River high but settled. Fish are looking up — bigger flies, confident takes.
Live now
Trends shown where the gauge supports them
Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.
How to fish · for brown trout
When · where · method · kit
Hatches & runs
Twelve months at a glance
Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.
Today's fly · curated pack
6 patterns from this venue's curated pack
Detail · next 12h
The two readings most likely to move the verdict
Evidence
6 factors, signed
Bitterroot River · about
Background · character · contributors
The Bitterroot is the river that ends the long Montana winter. While everywhere else is still frozen shut, the skwalas start crawling and the trout start looking up, and grown men drive a long way to throw a dry fly in March. It's an easygoing valley freestone — browns, rainbows, and westslope cutthroat in long riffles and braided side channels you can wade most of. Come the June runoff it blows out brown and high, and you wait. But that early skwala window is worth the cold fingers.
Bitterroot River · directions
Bitterroot River · zones
Seasons · zones · per-species rules
Bitterroot River · permits
The Bitterroot is the river that ends the long Montana winter.
River high but settled. Fish are looking up — bigger flies, confident takes.
Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.
Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.
The Bitterroot is the river that ends the long Montana winter. While everywhere else is still frozen shut, the skwalas start crawling and the trout start looking up, and grown men drive a long way to throw a dry fly in March. It's an easygoing valley freestone — browns, rainbows, and westslope cutthroat in long riffles and braided side channels you can wade most of. Come the June runoff it blows out brown and high, and you wait. But that early skwala window is worth the cold fingers.