Interesting But Tough...

One need look no further than the past couple days fishing the Big Hole River. Day 1 dawned cloudy, pretty chilly and as I recall thinking "A welcome change from the recent string of too hot for comfort days." Expecting the chilly start would make for slow fishing I was surprised when Harry hooked up just a few oar strokes below the launch ramp. When Erik hooked and I netted a pretty brown trout a little ways down river I thought, "Surprise, surprise not only are we in for a good day it's ramping up way more quickly than I at first imagined but...

Then it died and I mean really died. From there to the take out many miles and an entire day later the fishing sucked, big time. 

Yesterday, again barely out the gate Jim hooks up. The hot bite continues this time to around noon when we stop for lunch just below Maiden Rock but... After lunch pretty much same deal, maybe not so dramatic this time around but still pretty slow. 

The why in both cases is of course more than I know. Further reassuring the mysterious activity we call "fishing" is in no danger of being re-named "catching" at least not anytime soon.  

Or as Huck Finn might have put it: Interesting but tough.   

Mussigbrod Fire: 10 Years Later

Still today some areas burned hot enough to sterilize the soil. As this photo shows virtually no plants or trees have regenerated; estimates run as long a century or more before recovery can be expected. 

Other areas show dramatic regeneration, not only trees but wildflowers, grasses and forbes are lush and green.

But in many areas beyond the green remains a moonscape; nothing or next to nothing growing.

The creek corridors within the burn are green and lush looking but...in some cases looks are deceiving.

As shown in this photo of Tie Creek; Once a healthy, vibrant mountain creek full of life today much of the bottom gravel and rocks are impacted with suffocating silt, the result of runoff from the hotspots within the burn. Here we found very few trout; on the other hand Johnson Creek just over the hill appears to full of trout. Unscientific I know but to me the results are telling. A classic mosaic burn some spots got hit hard others fared pretty well considering.

Still more good news is some big old boys such as this giant old growth Doug Fir did survive and should provide a welcome seed source for future tree growth.

Some areas are currently being salvage logged; why the hell it took so long is more than I know. No doubt the dastardly deeds of a few whackos whose twisted brains think even harvesting burned trees is somehow evil...

Lightning strikes the night of July 31 ignited fires near Mussigbrod Lake, 12 miles northwest of Wisdom. The Mussigbrod Fire burned largely unabated until snow put them out in late September. Nearly 85,000 acres were torched, including 4 structures and threatened homes on the East Fork of the Bitterroot River east of Sula.

Eventually the fire merged with fires in the Bitterroot and formed the so-called Valley Complex burned a total of nearly 215,000 acres. The Valley Complex had the distinction of not only being Montana's largest during the summer of 2000, but the nation's largest as well. More than 1700 fire fighters, 80 engines, 12 bulldozers, 24 water tenders and 9 helicopters were involved. Despite all the VC consumed 66 homes by far the most costly Montana fire in recent years.

Cliff Swallows Worst Nightmare

On a recent Big Hole River guide trip below Melrose we spotted this bull snake raiding a cliff swallow colony.

From the swallows perspective I can't think of a worse house guest than entertaining 5 or 6 feet of hungry snake.

Here fellow guide Terry attempts to pull the snake from the nest. Wondering aloud, "Chuck, you think I'm hurting this snake pulling on him like this?" But before I could answer the snake somehow turned about inside the nest and suddenly Terry found himself eyeball to eyeball. "OK now that's a little too close for comfort, Mr. Snake you win ."

While we watched the snake moved easily up and down the vertical face, checking out and no doubt dining on chicks, eggs, whatever. Oblivious to the angry parents bombing the intruder each time he stuck his head out. 

Bull snakes are of course non-poisonous but are capable of inflicting a nasty bite should you get too close. They are also fierce predators as many a venomous rattler has found out.

In all our many outdoor adventures throughout Montana I have only seen a couple bulls in the western part the state but out east, on the high plains bulls are common.

The biggest snake I have ever encountered anywhere was a huge bull slithering across the highway between Jordan and Circle. It stretched beyond one lane and appeared python fat...my idea was fat enough to swallow a small pig. Yikes!