Share your catch
US

Rock Creek Fishing Report

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

Missoula's wilderness-grade trout stream: 50 miles of pocket water and a famous stonefly riot.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
265 cfs
Air / High
48 / 54 F
Wind
NW 10 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 12334510, 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.

Rock Creek is in its winter mode: slow, deep and deliberate. The river is running 265 cfs, steady over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind NW around 10 mph, rising pressure near 1012 hPa and a high of 54. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:12 AM-12:12 PM and 10:43 PM-12:43 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 50Β°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: Similar at 51 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

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 β†’

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 Rock Creek near Clinton MT.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 12334510.

236262287265 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 54 years of October 23

At 265 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 12334510 (Rock Creek near Clinton MT) is at the 63rd percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 54 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 246 cfs; the highest was 641 cfs and the lowest 154 cfs.

p10 186median 246p90 308

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 12334510; 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 temp48 F
High / Low54 / 39 F
WindNW 10-23 mph
Pressure1011.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 96%
Sunrise / Sunset08:04 / 18:33
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)46 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 Rock Creek this week

Today is the pick of the week on Rock Creek, at 3 out of 5.

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

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:12 AM-12:12 PM and 10:43 PM-12:43 AM
Minor period
4:38 AM-5:38 AM
Sun
08:04 to 18:33
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 10 mph
Rain chance
96%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Rock Creek: 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 50Β°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 Rock Creek 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 Rock Creek today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 8 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 65 F, wind to 6 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

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

Standard Montana rules; hoot-owl closures possible in hot Augusts. Confirm with FWP.

Access

Rock Creek Road parallels 50 miles: constant pullouts; lower miles near I-90 most social.

About this water

Blue-ribbon freestone joining the Clark Fork east of Missoula, MT. 1,500+ trout per mile.

Fishing Rock Creek: the full guide

The Creek

Rock Creek is what visitors imagine Montana to be: a boulder-strewn freestone with 1,500-plus trout per mile, a salmonfly hatch that borders on chaos, and a dirt road tracing every bend. Wade it: the water rewards boots over boats almost everywhere.

Fifty miles of legitimate water

Rock Creek needs no hatch chart theatrics: attractor dries, stonefly nymphs and streamers produce start to finish. Cutthroat and rainbows dominate the upper canyon; browns thicken downstream. The dirt road parallels everything: pick a mile, fish it, repeat for a week without repeating.

Salmonfly pilgrimage

Early June brings the hatch that made the creek famous: pteronarcys crawling the willows, trout losing composure, anglers timing vacations by rumor. Crowds concentrate at access points: walkers find open buckets between them.

Fifty miles of moods

Rock Creek fishes like three streams: the lower canyon's big pools (browns on streamers, easy highway access), the middle's classic freestone riffles, and the brushy upper meadows where cutthroat rise to anything well-drifted. The famous salmonfly hatch marches upstream through June: hit the front edge and every slick holds a competitive fish. The dirt road upstream punishes trailers but pays in solitude: every mile driven subtracts an angler.

Common questions

Can you float Rock Creek?

Rafts fit at higher flows early season, but this is a wading stream at heart: most of its length and most of its season fish best on foot.

When is Rock Creek's salmonfly hatch?

Typically first week of June at the mouth, progressing upstream for two-plus weeks: runoff timing shifts it. Big dry flies draw violence even days after the naturals pass: prospect boldly.

Is fishing good at Rock Creek 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

Blackfoot River14 miClark Fork River (Missoula)18 miBitterroot River21 miGeorgetown Lake39 miMissouri River (Craig)83 miHolter Lake83 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 12334510 β€” Rock Creek near Clinton MT
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 46.6773, -113.6714 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.