Revive - A Quarterly Fly Fishing Journal | Page 80

The timing of the trip was in hopes that we'd see a strong skwala hatch and Joel made sure that he had a large fly box full of foam so that we'd be ready for some serious dry fly action. On four floats on four days in a row, spread between the Bitterroot River, Blackfoot River, and Clark Fork River, we saw a few skwala but nymphs, worms, and streamers turned more trout than dry flies. Dropping a streamer into the foam or up into structure proved to be a more effective strategy but there were a few long stretches of the trip that I just wanted to work for seeing that lone trout head coming up and snatching a dry fly. Those eats are always worth it.

Four days on three different rivers gives some time to breathe, take it in, and enjoy everything about each day. I am always astounded by the beauty of this area of Montana and the upper stretches of the Blackfoot River are by far my favorite. There is a wild and ruggedness to this water, mountains covered in snow in the distance, and a valley floor with deer and elk eking out a living among the wolves, mountain lions, and grizzly bears that also call this area home. It's quite a place.

No one river or day on the water really went off while we were there but we each caught a few trout each day and I even tagged a couple solid pike in a backwater slough on the same streamer that I was using for the trout which made for a laugh and doubled over fly rod. A few cold cold brews, tasty shore lunches, and a lot of laughs made these days great.