FW: 20 inch German Brown

From Group Three longtime veteran Jim "Yikes!" Hendrickson:

Nice Brown. Sweet. Cant wait

20 inch German Brown

Fresh from Montana's Bitterroot River, gang, courtesy of Group One's Brian
"Moraine" Shepard as pictured with our Double Up Outfitter!!

Congrats, Brian!!

RCR

E-12: "B" is for "Bitterroot", "Blackfoot" and "BIG Fish"!!

Fellow Extravaganzers:

Well, if you believe in talismans, we have a good one in our E-12 pocket. As I mentioned to you in my "A" message to you, (y)our very first Extravaganza-related boat has been on the Bitterroot River (our targeted river for E-12) and, under the guidance of our Double Up Outfitter John "The Great but Propaneless" Gould, the results so far have been stunning. Take a gander at Propaneless, featured in the attached photo with Group One's Nicholas "The Tsar" Shepard [it was he, not his brother Josef "Fear The Beard", who wingmaned with father Brian "Moraine" this week, btw]who is holding THE largest fish we have ever landed (and released, btw) on The
Root--a 24 1/4"{yes, at this size, every extra quarter of an inch is monumental [German] brown trout. Congrats, Tsar--you have both found our talisman and set a very, very high bar for all of your fellow Extravaganzers to attain come Opening day, now in just 2 1/2 months.

Not only is "B" for BIG fish but it also is for two of the primo western Montana rivers that we look to fish each year: "The Root" and The Big ("A River Runs Through It") Blackfoot River.

As you fly into Missoula from the west, the last 52 miles of your approach into MSO is along the fabled Bitterroot Valley. Glacier carved eons ago, the meandering Root is, indeed, our E-12 targeted river (more than 75% of our 110+ boats will fish that river), as it is easily navigated and boasts over 5500 trout per mile. Rainbows, cutthroats, browns and cuttbows (a cross between the first two of these) reside there in their natural habitat which is supported by abundant flora and fauna and accompanying bug life (the basic meal plan for these pure-bred trout...no planted fish live in these-here parts!). On a typical day, each of our boats will drift about 10 miles of this river, giving opportunity to dance with over 55,000 trout [yes, you will ALL catch fish yes, even you, Group Two rookie CPA Steve "Montana Owes Me" Smith!] with our average daily tally being somewhere well north of 20 fish/day/boat.

The Root is yet a young, wild river. Each year the runoff radically changes its course such that those portions of the river that today Propaneless is fishing with the SS Shepard a decade ago were just tributaries and/or side channels or barren ground. Fallen aspen and cottonwood trees (some by erosion resulting from the river's constantly changing course, some by beaver) populate its path, providing cover to huge brown trout [see attached photo and then before you put TWO rulers end-to-end to see the massive size of that beauty] and perfect habitat to massive throngs of mayflies, stone flies, terrestrials and other aquatic insects that set the plate for the river's finely finned fetch. Fame abuts The Root as well, as Lewis & Clark's second winter was spent near its Lolo, MT banks: "Traveler's
Rest"--a now underwhelming site that each of you will drive by on more than one occasion during your E-12 stay with us.

An equal match to The Root is the massive and marvelous Big Blackfoot River. Contra to Da Root (that uniquely flows from the south northward towards its confluence with the Clark Fork of The Columbia [see "C" is for Clark Fork to follow]), the Blackfoot flows from the north southward to its confluence with the Clark Fork at the town of Bonner, just a handful of miles east of Missoula. Year after year, THE biggest fish of the Extravaganzas have come out of this wonderful, robust and enervating river: In our 2008 Extraganza movie (see Der Blog for a link), we were able to catch on film Jami Grassi's hooking, fighting and landing of a 31" bulltrout, 34" the big brother of which was caught a few years earlier by yours truly (pictured on Der Blog as the link to "The Ode To Rock Creek Ron".

The Big Blackfoot became world famous (as did the fly fishing industry) by Robert Redford's wonderful pictorial accounting of Norman McLean's classic novella "A River Runs Through It" starring Brad Pitt (who began his movie fame therefrom). Of all the rivers that I have fished over the last two decades, the Blackfoot is my absolute favorite--every day is an adventure into a splash of natural beauty, complete with soaring eagles, diving ospreys, wildlife galore and, on a good fishing day, a fishing bounty to match none other. To float "the upper canyon" of the Blackfoot is to enter fishing nirvana, something that many of you, subject to water, weather and fishing conditions, will have the opportunity to experience in the not too distant future.

