It’s gonna be one of those weeks in Missoula — if you’re not watching the USGS Water Flow Gauges, you might get a cup full of bad river sauce. The warm weather, in other words, has bumped the flows and they’ll likely keep bumping, though not blow a gasket if the nighttime lows stay cold. […]

If you were simply wetting a dry fly on the Bitterroot or Clark Fork this past week, you more than likely found good fishing. And if you happened to be on the right stretch at the right time, and saw what we saw on a few floats, you might not have better dry fly fishing for the rest of the year.  Finding […]

Nine Months of Dry Fly Fishing Starts Now! Cold week or not, here in Missoula, our long dry fly season has officially kicked off! It’s been fun to watch our skwalla imitations get inhaled on woody banks where they were largely ignored a few weeks ago.  It’s a special time of year not because we get to fish […]

It could have been the weather, or the drifts our dudes were getting, but it sure seems that the stonefly nymph has been getting tagged a bit more often lately. The nymphs are migrating — does that mean the first adult skwalla fishing is soon to come?  Perhaps, but we suggest being patient and fishing underneath the […]

When you know your boat’s going to fill with snow at least once more before the spring fishing really ramps up, it’s hard to get too amped about late February angling.  However, with the weather trending so favorably, it’s hard to stay inside either. With the Bitterroot in shape (which is offering a fair number […]

In the summer we look for cool-downs, but in winter it’s all about the thaw.  In February, fish concentrate their feeding not only to the warmer parts of each day, but to the warmer parts of each week and month. The big boys don’t go on the feed every day, but when they do, they’re […]

On the river we fishing guides get asked a lot of questions.  The most-asked question of guides is a tie between: 1) “How do we get back to your truck?” 2) “What do you guys do all winter?” We’ll leave the first one hanging, but answer #2 in detail: Will Plumhoff Will can be found […]

As the days grow shorter and the light gets lower, the big fish get on the move. It’s our favorite time to be on the river–solitude, cool weather, and the chance at the fish of a lifetime. The Clark Fork, Blackfoot and Bitterroot have all held strong in the past week or so, producing big fish on nearly […]

If there’s a prettier place to be on earth than a Montana river in September, we haven’t seen it. The cottonwoods are hinting at changing, and the larches in the mountains have already turned. The trout, too, are a colored up for fall, and they’ve spread out from the riffles to feed on mayflies. On […]

After the smoke, a little magic We got some much needed rain, even snow in the high country, and, poof, the air cleared–then the mayfly hatches began. Yesterday our guide boats fished 5 different species of mayfly with success–mahogany and Baetis the newcomers–as well as Streamers and large leggy junk. Big fish were looking for […]