|
|
|
|
Thursday July 11, 2002 The 4 of us Westies (AB, JR, GK, & AM) agglomerate at JR’s on Thursday and pack up the mini-van (JR) and the Truck (GK) to start the 2002 adventure! Leaving JR’s at 1:09 pm we roll onto I-90 Eastbound with Spokane as our target destination to pick up Mike which will complete the quintet for this year’s expedition. This will be the sixth year of this adventure series and we are starting to think we have the process understood. Off to Spokane. But first, we stop at North Bend for lunch. Next we stop at Cle Elum to change drivers. Next we stop at Ellensburg to gas up. Finally at 3:18 we hit an uninterrupted section of highway and arrive in Spokane at 6:17. Interestingly enough, many of us did not realize that Spokane could have traffic jams – turns out that there is one in the evenings just east of downtown on I-90. Be aware! Mike and his bride have prepared a great barbeque dinner for us which we all enjoyed even though the Spokane temps were fairly warm (circa 90+ F). AM worked out that we would get to Missoula that evening and made room arrangements (2 rooms + 1 roll-away) with the Bel Aire Motel in Missoula. On the road again at 7:15 pm. Going over Fourth of July pass, we spy a small cow moose feeding in the swamp on the south side of the road. Feels like we are already getting away from civilization!! We clear Lookout Pass at 9:44pm (clocks move forward an hour in Montana!) and now it is a long down hill run into Missoula. JR does his best Mario Andretti imitation and shows us the upper limits of the speedometer (we don’t reach triple digits but not because we didn’t try!). The windshield sounds like we are driving through heavy rain – there is a huge bug hatch in the early nightfall; the windshield becomes difficult to see through clearly. Do not turn on the windshield wipers!! Arrive in Missoula and check in to the Bel Air motel. Turns out that they couldn’t find the roll-away so they give us an extra room. Then they can’t find the second 2 bedroom unit so we get another free room! No change in price!! Good deal for us. Everyone crashes knowing we will reach the Missouri River tomorrow. Friday – July 12, 2002 After a fairly short night, I receive a call at 5:30 am from AB asking if we
were to get up then or at 6:30 am. I recall the 6:30 am wakeup as our
ground-rule. Ooops. Well, others have been rousted as well. After failing to get
back to sleep, AM goes out to find a gas station to get the windshield cleaned
on the mini-van and finds one just opening up - not much traffic in Missoula
this time of morning. Meanwhile JR, AB, GK, and MS are carrying suitcases
across the motel balcony and notice a couple in the swimming pool. Now it
is 6:30 a.m. in the morning and cold!! As we come down the stairs, they
leave the pool, walk across the parking lot, and get into a 60's style VW
minivan and leave! Well, we always wondered where hippies took a
bath.....now we know. We gas up the rigs and go looking for coffee. Turns out
Missoula doesn’t start early, even on weekdays (it is Friday after all). In
Seattle, things would be cooking in the urban areas by 6 am for sure if not
earlier (a Starbucks I go by on the way to work opens at 4:30 am!). We cruise
the Missoula downtown area and find some coffee shops but they aren’t open –
do finally find one that opens at 7 am (it is now 6:45) so we decide to target
that one. There is a Fly Shop next door (how convenient!) but it does not open
until 8 am. Certainly that seems like Bankers hours to us! Finally the coffee
shop opens and we fill up cups and thermos bottles for the day. Cruise by the
Clark Fork in downtown Missoula – we have heard that actually it fishes fairly
well for such an urban river section – we decide to move on down the road and
head for our destination since we hope to fish this day on the Missouri River. We headed east on I-90 and took the 200 Highway route on towards Helena. As we drove by, we looked with longing at the Little Blackfoot River – looked promising but the Missouri River sirens were calling. Over MacDonald Pass (circa 6200 feet) we drop into the Atlantic Ocean drainage basin. We arrived in Helena about 11, gassed up, lunched, and headed toward Craig, arriving at 12:15 pm. The Missouri River is big, flat, smooth flowing; we see fish finning below the Bridge. Stopped by the Cross Currents Fly Shop (Russ Hill, owner, http://www.crosscurrents.com ) to get key flies and common information.
