Today was the official kick off of the 2007 season with Larry and my dad. We drove over on Sunday morning, taking the longer scenic route up the Bighole Valley and over the top of Lost Trail pass. We arrived in Hamilton at just after 3 pm and checked into our room at the Bitteroot River Inn. Larry had yet to purchase his season fishing license so after check in we headed out to get him his license and try and sneak in a few hours of wade fishing. We stopped at Fishaus tackle first, which has become part of our annul Skwala hatch ritual. Bill was closed for the day so we headed down the street to Bob Mart to get the license, but on our way we saw new fly shop called " The Flyfishing Center" and low and behold they were open after4 pm on a Sunday. As we walked into the shop there were several people hanging out shooting the breeze. Larry purchased his license and a toilet paper roll holder made out of fake whitetail deer sheds for his rental house this summer. Of course Larry got into a conversation with all the guys in the shop and we had to discuss Florida snook fishing along with Elk Hunting, women and steelhead. We met a funny older "Bitterooter" whose flies were featured as the local seceret weapons. His name was Ted and he was fast after the steelhead addiction and was proud to share some smoked Steelhead that his buddy caught last week, they already had an 8 X 10 glossy picture of the fish and the dude who caught and smoked it up on the shop wall. We picked up a few of Ted's Skwala dries and headed out to check out the River. The flows were coming up and the river was still in great shape but fishing a rising river prove to offer up some slow fishing. We checked out several of the public access points on the river and decided we did not need to spend a couple of hours on the water and instead we opted to drive 30 miles to Guy's Lolo Steak House instead. Guys 5000 square foot log restaurant was built by guy and his family and they have turned it into a well know stop for Montana Beef. After the steak house we headed back up the road to the Inn and I tied up variety of Skwala dries to try out the next day.
We woke up fairly late and had breakfast at the Inn, which is a contenintal style breakfast with some mediocre omlets, Biscuts and Gravy, assorted danishes, ceral, coffee and juice. We finally got the raft ready and the gear in the car and we headed for the river at around 10 am. We stoped by the Fishaus to get a shuttle and check on the fishing reports and Bill told us that the river was up another 400 CFS and that the fishing on Sunday was very slow. Larry commented about the poor reports and we headed to the Anglers Roost putin because we were here and we were going to fish dries or catch nothing at all. We got on the water at around 10:45 am and by 1 pm we had finally seen our first fish come to net. Now typically you don't need to get started to early in the morning for Skwalas because the fish don't get active on the bugs until mid day but this was later than usual and I was worried the day was going to be very slow. My dad did some nymphing from the boat and we pulled over in one run and gave the nymphs a try as well with no success. He also gave a zonker, JJ's and bunny fly a run but we never even got a chase. By the time we got near the town park I switched Larry from a Foust Chernobly with a parachute Skwala to one of Ted's Skwala's trailed with a # 10 Royal PMX. Our luck slowly but surely started to change and most of the fish we saw come up to the surface came after either the royal or a peacock PMX. We did have a half dozen fish eat the Skwala dry but the other dozen ate the PMX's. We hit the Woodside boat ramp at ten to six and the days tally was a dozen fish for Larry and 5 for my dad. The fishing was not red hot but we did manage to squeak out a reasonable day from one that looked like it might be fishless at lunch time. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully the weather will be cooler than 70 degrees and the flows will have crested and started to drop. Rising flows on the Bighole and Bitteroot do make for tougher fishing conditions.
Flows on the root were 1010 C.F.S. at Darby and 2900 C.F.S. near Missoula.
We woke up fairly late and had breakfast at the Inn, which is a contenintal style breakfast with some mediocre omlets, Biscuts and Gravy, assorted danishes, ceral, coffee and juice. We finally got the raft ready and the gear in the car and we headed for the river at around 10 am. We stoped by the Fishaus to get a shuttle and check on the fishing reports and Bill told us that the river was up another 400 CFS and that the fishing on Sunday was very slow. Larry commented about the poor reports and we headed to the Anglers Roost putin because we were here and we were going to fish dries or catch nothing at all. We got on the water at around 10:45 am and by 1 pm we had finally seen our first fish come to net. Now typically you don't need to get started to early in the morning for Skwalas because the fish don't get active on the bugs until mid day but this was later than usual and I was worried the day was going to be very slow. My dad did some nymphing from the boat and we pulled over in one run and gave the nymphs a try as well with no success. He also gave a zonker, JJ's and bunny fly a run but we never even got a chase. By the time we got near the town park I switched Larry from a Foust Chernobly with a parachute Skwala to one of Ted's Skwala's trailed with a # 10 Royal PMX. Our luck slowly but surely started to change and most of the fish we saw come up to the surface came after either the royal or a peacock PMX. We did have a half dozen fish eat the Skwala dry but the other dozen ate the PMX's. We hit the Woodside boat ramp at ten to six and the days tally was a dozen fish for Larry and 5 for my dad. The fishing was not red hot but we did manage to squeak out a reasonable day from one that looked like it might be fishless at lunch time. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully the weather will be cooler than 70 degrees and the flows will have crested and started to drop. Rising flows on the Bighole and Bitteroot do make for tougher fishing conditions.
Flows on the root were 1010 C.F.S. at Darby and 2900 C.F.S. near Missoula.
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