Sometimes life deals you a second chance. After returning
from an abruptly truncated fishing vacation, I got the chance to return to
Montana for short break at the end of September. I met my sister for a brief family reunion at Craig, MT
where her son, Mike, guides on the Missouri River. A
few of the prostaffers probably remember Mike from our epic western summit
adventure to the Bob Marshall Wilderness a few years ago. Mike was busy with
clients most days so he had one of his guide buddies, Norm, take me on a
section of the Missouri between upper Holter lake (near Gates of the Mountains) and Hauser dam.
Gray cliffs of Madison limestone rose steeply on each side
of the river creating a sense of splendid isolation as Norm took us six miles above
the lake on his jet boat to a place called Land of Giants.
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| A section where the Madison limestone has folded |
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Norm taking my sister and I to Land of Giants. Norm divides his time
between Craig, MT in summer and Santa Barbara, CA in winter
where he is a commercial diver for abalone |
Norm rigged me up with a Czech nymph followed by a small
caddis dropper all suspended beneath a small balloon indicator. I didn’t have to
stare at the indicator long before it quivered and disappeared below the
surface. I landed several fat 15-18 inch rainbows before the football-sized hen
bow in the pic below nearly took me to the backing. We measured it at 20 inches
and guessed the weight at about 4 lb. That's why they call this Land of Giants!
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| 20-inch hen rainbow. Thanks for great net work Norm. |
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| Norm helping Agrontrutta with another fine LOG rainbow |
And that’s the way the day went, staring at that little
balloon and reeling in big fish. I broke off several like the one in the pic
above. My last fish was a perfect end to the day, a 21-inch male bow with a hint
of a kype. Land of Giants indeed.
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| 21-inch missle-shaped buck bow |
I also got to fish a bit with Mike and we pulled in several
good fish on the Missouri just below Holter dam. And, no trip to Craig is
complete without burgers and beer (plenty of Blackfoot IPA during this trip) at Isaaks. Sadly, however,
the Trout Shop Café is no longer in business. They expanded the lodge space to
include more rooms for flyfishers (including yours truly).
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| Where the elite (flyfishers) meet to eat - Isaaks, downtown Craig |
I also explored a small bit of Little Prickly Pear creek in
the canyon section above some large private ranches. I hope to get back
sometime to thoroughly check out that lovely little stream.
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| Little Prickly Pear Creek |
Sometimes life gives you second chances. Don't pass them up!
3 comments:
Matt that last bow is a real looker... Any monster brown's? How about some more info on Prickly Pear, looks like a nice little stream.
Bowhunter
Mike:
LOG is dominated by rainbows, didn't hook or see any browns. I did land an 18 inch whitefish though.
Prickly Pear really does look enticing. It was very low because of drought conditions. I did not spend a lot of time on it because I was unsure of land ownership and season closures. The pic is from a small section of state land between two ranches. Of course, the best looking water was on private ranch land! The season closed on the lower part of the crick on Sept 1 but I was unsure where the upper and lower boundaries were when I explored.
If you recall from our summit a few years ago, Prickly Pear parallels I-15 from the Wolf Creek exit south to the Sieben Ranch exit, then turns west and north again up into a canyon. Definitely worth a trip back to explore further.
Matt:
Good to see another victory over a problem back! For me it's a rear guard action at best. Literally.
Nice fish! Glad you went back for another shot at 'em.
Ahh, a double bourbon at Chico Hot Spring following hard fishing in the PV. The Chief is now the Medicine Man.
Greg
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