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check out the propeller on this KRR… with a huck hopper stuck in his face…

It was mid September, 2024. In all honesty, I wasn’t as normally excited as I am to get to Upper Kern River by way of the Forks of the Kern Trail with 45 pounds on my back. I was coming off 5 straight weeks of fly fishing adventures in Wyoming and Montana. I was just home for a week. Let’s just say my wife was not pleased. And she made it very clear she wasn’t happy about me leaving again for 4 nights backpacking on the Upper Kern River. But, this was the annual trip with the San Diego Fly Fishers club. I’m the president of the club. I organize and “cat-herd” this trip each year. I mean, the Forks is my place, right? I should have been stoked. This trip was postponed 2 months earlier when the forest service cancelled our permits because of fire. I had people counting on me. I couldn’t back out. Plus, the flow of river and the weather seemingly lined up perfectly. It had all the makings of a special trip.

But how do you top 5 straight weeks of fly fishing in WY and MT on some of the most famous rivers in the world? I mean, I fished for 33 straight days and loved every minute of it. Sometimes I went days alone. And I cherished those times. But, mostly a new set of friends joined me each week. It was such a great trip for my soul. I lost weight, my blood pressure went down and I stopped biting my fingernails. After that trip, I decided I was going to do everything possible to do it every summer for the rest of my life. So, how do you top this?:

Lower Green River, Section A near Dutch John, UT
Worthen Creek, WY
Leg Lake, WY (backpacking in the Wind River Range)
Unnamed Lakes in the Wind River Range (backpacking) + streams, WY
Wind River in Dubois, WY
Hoback River, private section, WY
Green River headwaters near the Green Lakes, WY
New Fork River, Alpine, WY
Cliff Creek, WY
Upper Green River near the Warren Bridge, WY
Upper Green River BLM, WY
Hoback River in the Canyon, WY
Crystal Creek, WY
Gros Ventre River, WY
Wiggins Fork of the Wind River, WY
Stillwater River, MT
Clark Fork River, MT

There is one thing I’m not good at: taking selfies w my iphone. but, you can imagine the size of this one just by how huge his eyes are. also notice the amount of spots below his lateral line; “head to toe”. that is one way to just how pure strained the KRRs are

It wasn’t that I was burnt out on fly fishing. Or that I missed watching TV. I brought a starlink with me on that 5 week adventure so I could stay connected with family and with work and still make meetings. I think it was just that I had seen so many new places and fished so many new rivers, the Upper Kern just didn’t seem that special anymore. I had fished that section of the Upper Kern river hundreds of times before. I know the first 10 miles of the Upper Kern from the confluence of the Little Kern River like the back of my hand. I know every run, pocket water, hole, head, tail, riffle, rapid and pool. There are only 2 permits that allow guiding on that part of the Upper Kern River in the Golden Trout Wilderness and I’m listed on one of them.

It was special. I didn’t know what I was in for. I had a special day on the Upper Kern River that fly fisherman dream about their entire lives. The funny thing was that a big storm hit Kernville (35 miles to the south) hard the prior two days and that crash of the barometer made the first two fishing days below average. It was that 3^rd fishing day that was special.

It has everything to do with a unique species of trout, indigenous to this special river in California’s Golden Trout Wilderness. The Kern River Rainbows (KRRs) are wild natives which constitute 99% of the fish in the river. There are so few places left in the world where a single unique species of wild trout are untainted by nonnative stocked fish. The Upper Kern River is one of those places. Granted the hybridization of the Kern River Rainbow (KRR) is spreading upriver from the stocking mistakes of generations before. Hybridization is where one species breeds with another. In this case it’s the KRRs breading with stocked rainbows. There is also a brown trout population in the Upper Kern that is growing and moving up river. You can’t stop it. There doesn’t even seem to be a motivation to slow it down. When describing the hybridization problem, I even had a biologist from the Forest Service say to me, “What is the problem? The fishing is still great, right?”. Well, yes it is. But, that is not the problem. I have written this non indigenous and hybridization “issue” before.

