The Montana Project: Part 1

We are back! Well, we have been back for a few weeks now and I'm just now getting around to posting about our trip to Big Sky Country. Been busy with work, gathering up photos from the guys, and just getting back into the groove of day to day life. When you go off the grid for 10 days in Montana to live the dream, it can take some time to come back to reality. Plus, I took a trip with JoeyC and his Pops to check on our local waters to make sure we didn't miss anything while we were gone. More to come on that trip later...

Well, where do I begin? I shoulda taken some notes at the end of each day to document everything because there was so much to take in so in turn there is so much to tell now! To start with, I will explain what our general plan was for the trip. The plan was to travel to the Missoula area where we would stay at Rock Creek Cabins for our base camp. From there, we would fish Rock Creek, the Clarks Fork, the Bitterroot, and the Blackfoot along with doing a backcountry trip to mix it up. Then at the end of the week, we would pack up and head for Craig to fish the Missouri for a couple of days. That was the plan. This is the story...

Day 1 & 2: That lonesome ol' highway...

We left my house at 7:00 pm on Friday afternoon in my truck with my Clacka in tow and in DonnyB's truck with The Professors Hyde in tow. With 3 guys in each truck, we were gonna drive all night and try to make Missoula by Saturday evening. We did it, by god, but it wasn't pretty. Luckily, we made the crappy drive thru Kansas and most of Nebraska under the cover of darkness which really helped out. We had 1 small hitch in our travels when the local small town smokey decided to pull DonnyB over because the running lights on the trailer weren't working. Luckily, the cop was a cool dude and actually tried to help fix the problem but we had no such luck. Since we had brake lights and turn signals, he let us go without so much as a verbal warning.

We made it to the North Platte Valley of Nebraska around 7:00 am and then took the scenic route to cut the corner across Nebraska instead of going to Cheyenne via the interstate. I must say, that part of Nebraska isn't too bad at all. We hit the interstate just south of Casper and made our way through Wyoming without any issues. I'm not a fan of eastern Wyoming at all until you get to the Bighorn Mountains and then the scenery improves. Eastern Montana isn't much to look at either as we crossed into the Big Sky state in the early afternoon and made our way to Billings. The further we went west though, the more of the real Montana started to show its beautiful face. And how beautiful it is....

We made a pit stop in Helena to pay the guys at Adipose Boatworks a quick visit where I picked up a new set of Sawyer SquareTop sticks for the Clacka. Very cool place and cool dudes. We got the "grand tour" of the facility and got to check out a few boats in various stages of being built. After that, we hit up the local Wal-Mart for groceries and other supplies for the upcoming week. Then we decided to fill our bellies at an Applebees before making the the last leg of our journey and we FINALLY made it to Rock Creek Cabins at 11:30 pm where we checked in and CRASHED OUT...

We had arrived...



 

 

 

 

Day 3: Fishing "the creek", fly shop stop, and meeting FCFT...

 

We awoke on Sunday to a beautiful crisp, cool Montana morning which was a nice change to what we were used to back home. As everyone begin to stir and the coffee pot gurgled to life, it began to sink in that we had arrived in Big Sky Country. With cups of coffee in hand, we stepped outside to survey our surroundings and were pleased see that we were nestled in a nice little slice of heaven.

 

Our cabin was sitting in a pretty awesome valley in its own right. The cabin itself had its own charm as well. It was 1 of 4 cabins on the little mountain road that were originally built in the 40s by various owners. The current owner's father began buying them up 1 at a time in the 50s and made them into a fishing camp. According to the owner, the cabins haven't changed much over the years minus the addition of running water and electricity on the property as well as upgraded appliances through the years. Our cabin was actually the only cabin with running water and a shower/toilet. No cable TV or WiFi up here either and you had to drive 7 miles back down Rock Creek Road before you could get phone signal. This place was legit! On top of that, as we were drinking our morning coffee, we peaked around the backside of the cabin to see a whole group of bighorn sheep feeding in a small meadow. Very cool! We couldn't of asked for a better place to stay...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After some hot coffee and hot showers since none of us had showered since Friday afternoon, we got a game plan together for the day and our Big Sky adventure began. With famous Rock Creek less than a 1/2 mile down the road, we couldn't of asked for a better place to wet a line first. Everyone went through the normal ritual of gearing up before we jumped in the truck and headed for the public access just down the road. As we pulled onto Rock Creek Road, we got our first eyeful of the valley that "the creek" sits and all I can tell you is...WOW! It is absolutely stunning up there in that valley. We had to stop on the road to the access and just take it all in for a minute while we took some pictures. The photos really don't do this place justice at all. We came to find out that this is a common theme in Montana...

 

 

 

Now if you're not familiar with Rock Creek, you musta been living under a rock the last 20 years! It is a wade fisherman's dream as far as trout streams go, hands down. Rock Creek Road follows the river which offers anglers LOADS of access points as well as just little pull off spots along the way. We could of spent all week just on the creek, just so much water! We just pulled into the closest fishing access to our cabin and each went our own separate ways. The late morning was spent throwing dries to rising fish till the sun got up and then we switched to hopper/dropper to prospect the remainder of the time. When we arrived, the hatch was already starting to peter out sadly so the dry fly bite didn't last long but we were put our dries into some trout faces before it ended. Rock Creek is an amazing place, we honestly didn't spend near enough time on the creek like I had hoped but it is definitely a special place.

 

 

 

 

 After a morning of fishing on Rock Creek, we decided to head into Missoula to head over to the Missoulian Angler to plan out our float trips for the week. The M'Angler, as its known locally, is a very cool shop. They have just about anything you would need to be successful in the surrounding area from local fly patterns to rods/reels to gear. . After some discussion with Taylor and Zach, we decided to float the Blackfoot and the Clarks Fork for our float trips while we were in the Missoula area and gave us directions and some tips for our back country trips the following day. They also hooked us up with some shuttle service phone numbers and then helped us pick out flies to use on our floats as well as for evening fishing on Rock Creek. Needless to say, the guys were freaking awesome and totally hooked us up! We didn't visit any of the other fly shops in Missoula but they would be hard pressed to beat the service we got at the M'Angler!   

After leaving the M'Angler, we headed back to the cabin to round up some grub for the night. After filling our bellies with grilled brats and pork n' beans, the adult beverages started to flow pretty freely amongst the fellas and the night was starting to turn interesting. The evening stepped it up a notch or two when we were joined by Zach, Stan, and Dan from False Casts and Flat Tires. These guys run a legit fishing blog about the life and times of a few fish bums, who moonlight as college students, that live in Big Sky Country. It was a great night filled with talks of fishing, hunting, and lots of crazy stories of our past adventures in life. It was epic...

 

 

Zach and Cole found amusement in the brown trout mount from our cabin...

 

Well, we had survived the ride and our 1st full day in Montana. We got a little fishing in and ironed the details for the rest of our trip. The best (and worst) was soon to come for us. Our adventure had just begun...

 

There is more to come so please stay tuned...