Fly Fishing on Two Wheels

Our third day on the river was marked with abundant hatches of drakes, PMDs, yellow sallies, caddis flies, and golden stones.

The bugs are the acknowledged base of fly fishing. They crawl, swim, fly, mate, and die, above the plants, and below the fish, in the Bitterroot’s pyramid of life. Without the bugs, there would be no fish. Without the fish, there would be no fly fishing guides.

It was a trip to listen to these guys talk about the bugs. They understand, and appreciate, their own dependence on these arthropods. They lustily speak the words; Plecoptera, mandible, subimago, midge, emerger, thorax, nymphal, and benthic.

The appreciation was contagious. Here are some photos of Bitterroot stoneflies.

Bitterroot Stonefly

Stonefly Husk

Stonefly and Boat

Plecoptera Husk

I snapped a pic of the gang before braking camp on our third day. Left to right: Me, Rob, Terry, Matt, Geoff, and Peter.

Hells Anglers On The Bitterroot

As the bugs support the trout, the trout support the osprey.

Osprey

I got very lucky with this pic. The bird called out. I grabbed the SD780 hanging around my neck, flicked it on, and snapped this photo as the bird launched from the tree. The little camera focused on the bird and produced a nice pic of the huge raptor.

Here’s another pic of a Bitterroot Cut-Bow hybrid. You’ll see the fish looks very much like a rainbow, but sports an orange slash along it’s jaw.

Bitterroot Cut-Bow

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