A(nother) Montana Spring Day!

As we sashay towards the Ides of April, and as I get ready to depart for 10 days in Europe come that Tax Day, it sure looks like, unlike the story for the past two Extravaganza years, chilly weather will be the mantra for this important border month, and that bodes really well for our June fishing fortunes just two months from now!!

See y'all on the flip side of the Danube!

RCR---<'///:><

E-17 Early April Update

Greetings, fellow E-17ers:

Well, here we are, in the early days of April and rapidly approaching sixty (count' em!) days until the Wonderful Ones bless Montana with the present of their presence! And what a chilly April it is starting out to be, as witnessed by the above photos from Headquarters taken just this morning…snow, snow, and more snow. So much so that the year to date precipitation averages for Montana are now tracking over 120% of twenty year averages, with the snow water content of the accumulated snow at the higher elevations right at 102% of 20 year mean averages…bueno, bueno, bueno!!

Compare those numbers, if you would, with those that I just pulled off the NRCS website for California where, reflective of the unusually rainy season that we have witnessed here, the comparable numbers are precipitation levels AND water content levels at over 200% of 20 year averages, just as they were in 2011 in Montana when the resulting runoff was so horrifically high that, for multiple reasons, we had to motor coach it over the continental divide to fish, with great success, btw, the Mighty Missouri River. Not this year, however!

Gang: April is a game changing month for us for, just as professional basketball morphs into the playoffs during this month, Mother Nature reveals her full hand to us as to just what She has in store for us runoff-wise. Witness the last two Aprils, where, just at this very time of the year the precipitation and snow water content numbers were identical to what they are for us today BUT in each of those two Aprils temperatures climbed way above norm such as that in each of those two years fully one half of the accumulated snow mass was prematurely sent downstream and, come the traditional runoff month of May, each of those years we effectively started with 50% of twenty year norms, resulting each year in low water levels with higher temperatures come each July. Each of those two years we fared well, nonetheless, but things would have been a heck of a lot better for us had we witnessed a "normal runoff" in each.

So, now is the time to sit up straighter in our chairs, to sharpen our pencils and to take careful notice of what is to occur in the climes of Western Montana. If today's pics are any indication, however, a coolish April should be in our forecast thereby further enhancing our fishing fortunes come just sixty days from now!

More to follow as things quickly move from the theoretical to the practical!!

Rock Creek Ron
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E-17 Springing Update

Greetings Fellow Extravaganzers!

Well, yesterday we did the segue from being in the icy climes of Montana to flying back to the now rainy weather of the Bay Area and, even though the calendar announces that it is the first day of Spring, that is news to the residents of both of our constituent communities!

As we sneak up towards the month of May, all fishing-sensitive eyes are going to be myopically focused on the upper snow pack of the mountains of western Montana as that snow is the holding tank for the water that we will be fishing come this June. And right now we are in GREAT shape, as, since my last report to you, it has been wetter than normal in Montana such that the year-to-date precipitation in the Bitterroot River Basin and the Clark Fork River Basin is collectively tracking at 125% of twenty year norms and, equally important, the water content of that upper elevation snow is measuring right at 108% of twenty year medians…bueno, bueno, bueno!!

What we now need to observe is just what happens during the month of April, as in each of the last two years we have gone into that month with about the same numbers of snowfall and water content as we have this year but each of the last two Aprils witnessed a virtual heat wave such that half of the then snow pack was melted off prematurely and, come the true “runoff month” of May, we went into that month with just fifty percent of norms as a baseline.

Attached is one of our flow charts that we keep on an annual basis where, come May 1st, using our own Rock Creek as a baseline, we chart the water flow in hopes that, just as we did with the black line of 2009, we have a healthy and vibrant water flow that (a) removes the cold of the snow from the upper mountains and, at the same time, (b) flushes out our rivers with the increased water volume, relocating not only fish but also the flotsam and jetsam from the river bottoms that has accumulated over the winter months—a literal “spring cleaning”. In an ideal year, come June, the water flow has reduced itself, the water temperature begins to climb and, voila, the bug life that has been resident in the river bottom comes to life in their adult form creating flying objects that become the new bounty of our targeted fish. To that end, there are literally thousands of varieties and sizes of bugs teeming Montana’s healthy rivers such that each day (and each time of each day) provides a different opportunity on each of Montana’s differing rivers. What is then happening on the Bitterroot River, say, will be totally different from the goings on of the Blackfoot River and the Clark Fork of the Columbia River (our three fishable rivers during the Extravaganza) such that our boat reports each evening on the outside deck just before dinner will reveal wildly differing experiences depending on the time of day, river and weather conditions. (More on Montana’s weather in a later writing.)

So go forth all, with a Spring in your step, and know that from a planning point of view Mother Nature has us well cradled in her arms and that we will be keeping a sharp eye out on her weather-wise developments over the months and weeks ahead.

Best to all in the early excitement of it all,

Rock Creek Ron
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A Marvelous First Day On The River!

