Have some fun — But don’t jump the Gun

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 a CFS problem but a water temperature issue, as spring trout seem to prefer a water temp above 40 or so–we’re a few warm nights away from this magic number–before they start rising in earnest.

The famed nymphs are stacked in the shallows and anglers nymphing the slow riffle corners will find cooperative fish, for sure.  We might even go so far as to say that a diligent dry fly fisherman putting a dry Skwala imitation over a midging fish again and again and again could coerce a reluctant take. But is that really Skwala fishing?

The ten-day forecast–highs in the low 40s and lows in the low 20s–pretty much sums it up. Yes, there are fish to be caught, and maybe even a few on dry flies. But if you want to “wait until that deal goes down” we’d suggest saving up that domestic capital for another week or so.

Current Snow Pack