For you rookies out there, if you want to get a taste of just what this wonderful sport is all about, in addition to viewing our own movie, grab/rent/steal a copy of this iconic movie and you will get the Extravaganza spirit well before your arrival!! Also, the book (25th anniversary copies of which we gave out during E-11) is a marvelous read and easily available via Kindle.

So there you have it: "B" is, indeed, for Da Root, the Big Blackfoot and for The Tsar's BIG fish--congrats, Nicholas...too bad that you caught it too early to have it logged in on our E-12 Twenty Inch Club board!!! But, then again, you DID release that beauty and know (or, at least Propaneless knows!) from whence those twenty four [count 'em!] inches came!

Stay tuned for the next edition of E-12: "C" is for "Clark Fork"!!

Best to all in eager anticipation of it all,

Rock Creek Ron-----<'///><

E-12: "A" is for "Average" and "Advance Party"

Fellow e-12ers:

 

As we slowly, but ever so assuredly, saunter towards Opening Day of Extravaganza 2012, now is the time when we ever more closely keep an eye on the snow pack and weather conditions in Western Montana.  As I mentioned before (on more than once occasion, I do believe!), come May and June (when the weather warms, the traditionally wettest months of the year arrive in Montana and the snow melt runoff begins) the environmental state is set that will be the placemat for our E-12 fishing fortunes.

 

What is our goal, you ask?  Well, what we are shooting for (and what the fish are banking on as well) is a blandly normal year when the snow pack is “average”, the runoff during May and early June is “normal” and the resulting fishing for us is “spectacular”.  Each Extravaganza is timed to begin during the third week of June, when historical averages deliver to us the best and most desirable stage for fly fishing on our home waters:  The Bitterroot River, the Clark Fork of the Columbia River and The Big (“A River Runs Through It”) Blackfoot River.  Simply stated, when things are spot on come the third week of June fishing in Montana is at its peak—new bug life then abounds in and around waters that have been cleansed with the Spring runoff with resulting spectacular fly fishing.

 

And that is just where we are headed, gang.  For, as of right now, both snow pack levels and snow water equivalency in our key mountain ranges (the Bitterroot Mountains and the Blackfoot watershed) are darn near “average”.  In fact, as of this morning, the Bitterroot Range is posting snow pack at 105% of 20 year averages with exactly 100% of snow water equivalent (“swe”) and the Blackfoot range (beginning about twenty miles northward) is touting a 96% snow pack with 93% swe, and that bodes very, very well for E-12 and all of you E-12ers.  That being said, however, as you veterans well know, in about a month from now we will be tracking on an almost daily basis the water flows and runoff rates on our traditional chart (where we have now six years of data on a single comparison chart—see prior blogsites for this posting) and key to our continued good fortunes will be both the weather conditions during the month of may and any then additions to the upper climes’ snow levels.  Over the past ten years of being extravagant we have gone into May with “average/normal” conditions only to see a heat wave befall the greater Missoula area and a resultant “early runoff”, leaving us wanting on our desired fishing water levels.  Each day of each year we have fished, however; so, the question is not “whether to fish or not to fish” but, rather, “how good are the fishing conditions going to be”.

 

Fishing in Montana is a 12 month a year proposition—yes, except for certain spawning tributaries, you could/can literally fish 365 days a year—that is the “fishing season”.  Also, come the end of March, a phenomenon occurs in the Bitterroot valley that is pretty much limited to it and the adjacent waters of western Montana:  a stone fly about ¾” in its adult length emerges from the waters into its adult form creating the first of the new year’s “dry fly” (i.e., flies that alight on the surface, as opposed to the subsurface, of the rivers’ waters) opportunities.  The fly is called the “skwala” (for reasons unbeknownst to me, btw) and, for those hearty enough to bear the brunt of Montana’s ongoing winter weather provides the first opportunity to take a fly rod and dance with the brown and rainbow trout beauties that occupy that wonderful river. 

With the “skwala hatch” comes our first real-time/non-theoretical opportunity to see just what the new year’s fishing prospects in fact are and, come Tuesday, the first E-12 advance party, consisting of long time Group One veterans Brian “Moraine” Shepard and his “wingman” son Josef “Fear The Beard” Shepard will begin seven (count ‘em!) days of fly fishing on “The Root” with our wonderful Double Up Outfitter John “The Great But Propaneless” [yes, there is a story there, gang!] Gould.  Year after year now Moraine has spanked the eagerly rising-to-skwalas Root fish and has been kind enough to send up pics of his daily bounty, which will (finally!) become fish fodder for (y)our 2012 blogsite.  [If you have not already posted this to your favorites, do so now for, as Opening Day comes closer, this will be our primary communication mode with you.]