You have heard/read about “the stages of a fly fisher” undoubtedly many times before. My version goes like this:

You’re happy to catch a stocked trout on a fly rod
You catch fish on flies you tie yourself
You focus on quantity (40+ fish days)
You focus on quality (big fish and/or only wild fish)
You catch fish on a rod you built yourself
You focus on other species (ie: saltwater and/or bassfly fishing)
You only fly fish with Dry Flies
You purposely make fly fishing more challenging becuase the rewards are so much greater

Well, now after close to 35 years of fly fishing I’m in phase 8. The sheer pleasure of making fly fishing more challenging; accomplishing those miracles casts and drifts, those impossible sets, those physical battles. Largely fishing with Dry Flies. Well it, is a thing that is difficult to describe.

Just another beautiful KRR stuck on a huck hopper.

This is a great example. On this special day I got to fish alone. Don’t get me wrong. I love fly fishing with others. Especially beginners and those in stages 7 and 8. But typically if I’m not fishing alone on the Kern I’m guiding at some level. But, I love fishing alone just as much. I was working up “the other” side of the river. At 250 CFS there are places where it is possible to cross the river. Since this was the lowest flow of the year and I did have a bit of trouble crossing I knew I was going to fish water that had not seen an artificial fly yet this season. In the distance I saw a big KRR rise. But, It was over 50 feet upriver. Instead of exiting the river and walking up stream and putting myself in a good position for an easy cast like you should. Or slowing carefully wading closer with stealth. I grabbed the challenge of the 50+ foot cast to the 2 inch window it required. Other than the obvious challenge of the cast, the set is almost impossible in a situation like that. With so much line out, you cannot get tight without a lightning quick, herculean set. Assuming you get a take, one of 2 things typically happen in this scenario: You miss the set or you break off in the violent process of setting. I lucked out. My Huck Hopper stuck him in the face and he stayed on. Now I faced the issue of battling a fish who was now over 60 feet away and swimming fast. And the guilt that comes with fighting a wild native fish too long to exhaustion and consequent death because of it. So I “horsed him”. I turned him hard, he jumped. Even at distance I could see it was a big KRR. But, then he ran back fast at me. I was ready for that. With that 16” KRR in a manageable range now, I fought him quickly to hand where I released him without ever taking him out of the water. I smiled and said to myself, “I could call it a day after that.”. I did not.

this one had been caught before. notice his maxillary (upper jaw) is dislodged.

My problem is I’m having trouble understanding why most of the fly fishers I know (and I know a lot of them… all over the world) have not come to this stage 8 of “enlightenment” with me. “Why would you throw a bobber on the Upper Kern when you can dry fly?” And don’t get me started on tenkara… that is just plain stupid on the Upper Kern River. “Why would you even run a nymph if fish are rising?” When you do the hopper / dropper thing you are negatively affecting the drift of the dry fly on top.

Here’s a hot tip for those wanting to be a great fly fisher on the Upper Kern: Don’t automatically go to a dropper. The dropper negatively affects your drift. it acts as an anchor slowing your dry fly down making it drift unnaturally. I believe a huge part of this special day, and why i did better than everyone else, was because without a dropper I was getting great drifts (well, that and the Huck Hopper just works there). Wait until you stop getting takes on top for 20-30 minutes before tying the dropper on.

There is a stretch of the Upper Kern just short of 6 miles from the confluence that I kept thinking about as I worked up river. It’s where my son Mark, now a guide in Montana, caught 2 fish at a time when he was 15. It’s winding bend of 3 separate runs. It’s barely fishable unless the river is under 250CFS because it’s a dangerous set of rapids. At this flow tamed, I had already crossed the river and was fishing the “left handed” side. As I approached, I could see multiple places that could hold KRRs. I had a single big Huck Hopper on. I think I C&R’d the first 5 of my casts. I said out loud to no one, “Does this get any more fun?” as I laughed. I moved around and up, I bet I caught 3-4 more. And they were all big fish.

