Montana is full of iconic rivers and iconic places. All the places that have been in magazines, videos and books for decades. Places that every fisherman in the world might know and want to visit and fish. Living here, you would think a fishy person like me would have gone around and fished them all by now.
Wrong.
There is a pretty narrow window of opportunity when the fishing is good and before the waters get too crowded (in the spring/summer), and then again when the crowds leave and fishing slows drastically for the winter (in the fall). When you only get so many days off a week, you better pick your times right.
Last week for example was the first time I had ever fished Three Dollar Bridge. Driven by it for years, talked about fishing it for years, just never did it. It’s some pretty cool water.
Ethan and I decided to spend the gas money and make the trip on one of my days off. It’s a long ways down there, and when you are as broke as both of us you need to plan your trips wisely.
We left a little late, and got down there by early afternoon. Most of the fishermen we saw in the parking lot and on the water were heading back to their cars and either moving to other places or calling it a day. Perfect.
Although we had hoped there would be some dry fly action, in the five hours we fished I bet we saw two rises. Turning over a lot of rocks we matched some flies to the natives and went at it.
Nymphing pocket water is a lot more technical than you might think. It certainly adds a nice degree of challenge. And if you’ve never fished up there, let me tell you, it is classic pocket water. Classic.
During the course of our afternoon on the river, I bet both of us missed 12-15 fish. Either they were on then shook the hook, or we missed strikes, but we missed a lot of them. And landed quite a few. The fish up there are beautiful… Chubby and healthy and full of fight.
We weren’t the only anglers on the river. When you’re walking down the bank and your buddy does this:
And you look down and see this at your feet:
Your heart tends to pump a little faster. Especially when you don’t like snakes. At all. I’m not too proud to admit I screamed like a little girl and damn near fell in the river trying to jump back. Once the initial terror died down, we both agreed, “Hey, that’s pretty neat!” (If you don’t get that, please watch this video for context).
Ethan is flying out to the Unakleet River in Alaska on Wednesday morning for the summer guide season so this was our last trip together for a while. If anyone reading this gets to spend some time on the water this season with him, give him relentless shit and tip him well.
It was a good day. But then again, how many truly “bad” days are there fishing?
