Fishing Day One is now in the record books for Extravaganza 2013 and, wow, was it a tale of extremes—all the way from veteran “Minnow Mel” McCormack pointedly saying “fishing sucked” to the other extreme of rookie Tarry “Pole” Winfrey beaming that, get this, not only was it his first day of (i) fishing in Montana and (ii) fishing with a fly “pole” (it is called a “rod”, Tarry and also the source of your new Montana name!) but also “it was my best day of fishing ever.” Yep, it sounds like fishing to me, all, and what a day the Ones had (even Minnow Mel and his rookie partner Tom “Fruit Cup” Riggs--who earned his MT moniker by insisting at the Opening Day lunch that the Montana Club served [and he had ordered] a fruit cup with his wrap, all to the menu-reviewing conclusion that FC was one!—admitting on cross examination that it WAS a great day and “the halibut lunch the guide served was good”).
Weather for the Ones on Day One was a warm one, with temps getting up into the mid-80’s and “bluebird” clear skies, which added difficulty and challenges for the veterans (but clearly not the rookies, right “Pole”?!?) who saw fish hovering on the bottom depths of both the Blackfoot and Bitterroot Rivers where all but one of the eleven fished. That one lone boat with yours truly aboard intentionally went to search out the upper Clark Fork which yielded the first two of the fish pictured above—a gorgeous cutthroat (see the nature-bred cut below the jaw) landed on a streamer and a fab 18” brown landed on a dry fly (a rarity for Group Oners)—but not much else (proving to our outfitter what I have been telling him for years, namely that the Clark Fork IS on the mend from the Superfund cleanup it has been going through over the past half decade but is “not quite there”. That was the reason for the search and, with most of our boats out now on either the Blackfoot or Bitterroot, we know now where we will not be fishing for the balance of E-13!
How did the Ones fare one Day One, you ask?? Well here is their report as relayed to the assembled Ones last evening in the presence of the amazingly infrequently used Bullshit Bell:
Nicholas “The Tsar” Shepard (acknowledging his ailing and missing in action father and erstwhile fishing partner “Moraine” on Father’s Day) all by himself, Minnow Mel, went to his favorite Blackfoot River with his favorite Chris Stroup guide (congrats, Chris, on now fishing with us during all eleven Extravaganzas!) landed “20+ fish” ranging from 8 to 18 inches in length, the highlight of which was, while landing a white fish, having a “big bull trout” come out of nowhere and chased that catch right to the boat. Putting the fish back in, the bull came back and gave chase again only to then leave the scene with all concerned a bit wiser and gratified, Mel. Companion boat occupied by father-son combo Mark “Whitey” Handron and Liam “Son of Whitey” Handron sided with Mel’s earlier and pre-emptive reporting of his fishing day with Liam saying “I landed a 11 ½” trout within the first fifteen minutes and that was pretty much it for the day”—other than father and son regaling of their white fish catches and, along the way, catching their catchy new Montana handles!
The other boat of the Shepard three found Josef “Fear the Beard” (particularly because he arrived here beardless!) and sister “Beautiful Eliza” on the Bitterroot River dry fly fishing with their spiffy Sweetgrass bamboo rods, with Eliza specializing in whitefish and squawfish with bro Josef focusing on the trout variety of fish, the largest being an 18 ½” brown—pictures to follow! During her report, Eliza tried to pass by the assembled Ones that bro-Jo, having landed a rare to catch brook trout, had accomplished the “five slam” of catching all five native trout varieties in one day, only to be informed by RCR that no bull trout reside in the Bitterroot and to have mindful Mel slam down on the Bullshit bell, thereby providing to Minnow a small bit of satisfaction for his fishing day.
Also on “The Root” were the two Rosenbaum vessels captained by father “Little John”, crewed by sons “Big Ben” and “Yellow Hat” Adam and rounded out by “Pole” Winfrey who specialized in whitefish, leaving the trout for the second and third fishing days. The Root fished tough yesterday, gang, with the day being the first of the blue sky days after nearly a week of overcast. Notwithstanding the whiteness and blueness of it all, the foursome was dazzled with a multitude of overflying osprey (who likewise were finding the fishing a bit more challenging than in previous days).
The SS/SOS Reimann and Kondrasheff ventured ALL the way up the Bitterroot and put in at the town of Darby and, in the course of their day per cpa “SOS” landed “between 22 and 23 fish” [as an aside, I am not quite sure just what exactly is between those two numbers in fishcountese, btw!] but touted that the largest of which was all of 15”—these guys have, between the, over 15 years of Extravaganzas and a multitude of Yellow Hats and yet reported in Mel-like quantities and qualities. In redemption, SOS reported in the Ghost’s traditional silence that “they too caught a brookie” (errantly likewise implying that they, too, might have done the big Five Slam…alas and with wisdom, Mel hit the BS bell once again!).
And then it came time for “Two License Eddie” and his fishing partner Brian “Nostradamus” Pretti to give their fishing report, which was so unique of such Extravaganza history-making quality that it matched all twenty minutes of the earlier boat reports and, in and of itself, will be receiving its own independent report to the Extravaganza nation. Suffice it to say, because of the special nature of the guide gift that was given to Jeff Lucas, their veteran and now more seasoned guide, their Blackfoot landing of multiple fish was not the highlight of their report but, rather, resultantly the brand name “WTF” will forever live as the adjectival description of the nee “Wonderful Ones” who shall now be forever known as the “WTF Ones”. Indeed, more to follow separately!
Back to the land of the sane, husband and wife combo Chris & Mayte Barger told of their first day on the Blackfoot and of 18” bull trout and rainbows blessing Chris’ rod, with Mayte (in veteran fashion) reporting that she “had a great lunch”. Native of Mexico, Mayte blushingly told of her après fishing visit to Hooters, quietly adding to the noisy response of the assembled Ones that “in our country we call them ‘chichitas’!” Oh, the wonderful innocence of it all only, to be lost on the heretofore individually and collectively defrocked and deflowered Ones (who nonetheless looked great in their flowered Day One Hawaiian shirts, I might add)!
Last but not least was the faux forgotten boat of “Dangerous Doug” Pacatte and “Jimmie the Hawk Hagle, who terrorized the Blackfoot River all day long, landing “30+ fish…so many we stopped even counting” the largest two of which are pictured above: The Hawk’s 201/2” brown as well as his Yellow Hat winning 22” bull trout. The Hawk is shown above after having just exhausted himself by christening this year’s Twenty Inch Board and doffing yellow, which kinda fits him! Congrats Jimmie—guess where he and Doug are fishing this Day Two?!?
So, there it is gang, your full, honest and complete (and exhausting!) report for Day One Group One, in conclusion to which the Ones just have one thing to add: WTF!
Best to all from the glorious scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
---<’///><
p.s. Minnow Mel: I hope that you are knocking them out on this, Fishing Day Two…if not, WTF!!
No comments:
Post a Comment