September/October Fishing Report | Fly Fishing in Missoula and the Bull Reds of Louisiana
Updated: 5 days ago
September was a great month for us here at Missoula Fly Water. Cooler temperatures than we've seen in past Septembers, along with more unsettled weather and overcast skies, created some excellent conditions for fall dry fly fishing. The Bitterroot and Clark Fork both produced some outstanding mayfly action, with big trout sipping bugs off the surface. Mahoganies and baetis were abundant on cloudy days, while tricos continued to provide some action when the sun came out. Dropper fishing was also consistently productive across the Missoula area, giving us plenty of options no matter what the weather had in store.
As always, I head south to Louisiana at the end of September to chase redfish offshore, while our guided trips continue to run back home in Montana. Late September got off to a great start, but just a few days into the season, we felt the effects of the hurricane that made landfall to the east. Tides surged to around six feet above normal for several days, forcing us to cancel a few trips. For perspective, that meant water covering the road on the drive to Hopedale.
Thankfully, conditions settled down nicely afterward, allowing us to get back out to the islands for a couple of trips. We encountered schools of redfish both on the way out and on the ride back, giving us some exciting opportunities for aggressive popper eats on the 11-weight. With water temperatures still in the low 80s, plenty of fish remained schooled up and actively chasing Menhaden. When the wind made it too difficult to target schools in open water, we shifted our focus to the ponds and shorelines, where the fishing for smaller redfish remained solid.
Redfish were plentiful around the islands, but so were the sharks, making the reds unusually skittish. When a bird’s shadow spooks a fish 200 feet away, you know something is off. The sharks were aggressive, too. I had a six-footer take a few swipes at my push pole, and on another trip, a seven-foot shark snatched a client’s catfish right out of his hand beside the boat. An exciting eat, but a little too close for comfort.
Until water temperatures finally dropped, I spent a few weeks poling into shallow water to land our fish. Trying to grab a redfish by the tail in three feet of murky water with sharks nearby wasn’t exactly the safest maneuver.
Our first cold front arrived in mid October, dropping water temperatures from around 80 to 66 degrees. The change really got things going, with schools of fish crashing bait on the surface. Jacks and redfish were mixed together and actively feeding. At one point, I fired up the side-scan in the middle of a school and saw hundreds of redfish around the boat. Both anglers threw casts in opposite directions and were instantly hooked up. It was a fantastic way to wrap up October.
With cooler water temperatures settling in, the fall redfish action should only continue to improve. After a few weeks of hurricanes, sharks, and unsettled conditions, it was great to finish the month with some classic Louisiana school-fishing action.