“Sand Camp” was just up river from me now and a hour earlier, on their way back to camp, a couple buddies from the SDFF club said, “We hit sand camp pretty hard so you may want to skip it.” As I approached it, phase 8 kicked in. The challenge was obvious. Two people caught multiple fish here and put it down. So, yea, with the same Huck Hopper on, I looked across the rapid at the head of the run. “There’s no way those guys had the ability to cast it across the river, over the rapid, mending in the air, hoping for a rise on less than a 2 foot drift.” Whack! Another 16”. I nailed another 20” with a “normal” drift in the seam next. That is where I called it.

I probably have taken this selfie 30+ times over 30 years….and this view of the river as you hike in still never gets old

It was a long 2 mile hike down river and over the mountain back to camp. I looked at my fancy Garmin watch and I already had 27,000 steps. All by myself with plenty to reflect on. I was smiling and thanking the fishing friends I have accumulated that have now passed. “Mike, Ken, Jack, Sam, thanks for a great day.” All in all, I know I caught over 25, none smaller than 12” and all on dries. 5 over 20”. All on a rod my buddy Jack, who passed a year earlier, had made for me.

As I walked into camp, I leaned my rod against a tree and dropped my fishing pack. I walked towards the group headed for my backpacking pouch of Jack Daniels. One of them proactively came at me with a “How did ya’ do?” I smiled and simply said, “Great day”. No details. Just a simple, “Great day.” Everyone had good days. I congratulated each of them. I mixed the JD with river water in my cup. I sat, stared at water, smiled and reflected. No one there needed to know about my special day. I’m blessed.

Here’s a great example of a beautiful run that just hadn’t been fished yet this season because of the lack of access on either side.

Forks of the Kern Fly Fishing Report – Fall 2017 Version

And Backpacking Gear Review

October 20-23, 2017

Check out the fall colors on the Upper Kern

I have backpacked the Forks of the Kern Trail to the awesome fly fishing of the upper Kern River over a dozen times since my very first backpacking trip 7 years ago in August of 2011. I have been in the Spring a few times and in the Summer many times. But, I had never been able to go in the Fall; until now. The shocking thing for me and the group of 9 guys that joined me (ages 12 to mid-sixties) was the colors. I was shocked to see all the yellow and orange in the trees…and not just aspens. I had never seen anything in the trees but green in the many years of visiting the Forks. So beautiful.

The Upper Kern River crew:

Sean McElroy and my son Mark
Aaaron Eagleton and his dad (who’s story I featured in California Fly Fisher Magazine)
Steve Franco (Aaron’s uncle)
Me
Martin Loef and Steve Ray (backpacking and wilderness gurus)
Larry French (my cousin and life long friend of Martin)
Not Pictured: The world famous Warren Lew who took the picture

The most fun for me was that my son Mark was part of the group. I have not got to fish with him in a while. He’s a stick, toning his skills a couple years in Bozeman. He’s 22 now and I just don’t get as much father-son q-time as I’d like. At 22 I didn’t hang with my dad too much either. I regret that now.

As for the fishing this was one of those trips where the fishing matched Solunar theory perfectly. The first day the fly fishing was good; the 2^nd day was average; the 3^rd day was not so good.

These screenshots are from the app, “Fishing & Hunting Solunar Time Pro”. I have mentioned this app in this blog before. It’s a godsend. The regular version is free. The Pro version is worth every penny of its $2.99 cost. I use it religiously….although solunar theory is not bullet proof, it does help. It certainly helped on this trip matching up perfectly to the quality of fishing. Get it in your apple or google app store.

