Remember… no matter what anyone tells you… we can only tell you what the fishing was like yesterday; not what it's going to be tomorrow!

 

Western Montana Fishing Report:
Sept. 29 thru October 6, 2003

Well, this is the last report we're going to make this year. Thank God, it's a good one.

It seems like fall finally arrived this week. Yesterday it was cloudy and mid 60's, there was hardly any wind, and we were on the Clark Fork chasing sipping rainbows with little mayflies. Mercifully, the fish god's decided to smile on us and put plenty of those thick shouldered torpedo's on the ends of our lines in celebration of the glorious occassion. Boy, was it a welcome opportunity. I was really getting tired of working on my tan in October.

Anyway, it looks like we should have at least a few days of good fall fishing if things hold like yesterday. Hopefully, that streak of 80+ weather in late September, early October is finally at an end.

Thanks everyone, for putting up with these reports all year. We'll still be fishing for another couple weeks, but I'll be honest, I'm getting tired of putting the reports out. So, I'll bid farewell, thank you all for a great 2003, and look forward to seeing all of you in 2004.

John

Western Montana Fishing Report
Sept. 15 thru 29, 2003:

Sorry about the delay in getting our fishing report out. It really was understandable however. Our web master was over here fishing, and not in a position to get it up. Oh well, we sure hope you understand, and regret any inconvienance it may have caused everyone. (We had a great trip by the way... the web guy)

Anyway, it has been a fairly strange two weeks. The first week... two weeks ago... really fished well. Cloudy, cool weather precipitaed some awsome fishing. Last week things took a turn. Unseasonable warm weather... in the mid to upper 80's... and an extrememly bright sun really turned things sour most of the week. BWO's, and Mahogany's had a tough go of it in those conditions, and the October caddis and fall drakes thought they were a month early... and went back to their nymphal stage until things cooled down a bit.

We're hoping things will get back more to normal this week and we'll have some more excellent fall mayfly fishing.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
Sept. 8 thru Sept. 15, 2003

Another week of some pretty good fishing here in Western Montana. All our streams had their opportunities at producing some great fish and memorable moments. As a general rule the fish were keying on the little stuff (BWO's, trico's, and Mahogany's), but a hopper skittered off the bank also managed to turn more than one great fish this week.

If I had to guess, I'd venture to say we've finally arrived at fall fishing. Though the leaves are just starting to turn, the nights have really started to cool down, and the daytime temps are running more in the 60 degree range than the 80. We might have another week or two where a person can bounce hoppers off the bank, but start thinking about extending those leaders, lightening that tippet, and working on drag free drifts. IT'S MAYFLY TIME!!!!!!!!!

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Western Montana fishing report:
Sept. 1 thru Sept. 7, 2003

Overall, another pretty decent week of fishing in Western Montana. Though we did have a couple slower days, most days were good to excellent fishing.

Hoppers are still working thru the heat, but each day we see a noticable drop in temperatures... they are now almost normal, in the 80 degree range... and more and more mayflies flittering about the rivers.

This week the weather-man is calling for some real low temps, in the mid 70 degree range, and some much needed rain. After the slowdown due to barometric changes, we very well could see a full blown hatch of drakes, mahogany duns, and bwo's.

For those coming in from now till the end of the season, I might seriously consider bringing waders... just in case it truely does change to fall.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
August 25 thru Sept. 1, 2003

Kind of a strange week here at Backdoor Outfitters. Hopper fishing was good early in the week, but a pressure change... at least that's what we're telling ourselves... slowed things down toward the end of the week.

The Bitterroot continued to fish best with hoppers, while the Clark Fork is popping out some trico's as well as BWO's. A few drakes and mahogany's have been spotted, but not really enough yet to get the fish keying on them except the BWO's early in the morning.

The good news is the evenings are starting to feel like fall the last couple of nights. Night-time temps are dropping to below 40 and daytime temps are relatively stable at low 80's. That sun is starting to loose some of it's scorching rays, and most the day is comfortable out there. Looking forward to more good hopper fishing as well as some mayfly action in the coming days.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
Aug.16 thru Aug. 23, 2003

Another week of good to excellent fishing here in Western Montana. Though hoppers still dominate most of the fishing, there are trico's appearing as well as some drakes... or mahogany duns... depending upon whose version you want to take.

