SHOP BOARD — FLOWS POSTED WHEN THE GAUGES REPORTFREE U.S. SHIPPING OVER $49 · SHOP STATUS: OPEN — CLOSED WHEN THE WATER'S RIGHT
THE ATLAS · MT · FREESTONE

Blackfoot River

The best month to fish the Blackfoot River is September. The month to avoid is May. Right now, in September, it is worth going.

  1. January: 59 out of 100
  2. February: 66 out of 100
  3. March: 71 out of 100
  4. April: 46 out of 100
  5. May: 46 out of 100
  6. June: 56 out of 100
  7. July: 71 out of 100
  8. August: 71 out of 100
  9. September: 97 out of 100
  10. October: 80 out of 100
  11. November: 69 out of 100
  12. December: 62 out of 100
SEPTEMBER: GO97/100
WHERE IT IS
LOADING THE MAP…

GAUGE 12340000 · COLOURED BY SEPTEMBER

THE NUMBERS

Month by month

MONTHTYPICAL FLOWRANGE (P20–P80)WATERAIR HIGHRAINSCORE
January538 cfs452–64832.8°F——59
February568 cfs426–61133.0°F——66
March825 cfs630–1,05938.6°F——71
April2,377 cfs1,457–3,27943.9°F——46
May5,353 cfs3,054–6,88049.2°F——46
June4,142 cfs2,545–5,17057.3°F——56
July1,208 cfs861–1,91564.5°F——71
August677 cfs511–82362.8°F——71
SeptemberNOW573 cfs462–64955.3°F——97
October576 cfs497–62345.7°F——80
November595 cfs518–76836.6°F——69
December584 cfs465–64733.2°F——62
WHERE THESE NUMBERS COME FROM

Flow and water temperature are medians of the monthly means reported by USGS gauge 12340000 over 2006-2025. Air temperature and precipitation are ten-year normals from Open-Meteo at this river’s gauge coordinates.

The window is deliberate. USGS’s own full-record statistics for a dammed river reach back before the dam — at Lees Ferry, to 1922, forty-one years before Glen Canyon closed — and describe a river that no longer exists.

Flow is scored against this river’s own fishable band of 576–1,208 cfs. There is no universal band: 8,000 cfs is low water on a big tailwater and a flood on a spring creek.

Water temperature is a ceiling rather than a weight. Above about 68°F a trout that is fought and released frequently dies anyway, so no month above that line is scored as worth booking, however good its flow.

Regulations, licences and access change without notice and are not reproduced here as fact — check the state agency before you travel. A median describes twenty years; it does not forecast your week. Source: U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Information System.