Missoula Fishing Report for the week of 8/11/2013

It was another solid week of fishing around Missoula.  The weather gave us a break with some cooler temps and cloudy skies.  It is still important to know where to be, and the colder water of the upper Bitterroot and Blackfoot has produced the best fishing.  Terrestrials like hoppers, ants, and beetles are the most effective dry flies at the moment and a hopper/dropper rig is keeping anglers busy during times when the fish aren't actively looking up.  We found good numbers of fish everyday last week and some surprisingly big fish too for mid-summer.  Our days are getting shorter and the nights longer and colder.  Fall fishing is just on the horizon and hatches of Tricos and Hecubas (big fall drakes) should be consistently on the menu soon

Jim hooked up on the upper Bitterroot

Brian's 21" bow on a hopper

Son Conner not far behind with a 19" stud

Sunrise on the Blackfoot

Another Montana memory

Joan's big Blackfoot cutthroat on a little dry fly

Can't wait to see what next week brings.

Tight Lines,

Tony Reinhardt

Montana Trout Outfitters

406-544-3516

Fishing Report for the week of 7/28/2013

HOOT OWL fishing restrictions are now in effect on the Bitterroot and Clark Fork rivers, and likely on the Blackfoot soon.  These restrictions mean no fishing from 

2pm til midnight.  This is meant to protect trout during the higher water temps during late afternoon, and is in-line with our current fishing program.  We have been meeting early, 5-6 a.m. and noticed a drop off in the fishing around 2 even before the restrictions were in place.  The early alarm clock isn't ideal, but the fishing has still been solid.

It was a busy week at MTO so this is one of the longer fishing reports....

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.

The Release

Jim wade fishing the Bitterroot

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.

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.

Trapper Peak in the full moon

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.  

Colers of Summer in Montana

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.

Big cuttbow on the dry fly

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.

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.

Chris with a Bitterroot brownie

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.

Larry's big Clark Fork cuttbow

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

406-544-3516

Fishing Report for the week of 6/23/2013

Mon. was the first day out for the season with Brian and Bridger the trout dog.  We decided to float the Bitterroot around Hamilton and it was a good choice considering we hooked up on 3 trout in the first ten minutes of the day.  Brian was throwing a dry/dropper rig and all the action was on the dropper in the morning and it was steady.  Every spot that I thought was holding fish produced a solid strike.  Late in the morning we got out of the boat to wade fish a spot where a small stream enters the river.  There were PMDs and yellow sallies coming off and fish were rising at the confluence so I rigged up a double dry outfit.  We spent over an hour in that spot and stuck some nice rising fish.  Most were bows and cutts in the 12-16" range that came to the PMD but after the first few trout Brian came tight on a serious fish and the fight was on.  After a long battle, the best fish of the day came to the net.  It was a big, thick cuttbow and we were too far away from the boat to grab the tape measure, but it was a solid 20" fish that might've gone 21".  It was back to the dry/dropper after that spot and the nymph continued to dig up nice fish.  Late in the day we gave it a shot with straight dry flies and connected with a few smaller trout, but there just weren't enough bugs to get the bigger fish looking up so we went back to the dropper and poked a few more before hitting the takeout.  The weather was glorious and Brian started his season off with a bunch of nice fish and Bridger was there the whole time looking on, and licking the occasional trout before release.

Brian and Bridger hooked up

Big dryfly cuttbow

Tue. I was out with Bitterroot valley locals, Jim and Dick for a float on the upper Bitterroot.  Big thunderstorms were in the forecast for the afternoon so we didn't want to stray too far from home.  It took a whole 45 seconds for Jim to hook the first fish of the day and we were off to the races from there.  Both guys started with dry/dropper rigs and while most of the action was definitely on the dropper, there were some really nice fish coming up on the dry as well.  Dick went with a single dry in the afternoon and raised a bunch of fish in the right water, and Jim stuck with the dry/dropper with about a 50/50 mix on top and underneath.  There were a bunch of cutthroat in 12-15" range with some bows and brownies,  and a number of bigger fish up to 17.5".  Late in the day the storms did move in but we were lucky to avoid a direct hit and fished through most of it.  Another great day on the Bitterroot.

