Beating the Heat

Now what coach?  It's hot.  I've fished all my regulars including a cool, relaxing float around Dillon that yielded a 5 or 6 late afternoon fish on an otherwise uneventful day.  Hoot Owls are just announced.  Head for the high country, that's what I'll do.  Over the pass to the Bitterroot valley.  Nice drive.  Gets crowded from Hamilton north.  Up the pass to the west from Lolo leads to some dense forest, slightly higher elevations, and a good sized, untamed river.  I've driven this a few times but never stopped.  Surely its cooler, with some shade that's mostly lacking from the fabled waters of southwest Montana.  Bigger trees, smaller sky.

I had some campsites in mind, but little did I realize I was about to hit the jackpot.  Its hot as hell July.  I crest the little pass on Highway 12 and the truck reads 85, cooler than anywhere down low.  Soon I'm looping though a campground, and notice the sites all have electric plug-ins.  Up here, in the middle of nowhere?  I don't usually even care, but my air conditioner does!  We find this vacant site, with partial shade, the river 100 feet behind the site, a restroom steps away, and the plug-in on the right side. And for a mere $10 a night?  Home baby!

And to top it off, Lochsa Lodge is close by with ice for the coolers, a full service restaurant and store, and gas.  But wait, there's more . . . I connect my booster antenna and get a little bit of internet/cell service that I haven't seen since I left Lolo, 46 miles to the east.  How can this be?  To think I've blown right past it 3 or 4 times in recent years, and a river runs through it.

Cool Home

The river right behind camp

Gotta watch out, make noise

Not tailwater size, just fish.  The regulars say there's some to 18 inches in here.  They use stonefly nymphs.

Big #14 caddis worked

Lots of tributaries, rumored to have some bull trout.  They're colder, so the cutthroats like the runs just below where they flow in.

This was as far downriver as I fished

A great pool, with king salmon too.

This is the fly I settled on to keep the dinks off and bring up fish

Up river above the forks

There's a few big trees too, not redwood size, but big.

So I spend a few days fishing the delightfully comfortable mornings.  Love the cool naps and late lunch back in the air conditioned trailer.  Evenings cool down quickly well before dark.  I take a few dirt roads.  Find a couple of hot springs for a different season.  Talk to some Missoula guys egg fishing for kings. (signs say no bait, but things change quick in Idaho based on anadromous fish runs.)  Visit the salmon hatchery upstream.  I'd stay another few days, or a week, but the fishing is pretty average, and I can't figure out a 15 or 16 incher on a dry.  I need something else. Sure is hard to leave though.

Forecast says a little bit cloudy and slightly cooler around Yellowstone again.  Fork is high but I've caught 'em there before.  Epeorus (PMD/Quill Gordon) on the Maddy? Between the lakes?  Hebgen?  There's options.  My summer clock is ticking.  Movin' on.