The YG is up at 7AM having another great breakfast at the B&B, then head across the street to the fly shop. Picking up a few Black Beatles w/ red sparkle legs, Bloody Mary Bead-heads, & Red Humpies, we’re headed to fish Monture Creek from the highway to the confluence with the Blackfoot.

MS & JR decide to hike downstream to the confluence and fish upstream while GK & AB start at the trucks and fish downstream. MS & JR hike for over an hour, (JR in hip boots), and come to a ranch house. They walk up to the house and ask permission to cross the ranch property. The rancher grants permission, but warns them, "There’s been a Grizzly hanging out back by the barn" "Be careful!" Arriving at the Blackfoot, nearly 2-1/2 hours later, they find a road & bridge over the river….humm…maybe we could have driven here??

Meanwhile GK & AB work their way downstream. Monture Creek has great pools & log jams and is a great wading stream, but today, it’s fishing slow. GK catches two Cutts with a Hopper/Pheasant-tail bead combo, and misses three others. AB also catches two on a Royal Stimulator/Pheasant-tail combo & misses four, one nearing 20". JR does an LDR on a beautiful 18-incher that takes a Red Humpy & runs his leader around a large rock. MS catches two on the Bloody Mary’s.

The YG meet up at mid-day & start hiking the ridgeline back, temps are 95+ degrees, and we arrive back at the rigs at 2:40 hot & tired. A round of cold Gatorade’s for all & we head for Trixi’s for lunch. Many deer spotted on the ride back to Orvando. After lunch, MS & GK head back to the B&B for R&R, while JR & AB head out to explore the upper reaches of the North Fork of the Blackfoot.

Finding an interesting looking road on the Gazetteer, that appears to parallel the river and provide access, we decide to check it out. Several miles down the gravel road, we end up in a ranchers’ front yard, the rancher comes out & informs us we’re on private property. We promptly apologize for getting lost and wondering onto his property. We ask directions to the North Fork of the Blackfoot & he points us toward the back exit off the property. A couple gates later & one 4 wheel-drive expedition thru an irrigation ditch, we find the main road again.

Traveling along the North Fork toward the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the river moves into a deep canyon area. Large boulders, azure blue pools, great looking habitat & suicide steep access. Continuing to the end of the road, we park, gear up and hike down into the canyon. The stream is beautiful and we’re expecting to catch trout on every cast. Not to be. Spending only an hour in this spectacular area, the wind came up, black clouds were building and we decided we’d better start climbing out of the canyon.

We did explore the area a bit more & found a trailhead that looked like it provided good access upstream. About then a 6-point buck in velvet flushed out of the undergrowth, followed a few minutes later by a young couple carrying fly rods. They confirmed that the trail did lead to some great areas about 30 minutes ahead.

We also noted that a forest fire had burned the area. It burned in 1988 during the largest forest fire in Montana history. The fire burned from near Missoula to the Dearborn River over the continental divide.

On the way out of the backcountry we came across an irrigation sprinkler watering the road. Since the Jeep was filthy from driving gravel roads, AB suggested a "Montana Car Wash". It works pretty well, try it sometime.

The YG heads out today for the River Junction area at the confluence of the North Fork Blackfoot & Blackfoot Rivers. 8:15 AM, 61 degrees & overcast. Traveling ten miles of gravel road that is apparently used by the Montana Air Force for bombing practice, we stop to compare notes on our directions. MS puts his fly hat on top of the Jeep & checks the map with JR. Several more miles of gravel road, & a few deer sightings later we arrive at River Junction. Yes, MS’s fly hat is, amazingly, still on top of the Jeep, covered with dust & bugs & wedged under the roof rack!

This section of river is beautiful. Riffles, Pools & Log Jams. GK heads up the Blackfoot, MS & JR downstream while AB crosses & heads up the North Fork. Red Humpies, Royal Trude, Red beads, Adams, Wooly Buggers & Red Ants were used to work the area. AB finds 3 nice Cutts hidden under logjams on the No. Fork. A small yellow hopper w/ sparkle wings did the trick. All the fish were buried deep in the logjams & wouldn’t come to the fly unless it was drifted deep into the wood.

