Montana: Part 2

Money well spent!  This baby opens up so many options we don't have a clue what to do with ourselves!  The guy we bought the boat from said the Missouri was fishing great, so we headed to Craig. 

Made it to town just in time to set up camp, hit the fly shop, and walk on over to Joe's Bar hoping to do some more in depth research.  Everyone was in good spirits and feeling lucky to be here.

The next morning we were on the water by 8 am.  But up there it starts getting light at 4:30, so we weren't exactly early.  The next 7 or 8 hours went like this:

This place was amazing.  The weather was perfect, the water was perfect, and the fish were healthy and hungry.  We floated from the dam to Craig 2 days, catching fish pretty consistently the whole time.  All of us had "the big one that got away" story, and all of us knew that leaving to explore new waters would probably be a mistake.  We broke camp that afternoon anyways and headed towards Butte.  Would it be the Big Hole or the Madison in the morning?  We would decide at the fly shop...

Montana Roadtrip - Part 1

Rachel and I had the car loaded up and ready to go Thursday evening.  We left Kansas City around 3 pm on Friday, but had to make a stop in Manhattan, KS, to pick up Bayes (and transfer the load into his truck).  It would be after 6 before we would finally be Montana bound.  We drove through the night, taking turns trying to sleep.  The sky started turning blue in the East somewhere around Sheridan, Wyoming.  The lack of sleep seemed to be forgotten with views of the Bighorn Mountains to the West.  We rolled into Billings, MT ten minutes before Cabela's opened.  We decided to make a Wal-Mart run first to load up on groceries for the week.  After speed shopping at both locations we headed West to Livingston.  After much deserved burgers and beer from the Montana Rib and Chop House, we drove up Paradise Valley in search of a camp site on the Yellowstone.  The on-river sites were all full, but we did find a suitable spot just below Yankee Jim canyon. 

 

 Bayes couldn't resist the fishing urge that first evening, but Rachel and I were content to sip on a few beers.  We knew we had a big week ahead of us.  We only missed out on a few Whitefish and a small rainbow.  We went back to camp where we met up with a old co-worker of mine from my Minnesota days who happened to be in the area.  We had some beer and whiskey, but no campfire.  Almost perfect.

We awoke to rays of sun lighting up the opposite mountainside.  Today we had arranged to fish a local Spring Creek for a trespass fee.  The check-in was at an old Southern mansion-type place.

 We were given a map, and had high hopes of sight-fishing to some finicky trout.  Driving across the bridge we stopped to see several PMD's floating in the drift.  We found it strange that they weren't being eaten, but thought that would be our best bet for the day.

 We didn't see any rising fish, but stubbornly threw dries anyways.  I finally decided to go sub-surface and picked up a few fish, but it was still slow.  After lunch our luck changed as rises came on in spurts.  An appropriate fly placed above a rise would almost always produce a fish.  Due to the size of the creek, we split up to have our own water.  The upside was the better fishing, the downside was not having a photographer around.  I didn't catch anything over about 15", but when I met up with Bayes he said he had a couple pushing 18.  You can believe him if you want. 

It was a good first day, albeit a little disappointing for having to pay a fee to fish.  I think we could have done as well on the Yellowstone for free. 

But this was just a layover - a time to relax before the REAL trip began.  We headed West once again.  We had business in Helena that evening.  After maxing out ATM withdrawals for the last 3 days we were ready for some fun!!

to be continued....

Hungry Catfish

The miserable weather we've had to start the summer  left little enthusiasm for big fishing plans for the weekend.
I ended up headin' back home to western Kansas to take it easy for a few days.

It didn't take long on Saturday to realize that I'm not very good at just relaxing.  I needed to go find some fish.  My buddy said his farm pond would be dry by the end of the summer if they didn't get some rain, but right now the fish in there were easy to catch.

I didn't mind easy pickin's, and within 15 minutes I was flailing the fly rod back and forth trying to turn over an articulated streamer in 30 mph sustained winds.

We didn't stay long at the pasture puddle, as there wasn't really any enjoyment to be had.  But we did manage to pick up a few hungry channel cat before calling it quits and heading the 2 1/2 miles down the road to the local waterin' hole.

The extended forecast doesn't look much better.  It's a good thing I'm leaving for Montana after work on Friday....HeeeeHaw!.

Rachel's First Carp with a Fly Rod

I've been trying to get my fiance into fly fishing for carp this Summer.  We've been out quite a few times, but haven't had the best conditions or cooperative fish.  The conditions today weren't the best either with the wind blowing about 25 mph.  But Rachel finally got to dance with a Kansas Bonefish at John Redmond Reservoir on this 17th day of June, 2012.  I'm fairly certain I was more excited than she was as you can probably tell from the poor quality audio in the video.  

