Bob Powell's Guide Service

October was once again a fabulous month for fly fishing and I dare say the first two weeks, for two years in a row, were the best dry fly fishing for sipping trout of the entire year. Now that October is over I get busy with my antler business. I buy and sell antlers, some of which I make into dog chews and others that I sell to crafters. If you are interested in bulk orders contact me through this website. For individual items go to eBay and search for seller name "brtrutta". Here are a couple pictures of some of the antler lots I sell.






Montana produces some gorgeous antler and my second greatest passion next to fly fishing is collecting the naturally shed antlers every spring. My dog and I spend hours and many miles hiking the mountains searching for these beautiful antlers. This keeps me busy until March when out dry fly fishing gets great again!

Recently I had a request for instructions on tying my sculpin/northern hog sucker pattern. I figured the best place to put them would be here. So here goes.

First a little background on the pattern. Growing up on the freestone mountain streams of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia I was always seeing small tan and brown banded fish scouting along the bottom of my favorite trout streams. These were mostly northern hog suckers and sculpins. I decided that I needed to tie something that looked like those little bottom fish. My Dad was always taking me rabbit hunting in the winter and it turned out that the fur from their skins was exactly the colors of these fish. Sometime during high school I tied my first bunny sculpin. It was crude and rough but it had a dark tail and a banded body that tapered down from the head. The first time I fished it I pulled out a gorgeous 19" wild brown from a heavily fished stream in Thurmont and the rest is history. I have refined it since, adding grizzly marabou and mixing in many other colors. This pattern here is the original coloration I used for those eastern mountain streams and it still works extremely well everywhere I have fished it.

You will need to use very strong thread such as gel spun, kevlar, or something with similar strength.
I like to use Teimco 5263 size 2, and 4. These are 3Xlong and have a nice wide gap. But, you can use most any streamer hook.

First put you eyes on the top of the hook. We want the hook to ride up so it doesn't hit catch on the bottom and hang up or dull the point. Then add your weighted wire. I like to use the non-toxic type and I wrap up to eyes and then half way back, leaving room to put on the marabou tail, furry foam and wire rib.

Next I tie in the marabou, and a little flash for the tail. Then tie in furry foam out on top of the tail. Next tie in the wire along the side. Now flip over the fly so the hook is up.









The next part is a little tougher to do. I use wild eastern cottontail fur for the bands. It is stiffer and will flair a little when you pull very hard down on it. Domestic will work but doesn't work quite as well for keeping a full body. Start with a dark clump of hair from the pelt. Start small and make each successive clump a little bigger. Lay in the first clump somewhere between where the hook point and the barb would be and tie it in tight flaring the hair. Then put in a lighter clump which you can usually find on the same pelt just more toward the belly side. Certainly you can put in what ever color you wish, I love olive and a lighter green coloration with matching grizzly marabou. I normally use 5 clumps alternating dark to light and finishing with a dark clump behind the eyes. Sometimes I will manipulate the hair with my fingers to make it longer on the edges. It will take some time to be able to cut the hair off the hide and keep the dark banding all lined up. Another tip is to pull off excess fuzz from the cut end of your clump.




Now flip the fly back over and pull up the furry foam and tie in behind the eyes. Wrap the wire through the fur cinching down the furry foam. Some hair will likely get trapped by the wire. I will pull this out later using the end of my whip finisher to pull out any hair that is trapped. With a little practice you can work the wire through without trapping much hair but there will always be some that gets caught.



Now I use the darker rabbit fur and dub all around the eyes to make and decent looking head and whip finish.





Don't get discouraged, this is a difficult fly to tie but with some practice you will be tying one of the best looking sculpin patterns there is. I have yet to find a pattern that is more effective and I have used these with great success all over the east and on all the western rivers I guide in Montana. Tied with a shorter tail is also works really well as a dragon fly nymph. It is a killer smallmouth fly as well.

Hitting the Salmon fly hatch is one of the more difficult things to do in the world of fly fishing. When you do it can make for a very special trip. This years hatch came in about 10 days to two weeks early due to a low snow pack and unseasonable warm weather. These bugs crawl out of the river bed usually at night, climb the nearest log, willow, alder, or rock wall and molt, becoming the big orange bugs that only us fly fisherman dream about. To anyone else one of these on the neck would be a nightmare.

