Mon. was the first of three days with Pasadena Fly Fishing Club member Jim, and his friend from Texas, Dale. Since this was Jim and Dale's first trip to Missoula I wanted to be able to show them the area and put them on some of the best fishing around. I chose a stretch of the Bitterroot with a nasty diversion dam since I knew not many boats had been in there lately. We started with a dry dropper rig and had a few strikes in the first couple runs before connecting with our first trout of the day. It was a little guy and so was the next one, but then the trout started to get a little better and a nice log jam produced a big fish for Jim on the dropper. After a good fight he had the big 18" hook-jawed cuttbow in the net. While Jim was landing that fish I noticed another fish rise so we dropped Jim off to wade fish the run below and I set Dale up with a single hopper to go after the riser. It took a few casts to get the fly into a tough spot but when it finally drifted through a nice cutthroat hammered the dry. The next logjam produced an even bigger cuttbow around 17" on the hopper before we pulled over to wade fish a sidechannel. It was nice to get out of the boat but we only moved a couple smaller fish on dries so it was time to head downstream. We stuck with small hoppers for the rest of the morning and raised fish in the right spots. The best fish of the day was a 19" bow that Dale nailed tight to another logjam. The Root is low right now so you only get one shot at dry fly fish which is why we went back to the dry/dropper rig in the afternoon and the action picked up for us. All the runs produced fish on the dropper in the afternoon, and the best one gave up 4 or 5. It was a decent average size too with most of the fish in the 13-15" range and a few smaller and a few up to 16" in the afternoon. Once I portaged the diversion dam the river lost a lot of it's depth and we switched back to a single hopper. The guys landed a couple and hooked a few more on the way to the take out. We didn't see another boat fishing on the water and it was a nice day to be out.
Tue. I met the guys really early for a run up to the canyon of the Blackfoot. We were the first boat in the water and Jim didn't waste anytime hooking a great rainbow only a couple minutes into the float. A 17" fish is always a great way to start the day and we were off to the races from there. I kept the boat moving early on, but the guys hooked fish out of nearly every spot we stopped to fish until we got into the Munchmore hole. In the run above that I had seen a few spruce moths bouncing around and I hoped there would be enough to get the fish looking up. We anchored in the hole to change our flies and I saw enough rising fish to know it would be good. Dale was first up and it only took a handful of casts before he connected with a nice cutthroat on the dry. Jim was next and he came tight on a really big and brightly colored cutt in the 18-19" range. The guys continued to take turns over the next 45 minutes or so and kept hooking nice fish on dries. We stayed with double dry fly rigs after leaving that run and the fishing was nothing short of fantastic. Every run produced a fish or two and most were quality sized trout on dry flies. It was some of the best spruce moth fishing I've seen and the guys were in heaven. The beauty of the canyon and nice dry fly eating trout is a hard combination to beat. After lunch we floated out of the canyon and the spruce moth bite faded so we went back to the dry/dropper rig. The fishing tapered off from the pace we set in the morning, but it was still solid and the good runs were producing fish, mostly smaller in the afternoon but a few bigger fish as well. Near the end of the day Dale hooked up on a nice fish at a creek mouth and it turned out to be a 17" bull trout which gave him a slam for the day, a cutthroat, rainbow, brown, and bull trout all in one day. Both Jim and Dale remarked toward the end of the float that this was the finest day floating a river they've ever had. That's high praise for the Blackfoot and the spruce moth hatch.
