The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Left Spokane on Thursday evening 7/16 for Sand Pointe, ID. Ran through Glacier Park via Little Thompson River County Rd just outside of Thompson Falls to Marion (70 miles of gravel road) and stayed in Kalispell for the night as we tried to get the sight seeing part of the trip out of the way. Hit Missoula, actually wet waded Rock Creek in 108 temp and caught browns and cutthroats on my own stimulators and emergers after trying the assortment purchased at the Kingfisher shop in Missoula. Dropped back in to say how the fishing was and they offered to return my drivers license. I left it there when I picked up the fishing license. Headed down the Bitterroot Valley through Big Hole country into Dillon in order to fish spring creeks. Thunderstorms in 98 degree weather were amazing. Left the rain gear in the car, so I tolerated the down pour. Tromping through sloughs are something to be desired, especially with the awaiting skeeters in the willows. Stayed at Tom Smith’s cabins in Dillon. Ran by Twin Bridges and caught the tour at the Winston Rod Co. Less than 3 minutes into the tour, the wife decides she had enough and walks out of the tour. The receptionist told her that she was surprised she lasted that long. The museum turned out to be more interesting than the tour. Could not find Sweet Grass (they were moving to a new location that was still under construction), so we headed off to Ennis.

By this time in the trip the itinerary gets thrown out and we head into West Yellowstone, through the park, down to Jackson and end up in Pinedale some 78 miles of sage brush southeast of Jackson. Fished the upper Green River with pretty good results, but the wife is getting antsy, so we head towards Bozeman through the Gallatin Valley. The valley's river looks too good to pass up so the line gets wet in few spots and I am rewarded with a few tugs that are not of the willow or snagged on a rock kind. I’ll definitely be back. Drove into Livingston and missed Dan Bailey’s Shop when I point out the rail road museum across the street. How could I miss the trout sculptures hanging on the wall above the Bailey shop entrance? So its back towards Helena and Butte to stop by the Anaconda open pit mines. If this is anything close to what they want at the Pebble Mine, that area is definitely in trouble. The adjacent pit mine is filling with highly acidic water and if the Super fund doesn’t take care of it by 2023, it will over flow into the town and down the Clark Fork- an environmental nightmare with a real growth potential.

So Missoula wasn’t that bad after all and we head back to try our luck on Rock Creek, but this time we run along the whole river some 46 miles to a paved road in Phillipsburg and two and half hours away from the Rock Creek turnout back on Interstate 90. Fish were cooperative throughout the drainage. Although the road is barely one lane throughout. The nice thing though is the 75 MPH speed limit on two lane roads shooting back towards Interstate 90. Drop into Thompson Falls making our way back and encounter an accident that requires a 5 mile plus detour on a gravel road. Checked out the Thompson Falls Overlook Lodge for a room. After checking out the room. The wife says she will wear her clothes to bed. I opt to sleep outside in the car. Tired and weary, we continue on to Trout Creek. Smack dab in the middle of town is a very nice motel and cabin set up. The drive was definitely worth it. At least I didn’t have to sleep outside in the car. Drove up the Little Thompson River Rd again to flog the water to no avail. We left Trout Creek just in time as there was a bass tourney the next day on the Noxon Reservoir.

Because we are zig zagging across the state we end up on another scenic road, St Joe River Rd, a popular RV and trailer destination area with plenty of hook ups on folks' well manicured lawns which finally leads us into Couer D’Alene.

At this point, I want all to know that the GPS systems for road routes includes all sorts of roads and not necessarily the roads more often taken. There were quite a few times I could see a perfectly paved road on the other side of the river and wondered what the hell I was doing on a gravel road. After a while, whenever the soft spoken voice on the GPS told me to take a road, my wife questioned my driving ability while reading a map. Self navigation and map reading skills while questioning modern technology were not her fonder moments of the trip. Made it back alive and ready to do it all over again.

Dang, my head is SPINNING. I feel like I just got off a tilt-a-whirl carny ride.

Sounds like fun though.....

Thanks for sharing.