On the right day, usually a cloudy one, many of the biggest fish in the river will search out these giant morsels and stuff themselves full. If you are there on one of those days you will be in for a treat. Most days you have to work hard for you reward. Firing casts up under every willow, alder, log, and rock ledge you can find. Drifting every food line perfectly, keeping the fly on the water as long as possible. The better you are at hitting every spot the better your chances. A strike from a big Brown, Rainbow, or Cutthroat can be spectacular. Friday was just such a day, Slow morning fishing with a couple nice fish taken on droppers, an early lunch (don't want to be eating when the fish are eating), scanning the sky for the much anticipated clouds that the weatherman promised the night before, and high hopes. This day the weatherman was right, the clouds moved in with the occasional sprinkle just a little after lunch. It wasn't long before a few fish started to rise. At first some smaller fish were active but as the sky got darker the fish began to get bigger.



It was a good day for Browns. They were on the hunt for the big orange bug.









It was a dream day for a guide with with two excellent anglers that I love fishing with. All the pieces came together, many fish landed, lots of single dry fly fishing, and plenty of Large fish crushing the big bug! Can't wait to to see what tomorrow brings.

March and April this year have been about as good as it gets. Even during the mid March blow out that almost never happens we were putting big fish in the net. At this point all the mid elevation snow is gone which will make for the best April and May in years around here.

The Spring hatches include the skwala stonefly, Grey Drake/W. March Brown and Blue wing olive mayflies and mothers day caddis. These are the major players and I will try and get some photos of them up soon.

Most days start out on the cool side with a little nymphing, usually dry dropper. Very quick though we will try and switch to single dry fishing. The skwala stone and the Grey Drakes or Western March Browns (depending on who you talk to) usually become active sometime after noon. We can see some of the best dry fly action of the year during these hatches. Here is a little taste of what we've been catching.

A nice March Brown.



A nice March Rainbow also on a skwala.



A great Brown on a dry skwala.



My Daughter nymphed up this fatty in early April.



I will try and get some new and better bug pics next week and a fresh fishing report.

I am not much of a blogger I guess. I thought many times about posting but never did get around to it. Guiding may be over but it is busier than ever at the Powell household. Lots of paperwork, honeydos, and of course hunting going on. We had a very mild hunting season and we are well behind in moisture. There was some good hunting success as my buddy Will killed a nice elk and then a few weeks later I followed up with my own. Lots of good dining this winter.





Of course mine was 3 mile from the truck.

We have a new member of the family and that is taking up lots of time. Definitely a shed/bird dog in training. Not too mention a chic magnet. I never got as much attention my whole life as this little guys gets with one trip to the local pet supply store.



I am renting him out $50 hr. believe me he is worth every penny.

Also have been playing with the camera. Got a couple nice shots.

This Spruce grouse thought it was mating season and put on quite a performance for the two females near by. He was also not phased by my presence.




I know some of you guys watch the Montana weather and probably know we have been hit with a near record cold snap. Ya, single digits on both sides of the zero. One morning conditions were just perfect for these ice patterns to form on the inside of the glass of my cold frame. Really cool!



Spring will be here before we know it and books are filling in well. Can't wait for the first whitetail sheds of the season. Only a couple weeks until I should find the first fresh one of the year. Will do the occasional update and will get more frequent as the spring fishing approaches.

Ask many Montanans and they will say October is their favorite month. Also you will get many different reasons for this answer. For some it is bowhunting elk and deer. We do have some dandy deer and elk running around.



For others it is bird hunting. I took my buddies dog out for his first limit of roosters a couple days ago. It was a spectacular day and the first time I have killed a limit of birds over a pointer. Sherman locked up on my first two birds of the day and pointed a bunch of other hens. The final bird would not hold but flushed just close enough for me to get him.



For many others October means big fish on dries flies with very few anglers to compete with. The hatches are still strong for the entire month. There are October caddis that coax fish up before the mayflies come then The Mahoganies and Olives show up and bring the fish right to the surface. This is our big bigger Mahogany mayfly and they were out big time yesterday.



The view from the river.



Some of the nicest Rainbows of the year were had on this fine Bitterroot Day.







Many more fish were had this day and two or three more the size of the above fish manage to get under a log or spit the hook but it was as good a day as you could have on the Bitterroot.



You could have a day like this even into the first part of November but bundle up cause the best fishing is ofter on a cool cloudy day.

