The fishing is still good on the reservation

Waters are warming, but the rez ain’t dead yet. We’re talking about trout fishing on the famed Blackfeet Indian Reservation, just east of Glacier National Park.

Joe Moody, 1981 Sunrisers Lions Club Perchmaster, recently gave me a fishing update on the rez. According to Moody, fishing in many of the lakes has fallen off only slightly over the last month.

Mission Lake continues to kick out some big fish, but don’t expect to catch many. Bill McCleskey, Columbia Falls, recently caught a 27 inch, 8 pound, 12 ounce rainbow from Mission Lake, but it was the only fish he or Joe caught all day.

“I was fishing a green Woolly Bugger with an orange tail on a Wet Cel III,” McCleskey said.

An angler who regularly fishes Mission Lake told Moody he had caught 20 fish a day over 8 pounds earlier in the season.

“Duck Lake has improved,” Moody said. “I caught one fish over 20 inches. Most of the rest were about 14 inches.”

That’s good news for Duck Lakers who have been plagued with small fish for the last couple years.

“Rickards’ Seal Bugger, sizes 8-10, was working pretty well on Duck Lake,” Moody said.

The “hot lake” on the rez this summer, according to Moody, has been Hidden Lake, north of Star School.

“Hidden’s been fished pretty hard this summer,” Moody said, “but we’re still having 20-fish days.”

Green or tan damselflies are producing feisty rainbows up to 4 pounds. The lake hasn’t weeded up too badly, but most anglers are preferring the north shore.

“Those fish in Hidden just slam the fly,” Moody said. “They act like they’re mad.”