Bitterroot River
near Darby, Montana · USGS gauge 12344000
For October 18, flow is about usual.
Montana FWP lists no emergency closure or hoot-owl restriction on the Bitterroot River, on its restrictions page as read at 07:17 UTC.
These readings do not say whether fish are biting, whether there is parking, or whether the season is open. The shop reports below cover what is biting.
Bitterroot River reports from local shops
Each shop writes its own report. Listed here: the date on each one and the hatches and flies it names. Their words stay on their sites; follow the link to read them.
Four local shops have posted a report on the Bitterroot River in the last two weeks. All four mention blue-winged olives; two of them mention caddis and mahogany duns; one mentions october caddis and stoneflies. Duracell, Perdigon and Sparkle Minnow are on three of their fly lists. Dungeon is on two of their fly lists.
Before you drive
| Overnight | 39°F, wind 3 mph Partly Cloudy |
|---|---|
| Sunday | 65°F, wind 1 to 5 mph Mostly Sunny |
| Sunday Night | 40°F, wind 2 to 10 mph Partly Cloudy |
| Monday | 71°F, wind 10 mph Sunny |
How this water changes through the year
Over 22 years of record, flow on Bitterroot River peaks in May, when the median runs about 2,860 ft³/s, and falls to its lowest in January at around 224 ft³/s. Today's 216 is below even that seasonal low. The band on the chart is where the middle 60% of years fall, so a reading inside it is ordinary for the date and one outside it is not.
Nearby monitored waters
No water here is recommended over another. Same measurements, three closest waters.
Species
Listed by Montana FWP for Bitterroot River: Black Bullhead, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Bull Trout, Largemouth Bass, Largescale Sucker, Longnose Dace, Longnose Sucker, Mountain Whitefish, Northern Pike, Northern Pike Minnow, Peamouth, Pumpkinseed, Rainbow Trout, Redside Shiner, Slimy Sculpin, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Yellow Perch.
The agency's list covers FWP's whole waterbody, river mile 0 to 83; FishMT publishes no reach-level list. USGS 12344000 near Darby is FWP's own listed gauging station at river mile 81. The agency prints no date on the list; read 2026-09-08.
Access points
| Coordinates | To gauge |
|---|---|
| 45.9721, -114.1412 · near Darby USGS gauge location. Not a listed public access point; check access before you travel. | 0.0 mi |
Sources and method
- Live
- USGS gauge 12344000, Bitterroot River near Darby MT, 0.0 mi from the listed access point. Fetched 2026-10-18 07:19 UTC.
- History
- USGS daily values: flow 2005–2026, 7,940 daily values; water temperature 2005–2026, 3,253 daily values. Percentile is the share of readings within 7 days of this calendar date, across all years, below the current one (flow n=315 over 21 years).
- Rules
- Seasons, limits and licences are not on this site and are not copied from the agency that publishes them: Montana FWP.
- Species
- Montana FWP, Bitterroot River, undated, read 2026-09-08.
- Restrictions
- Montana FWP, current waterbody restrictions, read 2026-10-18 07:17 UTC. Seasonal closures are in the regulations, not on that page.
- Shop reports
- Chosen from the organic search results for “bitterroot river fishing report” (Ahrefs, read 2026-10-01), keeping shops and guides and dropping social media, forums and other aggregators. Linked, not quoted, and not endorsed. Report dates, hatches and fly names read from each page 2026-10-18, by matching a fixed list of insects and patterns: a name not on the list is not shown, and a report older than 30 days shows its date only.
- Forecast
- NOAA National Weather Service, api.weather.gov, for the coordinates of the nearest access point.
Independent presentation of public data. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the USGS, NOAA or Montana FWP.