Staples for Spring in Western Montana
By Corey Fisher

Once upon a time, the word "skwala" was only uttered in hushed whispers in fly shops and bars around Missoula. Tales of great trout performing stupid acts of gluttony â?? eating dry flies â?? were shared with close friends and a cult of sorts began to ply local rivers at a time that most anglers were still busy attending to off season-duties like tying flies and patching waders.

March is a manic month in western Montana with shirtsleeves one moment and snow squalls the next, and wasn't always relied upon for fabulous dry fly fishing.

Things have changed. Word got out, hushed whispers became online fly fishing forum posts, the Bitterroot River became a destination for pre-run off fishing and the skwala phenomenon was born.

Now, on any given day once the weather turns to almost-spring, dozens of rafts and drift boats can be found floating preferred stretches of the river, making the Bitterroot a perennial favorite of anglers. A bunch of anglers even started a yearly fishing festival of sorts dubbed "Skwalapalooza" a name spun off of the music festival, Lalapalooza.

The skwala stonefly is the source of this flurry of fishing and the inspiration for dozens of patterns developed to match this interesting stonefly. Roughly a size 8 or 10, it is slightly smaller than a golden stonefly, and is characterized by an olive-brown body. While you will rarely find a prolific hatch of these stoneflies as often associated with salmon fly hatches, trout seem to key on them as soon as the first ones start to show up. Many anglers have had banner days catching trout on skwala dries without even seeing the real thing during a day on the water.

Like all stoneflies, skwala's crawl from the river and actually hatch on riverside rocks or vegetation, so there is not an emerging period when they are available to trout, just nymphs and adults (although it is fun to tell folks that don't know any better that you absolutely slayed trout on a skwala emerger pattern.)

Skwala nymphs are predatory and feed on other aquatic insects during their one year spent maturing in the river. Once spring starts knocking on the door they crawl from the water, hatch as adults, and go about the business of finding a mate, an interesting process for stoneflies. They will locate mates by "drumming" their abdomens on the branches of bankside willows or alders, a potential mate will "drum" back, and this heated version of Marco Polo will continue until a match is made or they give up and try to find another mate. Another interesting aspect of skwala stoneflies is that only the females have wings, and is one of the reasons that skwala fly patterns will often incorporate a black egg sack, as these are the specimens most often available to the trout while the males are busy crawling around on dry land, drumming up lost love.

Without a doubt, skwalas are the reason for the season as far as most anglers are concerned and the variety and intricacy of fly patterns prove it. If the amount of time, money, and effort spent devising new skwala patterns were put into reducing carbon emissions, we wouldn't have to worry as much about global warming.

While skwalas do make for some fun, and at times great fishing, other hatches should not be overlooked. Oftentimes, march browns, blue-winged olives, and even midges will fill the attention span of rising trout, and drifting a fat skwala pattern into their feeding lane is not always the best option. Anglers being stubborn a bunch, aren't always open to change, especially with a box full of skwala patterns that took an hour apiece to tie. However, if there are mayflies about and trout appear to be feeding on them, put those cherished skwalas away and tie on a fly the trout are looking for; you can always - and should - tie your skwala pattern back on once the mayfly hatch is over.

Blue-winged olive and March browns are the mayfly patterns to have on hand to ensure you don't get caught without the right fish food rising trout are feeding on. Size 18 and 20 parachute patterns and especially spinners will work well during BWO hatches and size 12 and 14 Comparaduns, Parachute Adams and Quigley Cripples will get it done when March browns are on the piscatorial plate.

With all the hoopla surrounding dry fly fishing this time of year, fishing nymphs can catch you some grief, along with a lot of browns, rainbows and westslope cutthroat trout.

Last year, on an early season trip before trout had really started to look up in earnest, a friend and I stopped into a Bitterroot Valley fly shop to pick up a few indicators. After searching displays full of hackle, floatant, and dry flies, we inquired as to the location of the proprietor's indicators. We were told in no uncertain terms that they did not fish with nymphs or sell equipment for nymphing and that we should take our business elsewhere - so we did. That said, don't be afraid to drown a nymph this time of year, either as a dropper off of a dry or on a nymph rig if the going gets tough. Many aquatic insect are active this time of year and the trout, as always, are feeding on them.

Conventional wisdom holds that an olive-colored stonefly should be imitated with an olive colored nymph, and most fly shops will (one obviously will NOT) have bins full of double beaded olive skwala nymphs. However, skwala nymphs are actually very light colored and are often mistaken for golden stonefly nymphs. A size 8 or10 brown-over-tan stonefly nymph is a more natural offering, although many a trout has fallen victim to the completely unnatural imitations, proving that we anglers probably spend too much time mulling over such intricacies as exact color when we should be paying more attention to size and profile.

This is true of mayfly nymphs fished this time of year. A size 16 hares ear or pheasant tail tied skinny is a great bug to fish in spring, as are smaller BWO nymphs, again tied skinny. These are small, slender nymphs trout are feeding on and the imitations should reflect this profile. A few minutes spent turning over rocks and sampling the insects in the stream you are fishing can prove to be very educational and fun, giving you a better idea of what your flies should look like. On one trip last spring, a friend and I noticed a lot of small, yellow stonefly nymphs were showing up in our bug screen. That evening, I tied up a several size 16 yellow stonefly nymphs and our hunch that trout were feeding on them was confirmed the next day.

While the Bitterroot River is by far the most popular stream to fish this time of year - and in some views overfished - other area streams should not be forsaken. The Clark Fork, Rock Creek and other rivers are all getting going and can provide great fishing from the first signs of spring until runoff. Getting out and exploring the area will make for a great day learning new water and can provide some solitude; something hard to find on the Bitterroot during skwala season.

Anytime is a good time to enjoy the rivers of western Montana, and March through April is no exception. Fishing skwala stoneflies on the Bitterroot has characterized the time of year and dominate the fishing scene, but there are many opportunities and bugs besides the Bitterroot/Skwala bread and butter fishing that has become so popular.

Keeping an eye out for mayflies and fishing other area rivers is a great way to get away from the crowds and you never know, you might just find you own fishing phenomenom to enjoy - just don't go posting it on any websites or they might name a festival after it!

Corey Fisher is an avid hunter and angler from Missoula.