Back in da Bozone

22" Bull Trout

Back home this afternoon after a week around Missoula and it feels like Fall has finally arrived. I returned home via Craig as I had to return a borrowed raft and pick up the old 911 to return to storage, so it ended up being a long day on the road. Nothing too eventful other than I hit a pheasant rooster going over a pass outside of Lincoln...can't believe it didn't put my windshield over the limit (I do have pheasant feathers stuck in the satellite receiver though)

All in all it was a good trip over there, 4 days with one group and 3 with another. Weather started in the 90's a week ago and was in the low 50's yesterday. Probably explains why we had a couple slow days mid-trip. Fished some new water and lots of dry/dropper rigs for a change.

In a nutshell...3 days on on the lower Clark Fork one of which was pretty good on rising fish eating Hecuba's the other 2 days were spotty and inconsistent. 3 days on the Blackfoot, one on the lower was good on dries and worms, on in the canyon sucked and one in the canyon was very good (yesterday). One day on the Bitterroot was good on dry/droppers and hoppers. Of course, as always, there was lots of stuff in between that made it all very fun for everyone involved.

A few firsts for me as well. First Squawfish. First time I lost a trailer on the highway. First time on the lower CF, lower Blackfoot, and Bitterroot. First time I've been pulled over and asked if I was drinking or doing some "other stuff" in a long long time.  First time I've found a mechanic to work on a trailer after 5. First time I've caught Brown, Brook, Rainbow, Bull, Cutthroat, and Whitefish in one day.

I'm sure more will trickle in over the next few days as I go through some of the pics and get caught up. Hard to imagine how difficult things can be without internet for a well. I had to improvise with my fantasy football and virtually ignored the blog, facebook, and website for a week.