Thursday, October 11, 2012

A Day On The Bitterroot River

After a long day going into the backcountry for cutthroat it was good to spend the next from the seat of a raft seeing a few miles of the Bitterroot River, picking up a few fish, and sipping an occasional brew.  

Joel Thompson of Montana Troutaholic Outfitters, along with guide Mitchell King, loaded us up in their rafts and we had a great time on a beautiful warm and sun filled fall day.  We had a few hatches come off early but for the most part the day was spent nymphing deep and swinging streamers.


Created with flickr slideshow.


The alternate title for this post should have been "The Day I Caught My First Whitefish" since somehow on my frequent out west travels, and even living in Colorado for over a year, I had never caught a whitefish before this trip.  That all changed on the Bitterroot River as it seemed that I picked the river bottom clean of whitefish on every deep run or bend.

I know that the presence of whitefish is a good indicator of a river's health, but seeing my friends netting trout after trout as my line went tight on another whitefish kind of got in my head.  Oh well...a tug is a tug...right?

Those viewing this post on an Apple device can view the photos in this Flickr album.  

5 comments:

BLUEANGLER said...

That looks FANTASTIC! Cameron,
fall fishing at it best! I DO love those whitefish! They are not good looking, but man, the fight is really addictive!! Thanks for the great report!

Joel said...

Man, that was a great day on the river! We need to do it again soon, Cam.

Joel

ratfacedmcdougal said...

Here in the Northeast we have the lake whitefish. I've caught many while fishing for landlocked salmon in the rivers. Some up.to 5#. As fighters they are very game. I'm told they are excellent table fare. Are those the Western cousins to ours?

Cameron Mortenson said...

Mark...thanks. It was a good time...even if it was whitefish after whitefish. HA...

Joel...for sure. When can I come out again?

RFMcD...I bet they are. Whitefish are all over the place.

Joel said...

Cam, you have an open invitation! Lots of rain the past two days. The streamer fishing is going to be sick here soon!

Joel