Anyway, fires continued to burn in our area most the week, with days where you might have thought you were in L.A.. All it really took down the valley was a little breeze and most the smoke stayed away. Apparently not so the case in the Missoula area. However, I really don't want to comment on the conditions there... since I've only heard second hand about them and not experienced them myself.

The end of the week saw some much appreciated cooler temperatures, as well as a healthy dose of rain for this area. It seems to have at least slowed the fires down, and we're really hopeful that we might be on the back stretch of the fire season.

Expect good fishing the coming week, with emphasis continuing on hoppers, more and more trico's and drakes, and possibly some mahogany and pmd action.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
August 4 thru August 17, 2003

Sorry about not getting a fishing report out last week. My wife and I went on vacation for a couple days, and actually just kind of forgot about it... along with everything else.

Anyway, quite a bit to relate since our last report. On the fishing scene things have not changed a lot. Still decent to great fishing on the Bitterroot. On the right days, lots of fish hitting and a good percentage of them nice fish... not just dinks. Still predominately hoppers and ants, though mayfly imitations sometimes work well in the early morning hours and we are begining to see trico's. The rest of the rivers... as well as the lower Bitterroot... still have suggested cease times of noon, due to warm weather, so we have not been spending as much time on them. When we do get to fish them, they have been producing some good fish.

Additional information now seems to be the forest fires. We have a large number of them burning around the area. Though other than the occassional day when the smoke is thick enough to smell, it really has not had too much impact on the fishing. Most the fires are well away from the rivers, and those near populated areas are actually trying to be slowed down this year. We're hoping that as the weather begins to cool and we start getting some moisture, the fires will subside and our valley will return to it's normal beauty.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
July 28 thru August 3, 2003

Another pretty good week in this part of the state. We have been very fortunate so far this summer. Warm temps and fires have... for the most part... stayed out of our valley, and despite extremely hot days and bright skies, fishing has remained good to excellent right on through.

The best news I have this week is a weather report. Yesterday and last night, mother nature decided to favor us here in the Bitterroot Valley. Some severe rains probably will keep us from any serious fire danger the rest of the summer. Additionally, the weather man is calling for temps to finally start dropping. Instead of the 90+ degrees we have been sitting in for the last month or so, they say our highs should fall back into the low 80 range. Great news for everyone living out here.

Since hoppers have been abundant this year, and trico's are already starting to show up, I look for another good to excellent week of fishing.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
July 21 thru July 27, 2003

It was another week of pretty good fishing here in Western Montana. Despite warm temperatures, and fires in the distance, the fishing remained better than expected all through the week. A bumper crop of hoppers has created a smooth transition from golden stones and yellow sally's.

About the only thing different about the fishing right now is that we've gone to 'hoot owl' fishing. What this amounts to is getting on the water by 6:30 or 7:00 and fishing till around 2:00 in the afternoon. Though you might get lucky and have a cool day with a cloud cover where you can extend those fishing hours, pretty much expect to do your business in the early morning hours for the next few weeks. Our sentiment is it's just too hard on the fish to stress them anymore than necessary. With luck, this heat wave will eventually abate and we can get back to a more normal routine.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
July 14 thru July 20, 2003

Another great week of fishing here in Western Montana... despite the extreme heat wave we're under. Both the rivers we spent time on this week, Bitterroot and Blackfoot, fished from good to excellent. Good hatches of golden stones made the fish on the root fairly jump at your fly. While the Blackfoot wasn't quite so flambouant, it managed to turn fish most the day and kept everyone happy.

Unfortunately, our forcast is a little mixed. We have some good news to go along with some bad. The good news is there are still some golden stones and hoppers have really begun to turn some fish. The bad is that we've already entered our fire season. We have a pretty big fire already burning just up the canyon from us... the Big Creek fire. It is putting off quite a bit of smoke and if the wind is just right, makes things a little uncomfortable. It just started Saturday night, and time will tell how long it burns... or is put out.

