Fellow E-11ers:
Well, we are now 10 weeks and counting for the arrival of the Ignoble Ones on the scene of Extravaganza 2011 on Saturday, June 18th…not too long ago, it seems, it was ten months! As the nearness of it all approaches, this will the first of several background and informative emails that I will send your way primarily for the benefit of all of you E-11 rookies and as reminders for many of you veterans out there who are getting longer in the tooth and shorter in the memory (you with me long time and venerable veteran Group Oner John “SOS” Reimann?!?).
Upon your arrival(s) in Missoula, each Group gathers for its traditional Opening Day Luncheon at the Montana Club (where else?!?), whereafter we will take a “finished product” tour of our now completed Blackfoot house on our way up to Rock Creek where, en route, we will stop by our land provider the Rock Creek Mercantile to get Montana fishing licenses, receive your first extravagant installment of E-11 goodies and then proceed 10 miles up Rock Creek Road to Headquarters for an afternoon of unpacking, casting about on the home lawns, libations and orientation.
The next morning, and each of the two mornings thereafter, will find us caravanning into town to meet up with our guides [this year our meet point will be the Wal-Mart on Brooks Street where we have met in the past—sadly, our friend George Kesel closed his fly shop last month, the latest recessionary victim] from whence we will scatter like quail to fish any and all of the following rivers: (a) The Clark Fork of the Columbia River; (b) the Bitterroot River and/or (c) the Big Blackfoot (“A River Runs Through It”) River. Your individual guide, based on then current fishing and water conditions, will determine exactly which river you will be fishing and what section of that river on any given day and we intentionally separate our boats so that we are not “fishing over each other’s water”. [That being said, if you want to fish in tandem with another boat that is perfectly okay—let me know in advance if that is your desire, however, as that will influence my guide pairings for “y’all.] And “Just what are these wonderful rivers?” you ask…
In preface, each Extravaganza is designed to be on three of the best fishing rivers in the Western United States at each of their “prime time”, to wit: The heavy snow pack that currently is in the upper mountain ranges will be melting off over the next 10 weeks (something that is called “the runoff” and which we will be graphically track for you beginning May 1st…stay tuned in that regard), That runoff will literally “blow out” the rivers, cleanse them of their prior year’s accumulations of debris and plant decay, and, as the temperature of the rivers rise from near freezing to 50+ degree temperatures spark the bug life [more on that later, as well] that results in the “lights out” fishing that we extravagantly experience year after Extravaganza year. By way of runoff example, we use our Headquarters’ Rock Creek as our base river for measurement purposes; currently Rock Creek is flowing at 220 cubic feet per second (“cfs”)—visualize a garden hose running a low flow; in past years’ runoff, the volume of water coming down Rock Creek has increased up to and well in excess of 3,000 cfs—the equivalent of a fire hose pumping out water at full force. Again, as we do each year, we will follow this year’s runoff very, very closely as the progress of that runoff (which can dramatically vary each year) will be the precursor/prognosticator of our E-11 fishing conditions. And we begin this year’s watch with a “full batch” of highland snow pack—which is good news at this point in time.
As we fish in our drift boat/rafts two to a boat, we will be doing so on three of the world’s most renowned fly fishing streams:
The first of these is the Clark Fork of the Columbia River. This several hundred mile long river has its origins 75+ miles east of Missoula and, as it flows westward, picks up volume and size from the influx of literally hundreds of tributaries and sub-tributaries. We are on the immediate west side of the Continental Divide and the Clark Fork is the major tributary river that traverses through Missoula on its way up to Canada and then southward to and through Portland, Oregon. It is a high bank, mature (i.e., non-meandering) river where huge rainbows are known to reside. Three years ago, however, five miles east of Missoula, in what is currently the largest Super Fund Clean Up site in the country, the Milltown Dam was removed at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers and the resultant disturbance to the fish and biologic live of that river has been so severe that, once a river that we sent 25% of our Extravaganza boats down, saw only a handful during E-10, one with a very rare and embarrassing “no-fish day”—right, veteran Group Tattooer Doug “Popeye” Hamilton ?!? Hence, for E-11, the Clark Fork should be regarded as yet a river in its “dam[n] recovery stages “ and one that more than likely will see the least amount of fishing presence and pressure from us…we will see, however!
By contrast, the 52 mile long Bitterroot River will, once again, be our “go to” river for E-11. Most all of our E-10 big fish came from this marvelous yet-meandering river and I will predict that up to 80% of our boats will fish one or more of the 20 entry points of this river as well as its marvelous Western Fork. As each of your fly into MSO from the west, it is this river that you will traverse during your approach into Missoula and you can see it gravel bars, braided waterways and emerald green color. In the recent photos that I sent your way from Group Oners Brian “Moraine” and Josef “Fear The Beard” Shepard you saw the wonderful bounty of brown trout, rainbows, cutthroat trout and the cross mix of cuttbow trout that the Bitterroot is home to; moreover, this is now the fourth year of “normal or above” water conditions so the nursery has had plenty of good years to breed a brood of native trout that will tantalize your flies, bedeck you net and serve as framed beauties for you to visually take home with you. Whereas the Clark Fork flows in an east to west direction, the Bitterroot flows in a south to north direction, meeting up with and flowing into the Clark Fork in Missoula; it is near this confluence that Lewis & Clark spent their second winter at Traveler’s Rest, located in today’s Lolo, MT, an underwhelming site which you will drive by.
The third of the rivers that we fish (and my favorite) is the Big Blackfoot River. The Blackfoot was made famous by Norman McLean’s essay and short story “A River Runs Through It” which was featured in the Robert Redford directed and Brad Pitt featured movie by the same name—a movie that literally turned the world onto fly fishing—the Big Blackfoot was the setting for that wonderful novel. More importantly, the Blackfoot is the home of huge trout of all denominations; with the granddaddy of them all being the yet still endangered bull trout. My largest caught trout was a 34” bull trout and in our Extravaganza video you can see one of these specimens—a 31 incher—up close and personal as it is hooked, fought, landed and released. A day on the Blackfoot is an adventure---you never know what you are going to see in the way of wildlife along the shore (elk, deer, cougars, eagles, bear, osprey and more have all been witnessed by more than one Extravaganzer) and a visual trip down “the canyon” section of the Blackfoot is worth the trip alone even if the fish are being fussy on that particular day. The Blackfoot flows sin a southerly direction, counter to the Bitterroot, and meets up with our “Freeway River” the Clark Fork five miles east of Missoula.
One of the reasons that Kathy and I chose Missoula for our second home was the variety and abundance of fishing that is there available. If a storm is a-brewing in one of these river’s valley, then we have others to choose from; also, the fly fishing guide book that hooked us on the Missoula area read, “if you live in Missoula, Montana, you can fish your entire life, never have to fish the same water twice, and never have to drive more than 50 miles” and so will we during E-11!
Welcome to your home away from home, fellow Extravaganzers!!
Best to all in early preparation for it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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Click on the play button above to hear the new song written about the Montana Extravaganza and Rock Creek Ron.
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