The Mighty Mo and Mom's Day

After weeks of reading Will's fishing reports and waiting in vain for good turkey calling weather, I had to make my own music. I didn't want my first blog entry in weeks months to be about watching playoff hockey or creating better Feng shui in my home.

So, Dave and I met up at the epicenter of the Missouri River- Craig, MT- and pitched camp for the weekend. Sources advised us that we should probably be looking at the Yellowstone and the pending caddis hatch instead. But, we liked the idea of an overlooked Missouri instead this weekend and spending time in Craig is always a nice break. The cell phone reception is just poor enough that you feel like you truly are off the grid. Then again, an excellent dinner and more playoff hockey at Izaak's, kills that argument.

Saturday the fishing was slow to fair; I have yet to have a banner day on the stretch from Holter Dam to the Wolf Creek bridge, and that rut continues. As we drifted closer to Craig, the fishing improved. We were forced to nymph the entire float with only a handful of rises seen all day. While the quantity was average, the quality was great. One 22" bruiser fought like a steelhead and I am still amazed that it was eventually brought to the boat. After a nap, an early supper, Dave and I headed downstream toward the Dearborn, fishing on foot, looking for some rising fish. There were a decent number of baetis appearing at dusk, but nothing to write home about.

Sunday morning we swallowed our pride and went and saw Mark and the guys at Headhunters. Dave was nice enough to offer up my debit card ("oops, I left my wallet in my waders") and asked them to hook us up. They did, gave us a discount for being great guys ("industry stiffs") and Dave was tying on new midge patterns before I had signed my receipt.

It was a beautiful morning and we only shared the river with geese and goslings. The fishing below Craig was looking promising as Dave caught a decent 'bow right off the bat. He credited Headhunters, but I think it was partly due to my excellent boat control and the suggestion to remove the gigantic orange strike indicator for a more subtle black bobber. Regardless, it was a great, albeit short float. Our Sunday morning ride on the Missouri was only three hours long, but then again, I had to get home to see Mom.