With the appearance of the hoppers, a little luck, and not to much problems with fires, we should experience good fishing right on through the fall.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
July 7 thru July 13, 2003

Well, considering the 90 degree temps. and bright sun, it turned out to be another pretty darned good week of fishing. About the only down sides of the week was you had to be out there early if you wanted to turn many fish... just too bright after about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Also, because neither the Blackfoot or Clark Fork were fishing all that well, most everyone in the area was fishing the Bitterroot. That might have been a problem if there were not so many miles of river to fish. But, when the new boats showed up, we merely moved, and had some great fishing, all by ourselves.

What seemed to be working well this week were small golden stone... yellow sally... imitations, purple haze, and adams in about a size 14. A cripple drifted through foam lines early turned quite a few fish also. Later in the day, when things slowed down, either a small hopper, or attractor pattern such as a royal madam X had decent results.

Hopefully, a little cooler weather this week might not make fishing any better, but it might make it one heck of a lot more enjoyable. I really start getting too hot once that old temperature gauge gets much above 75.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
June 30 thru July 6, 2003

Well, we've finally moved out of the high country. Water levels are going down a bit, salmon flies are coming to an end, and it's time to pack up camp and head downstream.

It's always a sad time of the year when we depart those steep walled canyons and evergreen laden hills. But, discovering clear waters, golden stones, and beautiful views of the Bitterroots sure helps the transition. Last week was pretty good weather... a little hot for my blood but seemingly just right for the clients... decent flows and some real fun fishing.

Waters levels were clear enough to finally be able to witness most of the drama. As that stone fly drifted just along the edge of that inside seam, we were able to watch those red sided rainbows and golden cuts head up from the bottom and swallow our fly. Probably the main reason I love fly fishing so much.

Anyway, last week saw some good fishing on most the rivers. Hopefully, this week will see more golden stones for most of the week, a heavier dose of caddis as the evening comes on, and some mid-day mayfly hatches. Heck, I'm not asking for much am I?

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
June 23 - 30, 2003

Better weather, and good water conditions have really helped the fishing throughout western Montana. It seems everything, from the upper stretches of the Blackfoot and Bitterroot, where salmon flies are still popping like gangbusters, to the lower rivers and Clark Fork, where mayflies and caddis dominate the picture... along with an abundance of golden stones and yellow sallies... everything seems to be fishing from good to excellent.

Though we've been concentrating on the upper rivers and the salmon flies, middle stretches of the Bitterroot have given us some excellent catches of big fish. We expect the salmon fly fishing to begin fading. But, until they do, we'd like to spend as many days in those headwaters as possible.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
June 16 thru 23, 2003

Man, what a week. We saw weather changes like it was late winter, or early spring... not the first of summer. Early in the week the old thermometer registered temps in the 100 degree range, by end of the week we were lucky to see them hit 60.

What did this mean to the fishing? Tough to decent. Though the salmomfly hatch was reduced to clumps of bugs huddled together on every limb trying to stay warm, there were times when fishing was not quite so desperate. It seems for a couple days luck was almost... if not more... important than presentation. You could have two boats fishing the same water and throwing the same bug with completely different results. One boat might land 15 or 20 fish, the other barely turn 10.

As for the status of the rivers themselves, the Bitterroot still has some salmon flies popping along with green drakes, golden stones, PMD's, and caddis. The Blackfoot is about the same... with a heavy load of BWO's mixed in. The Clark Fork is still a little dark, and we feel to off-color to fish dry on it, so we are yet to make an appearance. We're hoping some time this week things will settle out enough to begin fishing it with something other than streamers and nymphs.