While fishing near a steep cliff along the river AB notes a trickle of gravel falling into the river from a monolith right near where he’s casting. One last cast in the area before moving on draws a tremendous strike, or at least a tremendous splash. A 50-pound boulder fell off a rock pillar on the far shore, right on top of AB’s fly! Well, might as well move on…that hole is probably screwed up for a while!

AB talks to a few anglers on a couple passing drift boats that had worked nine miles of river. They reported little or no luck today.

Black clouds begin to form & a light rain starts to fall.

It’s near mid-day & the YG heads out to explore the upper reaches of the Blackfoot along Hwy. 200. Along the way we head into the town of Helmville & stop for lunch at the Copper Queen Saloon.

JR (3-3/4 beaks) & MS (4 beaks) Chicken Fried Steak, if mashed potatoes, instead of French fries, might have scored closer to a max. 5 beaks, GK fish & chips and AB burger…all good.

1149 miles from Seattle at this point.

Asked for directions back to Orvando & were told to turn left out of the bar. We missed a subtle turn and 30 miles of road & nearly out of gas later; we spot a sign that says I-90. I-90!! Drummond!! We’d gone south instead of northwest! So much for paying for the compass option in our vehicles. And, so much for following sage directional advice from a geologically impaired bar patron.

Gassing up in Drummond, we head back, this time with the Gazetteer open. Saw a fox run across the road in a brushy area, jump up on a fence post & check us out. Trees, fence posts & power poles in the area were plastered with yellow signs that said, "Grizzly Bears in the area!" "Montana Fish & Game".

Went by an Orvis endorsed fly lodge on the North Fork of the Blackfoot, then pulled into Harry Morgan fishing access. Water looks very fishy, but we suspect it’s pounded pretty well by guide boats from the lodge just upstream. Trucks are covered with dust & dirt, when we come across a circle sprinkler depositing vast volumes of water onto the road. Another Montana car wash!! 10 minutes in the deluge & the vehicles are looking much better. So much for careful use of the precious water commodity in this area.

Headed into Orvando (5:40 PM, 76 degrees), we stop at the Blackfoot Angler to find an evening fishing spot. Travis says if he were going fishing tonight, he’d choose the confluence of the Clearwater & Blackfoot rivers. Fish upstream, large boulders, use hoppers. That was good enough for us.

Thirteen miles from Orvando, we arrive at the bridge over the Blackfoot, there are parking spaces for only 4 vehicles, others were encouraged to park at another location some 2 miles away. Signs indicated that this was Montana Fisheries way to limit the number of fishers in the area. We got lucky; we were the only anglers around.

AB & GK go upriver near the bridge while MS & JR hike further upriver. GK catches a nice Cutt on a dropper & misses another. JR gets two good hits on a Royal Trude & Blue Wing Olive as does MS. AB picks up a couple small fish on a Red Humpy & decides to drop back & hike up the opposite side of the river. Difficult access turns him back so he goes down river, picking up a nice Cutt in the Clearwater. Further down the Blackfoot is a large pool fed by oxygen rich riffles. Dry flies draw no strikes, so AB switches to a large double bead black Stonefly with a Pheasant-tail dropper. Casting it upstream, allowing the chute to wash the combination into the pool w/o a strike indicator, he gets a strong pickup.

The fish takes drag & fights hard. A golden flash at mid-pool promises a nice Cutthroat, but at the net the fish turns into a Northern Pike Minnow. The politically correct name for what was known as a Squawfish. A great fight, but a bit disappointing.

A couple more casts, and another strong pickup, this time the drag screams off the 5 wt rod. (Orvis Trident, 4 pc. rod & Orvis multiplier reel.) Several runs later, I get my first glimpse of the fish, bigger than the first. I’m thinking another Pike Minnow, but at the net, this fish turns into a 2-1/2 lb. rainbow!

We left the river at 10 PM, 65 degrees, saw several deer on the way to Looney’s Café for dinner. It’s closed. Back at the B&B we make dinner out of smoked salmon, trail mix, crackers, Gin & Brandy.