Sunday Shenanigans

As I sat and ate breakfast at the Hob Nob with my friend Cam, I couldn't help but think about the day ahead of me on the river. It has been a few days since I hooked up with a fish and I wanted that feeling back. After breakfast I head down 93 to the Bitterroot River, then one of my top 5 favorite classic rock songs came on "All along the watchtower" Jimi Hendrix version. I cranked up the volume and cruised through the bitterroot valley. I arrived at the access I was going to be fishing for the day, rigged up my streamer and nymphing rod and started walking to the river. The path was awfully icy and i look up for a split second and wooop my feet flew out from under me and the next thing I know im "rolling down the windows" I fell right on my ass. I quickly looked around to see if anyone had seen me, brushed myself off and continued to the river.

                                         Winter on the Bitterroot

I decided I would go explore upstream cause I had never been up river at this access. After hiking through some brush for a while I came out on this beautiful side braid with a fallen tree in it. I thought to myself there has to be a fish in that run.

                                                  The honey hole

After about ten drifts past the log with no action I finally got the perfect cast and drift. It was as close to the log I could get without snagging on it. My indicator ducked under a branch sticking off the tree and my line got tight! I set the hook and the battle was on. I stripped some line to make sure the fish didn't get tied up in the tree. I got the fish on the reel and fought it a little more before getting it to shore. It was a beautiful rainbow about 16 inches. I snapped a quick picture and got a release video. 

I fished the rest of the day without catching anymore but this one was enough for me. I finally got that feeling back again and it felt great! Back to school tomorrow  but the weathers looking good for Tuesday! 35 and sunny. 

Blackfoot Adventure

Yesterday I had a math quiz and a biology exam screwing up my fishing schedule. I was eager to get out on the river after I was finished "aceing" both of my test. I haven't been to the Blackfoot river since late fall and I was curious to see how it was fishing and what the conditions were up there. My buddy Dave was done with classes as well and he had been asking me to take him out on the river for awhile. When I walked into his room and said "lets go fishing" his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. We headed up I-90 to Bonner, Montana and followed the river up a ways to a good access I knew from the fall. I was surprised when we got to the access and there was about 16 inches of snow on the road. I parked the car, helped Dave rig up his rod and headed down to the river to chuck some streamers and show Dave a thing or two. As we made our way down to the river I noticed that the water was high and merky. We got to the rivers edge and there was 6 foot ice shelves on both sides! I had never seen anything like it before.
   

                                                   Trout Food

                                           Merky Icy Blackfoot

Despite the extreme conditions Dave and I started fishing from the ice shelves and it was difficult to get the fly down to the fish. I climbed down a cracked ice shelf and got in the water to fish a few runs but didn't hook up with anything.

                                               Dave Nymphing 

                                                    Ice Shelves

                                                Stripin' streamers

Dave and I decided to walk up the river more to do some exploring. I was looking at the water while walking up, I looked down to my feet and I was about 2 feet away from a deer skeleton. Dave quickly pointed out 2 dead coyotes another 10 feet infront of me. It looked like some critter had a good meal. I quickly snapped some pics and got out of there before the critter came back.

We fished a little more but didn't end up catching anything today. We decided to head back to campus and get some food. When we got back to the car and I help dave with his casting while working on some casting myself.

                                   Dave Navigating the Ice shelves 

                                      Its all about the Presentation

                                              Blackfoot Beauty


My friends Alec, Cody and Garret also got out on the water today. They hit the Clarkfork River and had just about the same results as Dave and I. High Merky water and no fish. Im gonna head out tomorrow to chase some browns and maybe pike on the Bitterroot River. Hopefully I will land some fish.

Fishing footage from the fall/winter