Well I can't stand it anymore and by this weekend word will be out. For those of you that think I have lost it and I am now a bird watcher, you are partly correct. Birds will tell you a lot about fishing both on rivers and the ocean. When certain birds arrive, you must ask yourself, "Self, why are they here now?" When the swallows are filling the air on a river, have you ever stopped to wonder why? I have always told my clients, "When the birds start eating, the fish will follow." However, the arrival of the Western Tanager to the East and Westfork of the Bitterroot River means only one thing; the emergence of the mighty Salmonfly. These beautiful songbirds are ONLY here during the Salmonfly hatch. Where they go the rest of the summer, I have no idea. They are native to the Rocky Mountain West and any bird book will tell you they are present all summer. But in the 10 years I have been guiding, I have NEVER seen them after the Salmonflies are gone. The Western Tanager is actually a subspecies of the Cardinal family. The red pigment in the face of the Western Tanager is rhodoxanthin, a pigment rare in birds. It is not manufactured by the bird, as are the pigments used by the other red tanagers. Instead, it must be acquired from the diet, presumably from insects (Salmonflies) that themselves acquire the pigment from plants. A truly amazing fact is that the incubation period for the Western Tanager is only 13 days. After both parents feed the hatchlings for 11 short days, they leave the nest. However, they will stay close to the parents for a few weeks. I think the fact that they are dining on Salmonflies allows the hatchlings to grow at such an incredible rate. In early fall, they migrate south for the winter as far as Panama. I want to be a Western Tanager chasing the Salmonfly hatch and winter in Panama. What a life!
So now that I have let the bird out of the bag, yes there are Salmonflies on both the East and Westfork of the Bitterroot River. The Eastfork is fishing a little more consistent on dry flies and there are Western Tanagers from top to bottom. The Westfork is a little different story right now. The flows are coming down and it is starting to come into shape. I floated the Westfork twice late this week from Painted Rocks dam down the entire length to High Bank with identical results. There are no Western Tanagers at the dam yet. We did have some good results fishing Salmonfly nymphs for the first two plus miles. However, once I saw the first Western Tanager we switched to a dry Salmonfly. About five minutes later we were landing our first fish on a dry! It is amazing what a bird will tell you without even knowing English! There were Western Tanagers everywhere until we hit Nez Perce Creek. Right now Nez Perce is easily doubling the size of the Westfork. Not only is it increasing the volume, it is also cooling down the water 3-4 degrees. Now that may seem insignificant, but Salmonflies need the water to be at least 50 degrees to emerge as adults. The water temps below Nez Perce were 47 and guess what, no bugs. We did not see any Western Tanagers the rest of the float and did not have another fish rise to a Salmonfly. We did find a few fish willing to eat a Salmonfly nymph. It was only in the 2 mile "micro-ecosystem" did we find the tanagers and fish willing to eat a dry Salmonfly.
This is all about to change as the Westfork is dropping fast. The entire length should start fishing by early to mid next week. You now know the signs to look for. I start a long stretch of guiding on Sunday and will post photos and stories when I can. Now is the time to drop everything you are doing and chase the big bug like you were a Western Tanager.
Well I can't stand it anymore and by this weekend word will be out. For those of you that think I have lost it and I am now a bird watcher, you are partly correct. Birds will tell you a lot about fishing both on rivers and the ocean. When certain birds arrive, you must ask yourself, "Self, why are they here now?" When the swallows are filling the air on a river, have you ever stopped to wonder why? I have always told my clients, "When the birds start eating, the fish will follow." However, the arrival of the Western Tanager to the East and Westfork of the Bitterroot River means only one thing; the emergence of the mighty Salmonfly. These beautiful songbirds are ONLY here during the Salmonfly hatch. Where they go the rest of the summer, I have no idea. They are native to the Rocky Mountain West and any bird book will tell you they are present all summer. But in the 10 years I have been guiding, I have NEVER seen them after the Salmonflies are gone. The Western Tanager is actually a subspecies of the Cardinal family. The red pigment in the face of the Western Tanager is rhodoxanthin, a pigment rare in birds. It is not manufactured by the bird, as are the pigments used by the other red tanagers. Instead, it must be acquired from the diet, presumably from insects (Salmonflies) that themselves acquire the pigment from plants. A truly amazing fact is that the incubation period for the Western Tanager is only 13 days. After both parents feed the hatchlings for 11 short days, they leave the nest. However, they will stay close to the parents for a few weeks. I think the fact that they are dining on Salmonflies allows the hatchlings to grow at such an incredible rate. In early fall, they migrate south for the winter as far as Panama. I want to be a Western Tanager chasing the Salmonfly hatch and winter in Panama. What a life!
So now that I have let the bird out of the bag, yes there are Salmonflies on both the East and Westfork of the Bitterroot River. The Eastfork is fishing a little more consistent on dry flies and there are Western Tanagers from top to bottom. The Westfork is a little different story right now. The flows are coming down and it is starting to come into shape. I floated the Westfork twice late this week from Painted Rocks dam down the entire length to High Bank with identical results. There are no Western Tanagers at the dam yet. We did have some good results fishing Salmonfly nymphs for the first two plus miles. However, once I saw the first Western Tanager we switched to a dry Salmonfly. About five minutes later we were landing our first fish on a dry! It is amazing what a bird will tell you without even knowing English! There were Western Tanagers everywhere until we hit Nez Perce Creek. Right now Nez Perce is easily doubling the size of the Westfork. Not only is it increasing the volume, it is also cooling down the water 3-4 degrees. Now that may seem insignificant, but Salmonflies need the water to be at least 50 degrees to emerge as adults. The water temps below Nez Perce were 47 and guess what, no bugs. We did not see any Western Tanagers the rest of the float and did not have another fish rise to a Salmonfly. We did find a few fish willing to eat a Salmonfly nymph. It was only in the 2 mile "micro-ecosystem" did we find the tanagers and fish willing to eat a dry Salmonfly.
This is all about to change as the Westfork is dropping fast. The entire length should start fishing by early to mid next week. You now know the signs to look for. I start a long stretch of guiding on Sunday and will post photos and stories when I can. Now is the time to drop everything you are doing and chase the big bug like you were a Western Tanager.
Good post. I learned something today.
ReplyDeleteLike the new look as well. Transparent websites are cool.
By the way, NICE FISH.