I said I would blog a slideshow of photos from the month of April. Here it is. I slipped a photo from the Clark Fork River in as well. What a spectacular time to be on the river!
Click Bitterroot River in April to launch it in a larger view.
Our friend and fellow outfitter, Josh Lauer, just sent these photos in. He was near a town called Kooskia (no McDonald’s restaurant there) located at the confluence of the Middlefork and Southfork of the Clearwater River, along Lewis Clark US Highway 12 in North Central Idaho.
Fly Fishing for steelhead is exciting! He said these two fish are in the smoker right now. What a pair of bookends they would make.
There is not much snow in the Bitterroots right now, at least not enough to find a close place to cross country ski. These photos show a desperate attempt to exercise near home and find a place to ski!
Jack and I are spending about 8 hours a day working on the business, then attend meetings, Lady Griz Basketball (my daughter plays), play music with the band, and more. Winter is busier than you might think. He ties flies, writes material, works on gear and vehicles. I do admin and web stuff. The work is necessary, but so is a mind and fitness break. For Jack’s work and for health, it is important to stay fit. We work in couple of hours of outdoor activity each day. The photos show one of our outdoor excursions with our dog, Bela.
Trout Unlimited On the Rise
UPDATE January 26: I found that the Billings Gazette published this story January 8. It is much more complete. See it here: Buck floatsdown Yellowstone River on ice chunks By BRETT FRENCH of The Gazette Staff.
Original Wapiti Post text:
A friend sent us these photos today. Brrrr….
An unidentified photographer took these pictures in Miles City Montana where the Tongue River flows into the Yellowstone River. The buck made it to shore. The photographer saw him jump to safety when the ice jammed close to shore.
The skwalla draws attention to the largest trout in the river and the beauty of it all is that it is top water fishing. In my mind anyone can (and frequently does) put on a bobber with a nymph pattern and fish to the large trout — even using skwalla nymph patterns. But to fool large trout on the surface in the right conditions is what our spring fishing is all about.
Knowledgeable, observant anglers pay attention to the natural world around them. The phenological events of spring are indicators for the fisherman. We watch for the appearance of buttercups, biscuitroot, pasque flowers, and glacier lilies on the hillsides. The robins, western meadowlarks, and western bluebirds are giving us a reminder that it is time to fish.
1. Phenological: the relationship between a regularly recurring biological phenomenon and climatic or environmental factors that may influence it.
Here are photos of a few of my favorite fly patterns that have evolved over three decades of spring fishing on the Bitterroot and Clark Fork.