Tight lines in the storm

Wed. was the first of three days with longtime anglers and friends, Penny and Dianne.  These ladies have a knack for catching big fish no matter the conditions and I always look forward to their trips.  Coming from sunny SoCal they weren't too excited about the cool, cloudy, and rainy weather but I knew those clouds could bring some great fishing.  We set off for the Blackfoot to see how many salmonflies were still kicking around in the canyon.  Dry/dropper rigs produced some nice fish for us in the North Fork and after hitting the main river Dianne tagged a great brown trout on the nymph.  There were some other nice fish in the morning before we pulled over out of the wind for lunch.  It was cool and wet with not many stoneflies on the move but we still made the switch to straight flies for the canyon.  I just have to fish dries through the canyon this time of year.  A giant trout can gobble your salmonfly at anytime and they live in water too shallow to fish a dropper.  It didn't take long for that decision to pay off when Penny stuck a wide 20" cuttbow on a big dry.  We caught fish at a modest pace through the canyon and I was thinking it was just a little to cold and wet for a good dry fly day when I noticed my first green drake on the water.  A half hour later the Blackfoot absolutely lit up with fish crushing dries all over the river.  The gals had a bunch of doubles and more big fat cutthroat than we could keep track of.  Big fish were on the prowl too with a number of slabs at 18" and over.  It was a long, cold day and the ladies were happy to see the warm truck,p  but it was well worth it with lots of bent rods and tight lines.

Salmonfly cuttbow

Thur. the Bitterroot seemed to be the best play so we headed up toward Hamilton under cloudy skies.  Dry/dropper rigs were the name of the game early, and the first run produced a nice cutthroat on the nymph.  It was good early, mainly on the dropper with mostly cutts and cuttbows until we pulled the boat up a side channel for some wade fishing.  Once we got out of the boat Penny was set up in a great  run and stuck a number of nice fish and Dianne went a little further up the channel and poked a couple of good cutts.  After lunch Penny set off for her new favorite spot again, and Dianne and I loaded up to wade fish further up the channel.  Dianne smoked 6 or 7 nice trout on foot with both the dry and dropper while Penny absolutely wailed on fish in her little hole including the biggest fish of the day.  It was a cuttbow at 20+" that no one else saw, but Penny's seen enough big trout that I trust her judgement.  After that Dianne poked a couple more on dry flies and I even stuck a fish before we got back in the boat and headed downstream.  The fishing continued on at a constant pace and then we started to notice some rising fish and switched to a double dry rig.  The dry flies didn't disappoint as we boated several more nice fish on the homestretch to the boat ramp.  There was no shortage of fish today with plenty in the 14'16" range and a few bigger and smaller.  The weather was just about perfect, mostly cloudy and warm, and the ladies had a great time.

Unbeatable colors

Fri. was the trout day that we all dream about.  From the rowers seat I get to experience  a few truly special days each season.  Have you ever wondered what it looks like to see over 100 trout eat a dry fly in a day?  Even though flows were a little low I decided to take the gals to upper Rock Creek since they had such a great time there last year.  We fished a single dry fly all day and the biggest gap between strikes might have been 5 minutes.  In the morning we set off with golden stones and the river fished at a good pace.  Most of the good water produced strikes although there were a lot of smaller fish early in the day.  As the day progressed we started to get a few more hatches and eventually we switched over to green drakes and that's when things started to get really exciting.   Fish started showing up all over the river and the average trout was much better than the typical average on Rock Creek.  The afternoon was filled with a lot of cutts and browns in the 13-16" range and Dianne even managed to land a brook trout for a grand slam with four species in one day.  Some of the runs in the afternoon were simply loaded with rising trout and I had to do little more than drop the anchor while the ladies picked off the heads.  For a while it was absolutely silly as I was releasing fish as fast as I could and another would appear boatside with a fly in it's mouth.  There were more doubles than I could count and more fish than I could imagine today.  I was so happy for Penny and Dianne.  They take fly fishing very seriously and it was good to see that their efforts were rewarded.  They floated into the take out with another double on the line for a perfect ending to a tremendous day.  We had an awesome three days together with a bunch of fish and some really nice trout.  I look forward to seeing them again in August.

