Fishing the Bitterroot - cold weather but good fishing

It was a cold day on the Bitterroot for this sturdy group from San Diego. A dark day makes for dark photos but that was a nice trout Don caught.  Day one of three days. More photos coming I hope.

Jack is holding Don's trout before they released it.

Bitterroot River

Bitterroot River mid-week, good fishing and pretty spring day

Jack and Jeff always do this stretch of the river in late March as an annual trip. This starts their fishing season off and helps them get caught up after a long winter. It was a nice day overall, except for someone doing some kind of control burn on the bank...but the company and the fishing were both good.

Jeff with a trout

trout, duh

Questionable air quality. Someone is burning a pile near the bank.

Fishing the Bitterroot - awesome day

One of the cutthroat I caught, yea!

The temperature was warmer as promised by the weather man. It got to 66 degrees, lovely afternoon with some wind sometimes, no wind sometimes..just enough to keep you tuned in to your casting skills. Bugs, yes. That is all I will say. The fish were rising, we had so much fun. John Hickman, Jack, me and our Chesapeake Bay Retriever Freda. Happy day!

Here are some photos - see the slideshow below.

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A couple of early spring days with Pam and Rick on the Bitterroot River

 Cool weather, but when you like to fish, you layer up and go for it. Not much wind and no rain so the fishing was actually pretty darn good. Thanks Pam and Rick for spending two great days with Wapiti Waters.

March31, I updated this with some photos that Pam and Rick sent us. Thanks for sharing.

Photo send in by Rick and Pam - beautiful trout!

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Fresh snow in the Bitterroot Mountains this morning

Taken west of Victor, Montana looking west at Totem Peaks and Bear Creek drainage. New snow means more water for the rivers this summer.

Mid-March update for Bitterroot River

Tucker Crossing on the middle Bitterroot, looking southeast at the Sapphire Mountains

This month has been good for the snowpack. The Bitterroot Mountains have been receiving and storing snow at the higher elevations. There have been some teaser warm days, but the current week (third full week of March) will be cooler in temperatures and more snow is in the forecast.

Sunday (3/18) Evening's First Alert Forecast: Slushy Snow Tonight for MISSOULA COUNTY
By Adam Painter Meteorologist

 NWCC - Montana MAP with SNOTEL Current Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) % of Normal 

Stream flow data in the middle Bitterroot River

Late Feb photos of middle Bitterroot River

Here are photos of the Bitterroot near Bell Crossing on February 26, 2012. The cubic feet per second (CFS) was about 570. Temperature was in the low 30 degree range. Beautiful day. We like to give the fish a break in the winter while they are struggling to survive the cold, low water but I do like to chronicle the river in photos. Interesting to look back from year to year and compare winter conditions with spring, summer, and fall fishing observations. We love our rivers and all that lives in and on them. It is exciting to watch them as they change through the seasons.
All the river photos are taken from Bell Crossing Bridge looking north.