The Bitterroot River offers an incredible variety of fly-fishing opportunities throughout the season. Known for its productive waters, the Bitterroot provides some of the best late-winter and early-spring dry fly fishing in Montana. Large, easy-to-spot dry flies make for great early-season action, even on cold days. Missoula Guided Fly Fishing highly recommends taking advantage of this spring hatch—it's the prime time to land a trophy brown trout, with some of the best dry fly action of the year.

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Winter stoneflies begin emerging on sunny afternoons when the water warms, creating the first real dry fly opportunities of the year. By mid-March, the much-anticipated Skwala stonefly hatch begins, growing more prolific through late March and peaking in early April. This hatch, combined with the arrival of Blue-Winged Olives (BWOs) and March Browns, brings trout aggressively to the surface, offering some of the best chances to land a big brown on a dry fly.

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As summer arrives, PMD hatches provide consistent action through early and mid-season. Late summer and fall on the Bitterroot can be a dry-fly angler’s paradise, with prolific Trico, Mahogany Dun, and BWO hatches keeping trout feeding on the surface. Whether you're fishing early-season stoneflies or late-season mayflies, the Bitterroot delivers world-class dry fly fishing from winter through fall.