Just got back from pulling off a power trip up to the Smith River in Montana with my dad. We took advantage of unusually high water conditions up there for this time of year and scored a second Smith trip for the summer.
We literally didn't see another boat for the 4 days we floated. The shot from above is of the empty parking lot at Camp Baker (the put in) which normally has a ton of trucks, trailers, boats, gear, and people all getting ready to launch.
The first couple of days were characterized by tons of fish, solitude, and well......cold ass weather!
Yep, not another human being in sight other than my ol man for 4 days straight! Paradise.....!
We had really good fishing and it was obvious the fish hadn't seen any sort of pressure for the last month or so.
My dad with a nice brown with the "Yuk Bug" still in his mouth. This was the fly of the trip.
The water flows were in the 240 cfs range. Optimal summer flows are around 400 cfs. A standard Smith trip is 5 days long. Due to work, we only too four days. So, with lower water and one less day, we were normally on the river by 8am and off by 8pm. We fished our brains off!
The sun came out the last two days.
I think this rainbow swallowed a football in honor of the start of the NFL season? Fat dude huh!
My dad lost count of how many Smith trips he has done a long time ago, but I am sure the number is easily in the 30's. I have gone on 11 of them now, and one constant remains, it always leaves you awestruck with how beautiful it is!
This morning on the way out.
1 comment:
Rob, either you have fat fingers and that fish is a guppy or trevs lens is hitting you knuckle.
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