Montana Flyfishing 2022
Tuesday was my first day on the water for the season. Fellow guide, David, and I decided to check out a stretch of the middle Bitterroot that has some bad log jams.
We launched late and decided to fish a single dry pretty much all day. David put a dropper on in one run and landed a couple of cute bows, but otherwise, we threw a single skwala dry all day.
There were enough bugs to get the fish looking up in classic Skwala-type water. We didn’t fish terribly hard and had respectable action from noon till 4:00 when we hit the ramp.
The last hour was best with bugs around and rising fish to target. A dozen or so fish from 14-17″ on dries was a great way to start the season.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
Wednesday was my first guide day of the season and I was joined by Alan and Bruce who have been coming out for the Skwala hatch for years. We did a longer version of the same float I did yesterday on the Bitterroot.
We started with dry/dropper rigs and the fish were lethargic early. Bruce hooked 3 on the dropper while Alan stung one too but we never laid eyes on any of them. With the dropper fishing not that good and a few bugs around we made the change to single dries.
The dry wasn’t any better and after a few runs we pulled in for lunch. In the afternoon Bruce hooked up on a nice rainbow that we saw the rise and it looked like the fishing would get going.
Not so much. It turned out to be a struggle all day. Bruce tagged another solid rainbow and Alan added a couple of cutthroats on the dry but it was tough sledding. We pushed the dry hard for much of the afternoon, and I even went back to dry/droppers for a while but the trout were not happy.
We finished the day back on dries and Alan landed one right above the take-out while Bruce had a couple of eats. We had some misses on the dry today too, but overall the action was not nearly what I expected.
It was a beautiful sunny day on the river and we did float right by a moose on the bank, but I had hoped for better fishing for the guys.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
Friday was the first of 4 days with the Allison group. I have been fishing with this crew each spring for 20 years and it’s always a good time. Today I was paired up with Art for a middle Bitterroot float.
The recent warm weather had the flows on a steady rise this morning so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Art got rid of any doubts I had quickly. He picked up two nice rainbows on a dropper in the first spot we fished.
The next spot produced a big 17.5″ bow and just after releasing that fish Art picked up a cutthroat on the big dry fly. The fishing was steady through the morning with nice fish on droppers in most of the likely places and even a couple of trout on dries.
The fishing remained strong through the afternoon. We found one back eddy where Art hooked 6 and landed a couple. I switched him between a dry/dropper and a single dry rod during the afternoon and Art moved a number of fish on the surface to the dry, and stuck trout on the dropper in foam pockets.
The last fish of the day came right at the take-out. My boat was anchored on the ramp and I had to walk downstream to net that rainbow. Despite the rising water we had quality fishing today with a bunch of rainbows, a few cuts, and one brown trout all from 14-17″.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
Saturday I was paired up with Mark and Randy. The rivers were all on the rise and the whole group wanted to avoid the Bitterroot on Saturday so I told the guys we could give the Clark Fork a shot and target both trout and northern pike. Neither angler had caught a pike before so they were both games. We started off fishing dry/dropper rigs and the guys both hooked up in the second run but the fish got away. Just downstream from that Randy came tight on a nice cute bow on the dropper and he added another one a couple of spots below that.
Mark picked up a hard-fighting rainbow after that, and the trout fishing was pretty decent given the conditions. We added a couple more to the net just before lunch. Although we had caught some trout, the action wasn’t fast and furious so we decided to focus on pike fishing in the afternoon.
The first spot was a bust with no strikes or follows, but Mark hooked up in the next spot with a 25″ pike that ate his fly right next to the boat. Randy boated his first every pike in our third spot. It wasn’t the biggest, but Randy did see the fish eat his fly which is always exciting.
A little further down the same bank, I saw Mark’s fly line come tight, and when he strips to set the water just erupted. I knew right away it was a big fish so I had Randy bring his line in. Mark fought that pike for nearly 10 minutes, including one blistering run on the surface of the water.
Once Mark got the fish close to the boat I had no idea how I was going to fit that pike in my trout net. I managed to get most of the fish into the net and kept it from escaping.
It was an absolutely massive northern pike! The fish measured 41.5 inches and was over 20 pounds. That is the biggest pike I have seen in Montana. We had challenging water conditions, but the guys were willing to gamble and we were rewarded with a fish for the ages.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
Sunday I had Scott and Ron in my boat for a float on the Bitterroot near Hamilton. The river level was up a little, but the water clarity was good as we started the day with dry/dropper rigs. Ron started off hot with the first 3 trout in the boat.
Once I changed Scott to the same dropper the guys doubled up in the next spot. The morning dropper fishing was very strong with fish out of all the likely spots, and Scott picked up two on the big dry fly.
I wasn’t seeing any bugs on the water so we stayed with the dry/dropper rig to start the afternoon. The dropper action was spotty after lunch with only a couple of hookups in several runs. At that point, we changed over to single dry flies and started to get trout looking up immediately.
As good as the morning was on droppers, the afternoon was better with dries. The guys doubled up again in the afternoon and it seemed like at least one rod was bent in every spot we fished. The 10-14″ Cutts and bows were on the prowl today with lots of action from that age class.
There were some bigger fish looking for dries and Ron landed the best, an 18″ rainbow while Scott boated a nice brown and the guys added a handful of fish from 15-17″. Solid action from start to finish today and the guys had an absolute blast.
Montana Flyfishing 2022
The Montana trout season has started! There is always lots of promise in the spring and we hope water conditions will hold together so we can keep finding nice fish on dry flies. I am excited to be back on the water and look forward to an awesome year!
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Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516