Wading Rock Creek

Sat. was a day off from fishing, but it was also the much anticipated wedding of Marcelo and Constance.  I've known Marcelo for years and I'm quite certain that he's found the perfect match with Constance.  I'm just a little worried about how he'll handle it when she starts out fishing him.

Montana wedding done right....in a barn, on a creek

Sun. I was out with fellow guide, Robert, for a two boat deal with Dick and Martha, and Mike and Nancy.  We had donated the trip to the Greater Ravalli Foundation and Dick was the winning bidder on a package that also included dinner at the Cote residence.We floated a great stretch of the Bitterroot and got off to a fast start when Mike found a fish on the first bank with a dry fly.  The fish were definitely looking up early, but it was mostly smaller trout so I rigged Nancy up with a dropper in a side channel and she was quickly tight to a thick 16" cutt.  It was a nice morning with a good number of fish to the boat and the dry fly fishing just continued to get better as the day progressed.  After lunch I had Dick and Martha in the boat and the action improved as a PMD hatch started coming off.  At one point I dropped Dick off to wade fish a long side channel while Martha and I jumped in the boat to fish and pick him up at the bottom of the channel.  Martha tagged a couple quality cutthroat on a PMD cripple and Dick had a ball wade fishing with a bunch of fish coming out of some gorgeous water.  Once we were all back together again I started noticing some Green Drakes coming off and when I saw fish exploding in the next good run I knew the fishing was about to get ridiculous.  The rest of the afternoon was simply amazing.  Just about every spot where you thought a fish should be, there was one and they were good trout in the 13-16" range.  Martha and Dick had a bunch of doubles in the afternoon and there were a couple spots where I just sat anchored and they tagged multiple rising fish.  It was another one of those special days on the water with a crew of wonderful folks.  Just to give you an idea of how good it was, at the end of the day Mike said it was his best Bitterroot day ever and he's been fishing the river for over 15 years!  To top it all off we had an amazing meal at the Cote's.  Jim and Becky are incredible hosts and it was the perfect end to an unbelievable day.

Bitterroot side channel

It was a stellar week of fishing with lots of bugs out there.  This is usually stonefly time, but the weather has had the mayflies coming off strong and PMDs and Green Drakes have produced some of the best angling of the year.  I can't wait to see what next week brings.

Tight Lines,

Tony Reinhardt

406-544-3516

Spring Time Fishing in the Rockies

The spring skwala season has been going strong since mid-March.  It's been one of the most consistent hatches on record with cooler than average temps that have kept the rivers in shape and the trout looking up.

Bitterroot Cutthroat that fell for a dryfly

Picking off rising trout in a side channel

Double release

The weather has been challenging at times, with a couple of cold fronts that brought snow and lately some big winds.  The last two days have been perfect spring weather and we experienced the best skwala fishing of the season.  Nothing but a single dry fly from start to finish and more trout than we could count.

Fishing Report for week of 4/15/2012

Dry fly cuttbow

After some pretty tough fishing last week, the Bitterroot roared back to life on Mon. It was the first of five days with long-time angler Bob Rembert and we picked a stretch on the middle Bitterroot. The water had been on the drop for the last few days and with the warm and mostly cloudy forecast I figured we would be in for some good fishing. We started the morning with a dry/dropper rig and Bob was picking off fish right above the put-in. We landed quite a few smaller (10-13") trout in the morning, but he also had a bright 17" bow. After landing three fish in a run, with a couple on the dry we decided to do an early lunch in anticipation of the dry fly fishing to come. After packing up, we switched over to a single skwala dry and the fish came absolutely unglued in the afternoon! It was literally non-stop action from 12:20 to 3:30. There were a pile of smaller fish on the hunt, but we were also seeing quality trout in spots too. At one point we landed at least 5 trout in three consecutive runs. There were a bunch of bugs around today with skwalas, march browns, and gray drakes all on the water. Some days that can make for tricky fishing where some fish are keyed in on drakes and others on the stonefly, but today we got virtually every rising fish to eat the skwala. We witnessed some pretty awesome dry fly takes today with fish absolutely crushing the dry. Later in the afternoon the fishing slowed from fever pitch to very good and our average fish got bigger as well. Bob landed a number of 18" class bows and cuttbows and a nice 17" brown to go along with an unreal amount of 12-16" trout. It was by far the best day of fishing I've seen this year and one of the best days of skwala fishing for numbers of trout that I've ever experienced! Spring fishing is always a bit of a gamble and today we hit the jackpot.

