Boiling

The river is boiling the evening, and for some of the past few days, the air temperature too.  Mornings OK.  Would be better if I could get around.  Caddis and PMD's.  Crowded on the weekend, but I've seen it worse than it has been on the weekdays.  Still can only fish a few hours at a time.   I should have come to the MO as soon as they lowered the water.  That day, immediately.  Learn from this too, if there's another year I can do it, and the water is this low at this time.  Might be next year, another decade, or never.  Blown opportunity.  It's a year of blown and missed opportunities, so why should I be surprised?  This one was all my fault though.  That damn Henry's Fork anyway.

Arriving on the weekend, campsites and pullouts were all filled. I had driven to Pelican years ago, and I remembered seeing two or three shady campsites there.  I knew how to get there, and one just happened to be open. I've fished this river seasonally since the early 80's, yet had never wet a line below Prewett creek, where the river leaves the Big Belts.  Now I have.  I only saw 3 or 4 anglers other than the occasional boat floating by.  More floaters than I expected, but not even close to the circus up top.  Its big down here, with plenty of room.  The road on the other side gives access to a couple miles of lightly fished water.

Got to love Cascade too. A well-stocked fly shop, grocery store, gas station, and laundromat all in the same block, on the same side of the street!  Just minutes from the campsite.  And its sure nice this year, at the end of June, to see across the big sky to the distant mountain ranges instead of struggling to breathe through the smoke.  

I spent some evenings up top at a couple of my usual haunts.  Couldn't pass up the no-brainer of boiling fish until dark on both sides of Craig.  One more morning, then off to the Creeks for 9 days.  Armstrong's, Depuy's, and Nelson's, oh my!

OH HELL YA

Right at Camp

Shadiest Campsite on the MO

Evening Caddis Blizzards

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