Ok I turned 50 this year having lived only in MT, ND, and AK.  The winter weather in these states isn’t always nice!  The last two months have been the coldest on record in Montana.  The fishing hasn’t been typical this Spring. We are catching some trout, and actually have been catching a few on skwala’s but the hatch is not here yet and won’t be in full for another week at least.  The skwala nymphs are showing up in rocks and gravel.  There are some adults in places but the river is above normal for this time of year, so a lot of the glassy spots where fish can eat that bug aren’t quite there.  There is still a ton of ice and snow around, but it’s disappearing and the fish will get happier.  Dropper fishing is solid.  Also when fish get keyed into skwala’s, we don’t see a blanket hatch like salmonflies or caddis.  Male skwala’s are flightless and only show up along the edges of the river.  Females fly sparingly and deposit their eggs sometimes unseen.  The fish usually know the bugs are around before we anglers do.  In other words they don’t buzz you like a swarm of hornets!

Hurry Up skwala’s!