Snow

It’s snowing hard right now and has been for most of the afternoon. There is a snow advisory until some time tomorrow. I knew there was a reason I still have my studded tires on the jeep. The river has come up to 3180 cfs from 2850 this morning and will continue to rise with all this moisture. This is a good thing. If it continues like this I’ll have to dump the raft off the trailer and load the snowmobile. After the 80 degree temp. we have been having this is quite a change and only in Montana. The few campers that were in the Divide Bridge campground have struck their tents and are moving south.

Yesterday I had a young couple in the boat that were new to fly fishing and floating down the river. It was either streamers or nymphs for the fly’s of choice and I figured I would start them out right with streamers. They both learned the technique rather quickly and I was keeping my head as low as possible. They were totally thrilled when they had their first hook up and were surprised that this type of fishing really works. I pulled the boat over to the bank and dropped the anchor to take a break and tie on a new fly. Theresa was in the back of the boat and I didn’t realize she was attempting to step out until it was too late. What she thought was a foot of water was more like 3 to 4 feet along this bank. With one foot out looking for the bottom the rest of her body followed with a full back gainer into the river. We fished her out and after the initial shock of the cold water she was fine except for being totally soaked. This was her first time floating the river and she had brought along a complete change of clothes thinking it was the right thing to do. She went to the changing room ( the willows) and traded the soaked for the dry. When she came back to the boat she was smiling and was ready to do some more fishing. Great gal and with a good attitude.