We’re heading out the door for more remote places, but didn’t want to leave the Undergrounders empty handed while I cavort with Montana’s fishier elements.
Yesterday’s float on the Bitterroot was remarkable… for how quickly the fishing plummeted from the day before. Still, a float is a float, and those are generally big fun no matter how many trout come over the gunwale.
Plus, we had a volunteer rowing the boat, and while it’s probably rude to say your host’s outdoor-guide, going to law-school daughter is a Massively Hot Babe, it’s maybe permissible to suggest [name redacted] and I fly fished in an environment offering a considerably elevated level of babeitudeness.
We have questions for Montana's under-30 male population. Like, what's wrong with you??
Enough said.
Two days ago, we waded the Bitterroot, worked rising fish, and saw lots of bugs.
Yesterday, the PMDs didn’t happen, and most of the other bugs were in hiding, and we ended up slapping streamers against the Bitterroot’s many wood piles (and a couple long banks held together by long strings of old cars), which delivered a few hustling attacks, but no hookups.
You know there's a big one in there, but he didn't come out to play.
The body count fell somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen+ smallish trout, and though we expected bigger things, it simply was too beautiful to pretend at disappointment.
Angry clouds surrounded us all day, yet the sun shone and we barely got rained, yet the weather drama was almost unbearably primal (and beautiful).
Today we’re looming up the truck and heading for more remote areas, and you’re unlikely to hear from me for a couple days, though who knows what might happen if we get cell coverage.
Meanwhile, our wading boot test continues, though we have to say that wading Bitterroot was so easy that real testing of the sticky rubber soles isn’t all that possible, though that didn’t stop the Underground’s Crack Testing Staff from trying:
Even with a different boot on each foot, the Bitterroot waded so easy I couldn't tell the difference.
I will say this: on an easy-wading river like the Bitterroot, the new sticky rubber soles worked just fine, and if these are the kinds of rivers you fish, then maybe you don’t need to hassle with studs, felt or other stuff.
Still, we’re coming to realize that the next phase of testing (back in the Underground’s Natural Northern California Habitat) will involve studs or cleats of some kind.
More to come, Undergrounders. Next up? Some of the little streams we live and breathe for.
See you where there are way more cows than people, Tom Chandler.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Tom, … um, you’re wearing two lefts …
The result, no doubt, of all that “babeitudeness”. Personally, I don’t think there should be an “i” in there.
Hmmm, a sweet Browning and now this!??? Some guys have all the luck.
Hope you have cell coverage, it is about time you got even with me, but I will be heading out Sunday for the Metolius for a week of fishing that river, camping under the big Ponderosa’s and casting a bazzilan bamboo rods. See ya when you get home its time to do some blue lining up here & the steelhead count is going up real fast.
David
TC…..seems this field testing would go a whole lot faster if Wally the Wonderdog was involved…two models tested per trip sided by side…or rather front to back.
So a beautiful, well educated woman who likes to fly fish and know s her way around a drift boat; what did you say the guides name was again…
Tom…….I hate you!
Easy to wade the B’root??? TC, you needed to be here six weeks ago when the water was a tad higher. Even Crocs work at these water levels…. (Boy, it’s fun being a curmudgeon.)
When I find myself outside with shoes–or socks–that don’t match each other, I have only had copious amounts of adult libations to blame.
Next time it happens I will just attribute it to a field test of various footwear.
Now, if I can just figure out how to explain whyI am not wearing any pants…
(BTW, I am heading up to your home town this weekend. Want me to f eed Wally?)
Way to go! I made annual pilgrimages to the Bitteroot each September to fish tricos while I was still living in Oregon. Wonderful experiences – skinny water, small flies, and lots of risers in a gorgeous setting. Have fun,
Dan
Lots of risers? I imagine so! A lawyer who can row a drift boat and looks like that? Okay, if she can make guacamole she’s on my short list.