First Encounter with a Mountain Whitefish

The first time I landed a mountain whitefish, I wasn't sure what it was.

I had heard of the scaley, small-mouthed bottomfeeder before and had a general idea about what they looked like. But living on the coast of California, I wasn't all that familiar with the odd, high-mountain species that prefers near-freezing creeks and rivers.

But on a memorable trip to Missoula, Mont., many moons ago, fishing one of my favorite trout waters of all time, Rock Creek, I landed my first mountain whitefish to cap an amazing day of fishing on the creek's upper stretches.

Monster browns, rainbows, and then my first mountain whitefish. It was a day to remember.

While I lost track of the brown trout and rainbow trout I caught on this fall fly fishing trip (I seem to remember purple streamers doing well - thanks to a tip from then-Montana Grizzlies head football coach Bobby Hauck), I remember the exact fly, presentation and conditions of the mountain whitefish take.

I had driven as far as my little rental car and a quarter of a tank of gas could take me on the dirt road that parallels Rock Creek, to a finger of the creek that was no more than a trickle.

It was the end of a long, but productive day on the water, so I didn't even have my waders on any longer, but wanted to get a few more casts in before I winded my way back to Missoula and celebrated my catches with an ice-cold Big Sky Trout Slayer Ale.

Before turning around, I pulled over, ran down to the creek's edge, a plopped a tiny beadhead nymph at the start of a little run on down to the main portion of the creek.

As the beadhead bounced its way down the run, I thought for sure I had hung up in the gravely bottom, but got a thrill when I saw a silver bullet shoot upstream.

Because this stretch of the stream was so narrow, I had no trouble flipping the mountain whitefish up into my net.

When I pulled the fish from the net, I did a double take, expecting it to be another rainbow if anything. My first thought was that it was a squawfish or pike minnow of some sort, but then realized it had to be a mountain whitefish with that dinky mouth that doesn't extend past the eye and the scaley sides.

I took a couple photos to identify the fish when I got back to the hotel and was glad when I confirmed online that it was in fact my first mountain whitefish.

Not exactly a sought after fish for fly fishermen, but a treat for an angler who spends much of his time close to sea level.

Read more about the mountain whitefish in our species section.