Friend and coworker Brantley is moving down to Florida today. A lot of his life has been spent under the Big Sky, and one of his favorite places is the Missouri River. So when it worked out that I could accompany him on his last trip to this water, I was thrilled to go along. We rolled out of Bozeman before sunrise Thursday and didn’t have to be back until Saturday morning for work.
There are a lot of things about this trip I could write about. The slow fishing. The absolutely beautiful weather we had. Drinking gin and tonics with Mike Bushly at his new shop (Trout Montana in Cascade) until damn near midnight. The several fish we saw that were giants by any measure. Being the first boat on the water on Friday morning and sticking a 21″ rainbow on my second cast of the day. Somewhat hijacking a rental net from The Trout Shop – which we promptly returned the next morning (sorry Jerry). Floating down the canyon as the sun went down and laughing and joking and having a great time.
It was a damn good trip.
The most memorable thing for me, and this one will stick with me for a while, was our afternoon float on Friday. Over Bloody Mary’s at Joe’s Bar we decided to float from Craig to Midcanon to finish off the trip. Since this was Brantley’s last chance to fish to Missouri for a while I sat down at the oars and didn’t move for the rest of the evening. Fishing was slowish, with only three or four fish to the boat. His old German Shepard, Kismet, looked and acted more alive, happy, and young that afternoon than anytime else I had ever seen him. Brantley was in his element, fishing on his favorite river, telling stories and talking about all sorts of stuff.
Being able to share a good friend’s last trip with them is a bittersweet experience. But it’s not one I would readily trade for much else. And there will be more fishing trips to come. On the Missouri, down in Florida, God only knows where else.
Safe travels buddy, see you on the coast.