October is a special time of year. There are so many things to do in October that it can be hard to decide what to do in the morning. Many of our local anglers are now bow hunting, duck hunting, or pheasant hunting. This leaves the rivers pretty lonely. The leaves are turning and the browns are in prespawn and have electric colors. This is a great time of year to fish. The afternoons have Mahogany Duns and Blue Winged Olives that bring the fish to the surface everyday. The lower Clarkfork can have some of its absolute best dry fly fishing this time of year.

A little scenery





The WVA guys were back for their fall trip. Great job on this one Eddie.



Another gorgeous Clarkfork Rainbow.



The rivers will fish well into the first part of November. You never want to overlook a warm afternoon this time of year.

Phew! Finally a day off. I have been rowing hard with very few days off.

September is the single best month of dry fly fishing in western Montana. Hoppers, Hecubas, Tricos, Blue Winged Olives (a few different species), and Slate Winged Mahogany Duns bring up many large fish during this low water period. This year was a little tougher than some years. The Bitterroot was very solid as usual but the Clarkfork was definitely lacking for hatches and rising fish. The Late June fishing on the Clarkfork had us all believing that the fall would be spectacular. Low hopper numbers and weak hatches left the fish staying deep. While they could be coaxed to the surface, the big pods really didn't show up. Lets hope October will bust loose on this river.

Some highlights from the last couple weeks. While I had a terrible streak of very large browns breaking off in the many logs and branches of the Bitterroot we did get a few landed.



Great job landing this one Butch!



One very nice Clarkfok beast that measured 41"



A very interesting mayfly from the Bitterroot. I am going with Hexagenia but I am not sure, would be a size 8 to 10. Saw two of these giant mayflies on the Root. Would sure love to see a big hatch of them.



Still have some great October fishing coming. Not many anglers show up this time of year but for those that don't mind the cooler days, there are floats with no competition and lots of rising fish.

For some reason, I am not sure why (lol) I love pics with the flies still in the mouth. Now there are certain flies I can't post to the web because they are so secret I can't even let the clients see them but there are others that just add to the pic. Here are a few I really like and I shall be taking lots more as the water is starting to cool pretty quickly.







The Last pic is one of yesterdays browns. My idea of fall colors!



The fishing on all the rivers has been nearing as good as it gets status. We are talking single dries except during that crazy trico hatch where I like to go double dry. Tiny followed by tinier. Great job Todd and Dick the last three days. Putting the poundage in the boat. Big slug of water is coming down the Root today from a major thunderstorm. That may put things off for a day but it will clear quickly and hopefully leave an extra inch of water in the river so we can float a little easier. It is low out there this year. Lowest I have ever seen it.

Just a few pics of what is happening. A big Bitterroot Brown.



Two Rainbows going for the same Trico





Lots more pics to come so stay tuned.

August has come and gone. Hoot Owl fishing restrictions have been lifted on all my waters except tributaries to the Blackfoot. Many big fish were caught on dries like they always are. Water was warm some days so very few pics. We had fishing restrictions that caused me to find some new water and boy I am glad I did. The hopper and trico fishing were the best hatches for me this August. Here are a few of the many big fish caught.

Paul caught more than his fair share.





Here is a Brown that RH missed three days earlier.



The last trip of the month was with Dave. A great time as always. One of his pigs.



Great going guys. Now as September is upon us we should see a few more major hatches in the mix. Water has cooled further so I hope to get a little more fish porn this month.

Thought I would share are Gorgeous whitetail shot I got.

Fishing is good but we are having to get creative. We are still not allowed to fish the Bitterroot or Lower Clarkfork after 2pm. This is driving us guides crazy. The Trico fishing is very good but doesnt start until around 8 am at the earliest and often it is 9 am before we get the pods. We are getting some good hopper fishing also but often landing our last fish at 2 pm then having to get off the river. I have been hitting tricos early then heading to another river (Blackfoot or middle Clarkfork) for the afternoon and we are catching some very nice fish there as well but the logistics are getting tiresome.

Most of my summer guys are very familiar with Tricos. These little black and cream mayflies come off every morning. First we get a little push of duns and this pic is of a little female dun and yes we tie both males and females out here.



This is a male spinner and dang it they were only eating the ones with the body curl to the left and I only had rights.



