Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited – Wapiti Waters donated a fly fishing trip for their annual auction this spring. John and Pam Miller got the trip and fished with Jack in mid-June. With high water in most of the state, Jack was able to fish them on the upper Big Hole River. They were troopers as the weather was still cool, but they caught trout!
John and Pam are avid outdoors people and Jack had a lot in common with them. He really enjoyed meeting and fishing with them. Thanks for supporting Trout Unlimited and for coming to Montana. We hope they return soon.
Photos from June 13 in the middle Bitterroot River. The CFS at the Florence, Montana gage was about 13,000 cubic feet per second and 11.73 feet in depth. There is 351 percent snow-water equivalent in the Bitterroot Mountains at the time of these photos. That is a LOT of snow yet to come down.
These photos are from Tuesday, May 17 at 5:00 pm. The Bitterroot dropped from 11,300 cfs to 10,300 cfs overnight (measured 7:00 am May 18) but day temps are predicted to be 68 degrees and scattered rain. We will see what that does to the levels.
There is room at Victor Crossing for more flow, but how much more? See Wapiti Waters Stream flow links to access USGS data for stream flows in our western Montana rivers.
Bitterroot Trout Unlimited (BRTU) is a very active TU Chapter. Many people contribute time, money and goods to help BRTU do its work. Jack always offers a trip for the annual banquet auction and this was the trip for this year. The great thing about this trip is that Greg bid on and got the trip. Greg offers his own time, goods and money for TU, Greg and Jack both serve on the board. It made for a wonderful day. To top it off, Greg invited his friend, Bill to ride along…and everyone caught fish.
This trip was in the middle of April but I am getting caught up with some posts. As you can see, the weather is very cool. People are bundled up, but there have been hatches and the water levels have been good. If you dress right, the fishing is great.
In these photos are Rachel and Elinor. Rachel sent some of the photos in the slideshow, thank you!
And I think this was Elinor’s first fly fishing experience. As you can see, she did well. So did others, it was a good few days on the Bitterroot.
Doc was at his Montana home on the Bitterroot for a few weeks in April. Of course he was fishing with friends, on his own and with Jack. I guess Jack is also a friend – but a friend that fishes for a living. Sadly, Doc’s and our good friend and favorite fishing buddy, Terry Nobles, isn’t able to fish any more. At 90 years old, it just doesn’t work for him now. But we visit him with photos and river stories.
Bitterroot April 9, 2011
Doc on the Bitterroot April 9, 2011
Doc and Terry in April 2009
Anyway, here are some photos of the Bitterroot and Doc. The first two are from this spring. The second two are from 2009 when Terry fished with Doc and Jack.
Terry with his brown trout on the day he was fishing with Doc. Jack is holding it for him.
