Bitterroot River Rises

Bitterroot River Rises

Tuesday I was out with my Casa Blanca fishing partner, Kris, and her friend Heath. The Bitterroot had been rising for 3 days and finally started to drop last night so we decided to give it a shot. We launched around Hamilton and there was definitely more volume in the river but water clarity was decent.

We started with dry/dropper rigs and Heath connected with a cutthroat on the first bank to get us going. A few runs further down and we doubled up with a rainbow and a cutt. Then Kris picked up a couple of nice fish out of a back eddy. It actually fished very well despite the higher water.

Back eddies and the bottom part of runs were key for us, but all of those spots were holding decent fish. Heath came tight on a cuttbank and could tell right away it was a heavy fish. He had to fight that trout away from some downed timber but eventually but a gorgeous 18″ brown in the net.

Kris followed that up with a 17″ brown of her own just downstream. For the afternoon I switched up the droppers and both Heath and Kris connected in the first spot. The action remained pretty steady the rest of the day.

Kris had one back eddy where she hooked 9 and most all of the likely spots produced in the afternoon. The average size was a little smaller once the sun got high, but the fish were still eating. We finished up the day with a series of better rainbows and cuttbows.

Heath had a couple in the 16″ range and Kris boated a fat cuttbow. Only 2 dry fly eats, but considering that the river had more than doubled in flow in the last 3 days we had some fantastic fishing.

Early morning double
Early morning double
Kris hooked up to a nice one - Bitterroot River Rises
Kris hooked up to a nice one – Bitterroot River Rises
Heath with a gorgeous brown trout caught from the Bitterroot River rises
Heath with a gorgeous brown trout caught from the Bitterroot River rises
Always a blast getting on the water with Kris!
Always a blast getting on the water with Kris!

Bitterroot River Rises

Wednesday was the first of 2 days with long-time anglers, Randy and Dennis. They were camped at Angler’s Roost, and after the fishing yesterday it was an easy choice to launch there again. Dry/dropper rigs to start off again and Randy connected with a brown trout on the first bank.

He was hot in the morning with the next several fish. One off a gravel bank, a couple behind a big tree, and more out of back eddies. Dennis was just snake bit in the morning. It didn’t matter if I had him on the same flies or different ones, he couldn’t buy a fish while Randy connected in most of the likely water.

Finally Dennis got on the board with a cutthroat that went after his dry fly. Then Randy finished off the morning strong. He stuck a nice 18″ male brown trout, a super thick 19″ rainbow, and capped it all off with a rare brook trout. Before lunch Randy had a grand slam with 4 different trout species.

Dennis moved to the front in the afternoon, but Randy’s hot streak continued as he picked up the next 3 fish. Then it started to balance out for us and Dennis hooked 2 and landed a solid cuttbow in the next run.

He boated 3 quality trout in the same back eddy and then we grabbed the dry fly rods and tried fishing a single Skwala. Both guys had eats in the first spot, but then that fishing dried up so we went back to the dry/dropper. I tucked in behind a giant tree and Dennis was able to stick back to back cuttbows.

They were both good fish and it was a bit of rodeo as there was so much woody debris that he couldn’t let the fish run hardly at all. Toward the end of the day we went back to the single dry and the first bank had several fish looking up.

Randy had 3 or 4 eats and landed two decent fish. We had a couple other fish take a swipe at the dry in the last few runs but it seemed like they were only keyed in on the dries in specific spots. Lots of dropper fishing again today, but good action throughout with some quality fish in the boat.

Old battle scarred brown trout
Old battle scarred brown trout
Randy hooked up above the diversion dam on the Bitterroot River Rises
Randy hooked up above the diversion dam on the Bitterroot River Rises
A rare brook trout on the Bitterroot River Rises
A rare brook trout on the Bitterroot River Rises
Randy with a stud rainbow
Randy with a stud rainbow
Dennis hooked up in tight quarters
Dennis hooked up in tight quarters

Bitterroot River Rises

Thursday I decided to go a little further upriver with Randy and Dennis. The Bitterroot bumped a little overnight and I thought that was our best chance. After seeing the weather forecast I made sure that it wasn’t too long of a float. High of 45, 70% chance of frozen mix and winds up to 35 mph in the afternoon gave me some serious doubts.

