Pete Stiles from the Fiberglass Flyrodders forum was recently sent on a Texas to Montana mission by his wife and mother-in-law. Here is the report upon his return...
"Here's the set up... My mother-in-law wanted to give her old car (a 2000 Saturn base model four door, ugh) to her son in Missoula and my wife (she never stops amazing me) volunteered me. Now just so you know, my wife is in grad school and we have two young girls ages 2 1/2 and 5 years old, so a chance to get away from everything is a rare event. Road trip. Solitude. Trout. Sign me up!
The only hitch was that I had to leave Austin, Texas on a Friday and be back home by Wednesday. That meant hauling ass up to Montana so I could have two full days to fish.
Day One was Austin to Amarillo. This day was tough. I got pulled over with a brake light out, the radio choices were beyond terrible, and the scenery was dull.
Day Two I was to drive from Amarillo to Casper. As soon as I got past Amarillo the scenery really got gorgeous. The billboards and roadside junk disappeared. It was awesome."
"However, soon after crossing into New Mexico, I got a flat. I made it to the "MalWart" in Trinidad, Colorado on the doughnut spare and after an hour I was back on the road.
Day Three, Casper to Missoula flew by and soon I was sitting in my hotel suite overlooking the Clark Fork."
"On my first full day in Missoula, my brother-in-law and I floated the Bitterroot with a guide. Less than an hour on the river and the guide threw out his back pulling up anchor. He was a mess and completely unable to continue. We hadn't even caught out first fish of the day. He managed to get the boat to shore but couldn't go on. It was looking like half of my 48 hours was going to be spent waiting for a rescue. While the guide made a few phone calls to try and figure how to get off the river, I waded up to a small rippling riser and made a few casts. Soon I was hooked up to nice fish. If nothing else, the day wouldn't be a complete bust."
"Our good luck was to continue. A guide from the same outfit, fishing on his day off, had just put in on the river right above us! The injured guide was rowed off by a friend and we jumped in the other boat with the new guide and had a great day working some challenging water. Tiny trico spinner falls all around and some truely gorgeous fish. Do the come much prettier? Look at the size of that tail. He was a fighter."
"The next day I had to myself. I had planned to fish the Little Blackfoot River, but I had to be back in Missoula for dinner by 6:00 p.m., so I had to find something a little closer. I headed for Rock Creek. Driving in I spotted a mother moose and calf having breakfast in a spring creek. A little farther in a herd of big horn sheep grazed by the side of the road."
"I spent the day moving around a Rock Creek, prospecting with dries using my Lamiglas 7'6" four weight with a Battenkill 3/4 click/pawl reel. It was the perfect rod for the job and dropping a stimulator in the perfect spot would often result in a splashy response."
"Rock creek was stunning. No one else in sight and a nice little fish behind each boulder."
Pete..."48 Hours" well spent. No doubt.
"Here's the set up... My mother-in-law wanted to give her old car (a 2000 Saturn base model four door, ugh) to her son in Missoula and my wife (she never stops amazing me) volunteered me. Now just so you know, my wife is in grad school and we have two young girls ages 2 1/2 and 5 years old, so a chance to get away from everything is a rare event. Road trip. Solitude. Trout. Sign me up!
The only hitch was that I had to leave Austin, Texas on a Friday and be back home by Wednesday. That meant hauling ass up to Montana so I could have two full days to fish.
Day One was Austin to Amarillo. This day was tough. I got pulled over with a brake light out, the radio choices were beyond terrible, and the scenery was dull.
Day Two I was to drive from Amarillo to Casper. As soon as I got past Amarillo the scenery really got gorgeous. The billboards and roadside junk disappeared. It was awesome."
"However, soon after crossing into New Mexico, I got a flat. I made it to the "MalWart" in Trinidad, Colorado on the doughnut spare and after an hour I was back on the road.
Day Three, Casper to Missoula flew by and soon I was sitting in my hotel suite overlooking the Clark Fork."
"On my first full day in Missoula, my brother-in-law and I floated the Bitterroot with a guide. Less than an hour on the river and the guide threw out his back pulling up anchor. He was a mess and completely unable to continue. We hadn't even caught out first fish of the day. He managed to get the boat to shore but couldn't go on. It was looking like half of my 48 hours was going to be spent waiting for a rescue. While the guide made a few phone calls to try and figure how to get off the river, I waded up to a small rippling riser and made a few casts. Soon I was hooked up to nice fish. If nothing else, the day wouldn't be a complete bust."
"Our good luck was to continue. A guide from the same outfit, fishing on his day off, had just put in on the river right above us! The injured guide was rowed off by a friend and we jumped in the other boat with the new guide and had a great day working some challenging water. Tiny trico spinner falls all around and some truely gorgeous fish. Do the come much prettier? Look at the size of that tail. He was a fighter."
"The next day I had to myself. I had planned to fish the Little Blackfoot River, but I had to be back in Missoula for dinner by 6:00 p.m., so I had to find something a little closer. I headed for Rock Creek. Driving in I spotted a mother moose and calf having breakfast in a spring creek. A little farther in a herd of big horn sheep grazed by the side of the road."
"I spent the day moving around a Rock Creek, prospecting with dries using my Lamiglas 7'6" four weight with a Battenkill 3/4 click/pawl reel. It was the perfect rod for the job and dropping a stimulator in the perfect spot would often result in a splashy response."
"Rock creek was stunning. No one else in sight and a nice little fish behind each boulder."
Pete..."48 Hours" well spent. No doubt.
4 comments:
wow, after the setup and all the bad turn of events, it sure does look like the fish made up for all his trouble!
Hmmmm.... I thought Pete's plans changed and he wasn't going to be able to go on a guided trip...weird.
Hi Joel - It changed...and changed again. Hopefully we'll get to fish together on my next trip to Missoula!
GFP...it does look like an excellent trip.
Joel/Peter...hopefully you two can link up on the next trip.
Post a Comment