So, there you go, gang; “A” is indeed for “Average” and “Advance Party”---keep your eyes peeled for the next installment where “B” is for “Bitterroot” and “Big Blackfoot”!!

Best to all in eager anticipation of it all,

Rock Creek Ron

 ---<’///><

 

 

 

 

FW: Rain, Rain, Yet A-Commin' Our Way!!

And logging in below all the way from Shreveport, Louisiana (yep, gang, E-12 is a national event) is Dick “Andros” Seale [we fished the Bahamas together last spring!]:

 

 "Ron, Ron Clausen, is that you, Ron !?"... Andros May 2011

 

I am really,really getting excited. Thanks for all of the planning and preparation.

 

Cheers,

DH

FW: Rain, Rain, Yet A-Commin' Our Way!!

A wonderful on-the-scene update from historical/honorary Group Three member MWF President Tim “Stretch” Aldrich and his beautiful bride Carol:

 

  

Hi Ron and Kathy!  Your weather story speaks of a much more normal year in 2012 than we had in 2011.  I tend to believe the weather mess was a direct result of the Legislative Boondoggles of 2011 with a little help from the snow gods.  I just got a message from Wayne Brewster over in Helena and he and Lil have already done their spring chores around their place and are getting what he calls saddle time and enjoying the horses.  Here, I have already seen the western bluebirds checking out their apartment in the field behind the house, and the robins, finches and other "little brown jobs" (LBJ's), as a good friend calls the little tweeters that are not easily identified by folks like me.  I suspect I will be seeing the Columbian Ground Squirrels showing up any day since the ground is no longer frozen.  I had a herd of night crawlers on the driveway yesterday morning after a brief warm rain, so I am declaring that spring is here for the moment and will be a "come and go" visitor for the next month.  It is time to think fishing here, and I hope to be indulging in some of that sport very soon.  I hope you stay high and dry during the rainy spells; we look forward to see you you both in the not too distant future.  tim and carol 

Rain, Rain, Yet A-Commin' Our Way!!

Greetings E-12ers:

 

Well, if you are anywhere here near the Bay Area you know that, quixotely, rain, rain, rain (and a lot of it) has been, is and will continue to be in our forecast.  More steady and more consistent is the weather pattern in Western Montana (which will directly impact our fishing conditions come the commencement of Extravaganza 2012 exactly three months from today!!) where snowpack in the Bitterroot River Basis remains at 104 percent of 20 year norm and its equally critical snow water equivalent is at 95% of historical average, and this is wonderfully good news for each and every one of us.

 

As I mentioned in a prior email to “y’all”, it is the winter snowpack in the upper climes that is the preparatory base for the spring runoffs that begins in late April and during the month of May, and it is the remaining residual of that melt off that provides the water flow consistency and water temperature that drives our fishing fortunes.  A late runoff with high water flow (like we saw in legendary proportions during E-12) will yield murky waters with colder temperatures that (a) greatly reduces visibility for the feeding fish and (b) delays the seasonal hatch of bug life, whose triggering event is the stability of the water climate in which they live and thrive.  High waters and cold temperatures translate into a delayed “hatch” (the metamorphosis process through which winter river bottom dwelling crawling insects morph themselves into flying insects [the same process by which a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly—more on that later] and reduced fishing prospects, so what we are looking for is that illusive “normal year” which, by all current counts, might just be headed our way for E-12.  Goodness knows that we are certainly overdue in that regard!

 

Looking ahead weather-wise in Montana, the seasonal pattern of overhead grey cloud cover combined with freezing rain at the lower climes and snow at the upper levels is the forecast for the balance of this March.  Typically, March weather in western Montana “comes in like a lion and stays like one” and that is what appears to be ahead for Montanans in the upcoming weeks.  By the end of the process, locals are known to cry out “is it June yet?!?”, with full time occupants knowledgeable that Montana is often seasonally referred to as “nine months of winter and three months of guests?.  Well, we are right on the opening cusp of “guest season” and, for the moment at least, we are right on track for a bang up year.  That being said, the only accurate weather forecast in Montana is for that which occurred twenty minutes prior, so hang onto your fishing rods and daily face east to Montana (that would be northwest, however, to Group Three’s Martin “Madman” & Cynthia O’Malley from their Houston home!) in silent prayer that all continues along its current path of “normalcy” (thank you, Calvin Coolidge, for that nonsequitur!).  

 

Meanwhile, back at E-12’s Bay Area headquarters, all is progressing nicely for the advent of E-12 now in just 90 short days.  We have a lot in store for you this coming year, so much so that earlier in the week I received a plaintiff call from our land purveyor the Rock Creek Mercantile asking if I could please have someone come by and relieve them of some (if not all) of the 85 [count ’em] boxes of materials and supplies that were literally “in store” and preoccupying all of their store—something that Eric The Landscaper was kind enough to accomplish for us (and them).

