Fishing during the summer (smoke) season

[Fly Guy Dave]

As I was planning my annual fishing trip to the Rockies, I was hearing tales of warm water, hoot owl restrictions, big forest fires and tons of smoke. I was deterred a bit at first, but I figured that there wasn’t a whole helluva lot I could do about any of it and I went anyhow.
I did bear in mind that warm water is not a good thing for our salmonid friends, so I used my thermometer often and would not fish if the water temp got too high into the 60s. I also kept to smaller streams that tended to be a LOT cooler and a lot less crowded as well. I did fish some bigger water as well, but kept an eye on the water temp and it all worked out okay in the end.

The star of the streams in Western Montana is the west slope cutthroat trout. Many were caught and here is a sampling of some of the specimens:









This is one of the many small streams that I fished. Very cold, tons of willing fish and I didn’t see anyone else the whole time I was fishing.



Weekends can get crowded on many streams, so I made sure that I was way out in the sticks on the weekends, so I could avoid the masses. This river was at least 40 miles from the nearest town, the temp never got above 63 and the fishing was solid all weekend.



I also lucked into a nice bull trout when I was stripping a streamer in some deeper water.



I also saw plenty of wildlife. Most went unphotographed, but I did catch a few pictures of some of the more memorable ones.







Yeah, the skies were kind of smoky times, but I avoided the fires and the larger streams and the hoot owl, and I did okay.

[freestone]

Nice fish and wildlife and thanks for the reminder on water temperatures and stress it can put on the fish. I will be up there in early September and hoping for the same luck.

[texan]

That bull trout is looks kind of like a brookie. Thats one trout I have never caught. Thanks for sharing the TR.

Texan

[Fly Guy Dave]

That bull trout is looks kind of like a brookie. Thats one trout I have never caught. Thanks for sharing the TR.

Texan

I agree, they do look a lot alike! Bulls have some similarities to brookies, but they are their own distinct specie. They are both in the fontinalis classification and are a type of char, not a "true" trout, but bulls lack the wormy pattern (vermiculation) across their backs and their coloring is a bit more subdued. Bulls are also much more difficult to find than brookies and need very clean water. They used to be in the McCloud here in CA, but they no longer exist in that river. Bummer!

[Troutdog 59]

Very nice. Especially the Bull. Beautiful.

[giantbrookie]

Neat photos of both fish and wildlife. Long long ago (summer of 1980) I worked in western Montana as an exploration geologist intern. I did a bit of fishing, but regret not doing more. I recall catching some small cutts out of one or two lakes in the Bitterroots but I don't know what sort of cutts they air dropped in there.

In streams near where I stayed and worked I think most of the resident fish were rainbows that were introduced species and these would be small. When one would see a big (really really big) fish in those small streams it was a bull trout or dolly varden (never caught one, though). To this day I'm not sure how one distinguishes a bull trout from a dolly--I recall the guidebook I had referred to all of those big chars I saw as dolly varden, but that may have been incorrect.

[Fly Guy Dave]

The cutts that you caught would almost certainly be west slope cutts (O.c. lewisi). I also would wager that the larger trout that you saw in the streams would have either been large cutts or bull trout. The historic range for bull trout includes western Montana, while Dolly Varden are found on the coastline from Washington to northern Alaska. These two distinct species of charr do share some of the same range in the coastline region and their appearances are VERY similar, but genetic analysis has shown that these two fish are distinctly different. For a long time it was thought that arctic char, Dolly Varden and bull trout were all the same, but they indeed are not. I don't know this from personal experience mind you, just what I read from reputable sources. I'm a native trout enthusiast, an expert by NO means.

[Harlen]

Congratulations on your travels. And thanks for the education on the fish. As per your name, do you fish only flies?

[Fly Guy Dave]

As per your name, do you fish only flies?

Yep, little bits of fur, feather and various textiles on a hook. I started out dunking bait and using lures years ago, but I like the challenge of flyfishing and how much I have to learn and practice to get decent at it.