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| Dry fly cutthroat |
Wed. was my last day with Jim and Dale and we headed to the upper Bitterroot and cold water today. We started with a dry/dropper rig again and there was plenty of action right out of the gate. Fish were eating both the dry and the dropper, and Dale got of to a hot start with the first few fish including a bright 17-18" cuttbow. Then Jim popped a jumping 15" brown out from behind a root ball and the action continued at a steady pace from there. We did stop in a couple places in the morning and fished single dries to rising fish. The first spot yielded 3 cutts for Dale and Jim turned a number of heads just downriver. We toyed with some straight dry fly rigs in both the morning and afternoon but they weren't producing as consistently as the dry/dropper rig. The guys had 3 or 4 doubles today and there was a good mix of trout. We caught a few browns, the best a 17" beauty by Dale, a few rainbows, and lots of cutts and cuttbows. There were some smaller trout, but it was a good average today with most of the fish in the 12-14" range and several in the 15-18" class. By 1 o'clock the fishing tapered off in the heat. We caught a few more on our way to the take out but our best action was definitely earlier in the day. It was a good introduction to Missoula for Jim and Dale. Despite the warm weather we had 2 great days of fishing and one day that was decent. They're both terrific guys and I had a lot of fun. And they're already talking about a return trip next year.
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| Trapper Peak in the full moon |
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| Dale's Bitterroot Brown |
Thur. I fished with returning anglers Paul and Ryan. I couldn't resist the opportunity to get back up to the canyon of the Blackfoot and hit the spruce moth hatch again. The day started off great with 3 fish in the first two runs. It was all dropper fish early and we moved fast, just hitting the best runs and most of those gave us a trout. When it seemed like the time was right, I switched the guys over to double spruce moths and on Paul's first cast he came tight to a nice cutthroat. There weren't a lot of moths yet but fish were still rising to the fly in the right spots until we pulled in the Munchmore hole. There were lots of fish eating in there and Ryan connected with two quick cutts in the 15-16" range. They got a little harder to feed after that but we still got a few more strikes before moving on. The rest of the morning was simply awesome dry fly fishing. Early on there were lots of smaller trout attacking the fly with a few good ones mixed in, but as the morning continued the size of the fish just got better and better. There were lots of fish from 14-18" through the canyon with some great visual eats. Paul rested for a bit and Ryan absolutely beat on the trout through the bottom of the canyon. Then when Paul got back in on the action we had back to back doubles in a good run and Paul hooked several big fish out of one fast canyon wall run. Once we got out of the canyon we switched to hoppers and moved a couple fish before pulling into the shade for lunch. The afternoon shift was decent, we caught some fish and a couple of nice ones but we definitely had to work harder compared to the easy morning fishing. Eventually around 2 things shut off completely and since there were plenty of fish to boat today we headed for the ramp.
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| Colers of Summer in Montana |
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| Blackfoot double with Paul |
Fri. it was groundhog day with Ryan and Paul. After the fishing we witnessed yesterday we had to go straight back to the Blackfoot. The early fishing was similar with dropper fish, although we did get a couple on the big dry fly including an awesome brown by Paul in the 17-18" range. Just a little while later Ryan got a bull trout on the dropper so in the first hour we had all four main species to the boat. We made the switch to spruce moths and started raising fish right on cue again. There was a little more traffic on the river today which changed our game plan a bit, but not much. Again, it was lots of smaller fish early with small to medium cutts and bows all over the dry flies and as we got lower in the canyon the fish got bigger. The entrance run to the canyon gave up four cutts for Ryan and there were a couple of nice troughs that produced some big fish including a 20" cuttbow that Ryan tagged at the end of his drift. Not long after that Ryan fished the spot where Paul tagged some good ones yesterday and he came tight on three nice fish including another fat cuttbow in the 18" range. There were some big fish on the hunt today and the guys found some of them. The early dry fly fishing was fairly similar to yesterday, but our afternoon fishing held up a little better with plenty of action on small hopper patterns. There were lots of smaller fish after the fly, but enough bigger trout to keep things interesting. Toward the end of the float we got beat up by boat traffic a little, but by then everyone was worn out and ready to head home. Paul and Ryan are always a pleasure to fish with. They love coming out to Montana and they are usually rewarded with some pretty good fishing. I hope to see them again next year.