So after the best day of dry fly fishing so far this season, what did we do today? Went up the Blackfoot to streamer fish of course!?! The thing I like about Bob is he'd go fish a muddy irrigation ditch with me if I told him I thought it would be good. That willingness to take a chance has led to some epic fishing in the past, and it's also led to our fair share of ass kickings as well. It's part of the game and Bob has seen the upside often enough to know that the risk is worth the reward. We headed up to the canyon today with hopes of big fish on streamers. The big meat didn't produce much all morning. Bob had a handful of grabs and a chunky 17" cuttbow by the time we reached the Munchmore hole. The bright sun wasn't doing us any favors so we switched to a nymph rig and the results were immediate. Bob hooked over 8 in that run including a few fat 16-17" cuttbows. I focused on specific spots through the canyon and almost every run produced multiple fish. It was outstanding nymph fishing the rest of the day. We never got the big boys to eat the streamer, but we landed a ton of healthy 12-17" cutts and bows. The weather was perfect, warm with little wind and we had the entire river to ourselves. I'm sure the dry fly fishing was solid again today on the Bitterroot, but the Blackfoot was gorgeous, the fish were willing, and there wasn't another soul around.

Wed. Bob's long-time fishing buddy, Roger Austin, joined us for a day on the Bitterroot. After some warm weather the river was back on the rise so I picked a float on the lower river hoping to stay ahead of the push of water. Our morning was par for the course with most of the fish coming on a stonefly nymph dropper. We had a couple trout take a whack at the dry throughout the morning and then just before lunch we started to see a few bugs around. I stopped and switched the guys over to single dry flies. While I was still rigging Roger up, Bob stuck a nice big rainbow on the dry. Not long after that Roger coaxed a hefty brown out of a tight little hole in the bank. That fish wrapped around a bunch of tree limbs under water and I thought for sure we'd lose him but Roger managed to get the fish back out of the tangle and into the net. With the fish starting to look up I decided to stop and eat so we'd be ready when the bugs poured off in the afternoon. The only problem was that the bugs didn't pour off in the afternoon, in fact they pretty much disappeared completely. Distant clouds keep teasing us as well while we baked in the bright sun. We caught some fish in the afternoon and most everything that ate the fly was a good sized trout from 16-19", but it was tougher than we thought it would be. A combination of bright sun, rising water levels, boat traffic, and no bugs made the trout a little grumpy. We still had a great time on the water, I always enjoy having Roger in the boat, and there were some gorgeous fish today.

Midge Brownie!

After a great dinner with friends on Rock Creek with world class home made pizza by Mike Lombardi, Bob and I made the trip over the pass to the Missouri for two days of fishing. On Bob's spring trip we usually fish the Mo one day during the week, but with all the rivers in western Montana on the rise we decided to make an overnight trip out of it. We stopped in Helena to pick up provisions since we were renting an awesome cabin overlooking the river. After all the little stops we finally hit the middle river around noon. It was cloudy and relatively calm and we started fishing streamers. It didn't take long for Bob to hook three or four on the streamer rig and then we started to see some fish rising to midges. We switched over to a little midge cluster and the next couple hours was some of the best dry fly midge fishing I've ever seen. I found a little current seam with three or four fish rising. I thought they were mostly little fish, but when Bob came tight on the first one, a 17" bow I realized they were all good trout. Everytime Bob would hook a trout it seemed like two more would slide in to replace it and start feeding. I don't know how many fish we hooked on that current seam, but it was over 10 nice rainbows. It's hard to beat 16-20" bows on a size 18 dry and 5x tippet. We went from one current seam to the next picking off risers until we came to a calm part of the bank and I spotted a big fish feeding up under some overhanging willow branches. Degree of difficulty for this presentation was an 8 or 9. The fish was tucked up under the willows tight to the bank. There was only one gap in the branches to get the fly in close enough to the fish and then Bob had to feed at least 15 feet of slack into the drift to allow the fly to make it down to the feeding trout. After 20+ attempts everything came together and the fish ate the fly. Bob set the hook and a big brown erupted in a cartwheeling jump from under the willows. It was perfect. There are scores of great trout over the course of a season, but there's only a handful of special moments like that; big trout in a super tough spot on a tiny fly and light tippet. I won't forget that brown trout anytime soon. We continued catching fish on midges until the hatch petered out and the wind picked up. We switched back to streamers with reasonable success and then when the wind really started to howl we rowed for the take out.

