A saturday on the Bitterroot

Jack worked last Saturday with two friends/outfitters/guides Josh Lauer and Scott Nicolarsen. They all met at a parking lot in Hamilton, then each went their own way to fish their choice stretch of the 80+ mile Bitterroot River. By looking at the group in the parking lot, it might have looked like a lot of boats fishing together, but that was not the case. They fished separate sections. Too many boats in close proximity are not doing the fish any favors or the public (especially the wade fishers). Jack and his friends work hard and practice good manners and ethics.

This Saturday was like most, the river was pretty crowded, but the fishing was good for Jack and his boat. See some photos below.

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Bugs on the Bitterroot - Skwala and Mayfly photos

I forgot to mention in the earlier blog that we were fishing with Jack's dry imitations of skwala and mayflies. These photos show why. We saw them on the water. The first is a photo of an Ameletus mayfly dun. It is beautiful in it's grey color and upright profile.



The second photo is, of course, a female skwala stonefly on my wader pant leg. She stayed with us in the boat for most of the trip.



Below is a fish Jack caught while wade fishing during a mayfly hatch. I can't tell you what fly he was using, it is too obvious.



When you fish the hatch, you will have to match the size.


Jack also caught the brown trout in an earlier post during this hatch. AND with my camera around my neck, I caught one of the biggest fish, another brown trout, right at the end of the hatch. Now that I am learning to set my hook better, it is getting a lot more fun!

Fly Fishing on the Rise - of the Bitterroot River

Jack and I float fished the Bitterroot a few days ago. We caught fish, but it was a bit "off." The water was slightly turbid and it seemed to be rising. Well, it was! It went up nearly 300 cubic feet per second (CFS) that day to become 2000 CFS in the middle-river. Today it looks like it will reach 4000 CFS. It is warm and they are expecting rain.

We caught fish, mostly in the afternoon during a mayfly hatch and the birds were extremely active. I ended up taking about 500 photos of fish we caught, scenery of course, our puppy, flowers, Hooded Mergansers, Osprey, geese, mayfies and more. Consequently, I am really busy editing them and haven't done a post recently. Today I will post a few teaser photos. I will do more and a slideshow as soon as I can.

Check back soon to see if this osprey comes up with a fish!

Bitterroot River with Joe Graziano

Joe Graziano fished this beautiful day with Jack on the Bitterroot River. With the very cool nights, the river is coming up, but fairly orderly and there are fish to be caught.

The forecast for next week is for 70 degree days and nights above freezing. Those ingredients make for a rising river and possible run-off conditions.

Check back to see what happens and if the fishing turns on or off. For Bitterroot weather (ten day forecast) and local USGS streamflow data click www.wapiti-waters.com/stream.htm.

A Trip Down The Bitterroot River - by Photographs

My brother, Roy, came from Whitefish to fish and float the upper Bitterroot on Sunday and were surprised that we saw only two other boats. The first of the boats was another guide but the second was Rob who had come down from the Kalispell area to fish with George. It was great to see them and introduce the northern boys (Whitefish and Kalispell are in northwest Montana) to one another, albeit while wearing fishing gear including hats and dark glasses and floating by on a fairly fast river. It is kind of like meeting someone while skiing. You might never recognize them in street clothes.



The river was up enough to be pretty fast and a little bit cloudy, especially where the tributaries flowed in. We did see skwala, but not very many. We worked hard at trying different patterns and even some nymph fishing. The morning fishing was slow, but we had better success in the afternoon.



The slideshow below will take you down the river by photographs. By the time we got to the take-out, I was busy keeping the puppy close so I stopped taking photos just above it. I did capture an old car rip-rap bank, various birds, pretty cliffs, stone outcroppings, vistas, and of course some trout.

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Skwalas on the Bitterroot - photos

In early March, you can start looking for Skwala stoneflies. They are similar to salmonflies in appearance and habitat, though they are smaller.

The Skwalas are related to the little yellow stoneflies though they do not belong to the same biological family.

For more information about the Skwala hatch, give us a call.

Here are some photos of skwala we saw on the Bitterroot River a few days ago. See the slideshow below.

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Fly Fishing the Bitterroot - It is still cool, but we are seeing skwala

I am editing some skwala photos, but wanted to post a few photos from our fishing on Sunday. It was surprisingly good. More photos, including skwala, will be in the next post.

To throw in some drama, I will post a photo of geese flying over and an osprey on that same stretch of the Bitterroot River.

Doc Bolton Fly Fishing the Bitterroot with Jack

Doc Bolton is up from California again. He has a small house on the Bitterroot now and comes up at least a couple of times a year. He is fishing about four days with Jack and today, Terry Nobles is in the boat. I will pick them up at the take out. I can't wait to get some more photos of Terry. Click Terry Nobles for more blog entries about him.

Here is a slideshow of Doc's fishing. You will see different days, different sections of the Bitterroot River.

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Then choose "Slideshow" to get a full screen view.

Philosophy of Spring Fly Fishing on the Bitterroot River

No doubt the snowpack that has been laid down since the first day of spring will be welcome in late July. Right now, however, it’s definitely caused a few cancellations as some of our anglers think it’s too cold to fish. It is hard to argue with that. For sure these are some of the coldest water temperatures we have ever guided on! Yet, there has been good fishing without a lot of bugs yet.

