The warm weather during the past couple of days brought most of the waters throughout Southwestern Montana up drastically and sent them all into runoff like conditions so we had to take Steve and his group of college friends up to the Mighty Mo for a couple of days on the water. I spent Wednesday at home getting 5 dozen flies tied for the trip and attending my nephew Coopers First Birthday bash at his house in the evening. Dave a Peter headed up and pre fished the river while I remained home. They called me around 5 pm to let me know that the baetis were coming off strong and that they were head hunting rising fish while they were speaking to me on the phone. Dave also needed me to pick up some lettuce and tomatoes since he had forgotten them in his refrigerator at home. I was glad the fishing was good and I told them I would be there in the morning to meet the group. Dave told me to get there early so that we could grab some breakfast before meeting the guys at 9 am. I said that I would probably be there just before the clients since I had to drive the 2 hours and 15 minutes from Bozeman in the morning. As it turned out I had a tough time sleeping, not because I was excited about going to the Mo, and I was awake by 4 am. I took a quick shower and packed the last of my things into the truck and was knocking on their door at MRO by 7 am. They were both sound asleep and hung over from the night before. They were the sole patrons at the Frenchman and Me while they watched the Redwings game and drank a couple to many. I roosted them from their beds and they grabbed a quick shower before we headed over to the Frenchman for breakfast. Steve arrived at the MRO shop just before 9 am and the introductions were made. I would be fishing with Bill and Tom while Dave had Steve and his college buddy "Punch" and Peter would be with Rick all by himself. It was raining pretty hard and we got everyone a room and dressed for the cold rainy day ahead of us. We got to the Wolf Creek put in by 9:15 and we were the only ones at the ramp. A guy from Dixon Outfitters pulled up as we had the boats in the water and we were off. Peter and Dave rowed up to fish the pylons of the bridge and I headed for the hole on the bend. I pulled in on the right side of the river and gave Tom and Bill the rundown on fishing the hole. Bill headed directly to the top of the hole and started in on the fast water in the middle. I waded Tom out to the slow water at the bottom and put him in the drop. Bill was fast to several fish which kicked his ass and broke off. Tom landed a couple of nice bows and then Bill landed one of the strangest rainbows I have ever seen. We named him the Dorado because the head of the fish was rounded off just like a Dorado or Maui Maui.
"Elusive Dorado Rainbow from the Missouri"
We caught several more fish from the hole while Peter and Dave stationed themselves in front of the Trussle and caught fish above us. We headed on down the river stripping a streamer in the front and nymphing out of the back. The wind had picked up and the rain let up as we approached California island. I pulled in on the back side of the island and we were pretty well protected from the weather. Bill headed to the top of the run and Tom fished the bottom end. Dave was doing the row around on the other side of the river and having great success. Bill started to hook up with fish fast and furiously and I went back and forth between setting up the table for lunch and netting his fish. He had tied on a fly from his box that was tied on a # 20 200 R hook and it was a fat Black body with Brassie copper ribbing a white antron wing 3/4 of the way up and a black dubbed head. It must have been a good imitation for a baetis emerger and he was into the fish. Peter came down the river and I motioned him over to the protected area so we could have some lunch. Dave also joined us and as the two other boats arrived Bill hooked and landed a beautiful 18 inch Brown Trout
"Great Mo Brown Trout"
We ate some lunch and it was three pm as we pushed off and headed down the river with a full blown baetis hatch coming off the water. The sun came out and we did not see a single fish come to the surface the rest of the day. We stopped and fished a couple of more spots before making a final group stop opposite the cliff that Tyler jumped off of into the arm pit deep water. All of the group except for Bill sat on the bank talking about property, women and fishing. Bill hasn't gotten out to fish much and he was going to fish as much as he could before having to head home. He had also caught a supposed 24 inch bow out of the hole on a prior trip and he was madly attempting to repeat the hook up again. The sun was high and bright and we headed for the ramp. At the ramp there was a wafting order of burgers and steaks coming from the hood at Isacc's and we all ready for a good meal. We hit the rooms and got out of our fishing gear and headed to the Holter Lake Lodge to see if they were open for dinner. They were not open for the year yet so we headed to Issac's for a meal. When we got there Greg and Rusty were having dinner with another of there friends and Brooks Montgomery was eating with the Trout Shop guys just behind us. We also ran into Brant Oswald who was guiding on the river as well. We had a great dinner and the clients headed back to the rooms to get some rest. We stayed and watched the Bar Tender perform some great magic tricks and I had a few double Pendelton's on the rocks and shot the shit with Brooks. He told me about a must see place in Great Falls called the Sip and Dip which was located in the Ohare Motor Inn in downtown Great Falls. The bar is on the upper floor of the hotel and it is a tiki bar motif with a 70 something year old women with Marge Simpson hair playing Jimmy Buffet songs on the Keyboard. The real draw to the Sip and Dip is the plate glass aquarium window located behind the bar that is actually a pool with a live mermaid swimming in the pool on Friday nights. The mermaid used to swim topless but now she has a top on. Brooks said it is a must see while in Great Falls. I will have to make a point of it if I am ever going to see it.
We woke up the next morning to sunshine and elk grazing on the timbered hill side across the interstate from the hotel. The group got dressed and we hit the Frenchman for breakfast at 7:30 am. We got back to the room packed our bags and put on our waders. We checked out at the flyshop and settled up our bill. I will recommend MRO to anyone after they payed for all three of our shuttles for bringing the clients into the store and staying at the hotel. That is the the fly and guide business is supposed to be about. Pete and Dave were headed for the dam with everyone else and Bill and I headed to Craig and floated to Mid Canon. The wind was fairly brisk right off the bat and we hooked three fish on the first bank before hitting Hemingways house. We then headed down river and ran into a couple of more fish off the big rock eddie. We wade fished in the islands and caught a couple of more fish and then the wind really started to blow hard. I held the boat back as much as possible and we hooked some fish on a Crayfish and Baetis nymph rig on the rip rap banks between the tunnel cliff and the Dearborn. The wind was howling most of the day and we made a final stop in the shelf at the top of the Mid Canon islands. The wind was not as bad in the channel and Bill hooked and missed a dozen fish in the hole before it was time to call it a day. We all met back up at MRO around 6 pm and we all headed for home. I took a bit of a detour on the way home because the sun was setting and a nice alpenglow was coming off on the Jefferson. I wanted to get a few pictures of the old metal bridges since they are becoming part of Montana's past history at an alarming rate.
These old steel bridges were built in the early 1900's and many of them are still structurally sound. We have already lost several of these great bridges to their predecessors made of concrete and re bar. Some of the bridges already lost are the Craig Bridge over the Missouri, Gallatin Gateway Bridges, Cameron Bridge, Sappington Bridge, Ennis Bridge, Salmon Fly Bridge on the Bighole along with others that have been replaced. Soon we will be loosing the bridge at Axtell Ancency and at Swamp Road on the East. The bridges were built by skilled craftsman who built them strong and they have served the public for 100 years or more. The bridges also have character that makes the river a greater place. The new cement bridges are uninspiring and I bet they will not be around in 50 years, much less making to 100 like many of the inspiring bridges that have been lost.
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