The Unknown – Backcountry Cutties

This year we explored once again the great Wilderness of Montana with fly rods and cameras in tow.  Let me tell you, Wilderness is one badass dude.  It’s a place where a man can get lost and never make it out.  It’s the perfect spot to find some of the most amazing country you’ll lay eyes on.  An adventure lies in your back yard here in Montana, and this is only one of the many gems found in this amazing state.  The fishing is top notch for those willing to push themselves a bit and by the end of the trip, society looks like a much larger nuisance than you ever thought possible.  Waking up to this sure helps a guy out after 10 hours on the river with 30+ pounds of camera gear and miles of treacherous river travel laid down.

No, it’s not easy.  But is it worth it? Hell ya!  Granted your gonna fall and get smacked around by mother earth.  You’ll be sore, injured, mad, and tired at times.

But when you lay your eyes on a killer pool around the next bend and nail a wild cutthroat on the first cast, your emotions get tossed upside down.  It’s a roller coaster and our good friend Ian Orlando got a good taste of it.  Ian just graduated college in Missoula and is one of our good buddies.  He told us he was working on getting a big boy job, and we figured we better show him a real fishing trip before he got to far into the real world.  Little did he know that Travis and I are just a bit crazy.  We took Ian to places where if you fall, your dead or in some serious trouble.   It all pays off in the end though.

For this trip we had six days blocked out to explore the crystal clear waters of the wilderness of Montana.  Were not going to openly tell you the location because anyone with half a brain could figure it out.  It’s more fun that way right?  The plan was to spend our time laying out line for native cutthroat and bull trout that inhabit these waters.  Of the six days we only spent a half day fishing water that we had fished before.  The rest was all exploration with only the help of some Google Earth maps at home.  When you hike in a few miles and find that there is in fact no trail down to the river, you only have one option.  Bushwack.  Travis and I both hunt so this is nothing new.  The same principles apply to both sports as far as being successful.  Go where no one wants to go and find the fish.  It helps when this is the view on the way down to the river.

A few of these days were spent camping upriver along stretches with difficult access.  When we made it down to the river we weren’t left with many suitable camping spots.  Turns out the best spot had the best view.

We had four things on our minds while out there: fish, food, water, sleep.  Usually we would be on the river by 8 or 9 AM everyday.  The areas we fished are difficulty to navigate as they often were in canyons with rock walls and steep forested slopes on both sides.  Getting out early and staying out late helps when three guys are fishing and the camera is rolling.

The fish would feed fairly consistently on top during the majority of the trip.  The smaller canyon creeks held the best dry fly fishing as they saw little to no pressure.  We did see some boot tracks in a few spots where we thought we’d be the only ones fishing.  Apparently a few others think like us.  Only one morning did we see a strong hatch.  During the end of July and into August, caddis are the #1 bug on the trouts menu.  The morning that we had a strong hatch was awesome.  You had fishing rising everywhere and the bugs were fairly heavy.  Fortunately these fish don’t see too many fakes floating overhead and often destroy almost any fly.  That day was almost too easy.  Other than that day though there wasn’t much for bugs.  Some days it definitely was tough to turn the big fish up and often it was tough to keep the small trout off your fly.

Certain holes are so slow and clear it’s hard not to jump the gun on the hookset as you see a trout rise from behind a boulder.

The clear water made for some great GoPro shots.  Without spooking the fish we made it into a few holes and caught some awesome footage of rising fish.  Be looking for a solid video to be released in the future.  When the fishing is good and the scenery world class,  it’s hard not to push yourself out here.  When every corner tops the next and the fish seem endless at times it really helps a guy push all day to fish as much water as possible.

Often our days would end just before the sun would set.  Perfect time to boil up some water and watch the view as your freeze dried meal cooked.  Let me tell you those things taste amazing in the backcountry.  After a long day you really appreciate a good meal.  We also found that strawberry cheesecake is a necessary item to round out a good day on the river.  Just add water!

Shortly after dinner Ian often took on the look of one tired ass bum.  He quickly found his way into the tent and zipped into his sleeping bag.  Out here you have to be able to treat your own water to stay longer than a day.  Having a good water filter is huge.  It’s the best way to keep three people hydrated and nothing beats a full Nalgene of cold river water out there.  Each night we had to make a trip for water so we could get up and begin our day.  Fortunately we had a small creek nearby.

Each morning was better than the next.  Get up, eat, and toss on the waders.  Hit the water and start tossing line.  When the hardwork pays off and all your intuition and time spent scouring maps leads you to a one of a kind hole it’s a pretty damn sweet.

Ian was able to swing into the groove quick enough on the trip.  His first cast of the trip yielded a great cutty and held his own during the trip.  I gotta say it though, he did break a rod during the trip.  I laughed my ass off while he got all torn up about it.  Turns out everything’s gonna be alright, and he quickly forgot and got back to fishing.

Even though Ian got a damn good trip, we didn’t let him off the hook all the way.  Travis was fishing to a fish up a long narrow canyon below camp.  It was a long cast in tight quarters.  After hassling Travis, I finally got to throw it a few times.  After two great casts my fly finally found a target.  Ian’s neck.

Woops.  After deciding that it was going to be difficult to get it back through the skin to de-barb the hook, it was decided that it was coming back out the way it went in.  I figured it would just have to be quick and painful.  I grabbed the fly tightly and gave a big yank.  Uhhh damn.  It was still stuck in his neck.  My hand had slipped off the fly.  Round 2 began shortly after.  This time the fishing pliers got used.  After securely grabbing the hook a quick yank had the hook out.  I was pretty amazed at how good his neck looked.  There was only a small pinhole in his neck and zero blood.  Fish on brother!

Travis happened to decided to fish better than our last trip and continued to lay into trout after trout.

A big shout out goes out to Vortex Optics, Grizzly Hackle, and Cuttroat Leaders.  All of these companies are strong supporters of the outdoor lifestyle.  Vortex Optics makes amazing hunting optics and appreciates the outdoors as a whole.  Their support of a fly fishing trip solidified my respect for them as an outdoor brand.  If your a hunter or are in the market for a great set of binoculars be sure to check them out at vortexoptics.com.  Grizzly Hackle is an awesome fly shop in Missoula.  It’s run by Dan Shepherd who’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.  They helped us out on this trip and always have the angler’s success in mind.  Swing buy grizzlyhackle.com to see the best fishing reports for  the local Missoula rivers.  And all week we were running Cutthroat Leaders on our dry fly and nymph rods.  These things rock and you need to pick up a pair and at least give them a try.  Hit them up at cutthroatleader.com

Now the cutthroat fishing was amazing.  They’re some of the most beautiful fish you’ll find and they fight hard for their size.  Speaking of fighting hard, these waters also lay claim to the home of the menacing bull trout.  These elusive fish are fickle beasts.  They either destroy your fly or simply sit in place even with the fly only inches from their faces.  On this trip we were lucky enough to fish for these fish.   We learned a lot about where they live and how to fish them on this trip.  We might have tricked a few so be sure to read Part 2 right HERE.

-Zack

August 10, 2012 | Categories: 2012, Summer FIshing | Tags: 2012, backpacking, bob marshall, bull, cutthroat, fishing, fly, montana wild, MT, Nikon, streamers, trout, wilderness | 6 Comments »