Bitterroot

Home Water

The Bitterroot River is where we call home. Our home valley. We live here and know this river like the back of our hand. We can put you smack in the middle of the Salmonflies with all the action up the West Fork, tour seldom fished haunts looking for big loners deep in the braids of the lower river, and everything in between on this eighty mile river system. Our guides are wired to this river and the surrounding Bitterroot valley. Fish with the locals.

The Bitterroot River's history begins in 1805 from travels of Lewis and Clark as they passed from south to north through the valley on route to the Pacific. They knew this river as the southern guide to Traveler’s Rest, located in the lower valley at Lolo, from where they headed west and over the immense Bitterroot mountain range.

From it’s orgins in the Pintlar Mountains and the Bitterroot Mountains, the Bitterroot River flows north through the towns of Darby, Hamilton, Stevensville, Florence, Lolo, and finally Missoula where it joins the Clark Fork river. The river is known primarily for Westslope Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout, with a smattering of impressive Brown Trout. Though the Bitterroot River passes through a populated valley, we commonly see elk, deer, moose, Bald Eagles and Osprey, ducks and other waterbirds, the occasional river otter, and many other critters residing in the lush river corridor.

March kicks off our season with the Skwala stonefly and March Brown mayfly hatches. The fishing can be spectacular, if not a little cold, and you can start the new season fishing with a dry fly. The fish are stirring and coming out of winter, and the runoff is still a distant memory with water levels running low and cold. The river is quiet. Fish rise during select windows of the day. Being early season, few fishermen are on the river.

Summertime is Montana trout fishing heaven here in the Bitterroot. Gin clear water and calm summer days in Montana are long in sunshine and warm on the water. Due to our low elevation and Pacific weather influence, The Bitterroot Valley hosts warm temperate days throughout the fishing season, and our summer hatches are consistent as with the weather. The Bitterroot is an amazing stonefly river, producing Skwalas, Salmonflies, Golden Stones, Bitterroot Stones, Nemouras, Yellow Sallies, and even big Nocturnal Stones late into the summer. Mayflies are prolific as well with early March Browns, midsummer PMDs and Drakes, and later the Mahoganies, giant Hecubas, and Baetis and Pseudos showing in the fall. Productive to say the least. Our guide season here is one of the longest in the state, starting in March and continuing through October.