Where the Ones froze their rears off, the Tattoos on their first day on the water scorched themselves, with sketchy fishing reports from each being Evidence Exhibit A that in these here Montana parts you want to be on neither end of the spectrum—to wit, “middle ground is marvelous”.
Of the twelve boats that launched on Group Two’s Day One, a full half on the Blackfoot another half on the Bitterroot and a (foolish) two on the Clark Fork, half of each reported few to small pectoral sightings with a couple of the boats, including Boat One with Shane Clouse aboard, who found podded fish in “honey hole to make for 20+ fish days. Such was the case with Lori “The Fawn” Ware who tag-teamed with “Shanna Banana” Rodgers on the Blackfoot, who not only “broke in” (read, “broke down”) our longest standing 10 year guiding veteran Chris “The Man” Stroup, but also boated 20 fish including a 19” brown and a companion 19” rainbow. The other hot boat was the SS Clouse/Clausen that proudly reported 20+ fish boated on the Bitterroot including bows in the 18, 19, and 20” dimensions as well as the fish of the day, a RCR landed 21” brown that was landed in spite of Mascot Ma’am on line and under foot, three massive runs of the fish taking line well into the reel and the fish “unbuttoning” on one fly only to be caught by the second of the nymph rig—see separate posting of the Big Fish of Der Day!! Also beaming was the rookie boat of husband and wife combo Scott & Heidi Caldwell how took the Blackfoot challenge and were rewarded by a wifely 15” bull trout and a manly 18’” rainbow. Also in the pink was the duo of Al “Good Earth” Baylacq and Zane(y) Wiley (Coyote) who proudly posted 15 fish aboard their Day One.
The rest the Fleet of Two had little to report other than great feasting at lunch—lunches that included bbq ribs, venison sausage, bbq bratwurst and salads galore. In the words of returning veteran Brian “Captain Four” Robertson, “the Bitterroot was beautiful but bittersweet!” As you can see from the posted pictures, there is still a ton of snowmelt in the mountains and, post Ones, what has happened is that the increased temps (30+ degrees more than just a One week ago!) has accelerated that snow melt and brought rising waters with colder temperatures. Imagine your self in a nice warm shower that just turns cold—you would run for cover just as the fish have!! And the whining was prolific---veteran Brian “Deerslayer” McLeran was head to complain, “if you added all three of our fish together you still wouldn’t get 18 inches” (for which he was awarded the nightly Cry Die Award by Fawn Lori [along with yours truly, I might add, for my tale of lines and dogs while landing Big Brownie!]) and then there was the cpa tag team of Steve “Montana Owes Me’ [and it still does, Steve!] Smith and John “Show Me” Comyns—winners of the nightly Hooters Award for being the last boat in—something they vow never to be again, btw!—and the Blackfoot Crew hosted by Tim “Squawfish” Tim whose daughter Alia boasted landing a 19” squawfish—one of Montana’s true junk, trout-eating fish, showing that the acorn does, indeed, not fall far from the tree.
As shown above the tired multitude were nonetheless proud to receive the company of National Wildlife Federation Trina “Boots” Clausen (yes, gang, my daughter!) and multiple generation Montana counterpart Kit Fisher who briefed and DVD’d the Tattoos on the goings on of the wonderful National Wildlife Federation and on some of its multi-state projects, including bison restoration to the eastern part of Montana, and then the Tattoos were serenaded well into the early morning hours by our own crooner and shown-above yellow hat festooned dear friend Shane “Montana Matters” Clouse.
The above being said, there has been a major correction in the orientation of the Extravaganza over the past two days. Heretofore, it has been Da Ones who have set all (low) benchmark standards for extravagant wine and alcohol consumptions. No more, gang—based on my need to FULLY restock the bar (yes, beer, wine and alcohol) Dem Tattoos have now set a new low water mark for Extravaganza consumption—congrats Twos…maybe those hangovers today, Day Two, in 90 degree weather will bring a change in the tide fishing-wise…somehow, folks, I just don’t see that happening but, then again, I am just about to leave Headquaters for Hooters to greet the Twos on Hump Day of E-12 and will dutifully report to “y’all” when time and energy permit.
Best to all from the glorious scene of it all!
Rock creek Ron
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