Thanks Brenden. Great info. Sounds like an awesome trip. I know the Missoula shops and will call there.
Gary Meyers Kirkland > From: Brenden Portolese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2002 08:50:54 -0800 > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: RE: One of lifes big pleasures > > Ok some more detail: > > We floated some pretty main stretches North and South of Stevensville (~20 > miles south of Missoula?) My understanding of the "Skwala Hatch" is that its > less of a "popping" hatch where the bugs cloud the air. The Skwalas crawl > to the rocks and occasionally get blown into the river similiar to hopper > action. Likewise the "hatch" doesnt seem to progress up a river as a > standard bug hatch, but there ARE hot spots.. You just never know where > exactly.. Call a local shop I can give you names offline. > > Weather - Look for overcast.. Skwalas take refuge in the sun, so less of > them on the water. On our first day it snowed on the way to the put-in, > later that day the high hit a balmy 40. But we were still hooking big fish. > I started with dries, my buddy was on droppers, and we were hitting the same > numbers, so he switched early on. The numbers of fish werent staggering, we > had maybe 20 in the net over 2 days, but we... I missed probably 2 or 3 for > everyone I got in the boat.(Big fish are big for a reason, At least thats my > excuse..) > > The big indicator for hot spots were the robins gorging themselves on the > banks.. Typically just downstream of bird activity you would draw strikes.. > We fished tight to the bank, and 2-3ft off and were productive in both.. > Basically if it looked fishy, it was... > > Talking with guys in the shop, they were waiting for the Clark to clear up, > apparently the skwalas draw some hogs out on that river as well. Blackfoot > was the typical Blackfoot. Fast and furious. (Heading back in the Fall to > fish it) > > HTH > Good luck! > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gary Meyers [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 8:36 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: One of lifes big pleasures > > > Brenden > > I'm heading to Montana next Friday for a week of fishing with my son. We're > taking a boat with us and were thinking of going all the way to the Madison > and perhaps the Yellowstone but thought we might hit the Bitteroot on the > way there. Did you float? Roughly, what part of the river were you on? Any > reports from other Montana rivers while you were there? > > Thank you, > > Gary Meyers > Kirkland > >> From: Brenden Portolese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2002 07:57:23 -0800 >> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Subject: One of lifes big pleasures >> >> >> Taking 19" Rainbows on big dries, before the season even starts ... >> >> Skwalas on the Bitteroot. >> Landed many, lost many more. >> For as long as live, I will never miss this hatch. >> (Smallest fish landed was 15" rainbow, the average was 17") >> The highlight was my fishing partner taking a 19.5" Brown off the surface. >> >> Not much more to say... >> >> >
