Hi families!
The Montana Road Trip has been gettin' busy getting after some great fish and exploring southwest Montana! We kicked off the trip by knocking out our community service project on day one, while also learning about how to conserve rivers and actively monitor water quality. We had the opportunity to get together with the Madison Conservation District and their Stream Team to go check out some headwater streams. We checked everything from oxygen content, turbidity (sediment in the river), the CFS (cubic feet per second, flow rate), and temperature of Jack Creek, a tributary of the Madison that drains from the mountains just outside of Moonlight Basin and Big Sky Ski resort. It's such an awesome way for these young guys to really experience conservation firsthand. We're lucky to have clean, healthy river, but we can't take it for granted; this type of work is happening all over the west (and the country) and it's great for us to be exposed to it.
We split the group up into two groups so that each group got a half day of fishing. Everyone got comfortable with a rod in their hands and getting our river feet under us wading the Madison. On Saturday we mixed up the groups and again split into two bunches. We sent six to the Ruby River, just west of Ennis, and another group of seven headed up the Madison valley to explore the Madison around the famous 3 Dollar Bridge. Then on Sunday we swapped so everybody got a chance to explore both rivers and see the different types of water around basecamp. Everybody caught some great fish and has already made some big strides in their abilities.
Tonight we finished up the day with a taco feast and an entomology talk from Will Lillard. This lesson included a bug screening activity where we stirred up the river and caught all the bugs we could with a screen in order to identify different species and compare them to flys we use to fish. This is an extremely useful trick for matching the hatch and can change a fishermen forever! We finished up the night with a little ultimate frisbee and basketball where the Road Trip showed their stuff and beat the Yellowstone Expedition (guys who are a year or two older!) in a game of ultimate.
Tomorrow we are packing up and starting the actual road trip, heading four hours east to Fort Smith on the Bighorn. Reports are it is fishing hot right now! We will stay on the Bighorn for four days, floating in five boats everyday, it'll be great battling the Montana heat in that 50-55 degree water. Following the Bighorn, we will head back west towards Bozeman and take a left up Paradise Valley where we will float the Yellowstone for two days to finish up the trip!
The group is getting along great, making connections, and laughing lots. We're having a blast and can't wait to see more of the state! Until next time...
The guide group and the guys