Backpacking Gear Review

Before I get into the fishing report let me provide some guidance (from an old guy fly fisherman’s perspective) in terms of a backpacking gear review for my fellow fly fishers. 7 years ago when I started backpacking as a means to get to fly fishing I acquired gear in the exact same way many of us fly fisherman buy fly fishing gear when we start fly fishing. When I started fly fishing 25 years ago I bought the cheapest stuff. I bought a $60 Cabela’s rod with a $30 Cabela’s reel. My waders were the cheapest neoprene Cabela’s waders. As the years progressed, technology helped the fly fishing industry just like it has helped every industry. I started replacing my cheap fly fishing stuff with the latest and greatest stuff. The best $100 I ever spent was on the Simms Waders that have the zipper. If you are male over 40 you know what I mean… Well, when I started backpacking I bought the cheapest stuff too. And that means the heaviest stuff and the stuff most apt to break down quickly. The difference, though, between backpacking and fly fishing is that the technology curve is on hockey stick growth in backpacking. There is just only so much technology, especially electronic technology that you can throw at fly fishing gear. But, in backpacking….the sky is the limit. And I am a technology guy. So I purchased 4 new backpacking gear items for this trip. And now that it’s over I could kick myself for not doing it years ago. Because this stuff was worth every penny.

Check out the colors on this monster Kern River Rainbow I fooled

Here is a summary of the 4 items I purchased and used for the first time on this trip:

Osprey Aether AG 70 Backpack – The 7 years of hard use on my Gregory back pack and its eventual failure was the impetus of all these purchases. I’d say I got my money out of that Gregory. I bought it on SierraTradingPost.com for under $100. The arm straps finally ripped to the point of giving out. After doing the research I was pleased to see how technical the backpacks had become and how light they are. From experience I knew I needed a 60-70 liter pack to handle the 1 to 5 night backpacking treks I typically do. There was one pack and one company that really stands out at the leader in my research. I convinced myself I deserved the top of the line so that is what I got: The Osprey Aether AG 70. You can’t argue with “Winner of Outside Magazine’s Gear of the Year Award for 2017” … So light (5lbs 6oz); so comfortable. I didn’t get the pain in my shoulders after an hour hiking like I always did with my old pack. This pack balanced perfectly and has this special technology that keeps the pack away from your back so it ventilates. It has tons of features and gets ridiculously good reviews on the internet. But, for me, (and for you fly fishers) the best feature of this pack is the top lid that converts to a daypack. Yes, you snap off the top of the pack and it’s a smaller backpack big enough for all your fishing stuff, food, water, a jacket and more. I didn’t have to bring a separate lightweight fly fishing hip pack because of this feature. The retail for this pack is $310 and it’s worth every penny. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this pack.

Big Agnes Flycreek HV 2 platinum Tent – Ok, I don’t deserve this tent like I deserve the Osprey Aether AG 70 BackPack. This tent is pretty much way too nice for me. I’m officially backpacking spoiled now. This tent is expensive at a retail price of $549.95. And there is a reason for that. Like my dad always said, “in life you typically get what you pay for.” It’s huge for a backpacking tent: it’s a 2 man tent with a really high ceiling. It’s super easy to set up. But it’s number one feature and why I’m so pleased with it: The trail weight for this tent is 1lb 10oz. I’m not kidding. When I handed that tent to others…and I did it numerous times, it induces shock on how light it is. And usually a shake of the head. My cheapo tiny single tent I have used for 7 years weighs 4 times as much as this tent at 1/3^rd of the size. I cannot tell you how pleased I am to save almost 5 pounds with this tent.

Katadyn BeFree Water Filtration System – This little device is the best kept secret in the backpacking industry. Buy the .5 liter version of this now at a retail price of $40 and you will thank me. I have watched countless backpackers struggle with large bulky water filtration pumps over the years. That is why I have been a Steripen fan for years. I have owned two of them. Their customer service is awesome and their device is awesome. They even replaced the bulb in one of my older Steripens so I could get more years out of it. I have used my steripens all over the world and will continue to. But, for the Kern…and frankly many of the rivers in the US, the Katadyn Befree removes just as much bad stuff native to US waters like giardia. But it also filters out everything but the water. All the little pieces of plant material, dirt, etc. the SteriPen uses ultra-violent light to kill the bad stuff. It’s a wand you wave in the water for 2 long minutes. The Katadyn BeFree filters the water. You just scoop up the river and start drinking. No waving wands, no pumping, no hassle. With the steripen I always carried around 1.5 liters of river that eventually got warm. With the Katadyn BeFree you just scoop up cold water and start drinking. That means you can literally throw away the water you don’t want. It’s cleans really easy too. The Steripen weighs 5 ozs. The Katadyn Befree packs down to tiny and it only weighs 2 oz. There is a reason it won BackPacker Magazine’s 2017 Editor’s Choice Award.

