GREAT FALLS AREA FISHING REPORT
May 28th, 2026
Lower Mo
Dam Temps: 54.1°F
Cascade CFS: 3,720 cfs
Ulm CFS: 3,720 cfs
Morony Dam CFS: 5,460 cfs
Fort Benton CFS: 5,590 cfs
Missouri River Pelican Point Down
As of the last week, there has been more PMD action mid-day. From about 10:30 a.m. on you will see little sailboats on the water and the backs of fish ringing, eating emergers. On into the afternoon you will see more fish-eating duns and the later it gets you will see more fish keying into the spinners, or spent PMD’s. Last night there were rusty spinners until the wind blew them away. Currently, it seems as though the river is trying to get over a small hump where the blue winged olives have almost completely ceased, and our standard PMD and caddis afternoons and evenings have yet to kick on. We will continue to try the dry here at House of Fly, but if you need to bump your numbers up, running a dry/dropper rig has done well the last few floats. This rig would be best set up with a Micro Chubby in #12 or #14 and a #16 or #18 Perdigon about 14 inches below. A small “pinchy” rig has worked well the last few afternoons as well. In similar fashion, two Palsa tabs and a couple of nymphs about 12 inches apart will work out on the flats. Should you not want to throw dries, or nymphs . . . your other option, which is a good one, is streamers. Yellow Sex Dungeons, or white Barely Legals have done well when thrown up on the rocky banks.
Recommended Flies
Lance Egan’s Corn Fed Caddis size 14, 16
Kris Keller’s Center Stage Caddis Tan size 14, 16
Craig Matthew’s Sparkle Dun PMD style size 16
Sam Wike’s PMD Cripple size 16
Kelly Galloup’s Sex Dungeon Yellow or White in Standard or Mini
Fred Telleen’s Imperial IPT Pheasant Tail Purple or Black size 12,14,16
Lance Egan’s Frenchie size 14 or 16
Cascade Downstream
With the water temperatures well above 50 degrees, pike are a great option. They are no longer sitting down deep in the holes. So, using a light sink-tip or even just a standard floating line is about all you need. If there are clouds or it is a low-light situation, throwing a diver or topwater flies can be profitable. They probably won’t catch every fish in the spot, but it will give you a jolt when that toothy mouth erupts on the surface to inhale your fly. Change your retrieves--fast with pauses, slow and steady, choppy strips.
Pike Flies
Matt Grajewski’s Yardsale Black, Chartruese/ White, Olive/ White
Satkowkis Devil Tail
Other fisheries!
The stillwater game has slowed since the fish were up shallow at places like Holter, Willow Creek, and Nilan reservoirs. The fish have more than likely moved out into deeper water and could be sitting off drastic drops, or in weedbeds in 6-10 feet of water. Recently I have been using my lunch hours to go and harass the carp right here in town. The day must be just right for it to work though--bright sunshine and little to no runoff from the Sun River coming in. If these two line up, using small crawdad patterns, or mop flies fished right down on the bottom will work to catch those scaley, slimy, hard pulling fish.
Trout Flies:
Carp Flies
Andrew Grillo’s Carpholio Brown or Olive size 4
Chase Smith’s Carp Nugget Olive or Craw
MISSOURI RIVER WEATHER FORECAST
OTHER REPORTS WE LIKE TO FOLLOW
Missouri River fishing reports aren't always the same. One stretch of the river may fish better than others which is why we like to check a number of different fishing reports from other shops in the area. We've gathered our favorite fishing report sources in the links below.