Well, no sooner had the record-setting Ones and Twos left but the now-traditional heat arrived to welcome Dem Threes as they arrived on the scene of Extravaganza 2016! Where the first two groups saw early morning temps in the thirties, the Threes were greeted with mid-day temperatures in the 90's, demonstrating ever so efficiently how variable western Montana's weather is and, resultantly, fishing day productivity.
Day One for the Threes found the bounty of the lower Clark Fork that had benefited the Ones and Twos so well evaporate with boats evenly split among our three fishing rivers: the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, the Bitterroot River and the Big ("A River Runs Through It") Blackfoot River. Day One's biggest fish was landed by veteran Cynthia "Brownie" Deveau--she is seen above wearing her very first Yellow Hat for her 19" ("tape measured") brown, her hubby "Little Richard" specializing in white fish that day but short sheeted on Day Two as they ventured into the Blackfoot's Canyon with more modest results.
On Day Two the big kahuna of the day was the SS DH/Jones which found both fishermen receiving Yellow Hats, DH for his beauty of a 20" Bitterroot brown, Gary for his 19" counterpart (at the honorable insistence of sidekick DH Seale) only to be matched by a third Yellow Hat awarded to son Tyler "Lefty" Clausen (all three being shown above in yellow) for his 19" classic cuttbow landed on bamboo on the Blackfoot. Hats off to Gary who, on Day One, landed his very first fish ever on a fly rod—a 14" lower Clark Fork rainbow. Right on their heels were the quirkish two of Brian "Capt'n Four" Robertson and Dirk "Mare" Rosen who made up in volume that which length eschewed them, landing over 60 fish between them in their first two days of E-16 fishing.
Long distance travel for long distance releases was the fortune for Houston couple Martin "Madman" O'Malley and 39th anniversary (congrats!!!) bride "Houston Cynthia"whose two day bounty was a fraction of that of the SS Robertson/Rosen but paired with equal long distance travelers Mark "Z-Man" Zion and his bride of 36 years "Z-Woman" Julia who boated over 40 fish in their first two days of fishing on their return to Montana, the largest being Z-Man's AND A-Woman's separate 17" Blackfoot rainbows.
And then there was/is the Sailors Four, a foursome combination of returning veterans who successfully kept the Threes in stitches when they were not fishing and, when they were fishing, in addition to the Yellow Hat for Brownie above, saw "Mamadore" Hubbard and Scott "Not So Flash" Gordon (barely!) eking out a fishing living while traversing first the lower Clark Fork and then the Blackfoot canyon while enjoying the continual visages of osprey, eagles and mergansers galore.
And then, very least and very last, there is the most curious couple of "Richmond Jim" and Leah "Cry Die" Becker, who saw the latter, as a rookie, taking over the first night's boat reports (thereby earning her not only a Yellow Hat for her first day of fishing, but. as shown above, also a coveted Tattoo Cry Die shirt for her ruckus of riotous reconnoitering) and telling all of HER first fish on a fly—a 15" something-or-other... for, it seems, that on Day One they did the grand slam by landing five different species of trout but were a bit unsure just what kind the biggest one was but, on Day Two, they doubled down in the experience by each landing 15" fish of one denomination or another!
As I report this Dem Threes are on the water wrapping up their third day (and the final fishing day) of E-16, again to be greeted by 90 degree weather but a temperature a far cry better than the 105 degrees that they suffered through one year ago!
Best to all from the scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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