Fly Fishing

Eleven days ago I flew out to Bozeman, Montana for a road trip. I met my cousins at the airport. One of the cousins had to fly back home from Bozeman. After she left we drove north and west, through Helena, Montana, to Hungry Horse, Montana where we had a camping site. The next day we drove to Columbia Falls to meet our fishing guide. He took us to the boat landing on the Flat Head River in Columbia Falls. We got into his drift boat. Drift boats are flat bottomed boats with oars meant to glide over shallow water and rapids. My cousin fly fished for trout while I observed. The day started out nice. I had a fleece jacket that I tied around my waist. Later I regretted tying that jacket around my waist. After an hour or so the rain began. Soon the rain fell in earnest. Drops of water fell into the water and caused inch high splashes. Our guide lent me a rain coat and rain pants which I gladly put on. Then it started to hail. I am trying to be a good sport about this but then the hail got larger. There was not much we could do but keep drifting downstream and fly fishing. The rain accumulated in my end of boat. The rain got so deep the water reached the top of my water proof shoes and soaked my feet. Eventually the rain stopped but the wind picked up and kept pushing us upstream so our guide had to row downstream to keep up with the bait. My cousin caught a cut throat trout and two rainbow trout. Rainbow trout are not native to Montana. Unfortunately the rainbow trout is thriving in Montana and the native cut throat trout are becoming rare. Some times the water was keep and sometimes we went over rapids. I enjoyed the rapids. We floated about a mile an hour and took out 5 miles downstream of where we started. The landing there comprised of a rocky bar. Our guide felt bad about the rain and the hail. He did not want us to get our feet wet. He brought his truck and trailer down from the parking area while we waited in the drift boat. He hooked the strap from the boat trailer to our boat while our boat was downstream from the trailer. He got into his Jeep and pulled ahead. We were totally surprised when he pulled us in the boat way up onto the rocky beach. He pulled us at least 4 feet farther than he needed to for us to keep our feet dry. What a ride! It was fun. He got the boat onto the trailer and took us back to the gas station where we met him. Although I was mostly dry, my fleece jacket was wet and my feet were wet. I started shivering with cold. Even a hot dinner could not warm me up so I went to bed early and stayed there 12 hours, warm and cozy.

The next morning we had an older, more experienced and polished fishing guide. He met us in Ferndale and took us down the Swan River in this rubber raft. The Swan River is smaller and narrower than the Flathead River. A drift boat would not work on this stream. We started out in Swan Lake and he rowed us to Swan River. We had a five hour fishing trip where my cousin caught 8 rainbow trout and one whitefish. The largest rainbow was 17 inches which is a very good sized fish. The weather today was warm and sunny. The scenery was beautiful. We had some rapids which are always fun for me. A kingfisher led our way down the river, always staying a few feet ahead of us. Of the two trips we both preferred the Swan River and the second guide.