Montana · Freestone · Rockies
Clark Fork — Missoula reach
Large freestone river with multiple public-access reaches.
Montana · public-access reaches. This page is what the desk knows about the water itself. What it is doing today — flow, water temperature, weather, and the hazards those produce — is a reading with a date on it, and it lives in Trip Prep.
Plan a trip on Clark Fork — Missoula reachWho manages it
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
These links were checked against the live agency site on 2026-09-01. Rules for a water change inside a season, so the agency’s own page on the day you go is the only current answer — this desk does not hold one.
Directory review
Review provenance unavailable
No unique fleet-directory record matched this operational water by name and state, so the desk will not borrow another water’s review date. The agency links on this page were checked on 2026-09-01; check the agency’s own page the day you go.
How access works here
Numbered public access-site network
This water sits in Montana's Fishing Access Site network. Reaches between sites are usually floatable and wadeable below the high-water mark, but you get on and off at the signed sites.
Launch · Many FAS points have a concrete or gravel ramp suitable for a drift boat or raft. Some are hand-launch only — the FAS list says which.
Parking · Parking is at designated access points. A pullout that looks fine is not automatically legal or safe to leave a vehicle in.
Montana runs a numbered Fishing Access Site (FAS) network — most named reaches have signed FAS points with parking, and many have a ramp. Montana also has a stream access law: below the ordinary high-water mark of most rivers is public, but you still have to get there from a public point.
Gauge
A public gauge is mapped
Flow and water temperature for this water are read from USGS site 12340500, Clark Fork above Missoula, MT. It is an official public gauge, not a fishing pin: it describes the river at one point, and the reach you stand in may be doing something else.
Species · derived
5 plausible here
Derived from water class (freestone) and Rockies range — not a stocking record. Confirm species, seasons and any closures with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
Brown trout
54–67°F published preference · handling becomes a conservation problem at 68°F
Rainbow trout
52–64°F published preference · handling becomes a conservation problem at 68°F
Cutthroat trout
48–62°F published preference · handling becomes a conservation problem at 66°F
Brook trout
46–61°F published preference · handling becomes a conservation problem at 65°F
Mountain whitefish
46–64°F published preference · handling becomes a conservation problem at 68°F