Montana 8/4-8/9

[Spicytuna1]

Well we made it out for year two our annual Montana fishing trip. This year we had a much better idea of what we wanted to do compared to last year and our first year doing this trip.

We ended up floating the Clark Fork and Big hole.

Day one we decide to float the Clark Fork in hopes of good caddis hatches. My boat partner wanted to do some streamer fishing with some of his custom ties. And boy they did not dissapoint. First run of the day not even 25 yards form the lauch ramp he hooks up on his "Olive Garden" streamer.
http://a.imageshack.us/img32/4596/95464760.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Form there is was non stop action all day.
http://a.imageshack.us/img842/2811/29620895.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17
Surprisingly we were hooking more cutts and bowes than we were browns strippin streamers, and the fish were just slamming em hard.

Ok so I got a little greedy with reach out here, but who hasn't?
http://a.imageshack.us/img824/8468/79053689.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Finally we picked up a nice brown.
http://a.imageshack.us/img441/6562/32033763.jpg
By Davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/Davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

And another.
http://a.imageshack.us/img844/2774/0016y.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

And another.
http://a.imageshack.us/img530/7968/115wx.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Then I got My PB of the trip a nice almost 19" brown that battled hard.
http://a.imageshack.us/img8/7153/davetoad.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

We probably boated around 17 fish and felt at least 30. This one I hooked I thought it was easily a 20" plus Brown the way he battled but just turned out to be an angry Rainbow.
http://a.imageshack.us/img594/4452/mt18.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Another good fish here.
http://a.imageshack.us/img413/5652/mt27.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Had to throw the Ross CLA in on this one.
http://a.imageshack.us/img829/9227/113nl.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

I have never really done much streamer fishing before but I have to say I was hooked after this day. Short fast strips were driving these fish Crazy.



Now onto day two and three on the Big hole. The fishing was decent but not lights out, we did get into a good window of fish on Hoppers though.

Here is the money shot of the trip.
http://a.imageshack.us/img256/168/41264164.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

We could see browns feeding under the surface but just could not match what they were going after so we stuck with the Hopper. We did not touch one Big hole fish on a streamer.

http://a.imageshack.us/img251/231/14186229.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Another nice Hopper fish here.
http://a.imageshack.us/img22/2568/mt26.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

We cashed in on our hopper window pretty good. This one ate it no less than six feet from the boat.
http://a.imageshack.us/img132/7343/mt9l.jpg
By Davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/Davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

We got a cool shot of this fish before release.
http://a.imageshack.us/img62/9826/mt17.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

All in all we had a great trip, got one day of lights out streamer fishing and decent hopportunity for browns ont he big hole. Day three on the Big hole was a little slow. So we decided to float the Cark Fork again on day four but the fish were not keyed on the streamers anymore. We landed two fish to our boat all day after landing at least 17 two days ago. The weather and everything really was not that much different minus one rain shower. We did get absolutely pounded by rain the big hole. We neded up doing a two day camp out on the Big hole which was a lot of fun, good thing we brought some tarps to prevent us form getting dumped on by the down pour.

Here are some shots of camp.
http://a.imageshack.us/img801/9141/68930126.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Of course this made the wait in the rain a little nicer while we got to watch at least four boats drift by getting beaten hard by the rain.
http://a.imageshack.us/img440/3634/mt15.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

http://a.imageshack.us/img245/7379/mt28.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

Our gourmet Dinner by the river New Yorks with onion, Garlic bread, and Corn. Along with our adult beverages.
http://a.imageshack.us/img18/1212/10515517.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17


This tirp was definately one for the books. And geared us up for years to come on our annual Montana Adventure.

Here is the pic to end on.
http://a.imageshack.us/img291/1900/18706038.jpg
By davedog2u (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/davedog2u) at 2010-08-17

[Rifflerat]

All I can say is....damn. Two more days for me and I'll be there. I can't even sleep.

[Rockman]

What a great trip, hope mine is at least half as good on the McCloud this weekend. I lost a monster bow 3 weeks ago, but I know where he lives, and I'm going back to kick his ass this time! LOL Nice photo's too!!

[Woodman]

Great report. The Clark Fork is an incredible river, especially when you consider it is a Superfund site due to the releases from the mining legacy in Butte.

I'm going to visit my buddy in Helena, and then fish the Mo with my dad in a few days.