Big Agnes Helinox Ridgeline FL135 Trekking Poles – The lord didn’t give me much, but, he did give me the “goat gene”. I’m agile. I always have been. It’s just in my genetics. I always assumed trekking poles were for the non-agile that needed stability. I met a young backpacker in a prior trip to the Kern, Kyle Focht, that set me straight on how trekking poles are more than that. More than agility and stability, trekking poles also help you to power up hill. I tried my wife’s trekking poles on a trip in august and was shocked how much they helped. I knew then I had to get my own. These FL 135s are my very first trekking poles, so they are good ones, but not the top of the line. They are made from aluminum, yet less than a pound in weight. Btw, they also serve very well as a wading staff.

When all was said and done with my new purchases, I had saved close to 10 pounds in load weight. Like I said before. I wish I had done this years ago.

The devishly handsome author using his trekking poles as a wading staff crossing the Little Kern River.

The devilishly handsome author using his trekking poles as a wading staff crossing the Little Kern River.

Fishing Report

Friday, October 20 – We got an early start on the hike in. We made it to camp late morning and set up tents, made wood, etc. In the haste to set up all the beginners with dry dropper rigs and at the same time do a satellite text message to tell my wife had made it, I forgot to zip the pocket with my phone in my shirt. When I bent over the river to put the food and booze in to keep it cold my phone popped out and sank 18” to the riverbed. I cussed a storm because that would be the 6^th or 7^th iphone I have lost to a river or lake. I was in no haste to pull it back out so I secured the food first and then fished it from the bottom. It has happened to me so many times before; even twice in the Kern; that I knew it was toast. At least at the time I thought it was…

We got camp set up and were fishing by lunch time. I did well. I swear I would have caught 20+ fish in 6 hours that day if I wasn’t guiding and tying lost flies back on the rigs of the 4 beginners we had on the trip. In reality though, my most fun of the trip was guiding and doing exactly that. I’d rather pull flies out of trees and guide a beginner to a fish than catch a fish myself any time. In any event I caught a dozen quality fish in the 2-3 hours I fished. I did get a few takes on my size 4 huck hopper. But, I failed to hook any of them. Most of my takes were on a large black stonefly nymph imitation. That is a staple fly of the upper kern.

Check out the size 10 stonefly hanging out of this unlucky rainbow’s face

Saturday, October 21^st – what I remember most from this day was me hooking another fish and hearing mark from a distance say, “Damnit”. That’s not like him to be frustrated. He was mostly hanging with his buddy Sean, guiding him because he was a beginner, for the first day and a half. btw, Sean caught two fish on this trip. that is pretty good for a beginner. Anyways I’m guessing the guiding had to weigh on the frustration a little. So, that was my opening to help him out…and spend some q-time with him. We spent the next couple hours together and I didn’t fish at all. I simply did the “guide thing” and made a number of suggestions and changes to his flies and approach. Thank God for me those suggestions worked for Mark. Mark started catching fish and was the big winner that day. He caught 3 quality fish with me while I was with him. And for the rest of the trip he did well. I learned at the end of the day when we all got back together at camp that some of the other guys did not do well. I had that dwindling solunar performance in the back of my mind and feared what the next day would bring…or wouldn’t bring.

Sunday, October 22^nd – We hiked for an hour up river, over the mountain, before we started fishing. It’s something I have always wanted to do, but never had people with me that were willing to do it…and to go with it the brutal 5 mile hike back to camp after a long day of fishing. Frankly it’s hard for me to do this because you pass miles and miles of awesome water in the process. They say….well, I say, “the farther up river you go the better the fishing gets.” And it makes sense since the fish up river just don’t see the artificial flies like the ones near the confluence. Unfortunately my fear of the solunar prediction was realized; it was slow… I think I fished and hour without a take. And I was getting good drifts. That is pretty rare for me on the Upper Kern no matter what the conditions. I wanted to say I couldn’t understand what changed in terms of hatches, but I did have that solunar theory thing in the back of my mind. I usually can figure out what the fish are eating if you give me a couple hours, but there were few bugs in the air and nothing rising and nothing being spooked and nothing worked for me. I went hours without a single take.

