Fall has come to the Bitterroot valley, and we’re seeing snow on the peaks and frost on the valley floor. The Bitterroot River is still extremely low, but water volume came up with some recent rain and we’re about to where we were this time last year. Water temperatures are finally staying down in the fifties and getting down to the forties at night. This will have the brown trout running upriver in full spawning mode, making for some killer fall fishing. The Bitterroot is in the middle of this fisherman’s favorite dry fly season, with October Caddis and Mahogany Duns coming off in droves. Classic calf-tail Mahogany Duns and a Purple Haze are the flies of choice, with smaller hook sizes seeming to work best. Early mornings will see hatches of BWOs and mahoganies while late afternoons and rainier days will see hatches of October caddis. Swinging a caddis emerger is a great way to cover water between hatches. Once the sun fades from sight skating a foam October Caddis in a back eddy is also a great way to mix up traditional dry fly fishing and still see results all night long.

Nymphs are performing great as always, with TJ Hookers and jigged Pheasant Tails working exceptionally well. Black and tan — or orange — Pat's Rubber Legs have also been producing consistently. Running them as a dropper, under an indicator rig, or tightlining them tight to the bottom. As the temperature continues to drop, be aware that these fish will be keying into smaller and smaller hook sizes. Whitefish are also running up to spawn, so if you plan on fishing tiny nymphs on the bottom with the euro rod all day, expect to catch more whitefish than thirty-inch browns. You really can’t blame the whitefish, they do as whitefish do.

Now if you’re looking at hanging your hat on a thirty-inch glass mount brown trout this fall, don’t plan on getting it done without some big streamers! The streamer bite is just starting to get hot in town, which tells us big browns are headed up river and hungry. On cold blue-birdy days fish a kreelex, skiddish smolt, or a goldy. Think small flashy and sparse patterns in gold or white. Fish them fast as you can retrieve them (no, faster than that) along undercut and overhanging banks, where predatory trout retreat from the light, hiding in the shade, and reacting aggressively to any prey that whips by their ambush spot. The spawning whitefish running up river are a staple for big predatory trout this time of year. On the colder, darker, and rainier days, alternate to a big dark streamer fished tight to structure. When there’s less light to work by, fish tighter to cover and more slowly, the fish are trying to find food as hard as you are trying to give it to them, and they cant eat what they don’t see.