Rock Creek Fishing Report
Updated
We are unable to update the
fishing report due to our new
website being under
construction. For a current
report, please call us at
800-594-4726 or send us an
email at:
sales@perfectflystore.com
Type of Stream
Freestone
Species
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
Cutthroat Trout
Brook Trout
Rocky Mountain Whitefish
(Wild Trout)
Size
Medium – Over 51 miles long
Location
Southwestern Montana
Nearest Towns
Philipsburg
Clinton
Season
3rd Sat. May – Nov 30th (Catch and
Release Only, Dec. 1 to 3rd Sat.
May)
Access:
Excellent
Non-Resident License
State of Montana
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Seasons:
Fly fishing Rock Creek can be great any
day of the season.
Spring:
Except for the spring runoff, Springtime is
prime time for fishing Rock Creek.
Summer:
Summertime is the most popular time to fish the stream which makes it the most
crowded time to fish.
Fall:
Fall is an excellent time to fish Rock Creek. The crowds are gone and the fishing is great.
Winter:
It is possible to catch trout on many winter days.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
4, 5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 to 12 ft., 5 or 6X Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Supreme Four, Superb Five
or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 4/5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Options For Selecting Flies:
1. Email us (sales@perfectflystore.com)
with the dates you will be fishing this stream and we will send you a list of our fly suggestions. Please allow up to 24 hours for a response.
2. Call us 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide which flies you need
3. Email us (sales@perfectflystore.com)
with a budget for flies and we will select them to match the budget and get them to you in time for your fly fishing trip.
All orders are shipped free in the
U. S. Orders over $100 are shipped via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2016 James Marsh
Fly Fishing On Rock Creek In Montana
This is one of Montana’s best trout streams. Its waters are mostly all open to the public to fish. Fly fishing Rock Creek is a wading angler’s paradise, not only because it is easy to wade, but also because float fishing the river isn’t allowed between July 1 and November 30th. Rock Creek flows with the Sapphire Mountains on its west side and the John Long Mountains on its east side.
Rock Creek begins near Philipsburg where its West, Middle and East Forks, along with the water from Ross Creek, join to form the main stream. Not far from there it flows through over thirty miles of National Forest Land followed by the Rock Creek Road. It exits the Lolo National Forest and flows for a few more miles where it enters the Clarke Fork River near Clinton.
Camp sites along the river are plentiful. Rock Creek is bordered by National Forest for most of its entire distance. This makes it easy for those who camp because they don’t have to make a long drive to fish Rock Creek. There are very few rentals, motels, etc., in
the area.
Nymph fishing is both popular and a very productive on the stream. It is so popular that dry fly fishing Rock Creek is often overlooked. Trout can be taken on dries throughout the season, especially during one of its many hatches of aquatic insects. Rock Creek is a fairly
fertile stream with a good pH level and as a result there are lots of insects for the trout to eat.
The surrounding scenery of Rock Creek is simply beautiful. Lolo National Forest has snow covered mountains, canyons and plenty of granite cliffs. One thing that really turns out to be to the angler’s advantage, is the long, rough, narrow road that follows the creek the entire way. Its bad enough to keep the general tourist away, yet navigable enough for you to safely get to where you want to go.
Rock Creek has boulders the size of rooms in a house creating pocket water with deep pools and fast flowing runs and riffles. Its trout are plentiful and in general, aren’t that picky or difficult to catch provided decent presentations are made.
This beautiful stream offers some of the best small stream fly fishing opportunities in the western states. You don’t have to worry about not being able to find a place where your not fishing behind someone. There are miles of water that offer an opportunity. It can be a
little crowded in some areas at certain times, but that is rare,not the usual case.
There are only a few places in the United States where you can fish in the company of Rocky Mountain Sheep. See the images on your left.
Fly Fishing Guide to Rock Creek
Rock Creek is a pure freestone stream and it’s flows are strictly dependant on melting
snow and rain. Fishing in the headwaters of Rock Creek is typical of most headwaters.
