Montana

After leaving Devil’s Tower, I had some extra time on my hands on the way to Bozeman before Meg’s scheduled arrival.  I stopped in Billings at East Rosebud Fly & Tackle.  I’m not only scouting for rivers and camp spots on this trip, I am also scouting for a new fishing vest.  I’ve visited numerous fly shops over the last year without finding one to adequately replace the vest that has been with me for over ten years, and old habits die hard.  My go-to gear for wading, no matter the weather, has always been Simms. I have more Simms’ products than I can count.  However, it appeared throughout my numerous fly shop visits, they do not currently make a model that fits my requirement under these circumstances. 

My current Simms vest (G3) has traveled with me to multiple countries over the years.  However, I have one major issue with it: it flips over the GoPro on occasion while I’m catching fish. If I didn’t delete the numerous segments of the worthless fishing footage, I could have made a bloopers reel featuring the inside of my vest.  Meg has pointed out I should do blooper reels including my semi-occasional slips while wading and clumsily falling into a few rivers.  She’s probably right…

Meg uses a Fishpond vest and swears by it.  It just so happens the store in Billings had the right vest, and you guessed it, it’s a Fishpond.  This will probably sound insecure (and it is), but I didn’t want to be one of those couples who dress alike on holidays or whatever event they’re attending.  However, this vest was exactly what I was looking for, I couldn’t deny the quality, so I bought it.  Enough on that for a while… I’ll give you an update later.

After driving over 8 hours to get to Bozeman that day, I was now picking Meg up from the airport at 1am and we needed a place to stay for the night. 

The thing we both enjoy about the camper is that is self-contained: solar, new lithium batteries and everything you need to camp off-grid for a week before returning to civilization to reset with groceries, laundry, etc.  Most of the time camping off-grid (boondocking) is off the beaten path.  It helps remove the amount of people in a commercial campground and, most times, allows for peace and quiet while overlooking a scenic lake or river without cost.  Our first night in Bozeman was not that…

There are not many places to stay in the camper overnight near the airport.  The night before she arrived, we chose a place to sleep for the night: the Flying J truck stop a few miles from the airport.  Yes, we could have got a hotel.  But, that would involve unloading the camper, the dog, and reloading in the morning to start our trip.  Not to mention Trigger and I had been on the road for five straight days getting there.  I like to think of it as pragmatic.  So, with the sound of diesel generators running all night, we went to sleep and got the hell out of there at the crack of dawn.

Canyon Ferry Dam: Missouri River

We left at first light, went through the grocery store, adjusted the camper and drove the hour and twenty minutes up to Canyon Ferry dam. Due to the wildfires in Canada, the air was still smokey on the drive up and, unfortunately, we didn’t get the picturesque mountain views we were hoping for.

The rivers, as expected, were extremely high and most of the natural flowing rivers were blown out.  The fly shop in Billings mentioned a few rivers the ‘might’ be fishable and I greatly appreciated the advice.  Basically, they said target rivers with a dam so there is a controlled release of water. 

While still high, the Missouri was not raging. Our campsite had an unobstructed view and we were lucky enough to get the end spot closest to the dam right on the river.  We enjoyed the sun on an abnormally warm day as we scouted the river for the best, most obvious currents and fishing access.

I got up early that morning, put on my waders and was excited to finally fish.  However, I had a misstep: literally. Only three casts in and I slipped on a rock while wading and landed directly on my shin and knee with full force. I stood there contemplating if it would be better to stand in the cold water for a while or go back to the camper, take off the waders and see just how bad it really was… let’s just say that was the end of the fishing for the day.  So, Ice and Advil with a good view it was.

The next morning, the dam increased water output and we decided to head to our next scouting area.

Holter Dam Campground:

We headed north, yes north, to the next downstream dam on the Missouri.  Many people, including myself do not know the Missouri is the longest river in the U.S.  I also didn’t know the river runs north through this area which, based on my map skills or lack thereof, threw me off on my planned scouting efforts.  Regardless, north we went.

The reason I was scouting early is because in the summer campgrounds fill up fast.  Some people book a year in advance only to cancel their reservation with only a nominal charge preventing the average person at times from reserving a spot.  We have camped numerous times and have seen a large percentage of ‘reserved’ campgrounds empty.  

Two reasons we liked Holter Dam: one, it’s right on the river and two, it’s a ‘first come first serve’ only campground.  If you’re using a camping app trying to reserve a spot such as this, it always comes up as “FF” on the app calendar.  There are pros and cons to picking a spot that cannot be reserved.  The obvious con is that fact when you arrive you may not have a place to stay, and it could be miles until you can find the next spot.  So, arriving at 9pm after a long day’s travel can be risky and I would not recommend doing so.  The pro is that many people, regardless when their arrival time may be, are unwilling to take that risk.  This campground happened to be 25% full, or, if you’re one of those people, 75% empty.  So, it all worked out.

The water clarity was much improved and my guess it was due to the fact the river had already been filtered through two lakes and dams. 

In all of my travels, I have never seen so many fishing guides on one river.  As forty drift boats passed by me carrying at least two anglers, I did not witness one fish hooked.  The only fish I saw caught was by an angler wading out across the river.  The river is so wide in that area, it was hard to spot the hookup at first due to distance, but we couldn’t mistake his shout of excitement from the other bank.  Good for him!  Overall, this is a great location and I knew I would be back.

With that said, scouting wasn’t everything we had on our agenda, so we left the next morning and continued north towards Glacier National Park- East.