Birthday Fishing (1 of 3)

I had myself another birthday last week. Well...not ANOTHER one for THAT week...but one for this year...and it happened to occur LAST week. Because birthdays give a person a little more leeway than typical, I guilted my brother into going fishing with me again. True, I did not have to twist his arm, but either way, I like to think he had fun (I know he did) and that there are few things better than fishing with family. We even managed to convince my niece Erin to come along. Though she didn't really fish much, I think she had a great time. Not once did she falter or complain during the six miles of hiking involved in fishing this spot.

The location is another one of those "secret" places and about as far as I will say is that it is in the wilderness and happens to be prime fishing and ideal bear habitat. Its not a place I would normally go alone...

A quick rest after finally making it down to water. The hike is easy and not particularly long. A quick breather, a few pebbles shaken out of the shoes and we were ready to go.

But first. Something Different...

This little patch of arrowleaf (I think) was covered in honey bees. At one time, there were five or six bees per flower. It was bee pandemonium. Thankfully, they were more interested in pollen than that big shiny object being shoved in their faces by non other than myself. Cool shots though.

Why did the chicken cross the road? Probably for the same reason that this chicken crossed the river. It wasn't to get to the other side though. That was a nice little hole that produced three fish for me, one for my brother and provided a great opportunity to loose fishing gear via snags. On the plus side, I found some flat foot's fly box wedged in the rocks that consisted of a number of bright, fancy flies that could probably knock a Goose out of the air. It was a good find...if I fished for chickens....crossing roads.

A rather nice cutthroat. Not a trophy by any means, but a good sample of what this river produces. In total, we caught about 30 fish. Some were of similar size, most were a little smaller and none were smaller than eight to ten inches. Good fishing.

A good start to a good day of fishing. A little rain and a lot of good company. Oh...and the fishing was great! More on the next two posts.

Birthday Fishing (2 of 3)

...and more. A little higher up. The little bit of rain received to this point was nothing more than a threatening tease. Thankfully it didn't actually rain. A little bit of rain in a confined space in the high mountains adds up fast and makes gentle waters into raging torrents of pure power. That combined with the fact that rocks, when wet....tend to get slick and can create unintentional bouts of uncontrolled swimming. Yup...fair weather fishing is the only way to go.

Erin being a trooper, scampering amongst the rocks.

Yet again, pictures just cannot do this water justice. The depth of some of these holes is amazing. Just to the right of this frame, the water is 15 feet deep and is contained only by a few little rock outcrops and that huge gravel bar sandwiched between subterranean, underwater cliffs.

I am sad to say that this poor guy didn't make it. He swallowed the hook and our efforts to remove it and revive him failed. Size limits prevented us from carrying him out...and being the catch and release fisherman that I am, I figure its best to return it to whence it came vs tossing him on the shore or trying to keep him fresh on the long hike...and drive out. He certainly would have tasted good though.

Delicate water carvings within the deep. Its a good 15 to 20 feet deep here and most certainly NOT a place to try swimming.

Something Different...

More in the next post...

Birthday Fishing (3 of 3)

...and the last of them. Enjoy!

Something Different...

Nearing the tale end of six miles of easy hiking and a great day. Just one last bout of wet feet before the home stretch! From here on out, its easy walking and almost a two hour drive back to civilization.

On the drive back. "And the sky shall be painted in the glory that is heaven and its canvas shall be Montana"

What a wonderful day. I hope to get back up there at least one more time before the fish flee those waters and winter locks this part of the world down for eight months.

New Old Friends, Fishing and a little bit of something else about nothing...

August 15th. Saturday. Another day of fishing. After much cajoling and needling and guilting...I managed to convince a long time childhood friend and her father to go fishing. A good experience, it was. A good fishing experience, it was not. I didn't quite get skunked, but nearly so. I managed to catch one tiny little four inch cut (the smallest fish I have caught all year), spent a lot of time untangling line, dropping things, loosing things and over all behaving like the complete city slicker bumpkin that I had started to become. It was definitely fun though. Along with me for this short journey were Rod Deval, an old family friend and former P.D. of immense renown and his wonderfully great daughter and long time friend of mine, Shanel. Good times and hopefully new fishing/hunting buddies for years to come.

Tying a fly. Shanel, 2. Rob, 2. Kyle 1/2. But still a fun fish.

A head peeking above the rush.

Shanel, not catching fish...but trying to scare them out of the water.

A merganser making wake. The little bugger swam circles around me and my little buck boat.

Not a great shot, but still interesting. A floating foot ball with legs, neck and feet showing balance and flexibility that I have no hope of ever matching.

A look over nothing. It is some of the best nothing out there.

On the drive back down. Just in time to miss the rain.

This was a quick little trip to a lake that I don't remember visiting in the past. It is an area that I have not explored extensively, but intend to spend more time in within the next couple of months. Fun times.