The Blackfoot bumped up in the past few days with the rain we received. Flows briefly popped up above 1,200 cfs and water temps cooled off, just what the river needed. The water is coming back down now, as you can see from the chart. Fishing is starting to get a little tougher over […]
Al the Pal
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 […]
Those of you following the fishing over here know that it’s been hot as hell this past week; the upper Clark Fork has been fishing decently during the warm spell while the river below Missoula has been pretty spotty. Clouds, a chance of rain, lower temperatures, and higher humidity (bugs stay on the water longer) […]
It has been a hot one over here for the past few days! With temperatures reaching the triple digits, getting out on the water to cool off is never a bad idea. Water temps are rising on the Rock, but they are still at fishable levels, especially up high. There are a lot of PMDs […]
The Blackfoot has hit its summer stride. Hoppers are here, the lower river is full of drunken tubers, and there are caddis and mayflies in abundant quantities. Flows have been slowly dropping down, as of this morning they were just over 1,000 cfs. The lower flows mean a couple of good things. The fish […]
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 […]
The Rock is always a good option this time of year. After a brief spike earlier this week, flows have come back down. Clarity is great, and the fish are biting. The creek is in its summer pattern of hatches. Look for PMDs in the mornings and again the evenings, caddis almost all day, scattered […]
Summer seems to have settled over western Montana. These are the days to leave the screen door open and all the fans on in the house. The hot weather is somewhat negatively effecting fishing, but not too badly. In fact, the Blackfoot is fishing quite well. There are good hatches of PMDs, caddis and […]
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 river has been fishing better and better over the past week or so; the evening Caddis have been amazing, and clarity above Bonner (above the Blackfoot) has been quite good. The rains / showers wandering around the area have bumped flows a bit this morning but it shouldn’t be a real issue. The challenge […]
The mad dash for Salmonflies on the Rock is over. From all reports, it was a pretty good year. Now we can look forward to a long summer of caddis, PMDs and hoppers. With all the rain recently, flows are starting to eek back up. This has impacted the fishing somewhat, as the fish are […]
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 warm weather over the past week has really put a damper on the mid-day stuff, but the evening Caddis has been very good if not great. Flows are definitely on the drop, clarity has come around (really, it’s not a problem), and temps have been holding well. Clouds due today at least should help […]
Floating on Rock Creek, at least from a fishing point of view, is closed for the season. The good news is that flows have receded enough to the point where wading is easier (slower flows help when you’ve got old knees like me). The Salmonflies are all but gone by this point, as are golden […]
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 […]
