Fishing with Jaegs. (or Ed as he is known in the fly fishing circles)

our setup

Jaegs and I go way back. We grew up on the same block, went to high school and college together, worked as poker dealers, and even worked for "Mr Cho" at his liquor store. So when he called and said he wanted to stop by Montana from for a little fishing I thought it was a great idea, any excuse to fish and all........

first stop........... Mikes Conoco for gas and ipa

Jaegs had recently lost his father, Art, who along with being a kick-ass engineer was also an avid fly fisherman.  Jaegs showed up with some vintage fly reels and an old school fly rod.  

the old-school pfluger

Little did we know the old pfluger would get a workout this day. We needed to choose an all-day float, but had to keep in mind my dad was doing our shuttle, so that means no dirt roads, as he doesn't believe it's possible to drive on them (maybe i will tell you about our day on the Thompson river some time). So we chose to float from Blankenship bridge to House of Mystery. Blankenship is cool because it's here where the North Fork and Middle Fork come together to form the main Flathead. cool yes. Good fishing? Not so much.......... And as my fishing partner Jim likes to say "boy this sure is a pretty float........" Which is another way of saying "boy, the fishing sure sucks". 

Off we go. Jaegs casting Arts rod, with pink hoppery looking fly that I think I procured in St. Regis at the grocery store, I'm on the sticks. We float thru some good-looking water, even pull over and both cast. Results nothing. Oh well, it's still Early. No bugs to be seen, no fish doing anything. 

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We continue down stream, I see a likely looking spot, where I pull over and instruct Jaegs to cast out into the "bumpy" water. After quite a few cast Jaegs says "here you try". Countless casts later I finally get a fish to come up, right out in the middle. 

Set! Jump! Jump! Jump! I say " hey it's a rainbow" not huge, maybe 11 inches. Jaegs says, "nice" ( I think he was beginning to think that there weren't any fish in this river)

endangered carnivorous bull trout!


A minute or so later I'm getting him close, but he seems bigger than I thought...... Then, he takes off to the middle of the river. Jaegs says "hurry up up and get that guy in here". I'm trying I say, but he seems bigger than before. I get him closer, than again he runs to the middle of river. I get him back closer and get my first look. This definitely isn't the fish I started with! I ask Jaegs to get the camera. The craziest thing about this guy is the pink fly is Hooked right in the corner of his mouth. Wow! He says what kind of fish is that?  bull trout I say. Actually, in Montana in most areas, they are threatened and you can't even fish for them. The question we asked is how the hell do you start with a medium rainbow and end up with 20+ inch bully on your line? Hooked in the lip no less.

not skunked, jaegs displays a westslope cutthroat

Bull trout are the top carnivores in the rivers and lakes that they inhabit. I have caught a few Bull Trout, usually on a San Juan worm! Many times I have had them attack a smaller fish I was reeling in, but never have I had one grab a fish on my line and end up hooked.

notice the fly in the corner of his mouth!

The rest of the day is uneventful, but I didn't expect to top that one! So that's the story of how we gave Arts gear a test and how I something new on the river!

Well it is off to surgery for me! its time for a new knee!

long overdue ode to the tri-motor amber

I'm sure by now anyone who has perused these rantings knows i have an obsession with the Thompson River. And yes I don't deny it. but the Thompson was once the location of a sad event.

Lang Creek Brewery

 The Thompson river valley was once the home of "Americas most remote brewery" Who knows why Brew master John Campbell built the Lang Creek Brewery so far out in the boonies. My own theory was that he knew i was a sucker for a good brew, and a sucker for a fishing hole (sorry JD).

mmmmmmmmmmmm... beer!

My favorite beer in the world at one time was the Lang tri-motor amber ale, and while my beer tastes have gravitated towards IPAs recently im sure a frosty tri-motor would still hit the spot. I do remember Lang brewed a beer called "hop zeppelin" and at the time i thought it to be way too hopped up but today............................... im not so sure if i wouldn't love it. All of Langs beers had an aviation ring to them, i think maybe John was a pilot or something.

There were many a day when going to or from fishing we would stop in at Lang and have a "sample"
or three. John sold the brewery a time or two but i guess the people he sold it to didnt have his passion for beer or his know-how so he always got it back, then one day i heard the bad news, lang was done. the end of an era. The end of tri-motor. So i did what anyone would do...... went to costco and bought three cases of tri-motor. We also stopped by the brewery in the days before it closed, and i scored a Land Creek fleece, which i have to this day.

everybody loves camping on the Thompson!

So im sure by now you have forgotten all about the reason for this post, and the sad event that took place on the Thompson that day.  Well the real reason was to pay homage to a great beer and a very cool brewery, but maybe you have guessed the sad event by now...........
 there i sat on a rock, at the Clark Memorial hole..........
enjoying a fine Montana summer day................
doing two of my favorite things..............
fishing and drinking beer.

the infamous bittersweet day

the only sad thing was it was the last lang tri-motor quite possibly in the world.

made me happy and sad at the same time.

farethee well Lang Creek Brewery  you have been missed.

ps i have a new favorite...........

mmmmmmmmm hat trick!

Hermit out...........