6/15/2026: Missouri River Fishing Report

Summary

The Mo is squarely into its dry-fly prime and fishing well. A wet, below-average-temperature pattern through late May and early June bumped the river and the regional tributaries to around 3,500 CFS; flows are now back on the drop, sitting near 3,150 CFS at Holter as of June 13. The tributaries (Little Prickly Pear, the Dearborn) have largely cleared, though the rain left a touch of color in the main stem and set up productive mud lines for the worm bite. Dam discharge is running just below 60°F at midday with the river around 56°F, warm enough that wet wading is comfortable.

At a glance: Flow: ~3,150 CFS at Holter Dam (and dropping) | Water temp: 56°F at the dam, just under 60°F midday downstream (wet wading viable) | Clarity: good, light rain stain, tributaries cleared and dropping | Weather: cool and wet for mid-June, highs 50s to 70s, scattered rain | Stage: PMD dry-fly prime underway, a few weeks early; caddis top to bottom

The Mo is squarely into its dry-fly prime and fishing well. A wet, below-average-temperature pattern through late May and early June bumped the river and the regional tributaries to around 3,500 CFS; flows are now back on the drop, sitting near 3,150 CFS at Holter as of June 13. The tributaries (Little Prickly Pear, the Dearborn) have largely cleared, though the rain left a touch of color in the main stem and set up productive mud lines for the worm bite. Dam discharge is running just below 60°F at midday with the river around 56°F, warm enough that wet wading is comfortable.

This is a low-water year, and the Mo is behaving more like a freestone than a classic tailwater, warming through the day as you move down from the dam and cooling on the cold overnight lows. Fish are in their peak metabolic window and eating heavily, so success is mostly a matter of carrying the right bug and presenting it well. The headache is company: anglers and boats are stacked up and down the river, though the Missoula-area crowd should thin over the next week as the western freestones drop back into shape.

Note. Heavy boat traffic. This is the busiest month of the year and the river is crowded. Give wade fishers a wide berth, mind boat-ramp etiquette, and communicate your intentions with other boats and anglers. Go early or late to dodge the worst of it.

Best techniques

• Nymphing (morning go-to). The worm-and-sowbug combo is the reliable opener, especially early. Run roughly 5 feet to your first bug over gravel bottoms in 4 to 6 feet of water; short-leash 2 to 3 feet on the flats, banks, and through pods of rising fish. Switch to smaller mayfly and caddis patterns once the bugs start popping, generally 10:00 to 11:00. Expect to pick through whitefish.
• Dry fly (the main event). When the bugs come, fish look up in numbers, but they are heavily educated. Bring your A-game: long leaders, accurate casts, fly-first presentations. A rusty spinner has been the go-to, with PMD cripples especially deadly after rain knocks bugs onto the water. The current "PMD conundrum" is real: fish are often keyed on emergers, failed emergers, or sinking spinners just subsurface rather than the high-floating dun, so cycle through cripple, emerger, and spinner profiles before walking away.
• Dry-dropper. In the skinny water a Chubby over a Micro May or Frenchie is hard to beat, and an occasional big brown will come up and eat the Chubby itself.
• Soft hackles. Late morning to early afternoon is swing time. When fish are swirling below the surface, drop a soft hackle into the zone and hang on.
• Streamers. The cloud and rain have turned on a solid streamer bite. Dark purple and black have been best, then sparkle olive, yellow, and brown. Target banks, gravel-bar drop-offs, and mid-river buckets. Only a couple of weeks before the weeds get tall, so get the streamer days in now.

Hatches

PMDs and caddis are the stars right now, with Tricos on deck and building toward late June. The PMD hatch is well underway a few weeks ahead of schedule; the cool, wet weather has the shops optimistic the early start will not mean an early end. Caddis are showing top to bottom, thickest below Craig and pushing upriver toward the Wolf Creek bridge. Grasshoppers and ants are coming on early, and brown drakes could flurry any evening now below Pelican. Midges round out the menu morning and evening.

The Fly Box

Nymphs: Split Case PMD, Spanish Perdigon, Tung Jig Hare's Ear, Red Bead Blow Torch, Red Bead Duracell, Brown Perdigons, Zirdle, Tailwater Sowbug, Two Hot PMD, PMD Magic Fly, Gold Lightning Bug, Weight Fly, Tung Darts, Yellow Soft Hackle, Pheasant Tails, Frenchie, Green Machine, Psycho May, Two Bit Hooker, Micro May, Black IPT, Fullback Napoleon, PMD Jig Napoleon, Crust Nymph, Tung Jig Pheasant Tail, Blow Torch, Lightning Perdigon, Wire Worm, Redemption, Red Headed Step Child, Hogan's Golden Child, Doc's Summer Bug, UV Czech Caddis

Emergers: CDC Emergers, Sprouts, Translucent Pupa, Translucent Emerger, Loop Wing Emerger, Captive Dun, PMD Soft Hackle, Edible Emerger

Dries: Missing Link, Rusty Spinner, Buzzballs, Hatchbacks, Flash Cripples, Last Chance Cripples, Corn-Fed Caddis, X-Caddis, Outrigger Caddis, Harrop's Henry's Fork Caddis, Palmered Caddis, Missouri River CDC Caddis, Parachute Caddis, Splitsville Caddis, Spent Partridge Caddis, Hi-Vis Spent Caddis, Elk Hair Caddis, Double Duck Caddis, Stockingfoot Caddis, Purple Haze, Adams, Purple Para Wulff, Royal Wulff, Sparkle Flag, Split Flag, Brianne Dun, Film Critic, CDC Para Spinner, Profile Spinner, Sparkle Dun, D&D Cripple, Chubby

Streamers: white Dungeon, Kreelex, Sparkle Minnow, Thin Mint, Sex Dungeon, Lil' Kim, Skiddish Smolt, Gamechanger, Bam Bam, Trout Spey Bugger, Mini Montana Intruder, Mini Sculpin, Mini-Dungeon, Micro Peanut Envy, Peacock and Black Bugger

By the stretch. The reports ran mostly whole-river this week, but a few geographic notes: the upper river (Holter Dam to Wolf Creek to Craig) is the best dry-fly water with the longest daily window. Caddis are showing top to bottom but thickest below Craig and moving up toward the Wolf Creek bridge. Below Pelican and into the lower river (toward Cascade and the Land of the Giants), watch for brown drakes to flurry in the evenings.

Outlook. The cool, wet pattern looks to hold into next week with highs in the 50s and 60s and another good chance of rain late in the week, with a single warmer day (near 80) breaking it up. That weather is good news: it should prolong the early PMD hatch rather than burn it out, giving bonus dry-fly time on the front side. Flows should keep settling toward summer levels and the river's freestone-like daily warm-up. Tricos and terrestrials are building into late June, so get the streamer days in before the weeds come up. Bring rain gear and sunscreen both.

Sources and Thanks

Shop	Report date	Coverage
Headhunters Fly Shop (Craig)	June 13, 2026	Missouri River
The Trout Shop (Craig)	June 11, 2026	Missouri River
Cross Currents Fly Shop (Craig)	June 8, 2026	Missouri River
Wolf Creek Angler (Wolf Creek)	June 4, 2026	Missouri River