Warmer weather this week should greatly improve the fishing conditions in western Montana.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
June 9 - June 16, 2003

Well, what can I say? Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile? Looks like we finally called one right. The water continued to drop all week, and the salmon flies were abundant on both the East and West Forks of the Bitterroot River. For the fishermen who were able to get their flies in close to the banks... and leave it there for awhile... fishing ranged from down right good, to great. We managed to boat several fish in the 18" plus category, as well as recording days of 30 to 40 fish per angler. Couple some great fishing with gorgeous scenery, outstanding weather, abundant wildlife, and fine companionship, and you've served up just about the best this life has to offer. Let's just hope the salmon flies stay around for awhile, and the rest of our hatches work out half as well.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
June 2 thru June 9, 2003

It was a week that really saw the water levels drop. From the nearly 8000 cfs at Darby early in the week, to just about 2800 cfs this week. Unfortunately, the water didn't really start to clear much until late in the week. Though there were salmon flies starting to come off, the fish showed very little interest in them. I'm not sure if it was because there just haven't been enough of them hitting the water yet, of if the water was too off colored to allow them to see them. In either case, last week saw limited fishing opportunities.

The good news is the rivers are continuing to drop, the salmon flies are in the air, and, I have a strong feeling that this week we should get into some good to excellent fishing. I'll let you know next week how good my crystal ball was.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
May 25 through June 1, 2003

Not really much to report on this front... unless you're suddenly interested in lakes... as flooding has been the topic of the week. Flows are at or above historic peaks (about 8,000 cfs. at Darby). And, as well as the chocolate color in the water, there seems to be more trees floating downstream than leaves. Cooler temps this week should begin to bring the rivers into shape, hopefully just in time for the salmon fly season. Look forward to a better report next week.

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Western Montana fishing report:
May 19 thru 26, 2003

Sorry about the delay in getting this out. My internet connection was down for the last four days. Anyway, other than stream flows, you really haven't missed much.

Well, it finally happened. Western Montana runoff is upon us, and boy is it upon us. During the week, flows at Darby jumped from about 2500 last Monday, to nearly 7,500 this Monday... with them expected to increase even more until the end of the week. Extremely high temps, coupled with some good rain showers created an excellent environment for moving some of that snow we have in the high country down into the flats. What this means for fishing is 'not at all until things peak', which we expect should be sometime around the end of the week. Then, we'll take it as it comes. Usually, once things crest, and start back down it takes a couple days for the waters to clear, then we can start fishing. With luck, by the time that happens, our salmon flies should be taking wing.

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Western Montana Fishing Report
May 12 - 19, 2003

Water seems to be the main focus of this weeks report. Most of our rivers here in Western Montana took a large spike up this week. The Bitterroot went from about 1500 at Darby on the 12th. to about 2500 by the 19th. Because the rivers were rising most the week, we did very little fishing on them. Sunday, a bunch of us went up to the St. Regis... because it's color was actually good. Though it had good color, and lots of bugs coming off, there was almost no top water activity. We did manage to land a few nice ones using large double beaded nymphs, and streamers, but all in all, a pretty slow day of fishing. Warmer temps this week should push the rivers up even more. So, our suggestion is look for tailwaters if you want to fish this week.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
May 5 - 11, 2003

This week just about cinches it. I think we're going to start booking trips in May. Why, because it was another excellent week of fishing here in Western Montana. Temps. stayed moderate, most days had at least a little cloud cover, and flows continued to remain down (about 1500 cfs at Darby at this writting), all contributing to great fishing conditions. Couple this with good to excellent hatches of Drakes, BWO's, March Browns, and caddis, and you begin to see why we're going to start booking trips in May. Of course, as soon as I do, we'll get back to typical runoff patterns, and it won't be fishable. Still, something to ponder.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
April 28 thru May 5, 2003

Actually, a pretty good week here in Western Montana. Water was dropping most the week. From a high of around 2000 cfs at Darby, to a low of about 1600 cfs, it provided decent fishing all week. However, a fairly heavy rain/snow storm on Saturday and Sunday did pump the rivers back up a little over the weekend, with Monday morning readings at Darby hitting nearly 1900 cfs.

Though many folks are chucking streamers and big double bead nymphs during the periods when nothing is hatching, there still seem to be enough skwala around to illicit a strike or two on a good skwala imitation for those who prefer to stay on top all day. From around 2 til 4, most days, there are enough March Browns, Grey Drakes and caddis around to provide excellent dry fly action during the mid day.

