After a full day of back country fishing and hiking, we were ready to get our lazy asses in the drifters and do some lazy man float fishing on a beautiful river. After our discussion with the guys at the Missoulian Angler, we found out that the area rivers were lower than normal so we restricted to just floating the lower Blackfoot River and the "town section" of the Clarks Fork. Our 1st river of the 2 to float for the trip was the Blackfoot River. Also, after an early morning wake up call, we were pleased to find out that Zach Scott of False Cast and Flat Tires would be joining us with his raft for the float trip. Sweet...
One cool thing about the drive to the put-in, Hwy 200 follows the Blackfoot River for quite a ways so you get an eyeful of the water you're about to float. We made our way to the put in and began the standard ritual of getting the boats ready and in the water. At this point, Zach still hadn't showed up. We got rods rigged up and the boats loaded with our gear. Still no Zach? We launch my boat. Still no Zach? We launch Corey's boat. Still no Zach. We pull the trucks over to the parking lot and I get out of the truck and then I hear someone coming down the gravel road....FAST! I look up to see a red Ford truck and trailer with a rubber raft barely strapped down coming toward the parking lot. Its Zach. He comes flying by us and yells "Just making sure you were still here, I'll be back! Gotta go pay for a shuttle!" Indeed...
After we finally got Zach on the water, we pointed the boats downstream and it didnt take long to realize that the Blackfoot is nothing short of stunning. Hell, just sitting at the put-in, we were in awe at our surroundings. We started the morning off chuckin' the bobber and throwing streamers to kill time till we could start throwing some foam nasty bugs at the banks. The bite was pretty slow minus a few fish coming off the bobber rigs which we were warned that water temps were starting to be an issue on the local rivers so the fishing could be a little slow. I must say, I was really worried when we launched my boat and I stepped off into the river...it wasn't cold at all. Felt like our smallie streams back home honestly, oh well. Onward we go!
As the morning progressed, we switched to hoppers and started pounding the good looking banks in hopes of a good foam bite. Sadly, the bite never really took off for us. We were able to put a few fish in the boats with the foam and even hooked up with a few BIG fish but couldnt make the hooks stick. As the day wore on and the sun got higher, the bite just turned off on us. The Blackfoot proceeded to kick our face in for the remainder of the float...
Now I must point out here that what the Blackfoot lacked in fishing, it more than made up for it in the float and the scenery. This is an absolute beautiful river to float. For most of the float, you can just start to look around and you really feel like you're in a wild place, miles from civilization. I stopped fishing or rowing numerous times and just stood up to look around to soak in the views. Amazing...
The other thing about the lower Blackfoot is the river itself is freaking awesome to row a drift boat on. Lots of technical areas where you really get to move the boat around and maneuver around big boulders, logs, etc. There was some light whitewater sections where we actually had water splashing into my boat numerous times on some decent drops. I'm not saying they were Class III rapids or anything but it was more technical than anything we have in the Ozarks. I had a blast and Squatch got some much needed experience on the sticks.
The last interesting thing about the Blackfoot River was the takeout at the end of the day. As we made the final bend in the float, we could see the "boat ramp" or lack thereof. It was sketchy to say the least. There was a ramp, but it came up about 6ft short of the waters edge and there was a 2ft drop where it looked like flooding had washed that part of the ramp away. We beached the boats and everyone looked to Zach for answers. Well, we didnt like his answer as he informed us that most people just hook onto their boat with the winch line on their trailer and drag their boat up the ramp. Not exactly what we were wanting to hear but we were game. Luckily, 3 guide boats showed up shortly after us and everyone pitched in to help hand load boats onto trailers. It was a cool experience to end the day as everyone pulled together to get the job done so nobody had to beat the shit out of their boats.
All in all, it was a good day even though the fishing was off. The scenery was amazing and the river was a blast to float. Afterwards, we all loaded up and hit up a local restaurant called Iron Horse for some local food and brews. Very cool place and delicious food! Reminded me a lot of Eskimo Joes in Stillwater, Oklahoma back in the ol' college days. After filling our bellies, we made our way back to the cabin to prep for the next days float and then called it a night early....
Coming up next...the mighty Clarks Fork...
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