The fish are generally very plentiful but small compared to those downstream. Cutthroat,
brown, brook, rainbow and bull trout exist in Rock Creek. Most of the fish in the headwaters are brooks, cutts or rainbows. There are few brown trout.
Below Montana highway #38, the river flows through the forest. Riffles, runs and deep
pools make up what would be best described as pocket water. As mentioned, Rock Creek
Road follows along the creek for its entire length. For the first few miles below the
bridge at highway #38, the fish population seems to be mostly a mixture of cutthroats,
rainbows and cutbows or hybrids. The fish are much larger in this area than they are in
the smaller headwater streams. They seem to increase in size the further downstream
you go although that may be more of a coincidence than fact.
Several small creeks join Rock Creek on its way to the Clark Fork River. Below Harry’s
Flat Campground, the creek looks more like a river than a creek. The river gets wider and
slows down some. The lower section has both rainbow and brown trout but the rainbows decrease in numbers and the browns increase the closer the stream gets to it’s confluence with Clark Fork.
The wildlife along this creek is incredible. Our first trip there, Angie video taped two
Bighorn sheep crossing the creek just below me. I was not aware they were behind me
and she was staying quite because they were close to us. When I noticed her continuously shooting downstream of me, rather than the whitefish I had on, I yelled to ask what she was doing. The Bighorns went into high gear and I only got a short glimpse of them until I reviewed the tape later that night. I was not aware that she had been shooting the sheep for the past few minutes.
Another reason I suppose that stuck with some is that the creek has a lot of deep
pools. Other than the normal pools that may be less than five feet deep, for example,
there are many that are much deeper. In act, it is difficult to get a nymph down to the
bottom in many places.
I’m not suggesting that anglers should fish a dry fly when nothing is hatching. I would
tend to always use a nymph or larva imitation under the “no hatch to match” situation. That said, I haven’t found that the stream necessarily has any fewer hatches than any other freestone stream of its type in the western Rocky Mountains. In fact, it may have more.
Stoneflies are very plentiful in Rock Creek. Most of the time you will get far better
results fishing a stonefly nymph than you would an imitation of the adult, but that is no
different on Rock Creek than anywhere else.
If you pay attention to the hatch times, you should do well fishing dry fly imitations. We
have been able to catch more trout on the dries than nymphs, but of course we usually
fish them more often than we do wet flies or nymphs. We think the “nymph” stream is an
unfair and inaccurate label for Rock Creek. We hope you will be the final judge of that.
Many anglers think that Rock Creek is purely a nymph fishing stream and that the
trout want generally feed on the surface or take dry flies. I think that is probably
because several articles have been written that more or less state that. In our several
trips there at different times of the year and during several different years, we have not
found that to be the case. I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to say that Rock
Creek is a top dry fly stream. I am just saying that they seem to feed on the
surface there as well as most other places
Rock Creek Hatches and Trout Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and
nymphs, not guess work. We base fly and most available insects and other foods at the
particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific
imitations of all the insects in Rock Creek and in all stages of life that are applicable to
fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else.
1-800-594-4726.
Like most other trout streams, Rock Creek has it’s share of Blue-winged Olives. They
start hatching in some locations as early as the middle of March and continues on into
the first week or two of June. These little mayflies are bi-brooded and will start
hatching again by the first of September. The second wave of the BWOs will continue
until almost the end of November.
March Brown mayflies start hatching near the end of March and last through the month
of April. Another species of them hatch out in late August, September and on into the first
two weeks of October, depending on the particular section of the stream in August
and September.
There’s the usual PMD, or Pale Morning Dun hatch that occurs over a long period of time.
