The Clark Fork River is the largest river by volume in Montana, although, you wouldn’t know it when fishing the headwaters. Up near Warm Springs, the river east of Missoula, compared to the section of the same river on the west side, can almost be considered two different rivers. The reason for this is that west of Missoula, the Bitterroot, Blackfoot and Rock Creek have all joined, in turn, greatly increasing its volume.

The upper third of the river (east of Missoula) could be characterized as a small meandering stream, with a population of predominantly brown trout. As it joins up with Rock Creek, it starts to broaden as does the species of trout you may encounter: rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi) are all common. At this point, the river reaches Missoula, where you can literally step down off the road and catch wild trout.