Fishing: Mighty MO Cats

Greg Gibbons shows off a Missouri River cat...

Ditto Ray Gross (right) and fishin' buddy...



Little bigger version.... (Greg Gibbons photos)



No not noodled (see previous post) and not quite as large as the Texas version just your typical Missouri River channel cats these guys hauled on a recent week-long float from Coal Banks Landing to Fred Robinson Bridge, the Wild and Scenic River section. Ray said, "we also caught a couple (few?) walleye but the river was really too muddy for good walleye fishing." So far as I know all were taken on "bait." What sort is more than I know?

Astonishing Migrations

By the time this hen steelhead completes its spawning run, up the Columbia, Snake and Salmon Rivers to      Stanley, ID it will have traveled 900 miles, negotiated a dozen dams, dodged commercial nets as well as the efforts of countless anglers litterally lurking around every bend. Ditto the Chinook salmon soon to follow. While both runs are but a shadow of what once was--numerous accounts tell of salmon packed in the upper Salmon River such "you could walk across their backs"--and comprised largely of hatchery reared fish still...

Native bull trout have been known to migrate up and down stream nearly 150 miles between home water and spawning sites. While Arctic Grayling have been known to cover 75 miles of river in a few days apparently with nothing more in mind than satisfying an itch to wander.

Pronghorn migrations aren't quite so spectacular and not nearly as long winded but...Consider those spend part of the year in and around Crater of the Moons National Monument in Idaho and the rest of the year about 180 miles east in southwest Montana; or the roughly 300 mile trek the continent's most unique big game animal makes twice a year between southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to the Missouri Breaks country well south in Montana.

Sandhill cranes arrive in Montana each spring having completed the long arduous round-trip from southern New Mexico and Arizona. Recently a radio-implanted long-billed curlew took off from just north of the Missouri Breaks and flew south 1200 miles in just 26 hours!! While each spring tens of thousands of snow geese set down on Freezeout Lake staging for the next leg of their long migration from Texas to beyond the Arctic circle.

Each spring mule deer and elk arrive in the Big Hole having spent the winter up and over the jagged peaks of the Beaverhead Range into Idaho. The mule deer you see this summer in the Wise River country will not likely be there when the shooting starts in mid-October, most having already boogied to winter range over the hill in Idaho.

As spring morphs into early summer songbirds filter into the northern Rockies and High Plains from as far away as Central and South America. Only to wing it south once again with the first hint of fall frost.

Migration is truly astonishing. If you haven't already get out there and bear witness. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

And OK, should you wonder where to start in Montana, why it just so happens that's exactly what my book Great Places Montana is all about. I know I know, shameless self-promotion...what can I say.

Montana Pygmy Whitefish Record Shattered

For at least the 7th time since 1982 the Montana pygmy whitefish record has been broken. Russ Geldrich of Kalispell caught the 0.36-pound (5.76-ounce; 9.84 inches in length) pygmy in Little Bitterroot Lake on February 13. The monster whitefish devoured a jig and maggot rig intended to nab kokanee.

Three types of whitefish live in Montana. Two, the pygmy and mountain whitefish (pictured above), are natives, while the lake whitefish is introduced. For its size the pygmy has a very large eye and lives near the bottom of deep lakes such as Little Bitterroot, Ashley, and Flathead. They feed on tiny zooplankton, bottom insects, and mysis shrimp.

By comparison the state record mountain whitefish caught in Hauser Reservoir in 2007 was 23 inches long and weighed over 5 pounds; while the record lake whitefish hauled from Flathead Lake in 2006 stretched the tape to 27 inches and weighed about 10.5 pounds.

For reasons escape me it seems many anglers, particularly fly anglers, loath even the idea hooking-up a so-called whitey; persish the thought actually having to take one off the hook. In worst cases, usually amid loud cussing, the poor whitey ends up in the bushes. In my boat every whitey in the net is treated with the same tender loving care given the biggest trophy trout...much to the dismay of many clients I might add. While I can't prove it my take is the worse the trout bite the brighter Mr. Whitey's star shines...nah, can't be...right?

As an intersting side note: When I first moved to Dillon a local guide told me (whispered and sworn to secrecy of course) his main goal in fly fishing was to one day own the state record. Diligently nearly every day off for at least an entire season he spent dredging the nearby Red Rock River where he said "the biggest damn whiteys anywhere swim." Alas, while he caught some dandys none quite measured up to the then reigning champ...Whether or not he's still at it is more than I know...

Musing Black Bass of All Things

I must confess it's been awhile since bass, any sort of bass, occupied much of my thinking and even less, my fishing days. But I guess since I sort of grew up fishing smallmouth (the crick ran literally through our small northeastern PA town was infested)and for a time spent a good deal of the late summer and early fall fishing bass around PA and ME and southern Canada I've never quite been able to completely let the idea go.

A few years ago we did a book on some of the great fishing spots around the region (On the Fly Rocky Mountains) so I was excited to include whatever bass fishing I could simply because once more I'd get to chase the rascals. It turned out just as much fun as I'd imagined and vowed to do more in the future...Alas hasn't happened but hopefully there is still time so...

Anyway I can hardly stand to watch (even think of) the so-called pros in their ridiculous patch laden jumpsuits and glitzy bass boats most of which I'm sure cost way more than our first house...Why? Hell I don't really know maybe just because of the message sent...you know all about roaring here and racing over there, catch the limit as fast as humanly possible and at any cost. No way of even thinking of competing unless you are willing and able to spring for the biggest fastest machine...No way the entire circus ever even mentions let alone preaches the concepts of lazy summer evenings, hush on the water, witchin' hour, and well, hell, to me it just ain't fishin'...no news there, eh?

But the jumpsuits can fish and catch the magnums by the proverbial barrel full and all so it came as no surprise to learn that on July 2, 2009, one Manabu Kurita caught a 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth that tied George Perry’s 1932 all-tackle world record. Though I was practically floored upon learning it came from Japan’s Lake Biwa. Did you know Japan even had bass? This pilgrim sure did not...

So I did a little digging and low and behold not just Japan but largemouth now swim in 61 countries, many got their visas as far back as the late 1800s!!! Historically largemouth bass finned only in the eastern U.S., southern Ontario and northern Mexico. Today largemouth fishing exists in every state except Alaska and are said to be available to more U.S. anglers than any other fish...Imagine. Oh by the way the pic is courtesy of IGFA and while obviously a whopper I've no idea if THE whopper.