By ROD DANIEL - Ravalli Republic
After hearing about sporadic skwala sightings in the area, outfitter Dave Dedmon walked the banks of the Bitterroot last Friday, kicking up rocks in search of skwala nymphs.
“It looks like we're starting into one of the best hatches in six or seven years,” Dedmon said. “And next week we should start seeing the mature stoneflies in some pretty big numbers.”
The first insect to hatch on the Bitterroot, the olive stonefly - known as Skwala parallela to Latin scholars or just plain skwalas to fly fishers - lures anglers to the water every March and remains active for four to six weeks, Dedmon said, sometimes lasting through the end of April.
The skwala hatch peaks on warm, sunny afternoons when air temperatures are in the 60s and water temperature approaches 50 degrees.
Typically, skwalas crawl from the bottom of the river to bankside vegetation, rocks and bridge abutments when the water temperature warms. Once out of the water, they mate and the females take flight and hover over the river, dipping into the water and depositing eggs with each touchdown. The males don't fly but do get out on the water.
Their emergence signals antsy anglers that it is time to dust off their fly rods and pump up their rafts for another season of fly-fishing. Popular flies for this hatch include the olive stimulator and skwala stone, starting at about size eight, although Bill Bean, owner of the Fishaus, said almost any pattern will work in the early weeks of the hatch.
“There are probably 100 or more popular skwala patterns in the valley, and they all work,” Bean said. “A lot of people tie the bullethead with some hair and foam - I'm sold on that.”
Toward the end of the skwala hatch, in mid-to-late April, the fish get a little more particular because the skwalas are competing with the mayflies and caddis flies, Bean said.
“I encourage people to have at least two skwala patterns in their tackle box, particularly toward the end of the hatch,” he said. “And as far as size, six is probably too big - I'd start with eight or 10s early on and then switch to 12s toward the end.” In the world of fly tying, the bigger the number, the smaller the fly.
Bean said he believes the beginning of the hatch is still a week or so away.
“The bugs have been out on the side of the stream for three weeks, but until the water on the edge gets to about 42 degrees they're going to stay put,” he said. “Two things will stimulate the hatch - water temperature and sun - and with the cool, cloudy weather in the forecast, I think we're at least a week or more away.”
Both Dedmon and Bean agree that the early part of the hatch, while it may be excellent fishing, can often be a miserable time to be out on the river.
“It's hit and miss,” Dedmon said. “A lot of the outfitters are reluctant to market the skwala hatch to out-of-state clients, because by the time they buy a plane ticket and come out here, it may not be happening. Unless you're prepared for inclement weather, it can be pretty cold and nasty in March.”
Bean concurred, saying March fishing in the Bitterroot is more for the local die hards than for paying clients.
“There's been some years when the whole skwala season has been cold and miserable,” he said.
But, for locals who want to brave the elements and catch big fish, the next few weeks are prime time, Dedmon said.
“The fish have been dormant all winter, so putting a skwala pattern on the water is like throwing a Tootsie Roll out there,” he said. “If you want to catch trophy fish, the skwala hatch is the time.”
Historically, Bean said, the skwalas have always been in the Bitterroot, but it wasn't until about 10 years ago that they were discovered by fly fishers.
“In about 1992 an article in ‘Outdoor Life' featured the Bitterroot skwala hatch, and since then, we've been discovered,” he said. “In the mid-1990s it really became known, and now it's well-known all over the world.”
The skwalas hatch reliably every year, but the timing of the hatch often varies, he said. The best area for skwalas is on the upper part of the river “in the free-stone areas with lots of oxygen” - basically from Tucker Crossing south.
The hatch usually begins on the lower part of the river and moves up pretty fast, he said.
“Once it starts around Tucker, it's usually on the upper part within a week,” he said. “Usually April is when we really promote it.”
Eddy Olwell, president of the Bitterroot Chapter of Trout Unlimited, said the skwala hatch has become a phenomenon of late in the Bitterroot, even though it happens on many Western rivers.
“It's gotten a lot of national attention,” he said. “It seems like a couple articles a year come out in national publications about the Bitterroot. There's a hatch on the Clark Fork about two weeks later than the Bitterroot, but it's not nearly as popular.”
As an outfitter, Olwell said the skwala hatch is an opportunity to book a couple extra clients early in the season, but he agreed that it's risky to market the hatch to a fisherman who has to travel a long way to get here.
“I've got a few clients from the Spokane area who might come over in the spring, but if the weather is bad they might go skiing instead,” he said. “The people who fish the skwala hatch are definitely different from the folks who book trips in the summer.”
Mostly, Olwell said, the skwala hatch is an opportunity for local to get out early in an effort to cure their cabin fever and maybe catch some big fish.
“A lot of guys try to hit it in the very beginning before the fish get to wary,” he said. “You can definitely catch some big fish.”
Reporter Rod Daniel can be reached at 363-3300 or rdaniel@ravallirepublic.com
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