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Missouri River (Craig) Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Craig section: Montana's trout interstate, where 5,000 fish per mile sip tricos below Holter Dam and drift boats run like commuter rail.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
3,150 cfs
Air / High
37 / 59 F
Wind
NNW 15 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06066500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Missouri River (Craig) fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. The river is running 3,150 cfs, steady over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind NNW around 15 mph, rising pressure near 1013 hPa and a high of 59. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:05 AM-12:05 PM and 10:36 PM-12:36 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 48 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Montana requires a fishing licence from age 12, from $31.00 for residents. What a Montana licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with FWP before you keep anything. The season dates for Montana, read off the agency, are on the Montana seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Missouri River below Holter Dam.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06066500.

2,9943,1503,3063,150 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 81 years of October 23

At 3,150 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 06066500 (Missouri River below Holter Dam) is at the 13th percentile for the date: below normal. In half of the 81 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 4,120 cfs; the highest was 10,100 cfs and the lowest 2,370 cfs.

p10 3,082median 4,120p90 6,094

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 06066500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp37 F
High / Low59 / 33 F
WindNNW 15-30 mph
Pressure1012.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset07:57 / 18:26
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)53 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Missouri River (Craig) this week

Today is the pick of the week on Missouri River (Craig), at 3 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 — fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:05 AM-12:05 PM and 10:36 PM-12:36 AM
Minor period
4:30 AM-5:30 AM
Sun
07:57 to 18:26
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 20 mph
Rain chance
100%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Missouri River (Craig): seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the Missouri River (Craig) calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Missouri River (Craig) today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 72 F, wind to 13 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 13 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Montana requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Montana license + AIS pass. Standard limits with artificial-only stretches: check FWP region 4.

Access

Holter Dam, Wolf Creek, Craig, Stickney Creek, Pelican Point, Mid Cañon FAS: I-15 parallels the whole reach.

About this water

35 blue-ribbon tailwater miles below Holter Dam, Lewis and Clark County, MT. The trout interstate at Craig.

Fishing Missouri River (Craig): the full guide

The tailwater that never misses

The Missouri below Holter Dam is Montana's most dependable trout factory: 4,000-6,000 rainbows and browns per mile in a tailwater that flows fishable when every freestone floods or freezes. Craig: a town that exists for the river: anchors the storied miles: fly shops outnumber other businesses and shuttle trucks are the local traffic.

A spring creek the size of a river

The Mo fishes like a giant spring creek: weed beds, scum lines, pods of sipping fish: and rewards spring-creek manners: long leaders, small flies, downstream reach casts. Sowbugs and pink scuds run the year: BWOs and March browns start spring: PMDs and caddis carry summer evenings: and the trico mornings of August put a thousand noses up between Craig and the Dearborn.

Seasons on the Mo

Winter: midges and pods in the slicks: the year's most solitary quality fishing. Spring: the pre-runoff crowds and the year's fattest rainbows on baetis. Summer: dawn tricos, hopper banks below Pelican Point, and PMD spinner falls at dusk. Fall: streamer weather: browns turn territorial and the wind sorts the faithful from the fair-weather.

Craig logistics

Access ladders the river: Holter Dam, Wolf Creek Bridge, Craig, Stickney, Pelican Point, Mid Cañon: float any pairing or fish the bank water at each (the Mo wades better than its size suggests along the shelves). Summer weekends stack boats: launch at dawn or float the lower canyon: and the shops' daily boards tell the truth: read them like scripture.

Common questions

Why is the Missouri at Craig so famous?

Density plus dependability: 5,000-fish miles that flow clear when everything else blows out, with hatches a spring creek would envy. It is Montana's most consistent big-trout water, period.

When are tricos on the Missouri?

Mid-July through early September at dawn: clouds of spinners and pods of sippers from Craig down. Size 20-22, 6X, and your best drift: the river's graduate seminar.

Is fishing good at Missouri River (Craig) right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Holter Lake1 miCanyon Ferry Lake40 miGallatin River72 miJefferson River74 miGeorgetown Lake81 miRock Creek83 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06066500 — Missouri River below Holter Dam
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 46.9300, -111.9650 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.