Skwala time

Spring finally arrived in western Montana, and with it came some good skwala action on the Bitterroot River. Temperatures in the 60s warmed the river to the low 40s, which was enough to get the bugs moving. But the sunshine is also cutting lose some lower elevation snow, and the river has come up from about 450 cfs at Darby on Monday to 680 cfs and climbing Wednesday morning. Those rising flows could put off the fishing somewhat, but this is no time to be choosy about which day to launch. This is a great time to be on the Bitterroot.