 

Hmmm….I wonder just what was in those boxes such as to occupy ALL of the Merc……hmmm, indeed!!

 

Best to all in full preparation for it all,

 

Rock Creek Ron

   ---<’///><

 

 

 

FW: Snow, Rain & Earthquakes, Oh My!!

A(nother) note from Da Ones, this from veteran “Emperor Jim” Pacatte!

 

RCR-----<’///><

 

            We are ready to go, looking forward to this year.

 

FW: Snow, Rain & Earthquakes, Oh My!!

I so stand corrected by Group One veteran “Long John” Rosenbaum!

 

  

Well I am delighted to report to you that, now well into the winter months now (daylights savings time is just a couple of weeks away, folks!),

Believe it or not, daylight saving time begins this coming Sunday, March 11!!

John

  

Snow, Rain & Earthquakes, Oh My!!

Greetings Fellow Extravaganzers:

 

Well the groups are now (finally!) set, trees are budding out in their annual rebirth ritual, March Madness is now in the offing and all of that means that, slowly but surely, we are creeping up on the advent of Extravaganza 2012.  Just today, your Hostess With The Mostess, Kookin’ Kathy, and I met for lunch to do our final E-12 prep list and we have been on the phone all day long with the many, many suppliers and purveyors who will be actively participating in this year’s annual event.

 

It is hard to believe that this is the tenth Extravaganza.  In one way, the annual event is such a part of our year-long daily life it is hard to imagine a time when the Extravaganza was not a part of our life; in others, each event has its own special characteristics and make up that one year is like an individual pearl now added to a longer stream of gems.  Whether short or long in recall, E-12 is nicely shaping up to be one for the record books in all respects, particularly in its most important respects:  winter snowpack.

 

It is the snow that is currently amassing in the upper climes of the mountains that surround Missoula (the Bitterroot Mountains and those that feed the wonderful Big (“A River runs Through It”) Blackfoot River) that will tell the tale of our fishing waters come June.  And, believe you me, over the last decade we have seen it all— from the barren year of 2007 where the snow and water levels were so low (and resultant water temperatures so high) that we could only fish half days [one of my favorite all-time Extravaganza pictures is a (very) weary Group Three posing at 5:00 a.m. in the pitch dark just before heading into town—we fished from 7:00 a.m. to noon, for that group] (2007 was the resultant fire year for us as well—see the 2007 blogsite for a day-by-day diary of that horrific experience for us) to the high water mark of E-11 where the water levels were so high that for each of our nine (count ‘em!) days of fishing we had to charter a motor coach to take us over the Continental Divide to fish the (no so) Mighty Missouri just below Holter Dam upstream of the town of Craig (with amazing fishing results, as you veterans of last year experienced!).

 

Just where are we snowpack-wise for the most currently relevant year (2012), you ask??  Well I am delighted to report to you that, now well into the winter months now (daylights savings time is just a couple of weeks away, folks!), the Bitterroot River Basin is reporting snowpacks 104% of twenty year averages (which include the lows of 2007 and the highs of 2011) with the snow water equivalent tipping in at 91% of normal.  Last year, both the snowpack levels and the snow water equivalents ended up at 200% of normal, creating a combined water content equal to 400% of normal—by comparison, we are on track to have one quarter of the runoff volume that we did last year.  And the snow continues to fall…

 

Soon ahead is the rainy season for Montana (with May and June being the wettest two of Montana’s months).  Witnessing so, daughter Trina “Boots” Clausen just reported to me that it is currently 50 degrees in downtown Missoula and, looking at its long range forecast, temperatures are set to be highs in the 50’s and lows in the 30’s for the next several weeks, with rain in almost the daily forecast.  Rain in Missoula (around the 3300 elevation) means snow in the upper climes (3 degrees per 1,000 feet is the gradient) and, hence, a wonderful water insurance policy for our summer fishing (ad)ventures!

 

And, earthquakes, you ask?!?  Yep, as those of you in the immediate Bay Area know, around 5:40 a.m. this morning a 4.0 tremor in the East Bay hills awoke us all—never a dull moment as we prepare for this year’s quickly upcoming monumental event.

 

For you rookies out there, don’t get to afar from your email in box for, as you veterans can attest, things are just getting warmed up on this end and you will be getting a sufficient number of continuing updates from yours truly to eventually cause you to ask, “enough, already?!?...let’s go fishing!”

 

Best to all in the mid preparation stages of it all,

 

Rock Creek Ron

    ---<’///><