Sunday Morning Greetings, Extravagant Ones, from the Intergalactic Headquarters of Extravaganza 2008, where the Montana weather (finally!) is all that you dream and read about.
I arrived here at HQ Friday afternoon only to keep my briefcase in the car and, yesterday, trek over the Continental Divide (in, hopefully, my only such divisive trip of the season) to attend the quarterly meeting of the Montana Wildlife Federation (where I am now privileged to serve as the Pacific Time Zone's representative). The early morning over and late afternoon return ride(s) were good ones, as, together with my observations from the air while landing in Missoula, I was able to get a pretty good lay of the land and rivers this week before Extravaganza 2008, and what follows is my paradusal report.
ALL rivers are currently flowing to their banks' maximum, even now in the third week of June. In the minds of some, this mammoth runoff may continue well into early July (read through all of our Groups!), and the yet substantial volumes of visible snow in the Bitterroot Mountains supports such a conclusion. ALL the rivers (even Rock Creek, the first to clear up) are running with high turbidity, well above that of intelligent fishing.
Last week, even with folks traveling to fish Rock Creek's internationally known and respected salmonfly hatch, few, if any, boats went on the river...rather, guests were left to either play poker or seek out the Missouri River (no separate license still required), but even that alternative was a tough go this last week, as extra water was let out of the dam above Craig, thereby compounding an already complex fishing situation. Indeed, the runoff has been so excessive this year that, as shown in the above pictures, whole trees now litter Rock Creek, which is still raging, and fire-weakened banks that haven't been touched by water for years are now being scoured with new treefall(s) being a daily occurrence as their rootbase becomes eroded. Also, from overhead, the Clark Fork looked like an entire kindergarten class had quickly left, leaving tree-sized pick up sticks piled dozens upon dozens other.
Crossing McDonald Pass into Helena yesterday reminded me, first hand, of Montana's stunning beauty. As I sit here in my Montana office, with the words of Ann Murray's "It's A Wonderful World" wafting from the overhead speakers, reflecting back of all that I saw yesterday is a sheer delight: Rivers bloated like swollen wombs, bursting with pride in the waning, overdue moments of a third trimester; wildlife abundant everywhere (including the whitetail deer that sincerely wanted to become the hood ornament of my Expedition but, to both of our benefit, failed in his earthly dash); clouds dancing overhead---large, puffy cumulus clouds 15,000 feet overhead moving as quickly as an eye's glance and changing their shapes like the God-made transformers that they are; and, again, the rivers...ah, the magnificent rivers...teeming with native trout anxiously awaiting the clearing of the waters so that their expected summer bounty gorging on millions and millions of likewise awaiting bugs of multiple denominations...you can actually feel the growing pulse of its collective all.
Where will we stand a week from now, after the commencement of Group One's fishing adventures, is a current question without a clear answer. Yesterday, as I was musing with our Keynote Speaker, National Wildlife Federation's Land Tawney, and with his fishing sidekick Montana Wildlife Federation's Ben Lamb (they both will be fishing with us during Group One), as the outdoors veterans that they are, they were quick to point out that the very fact that we are NOT certain of "just what the rivers will be like next Saturday" is part of the wonderful mystique of it all. And, you know, they are right: If it was "catching" it would loose its innate glamour; rather, it is "fishing" and the multiple vagaries of weather, river conditions and personal expertise make the wonderful combination of the unknown that keeps us coming back over and over again without boredom.
I leave you with those sage words of wisdom this Sunday Morning in Paradise, wishing all of you wonderful fathers out there a Happy Fathers Day and letting you one and all know that Extravaganza 2008 is otherwise right on schedule this week when, later, it all begins.
Best to all from the scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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