An Overview of the Bitterroot River System
by Sean O'Brien

After the duldrums of winter, the Bitterroot River comes alive with the emergence of the Skwalla, a size 10 olive to dark bodied stonefly. Fortunatly for us while every Western rivers are fishing with size 22 and 24 midges, we are fishing size 10 dries! The emergence of the Skwalla gets the fish very motivated to take properly fished dries and the eats can be very explosive. The hatch typically starts by mid-March and lasts through April.

Weather this time of year can be 70 degrees one day and snowing the next; we are in the Rockies. We suggest if you are going to fish the Skwalla hatch that you come for at least 3-4 days and plan on having at least one day of inclimate weather. That being said, some of the best Skwalla fishing can be in a sideways blizzard.