Most of the duns hatch at night so we don't see most of the hatch until the spinner fall which happens mid to late morning depending on air temperatures. Sometimes they look likc smoke.



Here is the aftermath.



And what is eating them.



The fishing is as it should be, now just to get the rivers open. Should be any day now.

Had the pleasure of taking out my oldest fisher and one of his sons the last three days. At 88 he is still going strong and putting some very nice fish in the boat. The first day had us on the Bitterroot early in the morning. Mel took this nice Bow right off the bat and caught several more.



The next day was the Blackfoot. Great hopper fishing was had with several fish in the 18 to 20 inch range. Seemed like all were big Cuttbows except a couple. Great job Mel and Don. No pics from my camera put they took plenty with the old disposable kodak. Can you still get those developed?

On to the last day. The Clarkfork produced this big cutbow that was quite anxious to get back in the water and did so quite efficiently.



The hatches are still Tricos and hoppers but seeing a few more olives out there. Hecubas will be here soon! Pray for cloudy weather.

Thought I would share a couple of my backyard buddies with you. Yes these wander right through the neighborhood and sometimes I worry they will attach the dog.



The owner the of the above antlers is on the left in the pic.



Looks like and extremely busy August and September. If we get any kind of cool down I will make sure I get some pics for you of the monsters. Till next time think rain!

Hi All, The water is still low but it has cooled somewhat. Still not taking many pics of fish but I got a few. Will wait for the weather to cool a little more before you will see much fish porn. The Trico hatch is bringing up the pods at this point and has been in the right spots for quite awhile. Hopper fishing has kicked in and we are catching some very large fish. The Hoot Owl fishing restrictions are still in place for the ClarkFork and Bitterroot. This means the rivers are closed to fishing from 2pm to midnight. The water should cool down in the next week or so and we will be back to our normal fishing hours. For now we are hitting the water before sun up.

I had the pleasure of fishing with Ray and is lovely wife Sue the last 3 days. We caught fish on all three rivers (Blackfoot, Bitterroot, Clarkfork) but the Bitterroot was the best for numbers.

Sue bringing in a 20"er.





Ray managed this sweet Brown on a tiny trico.



Great job guys. Ray you need to email me a pick of Sue's 21" Clarkfork monster.

I expect the fishing will be great the rest of the Season. Now that the the Tricos and hoppers are hitting the water, the fishing will be very consistant. The updates to the blog will be much more frequent now that the second half of the season has started. I expect some great things from the Clarkfork this fall.

I don't know how they do it. These guides and outfitters that keep up with their blog during long strings of consecutive guide days. I have been guiding hard including a 15 straight run. Tying flies every night and/or morning and briefly visiting with my family has kept me away from the updates that I had hoped to keep up with. I will try and catch everyone up.

The June fishing we had this year was about as good as it gets. I covered the Salmonflies pretty well already but the Bitterroot golden stoneflies were spectacular. I had the pleasure of guiding Jim and Mia and their family the last week of June and we had as fine of dry fly fishing as you could have. Here is a pic of Mia with one of many this size that she landed.



The fish came out of the woodwork literally and if you fished around log jams you had it made.

The first week of July was pretty good too but with rapidly dropping water and warm water temps things became much more of an early morning / late even show. I must say that the Clarkfork river is showing signs of its former self. The fish are very large and incredibly healthy. The rainbows here fight as hard as any you will find anywhere and the numbers are improving since the dam removal set them back about 6 or 7 years ago. There were some evenings where there were so many bugs that it was difficult not to accidentally eat a few. During these times there were fish rising all over the river.

As July progressed the water started to get warm. While a few people took some pics, I wanted to get the fish back in as quickly as possible so sorry not many pics are going to be posted until things cool down around mid August when the cool and longer nights will drop the temps and bring about some great hopper and trico fishing.

I did get a nice shot of a Missouri Trico swarm.



The fish on the Missouri below Holter dam are very fat and also very picky. Seems like they only wanted to eat #18 and #20 sized patterns. Here is one that was tricked.



Here is one that was not tricked. He was very good at detecting fakes but I did get his picture.



Things are slowing down a little now so hopefully I will get to posting more often.

One last pic. The bucks in the neighborhood have pretty much grown most of their antlers at this point. Now if I could get one to pose nicely for me. Chased them around for a couple minutes before meeting my fishers one morning and this was the best I could do. I will keep trying.