Last week I had the pleasure of heading up to Craig and fishing the Missouri with friend and guide Ken Stock and my friend Ethan (more pictures and story to come later). Longer distance trips with Ken usually involve early starts and lots of coffee. That morning was no exception. Ken makes a habit of stopping at the Wheat Montana just outside of Three Forks for breakfast in the mornings. If you haven’t eaten there, I would highly recommend it. A fresh pastry is a great way to get the day going on an early fishing trip. Ethan has been on a Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowl kick lately and just so happened to decide to bring one of those and eat it in the car instead of joining us in the deliciousness at Wheat Montana. No biggie.
A couple hours and a short stint driving through a whiteout later we arrived in Craig. Craig in April is pretty awesome. The crowds aren’t there, everything is starting to green up and the fishing can be fantastic. We headed into Headhunters to arrange a shuttle for the day and get the latest info. Ken and Sara were talking as Ethan and I walked around the shop and admired all the cool stuff, flies and other odds and ends you tend to find in a fly shop. Our peaceful morning perusal was interrupted by Sara saying to Ethan, “You look ready to go Bud, you got your fork and everything.”
In an early morning haze, Ethan had put his fork from breakfast in his pocket and left it there. We all laughed and didn’t think too much more of it. As Ken and Sara talked more we started watching the fly tying video playing on the TV. When Ken noticed and brought up Ethan’s unique way of tying Rubberlegs (more on that later) Sara said, “oh yea? Do you whip finish them with your fork?”
I was laughing so hard I could barely make it out the door.
Not only is Ethan a hell of a fisherman and quite possibly one of the fishiest people I have ever fished with, but he’s just so fun to pick on. We mean it all in good fun, and he takes it well and can dish it out pretty good himself. Rare qualities to find in a fishing buddy.
During the float and for reasons I’ll share in my next post, Ken and I christened Ethan “Humminbird”, after the brand of fish finders. A couple of days after the trip, I got this text from Ken:
For as long as that shop is open, Ethan can no longer go in there without a fork in his pocket. We’ll be getting a lot of mileage out of that one…
