, JJ Special
Outlook. A warm, cloudy Monday, a cooler Tuesday with a stray afternoon thundershower, partly sunny midweek, then more storm chances Thursday and Friday with highs in the 80s and 90s. Fish early, watch afternoon water temperatures as the summer heat builds, and if a hard cell parks up high, keep an eye on color sliding down Monture.
Sources and Thanks
| Shop | Report date | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Kingfisher Fly Shop | July 13, 2026 | All four rivers (freshest) |
| Blackfoot River Outfitters | July 10, 2026 | All four rivers |
| Grizzly Hackle | July 10, 2026 | All four rivers |
| Lightweight Fly Shop | July 5, 2026 | All four rivers, consolidated weekly |
| The Missoulian Angler | June 23, 2026 | All four rivers, background |
