​Optics are an instrumental tool to the avid hunter. Your day can hinge on your ability to find an animal on a distant mountain face. Or determine the size of the bull elk on the next ridge at first light. Or identify the rutting whitetail buck that’s chasing a doe your way across the cornfield. As you no doubt know, the scenarios are endless.

Introducing STYRKA, a new line of optics dedicated to providing hunters with outstanding products.WHY ENTER SUCH A CROWDED MARKET, YOU ASK?  We’ve learned a few things from over a century of experience in the optics industry and have applied this knowledge and experience to STYRKA products.

We also feel like there’s a place for a hunting optics company to illuminate the science of optics for the hunter. No spin or embellishment. Just the facts. That’s our ongoing goal. We also think it’s time for a hunting optics company to really stand behind their product. To make a commitment of excellence to you, the customer.

Flathead Lake and Sloughs:
Lake Trout, trolling with cut plugs, flat fish and spoons.  Jigging with tube jigs and cut bait.  Whitefish are in the river, try small tube jigs, and Gitzits.  Perch, fishing has picked up in the sloughs.

Flathead River:
USGS Columbia Falls:  Discharge: 3770 fps.      Water Temp: 51 to 58.
North Fork: The upper run is getting a little bony but fishing good with dry flies, nymphs and terrestrials.  Stimulators, hoppers, ants, caddis and mayfly patterns.

Thompson River: 
USGS Discharge: 159 fps
Water flow is getting low for fishing. Small dry flies, and terrestrial (hoppers, ants, use caddis for moths). For streamer fly fishing use muddler minnows. Browns and Rainbows are moving up from the Clark Fork.

Swan Lake:
Salmon trolling 40 to 60' use dodgers and small spoons.  Rainbows trolling the shoreline in the early morning and evenings, use spinners. Pike fishing on the weed beds and the river mouth on the south end of the lake.
 
Loon Lake: (TLC)
Good Bass fishing with plastics and crankbaits. Perch and Crappie near weed beds and wind falls. Rainbows trout are active again with the cooler water temperatures. 

To be a survivor and not a statistic in a field emergency, you need a survival kit you can live with. As hunters are rightly concerned with the weight they carry afield, your first order of business must be to keep your survival kit light by limiting it to the essentials. Next, develop the habit of taking your survival pack with you every time you go into the field. Lastly, learn how to use your survival equipment properly. Remember, knowing how to use your equipment is as important as having it!

​Here are some items that are recommended to have in your survival kit:

​Lake Koocanusa:
Good Salmon fishing around Rexford try trolling with wedding rings 30 to 40' for jigging use Haileys 30 to 40'.  For the big Rainbows in the early morning troll with Berkley Flicker shad, large spoons and flies.  Kokanee snagging is on. Tobacco River and Grave Creek, the salmon are moving in big numbers.    Kootenai Falls downstream from the Swinging Bridge, Not showing much action yet.

Koocanusa
Good Salmon fishing around Rexford try trolling with wedding rings 30 to 40' for jigging use Haileys 30 to 40'.  For the big Rainbows in the early morning troll with Berkley Flicker shad, large spoons and flies.
 
Noxon Reservoir
Excellent Bass, Walleye and Pike. Look at the edge of 20' weed beds.

With Montana's bow hunting and upland game bird seasons opening Sept. 1, remember that slow moving, quiet or game-calling, scented and camouflaged hunters will soon be sharing the landscape with the state's even stealthier bears that may be stalking similar prey.

​It may not be an encounter one hopes for, but all hunters must be aware there is that potential.

Flathead River
USGS Columbia Falls:  Discharge 4300 fps.      Water temp. 56 to 52
North Fork - the upper run is getting a little bony but fishing good with dry flies and nymphs.  Stimulators, hoppers, ants, caddis, may fly patterns.
 
Flathead River Slough
Church and Fennel   good Pike in the early morning and some Bass. Try deep weed beds for pike with large jerk baits and shallow diving crank baits for bass, square bills, and Texas rigging.

 
Thompson River
USGS: Discharge 199 fps
Water flow is getting low for fishing. Small dry flies, and terrestrial (hoppers, ants, use caddis for moths). For streamer fly fishing use muddler minnows.