Clark Fork River Fishing Report: April 24, 2026

Visibility fishable / improving · Water temp 46°F · High but dropping · Quality 3/5

The Clark Fork has dropped into honest fishing shape. Clarity is fishable if not optimal yet and is still trending the right way. The big story is the midday March Brown hatch, with Skwalas and Nemouras mixed in and BWOs in the afternoon. Fish are pushed to the slower inside bends, drop-offs and back eddies, where they're escaping the high flows and hungry. The 7-day forecast for Missoula climbs from the high 50s into a t-shirt 73°F by Tuesday before the midweek system drops things back into the 50s with rain and snow — watch for another flow bump on the warmest days.

Techniques

• Nymphing. Dry-dropper is the do-all rig: a Chubby Chernobyl or Water Walker on top, a TJ Hooker, 20-Incher or Double Bead Stone with a Pheasant Tail Nymph, Frenchie, Prince Nymph, or Spanish Bullet underneath. Add a red or pink San Juan Worm when nothing else moves them.
• Dries. Reach for the dry box midday: Purple Haze and Brindle Chute for March Browns, Last Chance Cripple in BWO for the slower back-eddy risers, Chubby for the Skwalas.
• Streamers. Excellent between hatches and through showers. Bright white and gold patterns (Goldie, Silk Kitty, Kreelex, Sparkle Minnow) into undercut banks and logjams.

Hatches. March Brown (heavy midday), Skwala, Nemoura, BWO, Capnia, midge.

Outlook. Best of the three this week. Watch flows on Mon–Tue with the warm-up; Wed cold front should reset clarity.