DANG! And I thought I drove a lot on my trip. All of those places mentioned required quite a bit of time behind the wheel, which can really wear on you after a while. I listen to a ton of podcasts and books on tape while on the road to help pass the time, at least you had someone to talk to. Rock Creek is one of my favorite rivers in Montana. I've always managed to catch something out of there, even if it was only some Rocky Mountain Bonefish at times.

All in all, it sounds like a good trip.

Cheers!

FlyGuy (Dave)

The car rental company employee was a little shocked at the milage use. I looked at the check out receipt back at the airport and was surprised to see we logged in 2629 miles over 11 days. Covering all those miles also meant encountering a lot of road construction as well. The economic recovery is in full swing in the states of Montana and Wyoming via road construction.

As far as Rock Creek, the wife wants to move there. Bless her heart. I can't see her living that far off the pavement or off the grid for that matter. One place we liked was 23 miles in. Upriver from Bonner was nice as well. We plan to spend more time south of Bozeman in the Gallatin Valley and surrounding Missoula next go around. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of traffic encountered.

The craziest thing we saw was a gal riding down from the top of Glacier Park on a Harley and shooting video at the same time. She was using the view finder to ride the bike and get the best panoramic shots. The oncoming traffic wasn't that impressed either. And as far as congestion, Jackson is the winner. It took us 4-5 light changes to make it through one stop light in Jackson. Things have surely changed since our last trip there back in the mid 90's.

hope you took a breath while typing that.

Thanks for the report, I may be doing something similar with my wife in a few weeks.

Paul

Gitt,

On our yearly trip to visit friends and property in Montana, the person to whom I'm related by marriage and I didn't cris-cross the state as much as you did but we had a good time; 16 days (Casa Lobo in Petaluma to Montana & return), 2,747 miles, 148 gallons of fuel ($388.18) and 18.5 mpg average. Having Sirius Sat Radio improves the time spent on the road.

Caught a few fish here and there (Henry's Fork, Madison, Gibbon, The Firehole...which is a horrible, disusting place, not worth stopping, spend your time looking for geysers and wildlife instead of considering fishing there...yeccchh..., Big Hole, Gallatin, & Missouri) did a drift on one of the rivers,



visited a few friends in Bozeman, and picked up some replacement driftboat parts at Clackacraft in Idaho Falls. We spent a week in West Yellowstone which makes a good base for fishing and we added 2 more bears (a black bear on the Yellowstone by Tower Falls and a young Griz on the Madison...near 7 mile bridge) to our "YNP" animal list. Drove the Beartooth Hwy (folks were still still skiing on the Montana side of the summit on June 30th) and visited the new Cabela's in Billings.

Always fun,

Paul

I think I know about the stretch of Rock Creek that you're referring too, a big meadow area after the narrows around the Dalles section, I believe. That is a remote area to be sure, but certainly some nice cabins around there. I love Montana in the summer, but I wonder how much I'd like it in January...?

I was pretty fortunate as far as highway construction delays, with the exception of Interstate 80 through Nevada, where those people are eternally working on 80, and for NO good reason that I can see. 80 through Nevada is a great road, smooth and modern. They are always fixing a road that doesn't need to be fixed. Too bad they can't send some of that highway $$ to replace some of our crumbling interstate system here in California.

--FlyGuy (Dave)

Its been a long time since I have checked in here. Good to still see some familiar names.

I floated the Madison Friday evening and fished my favorite evening hole and had a great night. Some excellent fish slurping big mayflies. Then took a much longer float Saturday (McAtee to Ennis)and had consistent action all day on caddis, catching a couple very nice arm length fish. Fished the evening hole again and it was a whole different story. Some fish were on the mayflies for a while, then it just shut off for a bit, then they turned on to the caddis even though there were a ton of mayflies sitting on the water. Caught some good fish, and hooked but failed to land 3 others. All in all though a good weekend of fishing. There were lots of eagles on the river. Several were goldens. One cruised right over the boat within about 25 feet. Those are some huge impressive birds.