And Now, Back to Fishing...

We just rolled into Ennis, Montana and parked the Mobile Hotel® a couple of long casts from the banks of the Madison River.  It's currently raining and gusting 40+ here, plus the Madison is under "hoot owl" restrictions, so no angling after 2 PM because the heat is hard on the trout.  It's nice to get a little moisture and cooler temps.

Yesterday was a designated angling day for me.  Mrs. Fading Angler and The Offspring went panning for sapphires in (surprise!) the Sapphire Mountains east of Missoula.  Lest you begin seeing visions of grey beards and pickaxes, this is a tourist trap commercial establishment that is happy to loan you equipment when you buy buckets of dirt ore mined material to sift through.  I think they had fun.  Here's what happened to me on Friday, wading on Rock Creek:

• Big Horn sheep
• Brown trout
• Cutthroat trout
• Rainbow trout
• Cutbow trout (no, I was not fishing with Hank Patterson...)
• Bull trout (sadly, found deceased in the creek)

Mrs. FA dropped me at the door of Blackfoot River Outfitters at 7:30 AM Friday morning.  We had stopped in Wednesday afternoon and chatted with Matthew Churchman, the shop manager.  We've chatted with Matthew several times before on early visits, and I'd been exchanging emails with him over the prior week.  We hammered out the details for a day of wading with one of his guides on Rock Creek.  Friday morning, Dan Milligan was waiting for me in his truck.  I transferred my gear and hopped in.  Dan came to Missoula to attend the University of Montana, and was guiding full time by the time his finished his degree.  He didn't see any reason to go anywhere else.

Big Horn Sheep enjoying breakfast along Rock Creek Road
(Click any photo to enlarge.)

We made the 20 minute drive east of Missoula to the confluence of the Clark Fork River and Rock Creek, then turned south up Rock Creek Road.  About halfway to our first stop, we ran across this small heard of big horn sheep.  It was mostly ladies, and the half-curl ram tending this bunch seemed unconcerned.  Mrs. FA was mildly jealous, as we hadn't seen any in Glacier Nation Park.

Our first stop was a hike upstream to a stretch not easily reached by your average Joe.  Technically, anybody can wade any stretch of most Montana rivers and creeks, so long as you access the water from a legal access point.  One nice thing about fishing with a guide is that they have connections, making it easier to park and access the river without miles of hiking or floating.

I must have missed at least a half dozen fish before finally hooking up and having a decent battle before the target wrangled free.  Dan fishes barbless, which is fine with me and easier on the fish.  It just requires a bit more skill to actually bring something to the net, right?  Truth be told, I probably missed around 6 fish per hour while on the water, which made it all the more exciting when we finally got one in the net.  My first catch was no surprise: a brown trout.  Dan snapped a few photos and back into the water it went.

 

Attempting a fancy pose with the first catch o' the day.
Photo credit: Dan Milligan

 It wasn't too long before I was able to bring one of my preferred targets into the net: a nice cutthroat.  And it was bigger than those I caught up on the South Fork of the Flathead River.

This man is happy.
Photo credit: Dan Milligan

Other catches of the day include one 10"-12" rainbow & a few cutbows.  What really made this day special is that we only used a single pattern all day long: the spruce moth.  The fly looks like a large elk hair caddis with a white body.  We stuck with nearly white "wings" all day.  The real bugs were occasionally flying over and expiring on the water.  Sometimes we'd watch one float unmolested from well upstream and the out of sight.  Other times, they were being snatched from 2 inches over the water.  I usually got only a single strike from any given fish, but occasionally they'd respond again after letting a lane "rest" for 10 minutes or so.

Photo credit: Dan Milligan

Photo credit: Dan Milligan

A various points during the day, I broke off 3 fish.  Two of these happened when setting the hook, so I guess I don't know my own strength.  The third was a bigger fish that Dan started yelling about as soon as its big head came out of the water and grabbed the spruce moth pattern.  Then it started pulling and I didn't give it any slack.  Snap!  I knew the loss was completely my fault.  My head and shoulders drooped as a huge sigh escaped.  Fortunately, I redeemed myself.  After that break-off, we netted the 2 best fish of the day: the larger cutbow seen above, and a nice brown.  All three of those last large fish (the escapee and the netted pair) were aggressive takes from deeper water.

All colored up.  The fish looks good, too!
(Excuse the awkward Parkinson's pose.  The right hand just wasn't cooperating
and I couldn't hold the fish any other way...)
Photo credit: Dan Milligan

Swim away and be free
Photo credit: Dan Milligan

With those two fish, the day was done.  Not another cast. No way it could have ended any better.  We had started fishing at 8:30 AM and finished up just before 6 PM.  Dan fed me a great lunch, TRIED to help with my casting, and had fish rising to my drifting fly all day long.  He waited very patiently as I cast again and again and again over the final stretch of the day.  I think he yelled as loudly as me when he netted that last fish.  I can't say enough good things about how well Dan treated me and the fishing he provided.  Finally, He dropped me off at the Mobile Hotel®, relocated from Missoula to Philipsburg, MT.  I was spent.  I'm surprised that I managed to grill some burgers, put the cooking gear away, and shower before I collapsed into bed.  We slept late, and I'm still sore from clearly overdoing it yesterday.

Look at this place!  I think I'll be back...
Photo credit: Dan Milligan

Big thanks go out to Matthew Churchman at Blackfoot River Outfitters in Missoula.  Matthew bent over backwards to work with me on making this trip just right.  Thanks, Matthew!

To Dan:  You live a life that most men would envy.  And I can tell you appreciate every bit of it.  Thanks for sharing some of your world with me on Friday, keeping me into the fish, and for not laughing out loud at my casting... and lack of proper mending skills.  :)