by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 19, 2009 | music
The Montana Rockies Bluegrass Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and performing bluegrass music.
The association, which was formed in 1999, offers a slate of events throughout the year to promote bluegrass music. This includes sponsoring performances by local and nationally recognized bluegrass bands, campouts of bluegrass pickers and fans, and workshops where enthusiasts can develop their music skills.
The 2009 spring festival, which is in its 10th year, gives bluegrass fans an opportunity to hear outstanding performances across spectrum of bluegrass music. Started by a few “bluegrassers” from the Missoula and Bitterroot Valley, the association now has over 250 members.
Bands performing this year:Acousticals, Bill Anderson & Jeff Trask, Black Mountain Boys, Bonnie Bliss & Stan Hall, BVDs, Gravel Road, Ken Benson & Friends, Larry Gangi, Sr., Mike & Tari Conroy, Pinegrass, Ramblin’ Rose, Salmon Valley String Band, Spring Thaw, Three Rivers Bluegrass, Will Williams, Wise River Mercantile. To read more about this event and the late-night jam and campover, visit our website at http://www.mtbluegrass.com/.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 18, 2009 | Bitterroot, i Spring
Joe Graziano fished this beautiful day with Jack on the Bitterroot River. With the very cool nights, the river is coming up, but fairly orderly and there are fish to be caught.
The forecast for next week is for 70 degree days and nights above freezing. Those ingredients make for a rising river and possible run-off conditions.
Check back to see what happens and if the fishing turns on or off. For Bitterroot weather (ten day forecast) and local USGS streamflow data click www.wapiti-waters.com/stream.htm.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 17, 2009 | Bitterroot, Friends, i Spring
Last week I got a call from an old guide friend, Jeff Levert.
He wanted to fish with me. It is always good to get on the water with incredible casters, professional oarsmen and genuinely good people. For a decade, mid-80s to 90s, Jeff and I were part of a team of about 6 other guides at the Complete Fly fisher on the Big Hole River. We all shared the resource, the clients, the expertise, and the fun. This was a really good time in our lives.
Jeff has since gotten out of guiding and works in the oil fields of Wyoming. He and his wife, Lisa, and their two beautiful young daughters live in Butte.
As you can see by these photos in the slideshow below, his passion for angling has not diminished.
Jeff came to fish today with his close friend, Patrick Botzet, now from Missoula, but raised on the Front Range near Cutbank, MT. Patrick and Jeff were extraordinary river companions and I learned a lot about the energy development in Wyoming. See Patrick’s website at Teton Exploration.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 15, 2009 | Bitterroot, Flies, i Spring
In early March, you can start looking for Skwala stoneflies. They are similar to salmonflies in appearance and habitat, though they are smaller.
The Skwalas are related to the little yellow stoneflies though they do not belong to the same biological family.
For more information about the Skwala hatch, give us a call.
Here are some photos of skwala we saw on the Bitterroot River a few days ago. See the slideshow below.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 15, 2009 | Bitterroot, i Spring
My brother, Roy, came from Whitefish to fish and float the upper Bitterroot on Sunday and were surprised that we saw only two other boats. The first of the boats was another guide but the second was Rob who had come down from the Kalispell area to fish with George. It was great to see them and introduce the northern boys (Whitefish and Kalispell are in northwest Montana) to one another, albeit while wearing fishing gear including hats and dark glasses and floating by on a fairly fast river. It is kind of like meeting someone while skiing. You might never recognize them in street clothes.
The river was up enough to be pretty fast and a little bit cloudy, especially where the tributaries flowed in. We did see skwala, but not very many. We worked hard at trying different patterns and even some nymph fishing. The morning fishing was slow, but we had better success in the afternoon.
The slideshow below will take you down the river by photographs. By the time we got to the take-out, I was busy keeping the puppy close so I stopped taking photos just above it. I did capture an old car rip-rap bank, various birds, pretty cliffs, stone outcroppings, vistas, and of course some trout.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 14, 2009 | Bitterroot, i Spring
I am editing some skwala photos, but wanted to post a few photos from our fishing on Sunday. It was surprisingly good. More photos, including skwala, will be in the next post.
To throw in some drama, I will post a photo of geese flying over and an osprey on that same stretch of the Bitterroot River.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 9, 2009 | Bitterroot, i Spring
Doc Bolton is up from California again. He has a small house on the Bitterroot now and comes up at least a couple of times a year. He is fishing about four days with Jack and today, Terry Nobles is in the boat. I will pick them up at the take out. I can’t wait to get some more photos of Terry. Click Terry Nobles for more blog entries about him.
Here is a slideshow of Doc’s fishing. You will see different days, different sections of the Bitterroot River.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 7, 2009 | Bitterroot, i Spring
Well, we are having spring weather!
Two days ago it was freezing, now our lows are 36 degrees and our high for today is forecasted at 68 degrees. Currently, in the late morning it is about 50 degrees.
Warm weather will bring the bugs but it will bring down the snowpack, too. The upper river has come up close to 200 cubic feet per second (CFS) in the last two days. If we can have cool nights as forecasted, we will have an orderly, slower rise in CFS and better chances of great fishing.
Nice photo of John. Yes, he is always this happy!
Click http://www.wapiti-waters.com/stream.htm to see links to weather in the Bitterroot, USGS water data sites, and snowpack information.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 5, 2009 | Bitterroot, i Spring
No doubt the snowpack that has been laid down since the first day of spring will be welcome in late July. Right now, however, it’s definitely caused a few cancellations as some of our anglers think it’s too cold to fish. It is hard to argue with that. For sure these are some of the coldest water temperatures we have ever guided on! Yet, there has been good fishing without a lot of bugs yet.
No, we have not resorted to the use of indicators and nymphs…PLEASE! Spring angling is about finding a few fish “looking up.” It is about getting the rust out of your cast; reminding yourself that sometimes you need to mend downstream, not only upstream, in order to get the extended drift; and it is about making a slow, firm hook-set when a fish does happen to inhale your dry fly. You had better have just enough line slack to drift your bug just right but not too much line slack reducing your control and reaction time. Early spring fishing is about the joy of casting a single, buoyant big stonefly dry or mayfly pattern and observing the sights and sounds around you, the life that is teeming on the river and banks. So for me, it is not about hooking a bunch of whitefish or watching a bobber all day long… this is my philosophy. 
Yes, there are those that want to fish with droppers off of large dries or indicators in nymph rigs. Many anglers coming from a tail-water expect their guides to produce lots of fish and have lots of action. So be it. I do respect their right to lose as many flies as possible on all the woody debris that is found on the Bitterroot River. With that said, yesterday was the first bright sunny day in three weeks after clouds and snow, and it fished tough. We found big fish tight to some cover and a few out in the open lanes. It turned into a good day despite the conditions.
by Merle Ann Loman | Apr 5, 2009 | Bitterroot
I can’t say enough about how much fun it is too fish with Terry Nobles and Kent Myers. Both are great to be with and love the Bitterroot River. This photo of Terry shows the very young but mature male trout he coaxed out from under a log. It took patience and technique as he teased the trout with his dry fly and expertly set the hook.
Kent showed his fly fishing prowess as he caught fish after fish. We used small bugs and small tippet AND big bugs and big tippet. It all seemed to work.
See the slideshow below for more photos.
The Montana Rockies Bluegrass Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and performing bluegrass music.