It starts about the first of June and last almost all the way through September. In
addition, Rock Creek has an “okay” hatch of Green Drakes, but its usually not a huge
hatch. It starts about the middle of June and last until the middle of July, depending on
the section of the stream. Mahogany duns hatch in September and October and Trico
hatch in the slower sections of the stream
There’s an early Skwala Stonefly hatch that occurs, starting about the first of March and
last through most of April. You will also find some Little Brown Stoneflies hatching during
this same time period. The Salmonfly hatch often occurs during the runoff. It is hit or
miss, mostly miss hatch at Rock Creek. It occurs from about the last week of May
through the month of June.
The Golden Stoneflies are often still around after runoff and they can provide a lot of
action some years. The hatch starts just before the first of June and last through
August.The main stonefly attraction at Rock Creek is the Yellow Sally. They hatch over a long time at one place or another along the fifty mile long creek. It starts about the first of June and last all the way through mid August.
The most important caddisfly hatches are those of the Spotted Sedges. They start
hatching about the end of May and last all the way through the middle of August.
Their Little Sister Caddisflies are not that plentiful, but can be found hatching from
about the middle of June through August. From about the middle of June through
July, you will find some Little Short-horned Sedges. Imitations of these little caddisflies
will produce.
The Green Sedge is another caddisfly that exist on Rock Creek. Several species of
them hatch from about the middle of June through the middle of September. There’s
usually a very good October Caddis hatch. It occurs from about the middle of
September until the first or second week in October.
Terrestrials are important insects to imitate during the months of July, August and
September. Imitations of grasshopper, beetles and ants will catch their share of
trout on Rock Creek. Midges hatch year-round, but are more important when
other insects are not hatching. We show them important for March and April and
again during October and November, so you may want to have some midge larva,
pupa and adult imitations with you during that time period.
Don’t forget to have a good selection of streamers. The stream has plenty of baitfish, minnows and sculpin. Imitations of these small fish can produce at times, especially early and late in the day and when the water is slightly stained from rain.
Please consider using our “Perfect Flies”. They are not only the most realistic imitations of the aquatic and terrestrial insects at Rock Creek, they are the most effective at catching trout. If you haven’t already done so, we certainly hope you will give them an opportunity to work for you. We suggest you use our Rock Creek Hatch Chart and select the flies for the time period you will be fishing.
Fishing Report Headlines Archive:
Current Rock Creek Fishing Report
11/29/2020 The creek is flowing at near normal levels with some slush ice and lots of bank
ice. The water is cold but midges, bwos and winter stoneflies are hatching.
03/21/2020 The stream is very cold with lots of slush ice in the water, lots if bank ice and
snow and some shelf ice where the water is slow. Wait until it warms up and degree or two.
04/06/20 The creek still has a lot of bank ice and snow but most of the water is clear of ice.
There are some hatches taking place.
04/15/20 The creek is flowing a little below normal and clear. There are good hatches of little
BWOs, midges and Skwala stoneflies.
05/04/20 The stream levels are very high, too high to wade safely. There are some insects
hatching. Fish when the levels drop back down.
06/02/20 The river is in full runoff mode with very high levels.
06/12/20 The stream is still too high to fish and highly stained from runoff. It is falling down fast
and hopefully, will be ready soon. Now is the time to get your flies and gear in order. Shoot us
an email and let us help you. sales@perfectflystore.com
06/25/20 Stream levels are still high but falling out fast. There are lots of insects hatching and
fishing should be very good soon.
07/07/20 The stream levels are down a little but still too high to fish in our opinion. It should be
down and ready very soon. There are a lot of insects hatching.
07/18/20 The stream level is down a lot but still a good bit above normal level. It can be waded
with caution in some places and fished from the banks. There are multiple hatches taking place.
07/30/20 The creek is still running high and stained some from rain. We did receive two good
reports from customers. It can be fished successfully now, but will be better when it falls down a
little more.
08/20/20 The creek is still running a little high but wading is safe and easy most places. There
are still a lot of hatches going on, especailly in the upper sections of the creek. We continue to
get good reports from customers.
Note: We are no longer updating our archive due to the number of reports we
already have posted.