We launched early and it took a few runs before Randy stuck a colorful cutthroat in a side channel. He added another in the next side channel to continue his hot streak from yesterday. Then we were all surprised when Dennis nailed a nice cuttbow on the dry.

He picked up one more right away on the dropper and then had a couple of other eats in a side channel. The fishing was streaky like that for us today. Randy would boat 2 or 3 and then Dennis would go on a run with a few. Back eddies, slow insides, and side channels were the key to success again today.

A lot of the normal runs were too fast so we had to focus on water that was the right speed today. We pulled into lunch as Dennis was landing a fish, and then in the first spot of the afternoon he connected with a gorgeous 18 rainbow.

The next couple belonged to Randy as the streaks continued all day. It was mostly cutts and cuttbows from 12-16″ with a few bigger fish and one lone brown trout today. For the last hour we switched over to single dry flies to see what would happen.

The guys found a handful of fish looking up. Dennis stuck a nice 17″ cutt in a back eddy and Randy landed the last fish of the trip as I dropped the anchor on the boat ramp. It was a solid 2 days of fishing despite the challenging water conditions. I always look forward to having Randy and Dennis in the boat, and they are already booked again for next year.

Randy tight in a side channel of the Bitterroot River
Randy tight in a side channel of the Bitterroot River
Bright rainbow with a big tail caught on the Bitterroot River rises
Bright rainbow with a big tail caught on the Bitterroot River rises
Waiting out a snow squall
Waiting out a snow squall
Dennis with an awesome rainbow caught on the Bitterroot River
Dennis with an awesome rainbow caught on the Bitterroot River

Bitterroot River Rises

Friday I fished with some anglers who have been coming out for the Skwala hatch for years. I had Pete in my boat solo while fellow guide, Don, had the father son combo of Tim and Matt. We chose a long float on the middle Bitterroot to try and avoid the weekend traffic.

It was sunny and chilly to start the day, but it only took a few spots before Pete connected with the first trout on a dropper. That fish was thrashing on the surface before it threw the hook. The next back eddy produced a solid rainbow in the reverse current.

Then we were blanked for a bit. Pete had one certain eat in a riffle but there were several runs that didn’t yield a strike. A reliable back eddy yielded a hard fighting cuttbow and decent brown. Another good rainbow came from an inside seam to give us a fair morning before lunch.

The afternoon began spotty as well. Pete hooked a couple more on the dropper, but we were working hard at that game without much consistency. Finally I saw a fish rise next to bush and we switched over to a single dry.

Pete was able to get that brown to come out from under the bush to eat his dry and we had two more solid eats in the next two spots. I thought we might be onto something with the dry fly but it was very much hit or miss as well.

Lots of great water and good drifts that didn’t produce and then Pete would get a random eat. He hooked a big brown that gave us a few head shakes before throwing the fly back at us. There were a couple other dry fly eats as well but we certainly didn’t set the world on fire with the fishing today.

Tim and Matt had to work hard as well for their opportunities. The weather was absolutely stunning through with bright blue skies and a warm afternoon. We managed to dodge the boat traffic too, but it was still tough fishing overall. There were enough bugs around, just a little too much water in the river and too much sunshine. This crew will try to hit it again next spring for sure.

Stunning day in the Bitterroot Valley
Stunning day in the Bitterroot Valley
Pete bringing a nice one to the net
Pete bringing a nice one to the net
Tim and Matt working a back eddy
Tim and Matt working a back eddy
Flawless rainbow for Pete caught on the Bitterroot River rises
Flawless rainbow for Pete caught on the Bitterroot River rises

Bitterroot River Rises

We experienced challenging water conditions this week. The river was a little high and off-color for great dry fly fishing. We leaned on the dry/dropper rigs heavily and found good success for the most part with a little late afternoon dry fly fishing.

The next week looks to be fairly cool weather so I expect that the Bitterroot will drop back into shape for good dry fly action and we might even get a chance at the Clark Fork too.

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