Big Hole River 1910 cfs at Maidenrock
It was Jim’s first outing with a fly rod in search of Big Hole wild trout that he had heard about. When we started he said he would be happy if he could just catch one trout on a fly rod. He was a beginner but Wally had him in intense training for the last three weeks and it paid off big time. We were chuckin streamers (imagine that) and for a beginner he was doing quite well. With a few pointers and a little coaching he got better and was sticking fish on a regular basis. It did help that the river is in great condition and even with mostly sunny skies the fish were whackin the streamers. I’m not a counter of fish boated but the rookie nailed between 20 and 30 with a 19 and 20 inch being the biggest. Quite an astounding job for a fella who would have been happy with one.
We came upon quite a strange encounter this morning on the river. There was a boat pulled over in a gap in the willows and as we neared we saw this gentleman standing there in his bikini briefs with this other gentleman standing behind him flopping a piece of cloth up and down behind him. When they saw us they both immediately said this is not what it looks to be. It turned out the one guy had fallen in the river and the other was trying to dry him off. At least that’s the story they told. It was really comical and when we saw them later in the day down river the guy said “you didn’t hear any banjo music in the back ground did ya”? Just another fun day on the Big Hole River.