part 3
Made the run to Craig in order to fish the Missouri for a couple of days. Dropped by the Trout Shop and talked to a nice young gal from Wisconsin. We forgot her name, but recalled she was from Wisconsin, so we referred to her as Miss Wisconsin. Miss Wisconsin directed us to the flies she claimed were working. She claimed to fish the river, so we took her at her word. We collected our flies and keys and headed straight to our cabin. Lodging was nine miles down river from Craig in the canyon area. My cohorts dropped into the river behind the lodge and caught fish to 23" on dries and stoneflies that evening. Tricos, both as spinners and upright wings covered the glassy water and intermittent drizzle. I thought they would be there again the following evening. I could grab my camera then and get a couple of shots. As one should have guessed, they did not materialize the following evening under clear skies. While we fished below the cabin, our neighbors had just come back from a float trip only to deal with the whooping and hollering of old men standing knee deep in the river and acting like little kids. "Get the net, its a big one, bring the camera while you're at it." We were reminded of the joys of living in the city with good water. Our showers filled the air with sulphur odors from the well water. That evening we ran back into Craig to take care of our ice cream cravings, but found everything was closed. We were informed that if we continued another 8-10 miles up towards Wolf Creek there was a store connected to a gas station. So lets see, that sounds like a 40 mile round trip just for an ice cream. Might as well pick up some bananas while we are at it. The 4 lb container of potato salad at Costco in Helena looked pretty cheap at this point. So do the bananas. The proprietor, sensing an opportunity, said that he was open until 10 every night and we were welcomed back. He had certainly found his gold mine. The following day we take pontoons and kick boats up the Missouri river about 5-7 miles in hopes of getting back by dark. Riffles were productive with pods of rainbows, although on the smaller to medium size. Caddis were the ticket as we worked our way down the river. The browns would be back in the evening behind the cabin at the end of the day.
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