After paddling the kayaks into the wind back to the Carp Ride, it was time we headed to the nearest town to do what this trip was really about.

Buy a sweet moped affectionately named Gertrude by her previous owner.  It's a 1983 Suzuki F50 with all the bells and whistles, and, quoting the craigslist ad "legit racing tires"!  This is to serve as my new shuttle vehicle for future floats down lazy rivers.  No more paddling upriver or upwind!

It was quite the day.

Carpin' with the GoPro

Last week I ventured out a few times to scope out a couple new potential carp waters.  The two locations both looked as good in person as they did on Google Earth.  They both had expansive flats with water less than knee deep, and both had a good mix of flooded vegetation.  The downside, as always, was water clarity.  This is to be expected with flood waters, but it's still frustrating.  I had no trouble finding fish at either location.  I assumed carp, but could only assume, as all I could see were wakes or mud plumes from fleeting fish. Visibility wouldn't be a problem in water this shallow if only the fish would give themselves away by tailing.  Maybe it's a little early yet, because tailers were few and far between. I did enjoy my fair share of blind casting and targeting slow moving wakes. 

I was rewarded with a few hook-ups, but was only able to seal the deal on one fish.  I have a feeling the fun is just beginning though, as these spots are going to be carptastic once the tails start tipping!  Below is some video from the last two outings.

Weekend on the White River

Another weekend trip down to Northern Arkansas is in the books.  The plan was to take the kayaks down there and float the Buffalo River.  I've always heard good things about the Buffalo and have been wanting to give it a shot.  But with low water forecast on the White and North Fork for the first time in months, the Buffalo would have to wait.  Rachel and I skated out early from work on Friday afternoon, and after five hours of driving we pulled down the dusty rock road to Rim Shoals resort where a "camper cabin" awaited us.

Under normal circumstances we would be unloading a tent and sleeping bags from the back of the Carp Ride about now, but this weekend we were meeting up with some friends who were in another cabin at Rim.  This way we could walk over to their place in the evenings and enjoy gourmet cooking and a maintenance-free campfire.  The campfire crowd didn't retreat to their respective sleeping quarters until half after midnight, which made watching the morning sunrise an unlikely event.

Saturday morning we had the kayaks unloaded at the Cotter Access just before 10 a.m..  The weather couldn't have been better as we pushed off the rocks, beginning our kayak's maiden voyage on the White.
The water was incredibly clear, and we were able to witness thousands of fleeing fish as we floated downstream.  The highlight of Saturday wasn't even the fishing, it was floating right over a whale of a blue cat lounging in what was left of his "hole" somewhere between Cotter and Rim.  That fish honestly had to be in the 80 lb range, but he had no interest in my caddis-green soft hackle.  We the first couple miles just enjoying the float.  I'm sure there were fish to be caught, but we were holding out for more interesting water.  Our first stop was the island at Roundhouse, and a few fish were landed along the way.

Back on the water we floated over the shoals to another long stretch of wide, flat water, where we enjoyed our first 'yak lunch, and I played a bit with my new GoPro camera.  In the future I plan on doing a lot more with this thing, but I hadn't taken enough time to familiarize myself with it's 2 buttons yet to mess with it much Saturday. 















It wasn't long until we were down to the Rim Shoals C&R area.  We stopped and fished the upper shoals, then floated past our cabin down to the firsts island where we beached the boats and enjoyed a couple more hours of fishing.

 

We'd had our fill of fishing for the day, and camp was only a few hundred yards of upstream paddling away.  It was a perfect Ozark evening for popping open a Busch Light and watching the sun go down.  A feast of dry-aged steak kabobs, smoked rainbow trout, along with mussels in a creamy tomato and vodka reduction awaited us.  It really doesn't get much better than that.

Another late night around the fire made for another late-start to the morning.  I'd wanted to head over to the North Fork and float from Quarry Park down to the Handicap Access, but with the drive back to KC ahead of us, we left the kayaks on the rail rack and walked in at the Ackerman Access.  It took awhile to figure the fish out, but finally a #18 orange scud started bringing fish to hand.

This was the first time in the 6 years of going to the area that we lucked out with low water on both the White and North Fork ALL WEEKEND!  The weather was fantastic, and although we didn't catch a fish over 16", most of these fish put up an insane fight for their size.  We'll definitely be going back sooner than later!

Unplanned Detour

It's hard to fish when you can't find Toto.  I found the weather this past weekend more prone to sight-seeing than fly-fishing.