As shown in the above pics, the first day on the river this year was, indeed, a marvelous one…eagles (gaggles of them!), heron, hawks, mink, muskrat and, yes, even fish were part of the menu this Wednesday when our Montana Matters Troubadour (shown above with his rainbow catch), our Double Up outfitter John “The Great But Propaneless” [so named for his propensity over the years to forget the propane tanks needed for our hot riverside lunches!] Gould and yours truly took to the Bitterroot River (year after year one of our targeted Extravaganza rivers) for a “tween” day of fishing that yielded, in addition to our traditional rounds of laughter and hilarity, the first Twenty Inch fish of the year (my beauty of a brown shown above with Propaneless) and, the surprise of the day, a (huge) 5 ½ pound sucker—a rarity to land such a large specimen on the types of flies that we were using (the skwala version of which is also shown above).

For you rookies out there (and as your wily veterans well know), as you arrive to fish with us in Montana in just three short months now, you will get the chance to experience first-hand that which I do every day on the water and did again on Wednesday—a well preserved, animal, avian and fish rich environment that, within just moments, sinks into your soul and refreshes all that is within you. Simply stated, there is little that I have found that can or does replace a quiet day on the river, where, in the case of the Bitterroot River, you are seeing the very same vistas that Lewis and Clark saw 200+ years ago as, both on their way to the Coast and again on their return trek, they wintered aside the Bitterroot just outside of the town of Lolo (which you too will all see first-hand).

And if our success on Wednesday is any indication, we sure in for a(nother) heck of a fishing year!!!

Best to all amidst it all,

Rock Creek Ron
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E-17 'Tween Photos

Greetings, all, from Headquarters where, indeed, we are in the in between season—half way from winter to summer! In spite of the forecast inclimate weather now forecast for tomorrow (morning rain—tomorrow’s forecast has literally changed every day for the last week…everything from abundant sunshine to driving snow), I am now set to fish with our Double Up outfitter John “The Great But Propaneless” Gould and our Montana Matters Troubadour Shane Clouse amidst what we hope to be the first hatch of the season, a stonefly rare only to these parts known as “the skwala”—cool name for a rock band, huh?!?

Stay tuned for the first fishing report of the season on Thursday and, in the interim, enjoy the attached ‘tween shots!!

Best to all from the scene of it all,

Rock Creek Ron
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Springtime in Montana!!

RCR---<'///:><

E-17 Mid-Winter Report

Well, gang, here we are mid-winter and I thought I would give you both a pictorial and written update as to the state of affairs in Montana early this 2017. 

 

As you can see from the attached photos of Headquarters (taken by our Caretaker Extraordinaire Peanut just yesterday), winter is still in full swing in Montanaland with a nice cumulation of snow still hanging out on the grounds and with temperatures this week still circling the freezing range, with temps to be soaring all the way to a high of 38 next week with lows dipping into the teens.  Yep, Mother Nature is still in hibernation and the gaggle of new lilacs (50 of them to be exact) and aspens (24 of those) that we planted last fall are so far nicely surviving the ordeal.

 

Here in California, as you no doubt have either experienced first-hand or read bout in the national news, things are a bit different.  So far in the last month I have emptied over 30" of new rainfall from the spiffy new rain gauge that now resides in our backyard— an amount equal to 150% of the average annual rainfall in this neck of the woods.  The story in Montana, however, is not one of extremes like here but, rather, is one of averages.  To date, the Bitterroot River Basis and the Clark Fork River Basin have each received 100% of twenty year average precipitation and the snow water equivalent of that snowfall (i.e., the amount of runoff the snow melt will create) is now edging up to the high 90's of twenty year norms…and that is just fantastic news for us, folks!!

 

As to getting ready for our collective and individual travels to Montana in now just four short months (I will ge going next month to get my first fishing in, btw, and will be able to give you an on-site report at that time), I just completed a business swing through the southeastern portion of the US and had the wonderful opportunity to be and spend time with our southern contingency that will constitute the majority of Group Three—heck, the folks from North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana combined will make up eleven (count 'em) of the sixteen members of that wonderful group—and I can tell you first hand and for sure that, come June 24^th with the arrival of Dem Threes, "The South is Gonna Rise Again"!!  Visualize a southern based menu, Dixie at every turn of the road and bend of the river and more southern bourbon than any group could/should intelligently imbibe and you get the picture.  What fun this will be and, on my "to do" list is to reach out to MT's governor Steve Bullock (who, again, wants to join in the fray of E-17 as he did so well during E-17's Group Two) to see (now that he has been re-elected and is subject to term limits) wants to be part of this unruly rebellion.

 

Meanwhile, all, rest assured that preparations are well under way for your imminent arrival on the scene of it all.  Not a day goes by without further pick ups and confirmations of the multiple goodies that will bestowed upon you when you arrive for our fifteenth annual foray into the wilds, flora and fauna of western Montana, Ritz-Carlton style, that is!

 

Keep warm and dry, all, and know that your time to be spent in Extravaganzaland rapidly looms on the horizon.

 

Best to all mid-preparation for it all,

 

Rock Creek Ron

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