Posts by Anthony VonRuden

  What a fabulous week of fishing last week was, and what an awesome outlook for the coming week! The cloudy days with highs in the upper 50’s and stable to dropping flows scream mayflies (BWOs, March Browns, Gray Drakes) and the skwala will continue to turn some of the biggest heads in the river. […]

Missoula and Bitterroot River Fishing Report Welcome to what looks like Missoula’s “new normal” flow-wise, for this spring anyway.  On the ‘Root, Fork, and Foot, flows are level, and the water’s clear, but the rivers are still carrying more water than they have for the past couple of springs. This is good news if you’re willing to […]

The fishing, that is! It’s pretty damn good out there, in fact. Bordering on stellar. With fish feeding on dry flies for the bulk of the day, you can play a buoyant leggy Skwalla and run it long, or pick and pop to risers with a double dry rig in the right spots. The river’s continue […]

Bitterroot and Clark Fork River Skwala Report The hydro-graphs appeared to have peaked and have began to drop but current flows are still near borderline prohibitive levels.  There is some high-water fishing to be had, and there are a few sneaky options to be had, but in general, this latest melt has stunted any Skwala hatch […]

Missoula Spring Fly Fishing Report Those bugs you see with wings? They’re a good sign. The lawn out back instead of snow? That’s a good sign too. Now if we can get the flows to stabilize for long enough, we’ll probably be able to dial up the first good wave of early season dry fly […]

Snow, Snow, and more Snow Winter kept its claws dug in this weekend in Missoula, with heavy wet snow piling up in the valley and padding our pack in the high country.  Expect water levels to raise a bit with low-elevation melt (we got at least three inches at the house yesterday); this is not so much […]

Winter Fishing in Missoula Steady warmer temps have unlocked the river ice and made this a great week to get out and scratch the fishing itch around Missoula. Traditionally, some large fish are taken during the first big thaw, but that hardly matters — the point is that the closest most of us have been to […]

While we are still running a few guide trips, this week is a relatively quiet one on the rivers of Western Montana. Most folks are out chasing bird dogs or setting out decoy spreads or stalking big game — and that’s what makes late October such an awesome time on the water. The trees along […]

Forgive us if we’ve said this before, and forgive the lack of posts, but this is our favorite time of year to be on the river in Montana, and in the woods. The upland birds are viable targets, the elk are on the move, and the big fish have upped the ante, rising with abandon […]