Tom, Mark and Tyler kidnaped me and we drove over to St. Regis, Montana and fished the Clarkfork River. The day was a (fill in the blank). That means you could choose any weather pattern to finish that sentence. We had rain, snow, wind, sun, clouds, hail, and a bit of warm. Every spring condition except hot!
The river was high and fast, but it was clear enough to give the fish a chance to see our flys. We tossed weighted bugs and nymphs most of the day. Tyler was able to catch a few with a wet hackle pattern, but mostly we used Yuck Bugs and droppers.
22" Brown! Nice fish and I think I was smiling.
Right off the ramp, I caught a 22 inch German Brown. Nice fish!
At the end of the day, we considered it a real good day of fishing. We all caught fish. Each of us hit at least four fish with both strikes and hookups.
This weekend we had a school leadership program that took me over to the Clarkfork River. We rafted the Alberton Gorge on Saturday and then returned. Everything went great. I wish Linda could have been there with us. I was a bit nervous because of the new knee. When can I stop calling it new? It was one year exactly on Saturday that I was released from the hospital after the replacement surgery. The overnighter was fun but I was beat by the time I got home. Guess at 57 I can't expect to be able to go out parting like I did in my youth. Instead I took some ibuprofen and hit the sack.
I cannot say enough about getting an early start on any given day. I love the early morning chill that hits you when you are getting everything into the boat. I think I especially like the time that I have to myself before your fishing partner(s) arrive and pick you up. Coffee on the steps of the camper or on the front porch steps, it doesn’t get any better than that!
Alex and I hit the water early to try and catch the wily Lake Coeur d’Alene Salmon. It was also the first time I used my downriggers and I wanted to make sure I didn’t drop them down and anchor myself to the lake bottom.
We put in at Booth Park and then headed over to Hudson Point where we fished a triangle route for a few hours. Everything went well with the equipment, a few minor snags, none on the lake bottom and not a fish snagged either. Part of our plan was to fish for Kokanee if we didn’t catch salmon so at about 10:30 AM we switched our rigging and started boating some fish. We had a super morning and caught some fish for the smoker, so I thing all went very well.
I arrived home about noon and Linda and I were on the road for St. Regis Montana by 1:15 PM. Ben and Sherma Higgs went over to a camp area below the 14 ½ mile fishing access on Thursday afternoon and we were meeting them there so that we could float and fish on Saturday.
We arrived about 3:30 PM, set up the camper and sat down to rest. 4 AM is way too early to be getting up fishing and then driving. Ben and Sherma floated the 14 ½ mile stretch and were back to camp at about 5:30 PM.
We fixed dinner and ate. I was beat so I hit the sack at 9:00 PM. Linda and the Higgs stayed up and talked.
The next morning Ben and I were on the river by about 9:30 AM launching at the St. Regis fishing launch. The water was running high and was a little murky. Bright sun in the morning hampered our attempts, but by the afternoon we were hitting fish. We both caught a few medium sized bows, Ben hooking a few more then me. I caught two real nice bows, one hog in the Big Eddie.
Another thing happened while we were fishing. We saw a bear! This is the second time Ben and I have fish together and both times we have come across bears along the river bank. If you read the post about fishing the Cd'A River we saw one there and then this time Ben spotted on on the left bank splashing in the water. It was real hot and I bet he just couldn't resist a cold dip.
Back in camp we fixed dinner and cleaned up. Linda said that she and Sherma had spent some time exploring in the Jeep while we were on the river. I was glad to hear that.
We drove home Sunday and cleaned everything up. We are ready to go again, can’t wait and I know I’ll be sure to bring the coffee.