I caught up to mark and that is when I saw it and laughed; an impressed laugh. He was standing on a huge rock, close to 10 feet above the water level. He was in front of a long deep bend in the river. He had a gap in the trees behind him big enough for a back cast. So, he was making 50 foot single hauls to the opposite side of the river with a dry/dropper rig. I wish I was close enough to video it. It was impressive. Plus I could see him long distance mending so I can’t imagine the drift was easy. He sure has become a great cast. I was still 100 yards away when he hooked up on a big fish. He battled it for longer than what I would deem normal and brought it to hand and showed me from distance after I screamed, “Woo!” from 100 yards away. It looked huge. I guessed over 20”. When I got to him he said, “17”.

Mark Huckaby doing the 50 foot single haul to the opposite side of the river with his buddy Sean fishing the head

I still hadn’t landed a fish that day, though. And slowly I found out no one but Mark had either. So, slowly but surely everyone started their long treks back to camp except for me. I found myself at Kern Flats (which I believe is over 6 miles from our camp) in front of the famous bend which is always good for at least one fish…and nothing. It was getting late in the day and I knew I had at least a 1.5 hour hike back to the site, skunked. That is when I said myself, “if I am going to get skunked I’m going down with size 18 dries.” As I walked back I found Mark and Sean in “their hole” and told them to check in with me on their walk back so I wouldn’t worry. Half of the way back to camp was one of my favorite runs I walked by earlier in the day without fishing it. It took me a while to get there. Mark and Sean caught me as I tied on some 5x to the end of my leader, then a light colored size 18 mayfly imitation that was similar to a random handful of naturals I had seen during the day. They moved on, hiking back to camp. I moved into position to cast, which meant rock hopping my way closer to the middle of the river so I could get a cast. I stared out in front of me at the run hoping to see rises where I had seen them so many times in years past….nothing. From my rock I had to make a simple 30 foot cast straight up stream. First cast…whack! 6” incher. Nice. I fished for 10 minutes and got struck on almost every cast. I had landed 4 to 12” before mangling my leader because of my quickly tied poor knot when I tied on the tippet. So, I cut it off and said to myself, “if I can catch my fifth on what is essentially a 6 foot 0x leader, I’ll call it a total success and head back to camp. I had to nip the leader at an angle just to thread the size 18 hook. Success; 10” er. I would have loved to stay and whack 20 trout after that full day of being skunked, but walking back that far to camp alone in the dark in that part of the sierras is not smart. So, I took off happy. And then it occurred to me. We had not caught a single fish in front of camp yet. And we had all fished it hard for 3 days. That that is one of the most prolific spots on the river. I said to myself, when I get back to camp I’ll throw 5 casts to see if I can break the skunk there. It was a long 45 minute brisk hike back up and over the mountain. As I approached the camp all the guys already had whiskeys and were trading the day’s stories. I looked at Mark with a smile and held 5 fingers up. He said, “We heard you shout. We knew you are on.” I explained to the guys what happened and said, I have to try it here. So I wandered 50 feet down to the river. First cast, whack! I shouted “Woo!” and some of the guys ran over. After landing the fish I handed the rod to my cousin Larry French and said, “take over” I headed for a backpacking chair with whiskey and he got a strike too with Warren guiding him.

Mark Huckaby with one of his big Kern River Rainbows

Epilogue

Through a matter of circumstances, I hiked out alone. I like to do that at the Forks. I like to push myself. I made it from camp to the crossing of the little Kern in good time. My goal was to hike the 2 miles and 1100 feet up and out of the canyon in under an hour. With my new trekking poles I was pretty confident. 1:04 – that is pretty good for an old guy.

