Sunday, July 11, 2010

16 Mile to the Boulder

White were knuckles. White was the water. White were our faces as we glissaded over the rocks of Big Timber's Boulder River. But we survived, had a lot of fun, and have some funny stories. The river maestro Brady sent us down the right chutes and we stayed above the surface.
I only wish I had photos to share. My nice big camera got soaked, along with my expensive macro lens - collateral damage. Hopefully they'll dry out and be as good as new. But I'm prepared for them not to be.
On Friday it was small trout, huge numbers, and dry flies. My number was 23, and Clay didn't count, but I'm sure it was more than that. More fun than I've had fishing in a long time. A lark. Yellow Goofus Bug. Small Stimmies. Narrow casting lanes and hang ups in trees. It's all part of this game, and it's tremendous.

4 comments:

Josh Bergan said...

We crushed the Boulder.

Bigerrfish said...

The Boulder Is A river of amazing experiences for many, I hope you dont mind me sharing one,

While fishing the Boulder one afternoon beneath a train bridge where a deep pocket full of trout were feeding heavy... I could hear the train in the distance.
As it got closer the fish began to get nervious and move around.
The Bridge begins to rattle and roar of the engine creeps louder. The train screams over head carrying about 100 cars. The bridge began to shake violently.

This train bridge was covered in red ants... with all that shaking, ants fell into the river from above by the millions. The fish knew all about this train bridge. Let's just say the red ant hatch was on. Pretty wild thing to watch..

Will Jordan said...

Sounds like a wild ride! Did you manage to get much fishing in? Sorry to hear about your camera. Hopefully it will dry out and be fine. I dunked mine last summer, the body survived, the lens didn't. I've been pretty paranoid about keeping it dry ever since.

Josh Bergan said...

Wow - that's a great story about the ants. The trout know more than we think, sometimes, I think. The Boulder is a fantastic river.

Will - we boated a decent number of trout considering the speed of the water. They seemed pretty cooperative. I checked on the camera this morning - does not look good. A thousand dollars worth of gear sacrificed to the river gods. Looks like it's back the old point-and-shoot. Ah well- that's what happens when you fish with a camera.