Tailwater · Limestone · Montana

Beaverhead River

The Beaverhead below Clark Canyon Dam is narrow, brushy, and choked with weed — and it grows browns and rainbows out of all proportion to its size.

Species

A proper day on the water

River steady at a fishable height. A proper day for it.

75% confidence in this read
Water temperature for brown trout
Cool — slow
9°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
Why this score · for brown trout
  • Temperature8228% weight
  • Flow8022% weight
  • Clarity9518% weight
  • Feeding Time5013% weight
  • Pressure807% weight
  • Insect activity6212% weight
Conditions
Level
0.45 m
Water temp
9.0°C
Estimated
Clarity
Clear
Air temp
22°C
Wind
W 18 km/h
Gentle breeze
Pressure
1011 hPa
Rain · 48h
0.0 mm
No meaningful rain
Rain · ahead
0.3 mm
No meaningful rain · next 48h

Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.

How to fish it · for brown trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Good — water clarity is right today, though time of day could be better.
Through the year
0–3 scale · June highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Black MidgeHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Freshwater ShrimpHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Western Blue-Winged OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Pale Morning DunHatch
2
3
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Open all year
  • Flows track Clark Canyon releases; the river is narrow, brushy and often crowded.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
About this water

The Beaverhead below Clark Canyon Dam is narrow, brushy, and choked with weed — and it grows browns and rainbows out of all proportion to its size. It's technical water in tight quarters, and it gets a crowd because everybody's heard about the fish. The flow is entirely release-controlled, so what comes out of the dam is the hand you're dealt for the day.

Under the surface

The Beaverhead is a tailwater that doesn't act like one — narrow, twisting and brush-choked, it comes out of Clark Canyon Reservoir and winds down through ranch country toward Dillon as a tight, willow-lined ditch of a river that happens to be stuffed with large, sullen brown trout. The cold, even release from the dam grows them big; the close banks and the snags make getting one out a different problem entirely. The water is clear and weed-rich, the bed gravel and silt, the current pushing hard against undercut corners where the good fish lie tight to cover. The character is intimate and a little claustrophobic — overhanging willows, blind bends, not much room for a backcast. Wading is awkward in the soft margins and brush, and much of the Beaverhead is fished, sensibly, from a boat.

Wading: Soft margins, snags and tight willow banks

  • Limestone
  • Partly confined
  • Pool riffle
Seasons & zones
  • Trout1 January → 31 December
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