Hoot Owl restrictions are now in place for the entire Bitterroot river. This means that no fishing is allowed between the hours of 2 P.M. and midnight.
The ‘root is REALLY low in the middle sections. It’s from a bad combination of heavy irrigation and warm weather. Nothing new here, though, it’s been going on forever up here. We’ve always said that the true potential of the Bitterroot will never be realized due to the consistent dewatering. I remember guiding a trip in about ’95 where I came around the corner above Tucker to be greeted by a backhoe diverting the entire river down the Tucker East channel. I ended up dragging my boat to Tucker West over isolated and suddenly stagnant pool after pool of stranded fish. In spite of the abuse, the ‘root always seems to bounce back to produce good fishing. It could truly be world class if it had the chance. The river at Bell is running only 176 cfs this morning compared with 281 on this day in 2012 and . . . .977 cfs on 8/9/11. Floating the middle river is NOT a great option these days although there is some good wade fishing if you pay close attention to water temps. Due to the cool nights, the lower river which has been topping out at about 70 + degrees every day is fishing the best early, while the upper reaches of the ‘root are cold and getting a bit later start on the dryfly action. The lower river is also the place to be for trico sippers if that’s your deal although by mid morning, they’ve been eating hoppers like idiots down here. The upper sections are a no-brainer for easier dryfly fishing on less glassy water but because of this, it has been seeing considerably more traffic. PMDs, hoppers, and caddis are all you’ll need up here.
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Additionally, all dries and nymphs are $1.95 every day to begin with and nearly all streamers are $2.25 – EVERY day, EVERY week
HATCHES/Flies: hoppers , ants, tricos, PMDs, caddis, yellow sallies,
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BITTERROOT FLOW AT DARBY
BITTERROOT FLOW AT BELL CROSSING
BITTERROOT FLOW AT MISSOULA