Spruce Moth Hatch Fishing
Monday was the first of two days with returning anglers, Jim and Doug. These guys always come over in late July specifically for the Blackfoot so we met super early and went up to the canyon. I started the guys with big single dries and we didn’t move anything in the first couple spots until Jim connected with a small cuttbow to get us going.
From there we had decent action on the big dry and even doubled once before making it into Munchmore. At that point I switched over to spruce moths and each angler picked up a couple fish in there. Below that is where he fishing really started to pick up. Just about every run was producing multiple hook ups.
There were lots of small and mid sized cutts and cuttbows on the hunt, and there were some bigger fish in spots too. The guys had 8 or 9 doubles coming through the canyon on dries and we even had one triple double where Jim landed 2 while Doug was still fighting one. It was fast paced action with some of our best fish coming in the late morning.
Jim picked up a heavy 17″ cutt out of a trench while Doug fooled a big 17″ cuttbow a couple spots later. We worked a fast water slot with a bunch of rising fish and pulled 4 out of there and then the next slow run yielded another 4. It was the best spruce moth fishing I’ve seen yet so far and the action continued all the way through cutthroat alley.
We stopped for lunch after that and then switched over to ants for the afternoon. The guys had plenty of action after lunch but the average size dropped off from the canyon. Plenty of 6-10 inchers with a few 12-14″ in the mix on the way to the ramp. Doug poked the last trout right at the bridge and we called it a day. It was an awesome day in the canyon with a couple of fun anglers.
Spruce Moth Hatch Fishing
Tuesday I was especially excited to get back on the water. Jim and Doug asked to go to Georgetown lake which is always a fun day, but these two anglers have more lake experience in their little fingers than I have had in my whole career. You should see their fly selections for lakes! So I was really looking forward to getting their perspective on Georgetown lake and learning a few things.
We motored over to one of my better spots first thing and rigged up with subsurface flies. It didn’t take too long before Jim was connected to the first nice rainbow of the day. And that got us started on what I would describe as a very methodical pace to the fishing for the morning. We switched flies a lot, and just about everything worked to some extent but we never found a red hot fly. But we never went too terribly long without a fish either.
In fact, every time I said we were going to move to a new spot someone would hook up almost immediately. They were all nice rainbows from 15-18″ with Doug landing a pair of really nice 18″ bows. Then the wind started to kick up and we had to make a move further into the bay. That spot treated Doug well as he hooked 3 and landed two. It didn’t last long though as the wind started to blow even harder and we had to retreat back toward the bay where we launched the boat.
We had lunch there and before leaving our lunch spot, Jim suggested we give it a try because it was out of the wind. It’s a good thing we did because Jim hooked 3 and landed 2 including a bright 20″ bow that put up a good fight. When that spot dried up we moved further into the bay but there wasn’t much happening. Jim tagged one more small rainbow, but the last couple hours was quiet without much action.
We kept trying different patterns and a couple different spots, but the trout weren’t having it. With the lack of action we put the boat on the trailer and headed back to town. It was a productive morning and likely would have continued if the wind had not forced us out of the best water. Still, it was a great day where I learned a lot and Jim and Doug put some great trout in the net.
Spruce Moth Hatch Fishing
Wednesday was the first of two days with long-time anglers, Bob and Leon. They are fishing buddies with Jim and Doug, and have been coming the same week for the last few years. We met at 0 dark thirty again this morning for a trip through the canyon of the Blackfoot.
We were a little delayed by road construction so I pushed downstream a ways and went straight to spruce moths this morning. The first spot produced a small rainbow for Bob and then we settled into the Munchmore hole. Leon made a bunch of good drifts with no reaction and Bob hooked another small one, but there wasn’t much happening in that spot this morning. I thought the moths might be slightly delayed so we slowly worked downstream.
Every spot we fished yielded a small trout or two, but still no moths around. After a few more spots like that we switched up to bigger dries and the action and size of fish improved slightly. It was still mostly little guys but we were picking up a couple fish in each spot. I even had Leon fish a dry/dropper in one good run. He picked up a couple fish but they were smallish.
Toward the bottom of the canyon Bob connected with a 13″ cutt and it looked even bigger because of all the smaller fish we were catching. Out of the canyon we switched over to hoppers and ants and the results were similar. We had plenty of action on the dry, but they were all smaller trout.
