Oh welcome September. The return of football, bird hunting, bow hunting, no 105 degree days so oh yeah Fall is almost here! This summer was hot but not as bad as the previous two years. Hoot owl has been lifted. Pride (our son) has guided almost every day the last two months and the fishing has been really good. Mid August was our tipping point for improved fly fishing with our night time air temps dropping off hence cooling the rivers and making for happy trout. I’ve been out guiding some and it’s been refreshing rowing while the scorching sun of August has diminished.
It’s not always just about fishing in September. I used to salivate upon anticipating bugling bull elk. There is nothing like listening to their echoing screams and clashing antlers through out the canyons in the Montana mountains in September. I scampered every fall through changing white barked aspen thickets, dark pine forests, and all kinds of craziness in search of elk. Hiking the ridges with my bow/arrow, bugle, and elk calls on my backpack was a way of life when I was younger. The white-tail bucks are coming out of velvet after their long summer slumber while they lazily eat alfalfa. Ducks and geese are feeding in harvested fields and flocking up. The first frosts are getting closer. My family and I love this time of year.
As far as the fall goes Autumn offers some of the years best fly fishing. Hekubas, hoppers, some tricos, nocturnals still, October caddis(a bit later), BWO’s, and fall mahoganies will all be in the playbook. I really enjoy September guiding to rising trout on the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers. In October we’ll head to the Missouri for some pretty epic dry fly fishing. Later October offers some really fun streamer fishing with brown trout starting to spawn and getting rammy! The Blackfoot, Bitterroot, and Clark Fork are beautiful rivers to float in the fall. Deciduous foliage changing abruptly into yellow, golden, and orange leaves makes our river scenery as picturesque as anyone can imagine. The canyon and the entire Blackfoot is also a treasure in the fall. Cutthroat, brown trout, and rainbows are busy putting on calories. They will hopefully be crushing dries, nymphs, and streamers in anticipation of the coming snow and freezing winter haze. The best time of the year, in my humble opinion, is just around the corner.
It’s currently raining September 2 here in Stevensville MT and we love it.
Get out there if you can. Hope to see you from Sandy, Pride, Logan, and Myself at Troutzoola.