Mo Rainbow

Fri. I really wanted to head back lower on the Missouri for streamer and midge fishing, but the weather was telling me to point my rig toward the dam. It was bright sun which typically means marginal streamer and dry fly fishing. A nymph rig on the upper river is fairly impervious to the weather and I knew Bob could stick a bunch of nice fish under the indicator today. Since we stayed the night we were able to get on the water early and row upstream to one of the best runs on the river. We stayed in that one spot for over two hours and hooked at least one fish on every pass that we made. Most were good sized bows from 16-20", but we also saw a few of the smaller 12-14" bows in the river. We finally cut loose from that run and started drifting downstream. Every spot that I thought should produce a fish, did produce and most runs Bob had several strikes. In one particular run I think we had five fish hooked, and the last was one of the hardest fighting rainbows I've seen. Bob's been around the block and knows how to play trout, but this fish just wouldn't give up. After a long battle we landed a gorgeous 20+" bow that was so thick Bob could hardly hold it. After lunch there was a traffic jam of boats so I opted for a little side channel that no one else had been down. It's funny how little decisions like that can make or break the day. We ended up finding a small shallow water spot where fish were midging and I didn't pick up the anchor for over 2.5 hours. The sun made the fish a little reluctant to rise, but we dropped a little zebra midge 4" below our dry and sight fished to big Mo rainbows. It was a blast watching the fish react to the fly, and it was amazing how many fish were stacked up in a small spot. I couldn't tell you how many fish we poked out of that spot, but there were 4 20" class rainbows with the biggest a 22" stud and many more in the 14-18" range. After that spectacle it was hard to go back to the indicator rig so we just cruised the river looking for some more midging fish. We finally found another bucket in a maze of side channels and Bob lit up a bunch of other big bows with a couple more approaching 20" and the rest from 17-19". When the fishing finally slowed down it was getting late and we cruised down to the boat ramp and back to Rock Creek. It was another great day on the Mo and an awesome week with one of my favorite anglers.

Snowy Mo Bow

Sun. I fished with Linda Hogg and Frank Heigel. We set out again for the Missouri since our local water is still a little out of shape. Linda hasn't fly fished much in the past and Frank hadn't tossed a fly in 15 years, but I knew the river would produce for us. The weather didn't help much though, after driving through snow over the pass the white stuff was still falling as we launched the boat. It made for tough conditions with bulky clothes and gloves on, and ice building up in the guides but Linda and Frank were troopers and persevered despite the elements. We hooked a bunch of nice fish today and brought some real nice rainbows to the net. Linda landed her first rainbow on the fly and Frank boated a couple great bows over 18". Both anglers fished really well today with good casts and few tangles, but the cold made it tough to feel the line after hooking up, and there were a number of fish that got away simply because it was hard to control the fly line with big gloves and numb hands. Toward the end of the float Frank hooked up on a big brown that stretched the tape near 20" and Linda boated her biggest bow of the day at 16". I had a blast fishing with these two today. A lot of folks would have had second thoughts considering the conditions, but Linda and Frank never complained and were rewarded with a bunch of nice fish. I look forward to fishing again with Linda later this summer and I hope Frank makes it out again soon.

Conditions locally are back on the verge of very good dry fly fishing again. The Bitterroot is clear and the bugs are out, but it is still flowing a little heavy. The weather looks good for this coming week and I expect to see fish on dries again soon.

MARCH MADNESS: Missoula, Montana Style

Bitterroot River Bracket

Fly fishing with big dries is happening around Missoula right now.  Some watch March Madness on TV, getting all worked up about their $20 office pool.  Others witness March Madness live, on the rivers of western Montana.