Spring Fishing Montana 2022
Monday was the last day with the Allison crew and I fished with Erik and Daren on the Bitterroot near Hamilton. The river is still creeping up but the guys doubled up on the first bank to get the day going.
The dropper action remained steady all morning. Erik picked off 3 in a small side channel while Daren fished well upfront with a bent rod in most of the good runs.
While eating lunch we saw a number of real Skwalas float past the boat and decided to go single dry in the afternoon. First thing after lunch we floated right by a moose on the bank, and then the guys started picking off trout on dries.
We had rising fish in a few spots and most of those were willing to eat our bug. The other likely dry fly water was productive as well. Early on it was mostly smaller and mid-sized fish, but as the afternoon progressed some better trout were looking up.
Daren came tight on a nice brown trout up under an overhanging bush and then landed a pair of really nice rainbows below that. We had one more double in the afternoon to go along with a number of great fish in the afternoon. From start to finish it was solid fishing today, and a great way to finish up a trip with this fun crew.
Spring Fishing Montana 2022
Tuesday was day one with the Howard clan. We have had a tradition of fishing the Skwala hatch for nearly 20 years now. I had Jeff and Jim in my boat while fellow guide, Jeff, had Dave with him.
We were on the same stretch of river as yesterday and water levels were up yet again today. Jeff banged a fish on the dropper right off the bat and then Jim added a couple after that. In the next run down Jeff came tight with a gorgeous brown trout that put up a good fight.
The morning continued at a steady pace with some quality cuts, bows, and browns on the dropper. We went with single dries in the afternoon and the action was decent, but I could definitely tell it was a little off from what it had been. The guys were finding fish and we even doubled on dries, but the trout weren’t looking up in all the spots today.
It was cooler and we had a strong north wind to contend with too. The early afternoon was respectable dry fly fishing but it started to dry up later in the day. We made the change back to dry/dropper for the last hour of the day.
The first spot produced a big, fat rainbow for Jim. He added another solid cutthroat and then Jeff hooked one more quality brown trout right above the takeout.
We netted that fish on the boat ramp to finish up a good day. It was a good first day on the river and I hope the river is dropping finally by tomorrow morning.
Spring Fishing Montana 2022
Wednesday I brought the raft and we went to the upper Bitterroot looking to find better dry fly action. The water is definitely moving up there and the dry/dropper fishing was a little slow in the morning.
After several runs and a few fly changes, Jeff connected with the first cutthroat of the day. It was colder this morning and we had to work for our opportunities, but by lunch, the guys had a handful of nice trout in the net.
In the afternoon I switched Jeff to a single dry and kept Jim on the dry/dropper because I wasn’t sure if the fish would be looking up yet. Jeff answered that question for us in the first 10 minutes with 3 nice fish on the dry.
At that point, both anglers went single dry the rest of the day. We still had to find soft water, but when we did someone usually connected with a fish. The guys had doubles landed, doubles lost, and we even had one spot where both Jim and Jeff broke fish off and I managed to get both flies back when they floated to the surface.
We had fun targeting some rising fish in the afternoon and the fishing held up the whole way as Jim had two solid eats right above the takeout. Lots of action today from Cutts and cute bows in the 12-16″ range. Jeff and Jim are always a hoot to fish with and I’m glad the Skwalas came through for us again this year.
Spring Fishing Montana 2022
Thursday was the first day of the trout season with local angler, Jim. Today we were joined by his friend Scott who now owns Jim’s old lodge on the river.
With this duo, it was an easy choice to hit the upper river down to the lodge today. We met late since the weather was cool and cloudy. I started Jim with a dry/dropper and put Scott on a single Skwala dry.
It took a few runs to get things going, but Jim got us started with a healthy cutthroat on the dropper. The next bank produced two fish for Scott on the dry fly and he landed another while I was switching Jim over to a dry.
It was game on from there as we had solid dry fly action the rest of the morning. With spitting snow and a cold north wind, we pulled up into some trees for lunch. Despite the chilly conditions, the fish were still looking up in the afternoon.
The first thing the guys doubled up in the “no fish” hole and the action continued from there. It was a steady stream of 12-16″ Cutts and cute bows with a couple of fish in the 17″ range. Jim and Scott doubled up a number of times today as we had a great time on the river.
Spring Fishing Montana 2022
Friday I was back on the water with Jim, and today we were joined by local golf pro, Tanner. It was Tanner’s first float ever on the Bitterroot and after the fishing yesterday we decided to hit the same stretch.
Both anglers started with a single Skwala dry fly and Tanner hooked up with a decent cutthroat on the first bank. That was encouraging but then the fishing went quiet for a while. We pulled into the side channel and Jim picked off a fish in a deep little bucket and then tagged another one just after that. Still, there were plenty of good spots that didn’t produce so we decided to lunch early and let it warm up.
That helped as the guys doubled up immediately in the afternoon. The fishing was steady for the next couple of hours with 3 other doubles and good dry fly eats in most of the likely spots.
Then the action started to fade again. We switched bugs a few times and never found the secret late in the day. The last hour or so we had to work hard for our chances and managed to raise a few fish coming down the homestretch.
Lots of sun this afternoon along with some boat traffic made it a little tougher than yesterday. Despite that we still enjoyed a beautiful day on the Bitterroot and put some nice cutts and rainbows in the boat.
Spring Fishing Montana 2022
The Bitterroot flows finally stabilized and started dropping this week which produced some great days on the water. A winter storm is moving in for the start of the week to provide challenging conditions and then the weather should improve from there. Skwalas are still the main attraction, but we should start to see March Browns and Blue wing olives any day now.
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Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516
