Cool spring fishing on the Bitterroot River

Nick holding Elinor's beautiful trout

This trip was in the middle of April but I am getting caught up with some posts. As you can see, the weather is very cool. People are bundled up, but there have been hatches and the water levels have been good. If you dress right, the fishing is great.

In these photos are Rachel and Elinor. Rachel sent some of the photos in the slideshow, thank you!

And I think this was Elinor's first fly fishing experience. As you can see, she did well. So did others, it was a good few days on the Bitterroot.

See below for a slideshow.

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Fishing the Bitterroot in early April with Doc Bolton

Doc was at his Montana home on the Bitterroot for a few weeks in April. Of course he was fishing with friends, on his own and with Jack. I guess Jack is also a friend - but a friend that fishes for a living. Sadly, Doc's and our good friend and favorite fishing buddy, Terry Nobles, isn't able to fish any more. At 90 years old, it just doesn't work for him now. But we visit him with photos and river stories.

Bitterroot April 9, 2011

Doc on the Bitterroot April 9, 2011

Doc and Terry in April 2009

Anyway, here are some photos of the Bitterroot and Doc. The first two are from this spring. The second two are from 2009 when Terry fished with Doc and Jack.

Terry with his brown trout on the day he was fishing with Doc. Jack is holding it for him.

Bitterroot River is "jumping" up in flows today

The Bitterroot River water flow near Darby has tripled in cubic feet per second (cfs). According to Jack, it is one of the fastest "bumps" up he has seen, which is why I say it has jumped up. The rain and warmer temperatures are bringing melted snow into the tributaries.

The Big Hole near Divide, Mont. has also come up from about 400 cfs two days ago to 647 cfs at the time of this writing.
The Clark Fork below Missoula has come up from a little over 3,000 cfs two days ago to 5,510 cfs.
Rock Creek near Clinton was at about 250 cfs two days ago and is now 535 cfs.
The Blackfoot River near Bonner was a little over 1,000 cfs two days ago and is now 2,830 cfs.

Jack and I will heading down to the Darby area later today and I will try to get some photos along the way. Needless to say, the fishing won't be happening.

Wapiti Waters Stream Flow Links - click this link for more stream-flow information and links to the USGS data sites.