Report! From the boats!!! What is sleep again?

Meet the 5 am crew!


The time: midnight. The place: Blog headquarters, Rock Creek, Montana. Situation: Dire.

That's right. I have to wake up in 4 hours to FISH! And I've got some serious blogging and photo embedding to get to, so lets get right into the nitty gritty!

First up, Brian Robertson fishing with Kurt. Brian started off hot in the cool morning, netting 5 fish in the first 45 minutes. Things cooled off after that, but after lunch Kurt pulled him up to a confluence of two streams, where they could see 25 trout just sitting there! A few fly casts got them warmed up, and then Brian bagged five, with the large being a 17" rainbow! Woo hoo!

Nice!


Next up were Tyler Clausen and Ron. Tyler was playing a fun game where he'd drop his fly right next to Kurt, and then hook a fish and pull him right by him! You see, Ron and Ty were right on the heels of Brian and Kurt, and Tyler pulled this fast one on him more than once "Scaring the crap!" out of Kurt. hah!

Tyler snacks on the bait:

Rookies Jim Krieg and Mary Reilley were next, and had a great day on the water, even if fishing-wise they were, as Mary so delicately put it, "managing our expectations." Now, I'm no lawyer. Oh wait, yes I am! Sounds like they didn't catch shit! Not entirely true, as the two counselors did reel in 7 on the day, not bad for a first effort! Especially when half the day was spent by the guide untangling their lines! Also noteworthy was the fact that they were stopped by Fish and Game, saw a 6' beaver and saw a gentleman rowing three ladies and a poodle? Too much time out of the fog and under the sun maybe?

License in hand, Mary Reilley makes nice with the local authorities:


Fred Johnson and Gene Ferguson incurred the standard Extravaganza penalty of 1 fish inch per hour for each hour late reporting to the Hackle... hmm! Tough break, starting two inches down! So, their boat high fish of 17" only counts as 15". Sorry fellas, thems the rules! Yeah, I know it's a long drive to the Blackfoot!

Scott McAdams and Ron Beeler got off to a slow start because of a guide issue. Yes friends, it seems that there is a universal, unspoken truth between guides that everyone taught to cast by RCR needs to be reprogrammed before being allowed to even see a river. Since these gentlemen had spent the better part of an hour with RCR, it was two hours before they set sail.

There was also some confusion about reporting and photography. Scott reports that he caught a 22" trout, but didn't take a photo because RCR said not to tell anyone if anyone caught a 20 incher, and naturally he assumed that meant no photos of said 20 inch fish. Nice try, Scott! He eventually fessed up and allowed they had a "17 inch plus" trout as a big, whatever that 'plus' means!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ron Beeler and his Trout Harmonica!


Haden Ongaro and Doug Caulfield were paid a high compliment by their guide, when they asked "How are we as far as casting?" and got "Above average" as a reply! Unfortunately for these guys, it was the high point of their day! Doug did manage to land a 12" trout, and Haded was extremely close to getting skunked, and plotting to grave rob by netting a dead fish, when he pulled in another '17" plus' trout right at the pullout. Note to the anglers... 'Plus' is not a recognized unit of measurement! Also, we have no photographic record of this plus-sized fish. Haden hollered to Doug, "Get the camera, take a picture!" but the camera was up with Haden. In the rush to make the switch before suffocating the trout, the batteries popped out of the camera! Tough luck!

That the men would even take a photo of this, this, well, whatever this is shows their desperation. Doug:


Dave Studeman and Lynn Turnbull had plenty of drama before 5 am! First, they ran into Don Valdez "prancing" in the living room at 4:15 am?!?! Then, on their way out the door they discovered the hard way that the sprinklers were on. A soggy drive into town!

Increible!!


No one wants to see your dirty Pike, Dave!


Once on the river though, it was a solid day of fishing. 13 fish total, 11 trout and two 23" pike! Lynn got a 17" rainbow and right at the end of the day Dave landed a whopper 22" Brown! This would be enough for the Yellow Hat! Wow! Three 20 inchers in one day, even if two of them were lousy pike. Hah! Congratulations Dave!

Lois and Doug Pendleton were next. Doug is a very experienced fly fisherman, but you might as well call him "Mr. Whitey" for all the whitefish he brought in! Lois showed him a thing or two, landing a 17" trout. Well done!

Lois, Trout, and Pesca:


Don Valdez and Larry Klaustermeier's report was so full of tall tales and non-fishing related activites that I actually don't know much about what they did on the river. I heard something about 25 fish on the day, but the real story, apart from Don setting so hard he earned the nickname "the Ripper" was the apres-fish activities at the Rhino.

Our lads spent a good 30 minutes watching a young woman get frisked by a female cop, administered a roadside sobriety test, and then cuffed and driven to the county lock up. One can only imagine how many high fives they exchanged while this went on. Then, perhaps enboldened by their narrow brush with the Authorities, Larry went down to the end of the bar to say hello to a "hussy" (HIS WORDS!!) who was there with 3 ogres, and asked if "I can have a photo with you to show to my wife."

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I can't think of anything crazy enough to top that kamikaze dive bomb, so I am just going to go ahead and post the photo! Never have I seen such a flagrant disregard for one's safety and well being!!

Yee. Gads. Well, time for this blog meister to hang it up for the evening, I've got three hours of sleep to catch before I'm up to fish! Congrats again to Dave Studeman for his stud fishing performance which netted him the Yellow Hat and three entries into the 20" Club.

Dave