My crystal ball is definately a little foggy, but, if I had to make a call, I'd guess that we will probably stay decent at least until we start getting some warmer temps and get into full blown runoff.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
April 21 thru 28, 2003

Another spring week here in the Rockies. High water early in the week made fishing all but impossible. Though there were good hatches of most our insects... caddis, BWO's, March Browns, Grey Drakes, as well as ample Skwala... water color made fishing tough.

However, following the typical couple days of tough fishing, air temps began to cool and our rivers once again are dropping into shape. By the end of the week, decent fishing was reported all up and down the Bitterroot. Though I haven't gotten a report on the Clark Fork, my guess is it's also beginning to fish well again.

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Western Montana Fishing Report
April 14 thru 20, 2003

Following some unprecedented high water the end of last week and beginning of this, things are getting back to normal... or at least as normal as things get in the spring.

Flows dropped back to around 1300 cfs, and the fishing began to pick up. Great hatches of drakes, March browns, nemora, Skwala and the beginning of some caddis really got the fish turned on around mid-day. Though once the hatch finished fishing slowed, it remained decent right up till the last hours of the day... giving good to excellent fishing for 5 or 6 hours.

Cold nights are helping to keep runoff from getting out of hand. Hopefully, we'll all enjoy another decent week or two of fishing before things get rockn'and'rollin again.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
April 8 - 14, 2003

Sorry about the delay in getting this report off. We've been way busy. As you probably all ready know, most of Western Montana blew out this week. Everything that shouldn't have happened did. High temps, combined with heavy rain brought the Bitterroot up to flows of nearly 2100 cfs at Darby. By the way, normal flows this time of year are around 600 cfs.

Anyway, to fill the hole left in fishing experience, we've spent a few days up on the headwaters of the Clark Fork. It has been fishable from Drummond east. Fishing was pretty good up there. We managed to land several fish in the twenty plus catagory... with the largest being taken by David McCurdy, from Boston; a 26 and 1/2 inch rainbow that probably tipped the scales somewhere between 9 and 12 pounds.

The good news is the rivers are dropping. At this time, our flows have dropped to about 1500 cfs. With more cold days and nights in the forecast, it should drop considerably more. We're going to start fishing the Root again tomorrow. Wish us luck.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
April 1 thru 7, 2003

Whoa, another up and down week. Following that great day last week, old mother nature decided to dump on us. She delivered a lot of rain Monday night and Tuesday morning... swelling the rivers and giving them limited visibility. These conditions lasted for a couple days, and fishing was almost non-existent.

Around Thursday, the conditions began to improve... thanks mainly to cold weather. Of course, the cold weather helped the water color, but did little for the fishing. Thursday and Friday produced small catches but some nice fish. By Saturday, things turned around, and we had another great day of fishing.

For us, Monday was surprisingly slow. Conditions seemed favorable, but other than about 2 hours mid-day, the fish really didn't seem to interested in anything we threw at them. We only managed to land a handful of fish... though opportunities were adequate. Monday was about the same, plenty of opportunities with limited fish to hand. The debate yesterday focused around... are those fish just slapping at our flies, or are we actually missing this many fish? I suspect a little of both.

The best thing about last week was the continued improvement of our mayfly hatches. BWO and March Browns both began to take a more prominent role in the activity along the seams. The warmer weather that is predicted for this week should bode well for fishing. Let's keep our fingers crossed and pray the creeks don't rise.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
March 25 thru March 31, 2003

It was one of those skwala weeks. Early in the week saw decent... though not exceptional... fishing one day, then marginal the next. That trend continued right on up till the weekend. Saturday was really pretty marginal, but Sunday the weather warmed up and so did the fishing. I'm almost hesitant to tell you how good the fishing was Monday, but suffice to say, it was the best skwala fishing I have ever personnally experienced.

