NDR - Montana fishing trip...

tod osier

Well-known member
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NDR (but there is one pic of ducks and several of a boat).

I wanted share our summer fishing trip rafting a river in the Bob Marshall Wilderness to camp and fish for Westslope Cutthroats. The river is quite a production to get to, but the wilderness experience is what we were looking for in this part of the trip.

Our plan was to hire a packer to pack our raft in on mules from the trailhead and we would hike about 30 miles to the river, our truck would get shuttled to the takeout, and after about 30 miles of rafting we would meet another packer to get our raft packed out and hike to another trailhead where our truck would be waiting. What could go wrong, right?

Any adventure begins with packing and this was our final packing and organizing of gear, what we would take and what the mules would carry.
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Just us and our packs. Leaving the truck to be shuttled.
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First camp on the way in.
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Views were great along the way.
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Flowers were spectacular.
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Grouse for the dog to chase.
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This guy that left this was a couple hours ahead of us.
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Spirits were high and everyone was peppy the second evening.
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Hiked through a lot of burns.
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Did I say a lot of burns?
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At the end of day 3 the packer and string passed us within sight of where he would drop our stuff.
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Inflating the raft the next morning and getting loaded to float.
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First fish!
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First camp on the river.
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First serious fishing.
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Fish food.
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People food.
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Night of thunderstorms, little did we know at the time.
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Rafting solo through a toothy shallow section.
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The depth and clarity of the pool I caught it in was more spectacular than the fish.
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Taking the raft for a walk.
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More.
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Way too many views like this. We knew the river was low, but the amount of dragging was plain tiresome.
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Shallow again.
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Wildlife.
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The rocks are real purty and old.
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Second river camp.
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Ducks.
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We wanted to get on the hopper bite that the river is known for. They weren?t going crazy for hoppers, but hungry enough to have some fun.
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Smoke. Hmmmm, what is up there?
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Source of the smoke as we approached downriver. The fire started during the thunderstorms a few days earlier and was smoldering.
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Winds kicked up and a few acres turned into several hundred as we got around it and put it behind us.
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This was our view from where we planned to camp the next couple days.
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When you see this, you start to wonder.
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And then when you see this 2 miles from where are setting up camp things get really interesting.
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We had been in contact with the Forest Service all day on the sat phone and they asked us to evacuate as the fire blew up. It was late afternoon and we had done a lot of miles already that day and we had about 5 to go through a canyon with few spots to stop until the takeout.
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So, we got to the takeout and set up camp, now several miles from the fire and having gone through the most technical and scenic part in a rush.

Look who is tired and wants in the tent before it is even fully up.
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Next morning, it would have been pretty awful had we stayed where we planned to camp near the fire.

We were able to get ahold of our packer and the folks doing the truck shuttle and amazingly get our gear out that day and get the truck shuttled the 160 miles to be waiting for us when we hiked out.
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The lower river canyon that next day after the wind shifted and blew the smoke out.
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Bittersweet hike out.
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Stock with our raft, just passing us at the end of the trail.
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View from the packer camp. Folks were sitting around watching the smoke that meant an early end to the season for them (and us).
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All I have to say is; "Gus is spoiled". Want to adopt and spoil me?

Looks like it might be the year for shortened yet wonderful trips. I enjoyed your story and pics, thanks for sharing.
 
Well that ended up being an unexpected adventure. Bummer the trip got cut short.
At least you got to eat a few of those beautiful cutthroats.

Tim
 
Great photos and great adventure. If a trip like this didn't have a hitch now and then, it wouldn't be a wilderness trip! Thanks for sharing.
 
Huntindave McCann said:
All I have to say is; "Gus is spoiled". Want to adopt and spoil me?

Looks like it might be the year for shortened yet wonderful trips. I enjoyed your story and pics, thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I saw that the wind drove you away from your trip. Damn weather, seems like there is some every day.

Gus doesn't know how good he has it. The catching on this trip was as good as it gets, just amazing.
 
TimJ said:
Well that ended up being an unexpected adventure. Bummer the trip got cut short.
At least you got to eat a few of those beautiful cutthroats.

Tim

In the 2 week trip we only missed 2 days, or so, but we would have been in one place fishing those days, so about 1/3 of our sedentary/fishing days. I really didn't need any more fishing, there were a couple times when it was shaking your head good, with amazing scenery, so you can't beat that.

They are some beautiful fish. Keepers are 12 and under, so nice size for frying.

The waters also are home to Bull Trout in the late summer (and into the winter). Imagine 5-10 pound trout lurking in gin clear pools coming up to chase your cutthroats. Pretty neat to see. I caught a couple cutts that had obvious bites from the Bull Trout.
 
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greg setter said:
Great photos and great adventure. If a trip like this didn't have a hitch now and then, it wouldn't be a wilderness trip! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Greg, the hitch was pretty minor in the scheme of things. I was shocked it didn't have more of an impact.
 
That is some gorgeous scenery! I used to chase upland birds and ducks in Eastern MT nearly 20 years ago. I need to get back out there one day, unbelievable country!
 
Damn, now that?s one heck of a trip. Great scenery. Thanks for sharing
 
Carl said:
Damn, now that?s one heck of a trip. Great scenery. Thanks for sharing

Thanks Carl, I see you are in FL now? When was the move and how did I miss it? I thought I knew it was in the long-term plan.
 
Another summer living the dream Tod. Your son has more outdoor experience at 12 than many get in a lifetime. Great trip, even with the fire.
 
Heckuva trip Tod. Montana is a great state for adventuring. See any moose?
 
Excellent trip and pictures. Glad y'all made it through safe, not many people can say they have seen the timeline of a forest fire like that so a great family memory for sure.
 
Dani said:
Heckuva trip Tod. Montana is a great state for adventuring. See any moose?

thanks Dani, very little in the way of large ungulates - quite a few deer though. We saw some moose sign is all. The area has high grizzly and wolf populations and the moose and elk populations are not what they once were because of it. We did get woken up by wolves one night.
 
Troy Fields said:
Look forward to this post every year, thanks for not disappointing. Great as always.

Thanks Troy (and everyone), I enjoy putting the story together and gives me closure on the trip.
 
Dave Clites said:
Nice trip. What precautions did you take (if any needed) against grizzlies?

Thanks Dave, the place is supposed to be infested with grizzlies, we saw a lot of tracks, but none in the flesh. There is a food storage order, which means you need to hang your food or have it in a bear-prof container, so we did that. We all carried something to protect against bears, spray or gun. I don't worry too much about it, but it is something to keep mindful of.
 
Tod, good to know you took precautions. My college buddy hunts near Choteau MT where his sister and BIL are Forest rangers. He has some hair-raising stories..Like sleeping in with a solar-charged electric fence around his tent. He has invited me along but I am not old enough to die yet...
 
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