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| Big cuttbow on the dry fly |
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| Bigger cuttbow on the dry! |
Sun. was another father/son day on the river and today it was with first time fly anglers John and Slade. John had some work to do in Seattle and on his way back through Montana he wanted to get his 10 year old son out for his first fly fishing experience. I love taking kids fishing and I had a great time with Slade in the boat today. They're the future of the sport and the more we get involved the better fly fishing will be. We met early and headed up the Blackfoot. I was a little concerned when I showed up at the boat ramp and there were 4 other boats already putting in. I decided against fishing with everyone else and we kept driving further up river. Once the boat was in the water I went over the basics with Slade, casting, mending, stripping line, and setting the hook and gave a little refresher to John too. I started Slade with a single nymph and John with a dry/dropper rig. In the first run Slade set the hook on a nice fish and was briefly connected. The fish was headed north and Slade was pulling south and the trout won. It all happened so fast, on Slade's third or fourth cast, that we needed a big dose of luck there because he was just getting used to everything and the fish got away. The guys were kind of feeling things out and we had a few strikes before John connected with the first few fish of the day. The first two were whitefish before a small rainbow came boatside. At that point I started to see some spruce moths bouncing around and I switched Slade over to a single dry and took him over to a rock wall. Only a couple casts into the run a brown trout came up and ate the dry. After a good fight Slade had his first fly rod fish landed. I switched John up to a spruce moth and we fished single dries for the rest of the day. There was lots of action from that point on. A good number of smaller cutts and bows were looking for the fly and some better fish too. Both John and Slade connected with a few cutts in the 13-14" range and near the end of the float Slade stuck a pretty 16" cutthroat on a dry fly. It was a great day on the water. We had the river to ourselves, trout were eating dry flies, and it was good enough that even Slade lost count of how many fish he actually caught. I fished with a lot of kids over the years and I can't think of another 10 year old who stayed as focused over the course of the day and who caught on to fly fishing as quickly as Slade. John did well too, he was the perfect father/angler. He fished where he could, kept the emphasis on Slade, and managed to catch some nice fish in the process. I think Christmas may involve some fly fishing gear under the tree for this family.
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| Slade with a great cutthroat...take a kid fishing, it's good for the soul! |
We also had several other groups out this week fly fishing around Missoula. Doug Jones, member of the Orange County fly fishing club, brought a group out including his brother, Chris, and Charles and John. This was their first trip to the Missoula area and they got the grand tour of all three rivers, the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, and Clark Fork with guides Erik and Chris. They had a good time and caught some nice fish. Some of the boys did best on the Bitterroot while some caught more on the Blackfoot, and the Clark Fork produced some good ones as well. I think this crew really enjoyed the town of Missoula and the diversity of the rivers, and I hope to see them out again.
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| Chris with a Bitterroot brownie |
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| Doug's big cutthroat |
Joel and Larry were also out from Florida with guide, Evan for three days in Missoula. Both anglers were fairly new to fly fishing, but they had a great attitude and were just looking to enjoy Montana. They fished the Clark Fork on day 1 and found some of those big, hard-fighting cuttbows and then spent two days on the Blackfoot taking in the great scenery and hooking up on some awesome trout. These guys had a solid introduction to Missoula and a killer fishing trip.
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| Larry's big Clark Fork cuttbow |
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| Holy Hog!! Biggest fish of the week, Joel's 21" Blackfoot cuttbow |
Anglers Ellie and Andrea were over from Seattle for the day with guide, John, up in the canyon of the Blackfoot. These great ladies were sent to me by friend, Matt who requested John and the canyon to show them the best time possible. The report from John was a solid day of fishing with spruce moths and hopper/dropper rigs including a couple big trout in the 18" range. John had the gals in stitches all day with his famous one-liners but unfortunately he didn't take any pics so I'll see if I can track any down from Ellie or Andrea next week.
Another solid week of fly fishing around Missoula. The game has changed to early meet times, but I guess I'll sleep in the winter. The weatherman says we have some cooler weather on the horizon and that should help immensely. Hoppers and ants are starting to make an appearance too and those terrestrials will keep fish looking up. Looking forward to another week on the water.
Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
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