Fishing Lake Francis

Years ago, to compile a statewide fishing report for a regional hunting and fishing magazine, I phoned sporting goods stores, fly shops and marinas across Montana for up-to-date local fishing reports.

One of my prime sources was Dallas Denter who ran a laundry business in Chester and sold minnows.

Denter told me he never got serious about walleye fishing until the middle of June.†

That made sense to me as May trips to Tiber Reservoir and Lake Francis generally resulted in catches of smaller males.

So, in the last 10 years or so, I've generally waited until Father's Day or later to check out walleye fishing east of the mountains.

Actually, more than once, some pretty good walleye fishing on Tiber coincided with the fair in Shelby because I remember stopping at the fair with my son.

On Lake Francis, my first good walleye day has generally been the week after Homesteader Days in Valier.

Well, in an effort to gorge on some fresh beer-battered walleye nuggets, I picked the only day in over a week when the winds were supposed to be less than 20 mph to head to Valier.

Posters at the Conoco station informed me, according to my Homesteader Days timing, I was a week too early.

Only two parked trailers in the parking lot at the ramp supported this assumption.

The water level in Lake Francis was high.† Water temp was 64 degrees. And I didn't see any perch fry.

A guy pulling out, when I launched, told me he limited in 45 minutes at dawn the day before.†

That day he fished two hours at dawn for four fish.† All males.

The general thinking for walleyes is males are more active feeders post-spawn, followed by females.

And, on Lake Francis, walleyes are vulnerable to trolling, jigging and plugging until that year's perch crop reach fry stage.†Then the walleyes turn, almost exclusively, to eating perch fry and fingerlings. At that time, generally around July 4, walleye fishing success plummets.