I had the day off and permission from the wife to fish in the afternoon. Of course, when I got to the bank and saw the reader board proclaiming 56 degree temps at 0900, I decided to hell with morning chores. I got my kick boat and put on the river about 0915. I had my first fish to hand by 0920, and two more by 0930. Other than one stretch while a front passed, of about a half hour, where I only boated one or two fish, it never slowed down. Between 0900 and 1530, I'm sure I had somewhere between 30 and 50 fish to hand. Though there was nothing really big... the largest around 18 or 19... the smallest was about 15 or 16. All in all, a great day of catching fish.

I spent all day throwing skwala's though I did see more than a few March Browns. If this weather holds at all, and we don't get too much rain and push the rivers up, the next week should produce some great fishing.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
March 17 thru March 24, 2003

Last week saw fishing ranging from great to down right tough. Early in the week most boats were able to find fish on top. Though catches on the lower river were not as numerous as those on the upper river, quality was good. Many fish in the upper teens and twenties were being landed between Hamilton and Florence.

Fishing seemed to hit a high point on Saturday, with most folks on the river having exceptional days. Unfortunately, Saturday evening saw some heavy rain showers up and down the Bitterroot, which immediately began to push the river up. Sunday saw the fishing success drop substantially, and Monday was one of the worst days I can remember for actually catching fish.

Of course, like everything else, all things will change. Monday was cool and clear, and the rivers are already dropping. Skwala's, nemora and capnia are all present on the Bitterroot, with the major hatch still waiting to happen. Predictions are for a little cooler weather this week, in the mid to upper 40's to low 50's, which should get water levels back down and hopefully get the fish active again.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
March 10 thru 17, 2003

I've been out of town for a sport show this week, so the report is going to be second hand. Basically it sounds like it went about as follows.

Warm weather... in the high 60's... melted much of our lower snow pack; rising the rivers slightly; and cooling them as snow was converted to water. Most of the week saw marginal fishing... though some were being caught using nymphs and streamers. Around Monday, the rivers started to clear considerably and a few skwala, nemora, bwo's, and midge were seen on the water. Temps for this week are forcast to be in the mid to upper 50's. This should continue to clear the river, and warm it slightly. With luck... god willin and the creeks don't rise... this week should see the beginning of good to decent dry fly fishing here in the Bitterroot Valley.

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
March 3 thru 10, 2003

Man, what a week. Snow, snow and more snow was the word of the week. Pushed our seasonal snowpack right up there, but proved to cool for much good fishing most the week. However, by Sunday, things began to change.

Sunday produced some decent weather, and though it wasn't what you'd really call warm, it was enough to trigger some surface activity. Though I was not able to get out myself, friends indicated that they saw quite a few nemora, and even a couple skwala. With weather temps expected to hit high 50's by mid-week, I'd expect our surface activity to really start popping.

It's about time to forget about ESPN and tying those flies, and start seriously thinking about hitting the waters here in Western Montana

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Western Montana Fishing Report:
Feb. 24 thru March 2, 2003

Well folks, what can I say. All those people who were wondering if we'd have enough snow for the year can rest easier. As of this writting, the Bitterroot drainage is running about 90% of historic average, and about 110% of what we had last year. Today, we're getting even more snow. So in all likelihood, our snowpack should prove sufficient to get us through another year.

Now as for the fishing. A couple weeks ago I'd have sworn we'd be fishing Skwala in March, early Feb.. The red winged blackbirds started arriving, robins made their first appearance, and our pastures were actually shooting up some new blades of grass. But, old man winter made another appearance and has pushed things back a few weeks.

My son and I were on the river Sunday, and though we did manage to land a few fish, they were on nymphs and surface activity was almost non-exsistant. We did see a few midge and BWO's, but nothing of the Skwala or Nemora hatches which are just around the corner. Best guess, I'd figure a couple more weeks before things really bust out. The weekly forcast is for temps around the mid 30 level all week. We'll need a few days in the 50's to get the bugs really going. So, for the time being, keep tying those flies and watching ESPN Outdoors. Good Montana fishing looks to be still a few weeks away..

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See 2002 Reports Here

See 2001 reports HERE