No, we have not resorted to the use of indicators and nymphs…PLEASE! Spring angling is about finding a few fish “looking up.” It is about getting the rust out of your cast; reminding yourself that sometimes you need to mend downstream, not only upstream, in order to get the extended drift; and it is about making a slow, firm hook-set when a fish does happen to inhale your dry fly. You had better have just enough line slack to drift your bug just right but not too much line slack reducing your control and reaction time. Early spring fishing is about the joy of casting a single, buoyant big stonefly dry or mayfly pattern and observing the sights and sounds around you, the life that is teeming on the river and banks. So for me, it is not about hooking a bunch of whitefish or watching a bobber all day long… this is my philosophy.

Yes, there are those that want to fish with droppers off of large dries or indicators in nymph rigs. Many anglers coming from a tail-water expect their guides to produce lots of fish and have lots of action. So be it. I do respect their right to lose as many flies as possible on all the woody debris that is found on the Bitterroot River. With that said, yesterday was the first bright sunny day in three weeks after clouds and snow, and it fished tough. We found big fish tight to some cover and a few out in the open lanes. It turned into a good day despite the conditions.

Fly Fishing the Bitterroot April 2, 2009 - Cool but good fishing

Jack has been guiding a lot recently, but the clients for today decided it was too cold for them. It was a cool morning but about noon we decided we would do a short float together and scout a middle stretch of the river for water level, woody debris and shifting gravel/sand bars. There weren't many bugs yet the trout came up to our dry flies. It turned out to be a productive and beautiful day, though we did encounter some squalls with rain and wind. I forgot a warm hat so by the time we took-out, around 5:15, I was ready to get warm in the truck.

Check out the slideshow below for more river photos including some birds and fish.

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From San Diego to Montana - Quite an adjustment - The Bitteroot fished great!

Dusty Bernard organizes a spring fishing trip to the Bitterroot. They stay at the Bitterroot River Lodge and fish with Wapiti Waters.

This year was the coldest weather they had fished in and Jack said it was the coldest water temperatures he had ever guided on. There was ice everywhere but the trout, including the Bitterroot native cutthroat you see Dusty holding, still came up to their dry flies. For this fish, Dusty used one of Banjo Jack's Skwalla Dry Flies.

For more photos see the slideshow below. Hopefully, Dusty and others will send us some of the photos from their cameras. When they do, I will update the slideshow. Check back in a few days.

Choose View Album to see the photos in a new, larger window, then choose the slideshow option to view in full screen mode.

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Spring Fishing on the Bitterroot and Emerging Insects

In the "Banana Belt" of western Montana, anglers not only have one of the longest fishing seasons in the state but also some of the finest dry-fly fishing at a time the fly fisherman needs it the most – in early spring. Flowing through the heart of the Bitterroot valley, the Bitterroot River has a hatch that has excited anglers for a couple of decades particularly after many articles have been published. Obviously, it is no longer a secret. I am talking about the skwalla stonefly hatch. The hatch is actually one of the several important insects to emerge in a typical western Montana spring.

The skwalla draws attention to the largest trout in the river and the beauty of it all is that it is top water fishing. In my mind anyone can (and frequently does) put on a bobber with a nymph pattern and fish to the large trout -- even using skwalla nymph patterns. But to fool large trout on the surface in the right conditions is what our spring fishing is all about.

Knowledgeable, observant anglers pay attention to the natural world around them. The phenological events of spring are indicators for the fisherman. We watch for the appearance of buttercups, biscuitroot, pasque flowers, and glacier lilies on the hillsides. The robins, western meadowlarks, and western bluebirds are giving us a reminder that it is time to fish.

1. Phenological: the relationship between a regularly recurring biological phenomenon and climatic or environmental factors that may influence it.

Here are photos of a few of my favorite fly patterns that have evolved over three decades of spring fishing on the Bitterroot and Clark Fork.

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I'm Thinking about Montana Fly Fishing in March - Bitterroot River

For those who are interested in spring fly fishing on the Bitterroot River in Montana, I am posting a series of slideshows for March, April and May.

This blog entry is for March since we begin our new year of boat fly fishing in this month. The earliest photo I have is on March 13. On any given day, you can have sun, snow, sleet, rain or a mixture of all of it. When you are floating, it is important to know the river and your boat - understanding the type of water and the distance between put-ins and take-outs. We always take a thermos of hot coffee (or cocoa) and/or soup along, and we dress in layers. It can be exhilarating to experience weather changes, the related hatches and trout feeding responses, so hold on to your hat! Remember in this season, if today is not great fishing, tomorrow probably will be. The message here is be patient and plan for at least a few days. It will be worth it.

Note: one of the photos of Jack is from the Clark Fork. We also fish the Blackfoot, Big Hole and Missouri, depending on the weather.

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These photos are varied in quality. To view the slideshow in full screen mode, click View Album and choose "Slide Show."

A future entry will show the river in April. Besides featuring fish, it will have more photos of scenes including wildlife and birds. The river bottom is a "happening place" in the spring.