Though Jake and Mark over in Bozeman are talking about how much it looks like fall over there, we’re still looking summer right in the eye over here. The next few days in fact look to be damned sunny and hot; some of my long-time friends are thinking this may be the last really hot [...]
River – Bitterroot
The Bitterroot has been fishing pretty damned well despite the weather roller coaster we’ve been experiencing for the past several weeks. We’ve seen everything from searing heat (at least for us anyway) to flooding rains. The big push of water from back on the 7th and 8th has moved through; clarity is back in the [...]
What a nice break to have a few days of clouds, cooler, weather and some rain. I’ve been out a couple of times this week on the upper river and yesterday in particular was very much a better day. What more could you ask for? Temps are 15 degrees or more cooler than they were [...]
The spurt of rainy and cool weather we’ve all enjoyed lately has done a lot for the Bitterroot – flows bumped just a little Monday and yesterday and the water temp cooled some – it has been delightful. The upper half of the river didn’t suffer as much in the heat last week as the [...]
It’s been the proverbial hot as hell for the past few days in the Bitterroot Valley. There are a lot of places where it’s hotter around the country, but for these parts it’s damned hot – folks have been a bit cranky if you ask me. At least there’s a bit of a break coming [...]
I guess everyone probably says this about where they live, but one of the reasons that I truly love Montana is that the weather is constantly changing, sometimes in a big way. I’ve lived on my family’s land in the Bitterroot more or less all of my life and it never fails to amaze [...]
The Bitterroot is in fine fettle these days and is fishing from top to bottom, though to be perfectly honest I’ve been fishing the Forks and the upper third almost exclusively the past week or so. There’s a lot to choose from hatch wise – there are still some PMDs around, Yellow Sallies, and even [...]
The ‘Root is finally beginning to fish pretty much along the whole river, though I’m spending most of my time on the West Fork still – that’s more or less my home water. Flows are settling decently, and it seems that just this past week the river and fish are beginning to settle into more [...]
After more or less settling a bit every day last week, flows on the upper Bitterroot bumped a lot after yesterday’s rains. I’ve been on the West Fork three times in the past week, and it’s been fishing pretty well with Drakes, Caddis, and Salmon flies. The river is pretty clear for the most part [...]
Just as the river was beginning to wake up a bit (in terms of what most folks think as the post-runoff, summer pattern), the river has seen a pretty impressive bump in flows. The Darby gage is up quite a bit this morning as you can see….. Friends and I have had a couple of [...]
Today’s report is a good news – bad news kind of report; there’s more good news than bad, so let’s do the bad news first. The bad: Clarity remains a problem throughout the river, worse the further downstream you’re considering fishing. The good: Flows have been falling like a rock off a cliff; look at [...]
As you can see from the flow chart, the Bitterroot is running ‘high and mighty’ these days. She hit flood stage in the Darby area yesterday and probably will again today. One of the shops in Missoula is reporting that the river is muddy enough to walk across, and I almost believe it after [...]
Warm temps, rain, and a rising river. She’s gonna flood again. Sigh.
This is for all intents and purposes my home river; she’s been on the rise now since late on the 16th and really, really pushed up yesterday and through the night. There had been some fishable Caddis and MBs on the river above Hamilton, but conditions are rapidly pushing into full fledged runoff, and flows [...]
Like most of the rivers over here in the southwestern corner of the state, the Bitterroot is fishable but far, far from being anywhere close to ideal conditions. If you’re headed for the ‘Root today, the upper river again this week provides the most reasonable conditions. You’ll be holding onto your rain hat most of [...]
