Three Days on the Bitterroot

When The Blackfoot River Outfitters sent me an e-mail in December about a spring fly fishing trip called the Skwalapalooza I forwarded it to Ron and recommended we go.  He was as excited as I was.

This was a chance to be guided on the rivers around Missoula like the Bitterroot, the Clark’s Fork, the Blackfoot and Rock Creek.  

Hotel accommodations with in-door swimming pool were included.

We booked the trip for April 17th through the 20^th.  Four months ahead of time it’s hard to predict the weather.  

January and February were mild but when March rolled around it started storming.  When I was in Cincinnati for a week with my daughter’s family it rained every day.  April seemed the same…clear up to the day we planned to drive.  Then dry the rest of the week.  

Timing was perfect.  Any earlier and it would have been raining.  Any later and we would have hit run-off.  But, because it had rained a lot up until then, the Clark Fork and Blackfoot were off color.  The Bitterroot was in good shape and it was the main river we wanted to fish anyway.  I arranged with Terri at Blackfoot River Outfitters for the guide, Ryan Steen, to pick us up Tuesday morning at 9:00.  

Perfect time to fit in a wonderful waffle, bacon and fresh fruit breakfast.

While Ryan filled out the paperwork, Ron and I loaded up the back of the truck.  The drive to the put-in on the Bitterroot was about 40 minutes south, just past the town of Hamilton.  Ryan had a Clacka Craft low side drift boat.  We put in at Blodgett Park and took out at Tucker West for about an 11 mile float.  It was still a little cold but dry and not too windy.  The morning was slow so we had an early lunch, hoping some dry fly action would start up in the afternoon after things had warmed up a bit. 

Ryan cooked us up grilled seasoned chicken and prepared a nice salad.  Things did pick up in the afternoon.  A few fish were rising so we took off our nymph rigs (Thingamabobbers with rubber leg stones and hot bead San Juan worm) and switched to Skwala Stone Fly dries with one of the nymphs as a dropper. We took a couple on the skwala dry but for the most part had most success with the worm.  We each caught a half dozen mid-size cutthroats and rainbows and one or two browns and of course some white fish. 

My notes at the end of the day were:

The largest fish I caught were an 18 inch brown and an 18” jumping rainbow.  The most memorable fish was catching a fat rainbow and successfully man handling it out of pile of sticks. When I told the guide about needing a gas station between Butte and Missoula he agreed and said that in Montana you should never get below ¼ tank of gas.  In Wyoming make that ½ tank. 

I wore my rubber soled cloudveil wading boots on the float each day so I wouldn’t scratch the guide’s boat with my cleats.  The river was way too slippery for this.  When I got home I quickly ordered a pair of Simm’s guide boots with felt.

When I asked Ron what his favorite part of the day was he said: Mostly catching fish and having the experience of fishing with a guide. He enjoyed being able to pick a guide’s brains and having him give us tips. He also enjoyed not having to tie on flies or remove fish from hooks. The guide helped him with mending and seeing strikes better.  He liked the fact that he caught the first 2 trout of the day. His best fish was a 16 inch rainbow caught on a red glow bead San Juan worm.