It was a great trip and fun was had by all. The real bummer for me is November 15 and the winter looms. That ends the fishing season for most of California until Spring. It’s back into the man cave to tie hundreds of flies for the hundreds lost this season for me.

There were quality fish hooked, landed and there were frustrations with trees and slow times. I honestly believe we learn from our entire experience on the river: from the most advance fly fishers like me to total beginners we are always getting better whether we are catching fish or not.

I believe a totally fun trip was had by all. I’d love to make that an annual trip with that group.

The view of the flat water on approach to “Huckaby Camp”

My iPhone: You are not going to believe this. On that first day we put my iphone in a plastic bag with the silicon desiccant packs from backpacking food and let it sit in the sun for 3 days. It worked. I didn’t even try to turn it on during the trip. When I got to my truck after the hike out I plugged it in and it came right up. When I finally got to signal an hour later in Kernville all the txts and emails flooded in.

I have now decided I’m moving to Missoula. And someone needs to tell Kelly because I’m afraid to. 🙂 What an awesome 3 days I had on the Clark Fork River.

The West Slope Cutthroat

The Clark Fork Outpost

Honestly the reason my 3 days were so awesome was because of Mike Hillygus. I met Mike for the first time on this trip. I had an incredible 3 days of fishing with Mike. The funny thing was that the weather was just miserable. Cold, Windy, Raining and Snowing. Why is the fly fishing always so good when it’s snowing sideways? We did get sun at points. It is Montana, of course. And in Montana the weather changes by the minute.

I stayed with Mike and his two dogs, Bell and Cru, at Mike’s lodge, the “Clark Fork Outpost”. Mike’s lodge is right on the Clark Fork River. It’s about 80 miles downriver (Northwest) from Missoula. More specifically it’s in the stretch of the Clark Fork River that does not parallel I90. The closest town is St. Regis, MT.

The Clark Fork Outpost

I flew in to Missoula late on Saturday night. I offered to rent a car and drive it out to the Clark Fork Lodge, but Mike wouldn’t have anything to do with that: “You’ll just hit a deer and ruin the trip.” That is how Montana people view Southern Californians, as cullers of big game with rental vehicles. 🙂

Well, Mike and I hit it off right away. Because he’s a genuinely great guy and like me, loves to tell stories. And before I knew it, I had refilled my glass with Buffalo Trace and it was after 12AM. And we had a big day in the morning.

I heard the dogs around 6am… and I was a bit crusty. It was my first real day of fishing on the west side of the Rockies. I have fished the “Bozeman side” of the rockies in Montana many times. But, for some reason I never had the opportunity to fish the “Missoula Side” of Montana. I can check that off my list now. Now the real issue is that I cannot wait to get back in September.

St. Regis, MT

The Food

So after a couple cups of coffee, I’m thinking of eating a power bar that I brought. But, Mike had different intentions: a smoked salmon basil scramble with a thick cut ham steak. Oh man…. A lot of guys maintain they are good cooks…and are not. Really the only thing I am good at is grilling. But, a buddy of mine told me Mike was a good cook and Mike said the food was going to be good. I had no idea. I didn’t come back from the trip skinnier like Kelly wanted me to. That night was a salmon dinner. I’m not a big salmon fan, but there was something he did to it that made it awesome. I wish I knew. The other breakfast featured a ham frittata and another gourmet scramble. The 2^nd dinner was a rib eye… but, not just any rib eye it was custom rolled from the outside “marbley” part. Unbelievable. I learned on the trip that Mike went to Culinary school and served as a chef before guiding and ultimately becoming an Outfitter. I have been to a number of lodges that claim to have gourmet level food. They do not as compared to Mike. He’s in a class by himself.

Rolled Ribeye

The Dogs

Now, I’m not a dog guy…. Anyone who knows me knows that. I loved our dog Dontee. Not as much as Kelly, but she trained her so well you couldn’t help but like it. And she was smart. Dontee was Kelly’s dog. Mike’s dogs are English Labs. They are bird dogs. But so calm and so loving. I just couldn’t resist petting them. And they are fishing dogs. They road in the drift boat with us. And not even a peep from them. But, Belle sure does love sniffing and sometimes licking the trout when you catch them.

