Montana

Montana......Where do I begin.....Well, let's start out by saying even though I brought a rod with me it wasn't a fishing trip unfortunately....My girlfriend is from Missoula and one of her very close friends was getting married so off we went. I did get to do a little fishing, but nearly as much as I had hoped. Over the five days I spent maybe 4 hours on the water, in town, from the banks....A little challenging to say the least, but at least the line got wet.....

Our hotel was on the banks of the Clarkfork....A three minute walk put me in the river from our room....The day we arrived, sleep deprived and hungry, no fishing occured....Friends were met, laughs were had, beer was drank, food was consumed, the sleep deprived got to rest....I did manage to sneak off to a fly shop to purchase my permit and some flies of the season....Yellow Sallies, hoppers, PMDs, some caddis and a few select streamers....
The morning of day two....6:30 am.....Off to the water....Walked up and down the bike path until I could find an area suitable to climb down and attempt to fish....Found my path....Fish are working, little puckering rises everywhere....A side note on Montana weather.....The mornings are cold....50 degrees or so....I wade into the water, shock rushes through my body....that water is freezing....A few false casts with a yellow stimulator on the line, a nice drag free drift and bam....Fish on....for about 1/2 a second....I had 4 more like that....Took the fly and threw the fly.....Then I landed the 6th....A small Bull Trout.....about ten inches...Beautiful fish....I would show you a picture but my cell phone with camera fell in the water.....Fishing was then done for the day....

First day on the water lessons.....Leave cell at home....The waters here are very technical....Perfect presentation, no drag, even a little tiny bit of side motion or drag puts the fish down.....The water is freezing, so is the morning, it stays light until 10:30 pm, hatches occur around 8 am when the sun comes up over the mountains, and again in the evening....


The next morning, same scenerio.....I head to the water....This time there is a person sleeping on the banks where I need to be....Missoula has a lot of transients, the politically correct term for bums....I had to proposition this bum to get to the spot I needed to fish....The deal was part of my catch, or breakfast as the bum stated, and I could pass to the water...Little did she know that I catch and release.....Well....I managed to miss two fish before people walking the bike bath decided to let their dog come running down to me and leap into the water that I was fishing.....Fishing over....





Lessons from day two in the water.....Need to get further away from town and people, bums are funny.....
Misty woke up and went for a walk with me the third day..We hiked the banks to where the Rattlesnake dumps into the Clark....The big boys hang in this area...The guides told me no one fished there but a few in the know because it's in town and people swim there.....The locals actually jump off of the bridge there into the deeper water....I cast a few streamers into the current seam.....Something big latched on....It took my fly and headed straight towards the faster current....The beauty jumped into the air, and my fly came straight out of it's mouth and headed towards mine.....I lost one more right after that....Back to the hotel...We drove to the Bitter Root later that day, beautiful river....I did not fish it, but it was magnificent to stand in front of....




We went to the a hiking path following the Rattle Snake the next morning....I fished for about 15 minutes....I managed to miss two cut throats in a row....They came up on PMDs, grabbed it then headed straight to the current....Pocket water fishing in this area....It was a struggle but watching them rise was exciting enough....





The locals don't see there water as being sacred trout waters....The activities of choice in the rivers include, tubing, kayaking, bridge jumping and swimming....The rivers that East Coast Trout Bums dream of, are little considered by many that live there....It's a strange thing to me....We all did swim in the Bitter Root one afternoon...I went hiking a bit up river....Dodging tube floaters and bridge jumpers, only to find bear prints and some other huge print in the sand that I couldn't identify....
Montana is a majestic beautiful place.....There is not enough time in a life to explore all of it's magnificent waters....My next visit will be more fishing related...As an East Coast warm water fly fisherman, I was pleased to know that I had the dry fly skills necessary to fool these educated fish....I only had about 4 hours total on the water....Just being there and absorbing the scenic beauty, the friendly vibe, hip people and great atmosphere was enough this time round.....Keep a sharp mind and a light step.....