They rent drift boats and pontoon boats to float the Missouri – certainly looks like a good option under the current river conditions. When we come back here, we will probably plan to rent some of the pontoon or drift boats. Also they have a great coffee table book called "Unforgettable Days: Montana Trout Fishing" – ISBN 1-931832-17-X Riverbend Publishing at http://riverbendpublishing.com . Book contains super artsy pictures of the beauty that can be found in Montana. However, as we leave the cool shop into the hot and oppressive heat furnace outside, I recall that today is not one of the days pictured in the book. Everyone says how bad the temps are this year – New max temp records are being set every day. Behind the fly shop is an espresso stand. Hmmmm......Orivs and Starbucks within casting distance of each other.......Note to self: this could be a great new idea for a fusion of business models - Orvis selling Starbucks and Starbucks selling flies.......think of the possibilities!! Crossing the Missouri, we head downstream about 7 miles to Arnie’s (Missouri Riverside Outfitters and Lodge, 3103 Old U.S. Highway 91, Cascade, Montana, 59421 406-468-9385 Leonard "Arnie" Gidlow, website: http://www.missouririverside.com )and locate our rooms. Arnie stops by and brings back the folks he is guiding (a group from Japan) and shares with us that with the temps in the 100’s, the afternoons are really shot. Best to lay low and head out about 7 pm. Interesting enough even the temperatures were well over a hundred Fahrenheit, our buddies from Japan chose to continue to wear their neoprene waders during the heat of the day!!! Maybe a 100 degrees in Japan is less than it is in Montana?? We locate a great little diner for dinner, Osterman’s Missouri Inn.
Arriving at 6:00 pm, we check the three thermometers in the shade at the front of the diner, and they all read 108 F!! This is definitely hot!!
The restaurant is not air-conditioned but they have the fans rolling so it is acceptable. Pretty good chow at this place; would go back if we return to the area. (Greg – special coho; Andy – walleye; JR/Mike – Chicken fried steak; Al – New York Steak) Headed back to the cabins and chatted with some other fisherman staying there (not the ones from the Japan – Hai!). The other fellows are from Michigan and have been coming here (Arnie’s and the Missouri River) for the last 10 years. During the wide ranging stories, I learn from them that Beaverhead has fishing equal to the Missouri but has way more people. The folks are using guides for 10 days fishing. Last week before we arrived, there were lots of thunderstorms and the fishing was very poor. This week despite the heat, they are doing OK including one of their party who had a 30 fish morning (or so we are told). The nearest store we located (other than Craig) was toward Cascade (circa 14 miles) for ice, etc. The "city" area seemed locked in a time warp to the 1930’s and there was almost a depression era feel in the local economy which did not seem vibrant. Back at the cabins, we met up and chatted with Arnie. The river is flowing at about 3500 cfs which is very low but makes for easier wading. A typical flow might be 6000 cfs so we are seeing low water conditions. The high temps though are stressing the fish so we need to be careful in playing and landing the fish. Arnie tells us that fish surveys show about 1500 brown trout per mile and 5000 rainbow trout per mile. There are unlimited (and uncounted) whitefish per mile. The Missouri river in this section is a large (no, huge!) spring creek where the fish have more food to eat than they can eat. Backeddies along the river have inch thick mats of dead bugs floating in them. These fish definitely don't "need" your fly. Accordingly, they won’t move to your fly; you have to present it to them in their feeding lane with the fly first (and no leader visible!!). If they see your leader, they will go down, move to another place, and feed over there. The fish "pod up" in groups of 20 to 100+ to feed on hatches. All the fish are wild trout from natural reproduction. This year (2002) they had a cold spring (snow in shade at Arnie’s cabin until June!) so that everything is late; the trico’s are just starting now. The fish therefore are still "dumb" and easier to catch than later in the year. Arnie’s place by the river is at about 4400 feet elevation and gets close to 200 inches of snow a year. So this place is marked by wide temperature extremes. Seems like a tough place to live year-round. Down by Craig, among the first houses on the shore downstream is one owned originally by Jack Hemingway (Ernst’s brother). Also a big section of riverbank owned by "Billionaire Bernie" who passed away this last year. He owned the block in New York on which Wall Street Stock Exchange is housed. Used to bring out parties of 8-10 folks at a time with one person per guide on the river. He was able to fish 70 days per year on the Missouri. His big stone house really stands out along the river bank. We head out for evening fishing about 8:30 pm around the corner from the cabins. The Roy Rogers Ranch is on the east side of the river across from Craig. We wade in (warm water!) and flog the water. No luck at all. AB/AM fish until about 10:30 without success. Lots of bugs on the water but no risers!!
Headed back to the cabin for a night cap of OJ/Vodka or Glenlivet/Soda depending upon your taste. These are not indulgences but part of a well thought-out medically based therapeutic program. Honest!…….. |