Huck with Belle and Cru

The Fishing

On Sunday the first day, we dropped into the river in Mike’s drift boat around 10:30AM….and didn’t come off the river until 7:30PM. I landed 7 0r 8 and hooked and missed about double that. But, it was the dry fly action that was so fun. When we saw rises Mike had me throwing a Skwalla imitation called a Bullethead Skwalla – Tan Wing, Size 12 from Montana Fly Company. A Skwalla is a big ass bug in the wild and throwing that big a dry made it easy to see in the water. And I was throwing my new TFO BVK 3 wt again. I’m in love with that rod. I caught my first west slope cutthroat on this day. What a treat that was.

Cutt-Bow

The 2^nd day we got out a little earlier and floated a little shorter stretch of the river. The weather was just horrible. I was so cold at points my hands were numb. I had snow blowing in my face. And the fishing was awesome. I landed somewhere between a dozen and twenty and missed about 15. I caught some quality fish.

Mike letting Belle have a sniff

My Favorite Moment #1

My favorite moment #1 was on this 2^nd day. Mike and I were hunting rises. And doing really well. It was crazy fun. Is there anything more fun in fly fishing than casting at a rising fish with a dry? Well, yea, it’s doing that at the West Slope Cutthroat. I’m used to those vicious attacks by the browns and rainbows of the west where they scare the crap out of you as you set as quickly as you can. But, there is something about the West Slope Cutthroat that makes it so slow. It went down like this: Mike, “Did you see that?” as a fish rose 40 feet ahead and 45 degrees up downriver from me. Tim, “On it.” So, I casted…and it landed it well enough, just a few feet from the fish in slow glassy water. The Skwalla pattern drifted right over him as the boat caught up. Now we were staring directly to the port side of the boat just 15 feet out. And like it was in slow motion up from the depths comes a big ass west slope cutty; just taking his time as he gulped my fly. It was like it was in slow motion. I set and boom! The fight was on. I was screaming, “Did you see that?! That was awesome! Woo!”

Another Big Cutt-Bow

The last day I fished half day guided by one of Mike’s Guides named Sam. I think Sam is a new guide for Mike. I didn’t get details or even his last name, but I can’t wait to fish with him again. We only floated 3-4 hours. The weather was miserable. At times it was even colder than the prior day. I landed 5 or 6, but, they were mostly big fish, and only missed 2 or 3.

My Favorite Moment #2

Big Clark Fork Rainbow

Sam pulled us into an Eddy where I was drifting the eddy and into the current. Nothing. Then straight up river on the seam. He guided me to drift every which way in that hole. It was really deep there so I didn’t have a lot of confidence. I casted and drifted about 20 times in there. Then Sam said, “Pull it in for a minute, Tim I want to lengthen your dropper by a foot.” And I have to tell ya’ I was skeptical. For a second I thought he was doing that just to impress Mike. I had zero confidence but, after he lengthened the tippet to my girddlebug dropper Sam said something like, “Throw it in the same place.” So I did. And son of a bitch my indicator fly went down I set on a brick. I battled that fish until my arm hurt. “I want to lengthen your dropper by a foot.” I’m still laughing about that. Wanna’ know the difference between a great guide and a good one? it’s knowing the river and its flows so well you lengthen the tippet to the dropper 12”.

Another big Clark Fork Rainbow

I know this is now going to sound like a commercial but, I can’t help it because I was just so pleased by my visit to “CFO”. So here is my guidance: if you want to fish the Clark Fork out of Missoula there is no need to stay at one of those high priced expensive lodges. Contact Mike Hillygus at his web site. Mike’s Clark Fork Outpost lodge sleeps 6 in beds (3 bedrooms; 5 total beds). But, he can accommodate 14 more at his neighbor’s place.

Belle Ready for Fishing

Oh yea, Mike also owns the Stillwater River Outpost… I cannot wait to visit that one in May. On that trip my son Mark is joining me and I cannot wait!