It was a good day for numbers, but the bigger fish weren’t moving at all. It’s amazing how many nice fish were active with the spruce moths around, and how they all seemed to vanish today when the moths didn’t show.
Spruce Moth Hatch Fishing
Thursday I was back out with Bob and Leon, and we went right back up to canyon. We had a different strategy today though. I rigged the guys with dry/dropper rods to start the day, and Bob hooked up with a heavy fish in the second run.
It was a bulldog fight, but eventually Bob put an awesome 20″ bull trout in the net. That was a good start and the action continued from there. Bob was picking up a decent fish in just about every spot, and as soon as I changed Leon’s dropper he stuck a nice 15″ cutthroat. It was definitely a better average size fish today and the guys even had a couple doubles coming through the canyon.
Toward the bottom of the canyon we started to see a few spruce moths. Not much for rising trout, but we decided to give the single dry fly a shot. The smaller trout were all over it like yesterday, but there were some decent fish looking up. Leon and Bob both landed nice cutts on dries at the bottom of the canyon, and cutthroat alley yielded several on top.
For the afternoon we fished ants and hoppers. We had action from the small guys and a couple respectable trout in the last two miles to the takeout. Overall it was a pretty good day, the guys had some nice cutts and cuttbows from 13-16″ to go along with a bunch of smaller fish.
And that bull trout in the morning yielded Bob and grand slam for the day with a bull, brown, rainbow, and cutt all landed. I couldn’t ask for a couple nicer guys to share the river with, and they are already rescheduled for next year.
Spruce Moth Hatch Fishing
Friday I fished with local angler, Jim, on a favorite stretch of the upper Bitterroot. We started the day with a dry/dropper rig and the second spot produced a hook-up on the dropper and Jim put another decent cutt in the net around the corner from that.
The deeper holes provided fairly steady dropper fishing and then we switched to a single dry for some of the shallower buckets and runs. The dry moved fish too, but it was mainly smaller trout early on. The highlight of the morning was a bright 17″ rainbow that ate the dropper tight to a downed tree. As it warmed up more we started focusing on the dry fly fishing. It wasn’t red hot, but in the right spots Jim was raising some nice fish to the dry.
Right before lunch we had two eats and one good cutthroat in the net. I expected the fishing to improve after lunch as the water on the upper root is still pretty cold. That seemed to be the case when Jim had two eats and a fish in our first spot but then the fishing tightened up.
Some very reliable water was vacant of activity and I started cycling through different flies. The small trout seemed to like just about everything as Jim had dinks slapping at most of the patterns we tried, but the better fish were not moving much. Eventually we went back to dropper fishing for a while. That produced a quality cutthroat in one spot but wasn’t as productive as I hoped. We tried a couple other droppers with no luck and went back to the dry fly game.
It was just a tough afternoon and we never did really crack the code. We moved one more nice fish toward the end of the day and then had a handful of smaller trout including our last just above the takeout. It was a decent morning of fishing on the Bitterroot, followed by a frustratingly slow afternoon. That’s the nature of fishing, but even after all these years it still really bugs me when the fishing shuts off like it did this afternoon.
Spruce Moth Hatch Fishing
Sunday I had the chance to take my son, Thomas, and his buddy Colton out for a day of smallmouth bass fishing. We launched early to beat the heat and it didn’t take long before the boys were into fish.
The first spot was an absolute jackpot with a bunch of nice fish including a couple doubles. That was definitely our best run of the day, but we caught fish in just about every place that we fished and the guys had some cool sight fishing opportunities where we could see the bass before we fished to them.
Thomas tagged the big fish of the day, a 3.5 pound bass out of deep water while Colton landed a single double with two bass on his line at the same time, and he even found a bonus rainbow trout which we don’t see very often. It was a great day on the water and we had a ton of fun.
Spruce Moth Hatch Fishing
The spruce moth hatch was good, but very short lived this year. We are seeing more and more hoppers in the grass near the river so those along with ants will become a main menu item in the weeks ahead. It has been a challenging July at times and I hope that August offers a little more consistent fishing around Missoula.
Tight Lines,
Tony Reinhardt
Montana Trout Outfitters
406-544-3516
