Big Hole River 4410 cfs—Maidenrock
The river fished a little fickle today. Some did very good, others had a tough time. It was definitely not as good as yesterday. That’s right, shoulda been here yesterday. Still lots of bugs around and the fish might be getting stuffed.
When I got home I instinctively look to the river and the dam. I noticed a cooler on the bank below the dam and I knew right away that was not a good sign. I went to check it out and my neighbor and rescue buddy Brian had also spotted it. There was not just a cooler but all kinds of fly boxes, fly vests, tubs with high end reels and such. We started to look down river for the boat. Then we saw a truck coming down the road with a trailer but no boat and we figured it was it and sure enough. They said when trying to portage the boat got sideways over the second drop and swamped. They were out and ok but lost most of their gear and the boat. We located the boat down river upside down and mostly submerged. It’s a 16 foot metal drift boat and no it’s not up for salvage rights.
If you are not sure how to portage the dam stay the hell out of that stretch of river. These guys today were both experienced guides from a different river and had looked at it and thought no problem. They thought wrong. Remember this stretch from Silver Bridge to Divide Bridge will be closed for the season as of July 6th for construction of the new dam.
Got some pics of a couple nice fish from yesterday caught by Krieg and Joe that will be on soon.