Fly Fishing on Two Wheels

The gang is home safe & sound – no crashes, no speeding tickets, no breakdowns, and no roadkill – save a few million bugs.

Time for me to finish the posts for posterity.

Our second day in Dillon, the 17th, was fantastic. Geoff, Matt & I took a break from fishing and went for a nice 320 mile ride through the area.

We left north toward Dillon, cut west on 278 to Wisdom, north on 43 toward Divide, but took the Anaconda – Pintler scenic byway to Anaconda, north on 1 to Philipsburg, where we had lunch, continued north on 1 to Drummond, then came all the way back south on 90 & 15 through Dillon to the house.

320 Miles Around Dillon

It was a great ride.

Riding out toward Wisdom we got a great view of the Bitterroot Range we had left two days earlier. It looked more majestic the second time around, when it wasn’t framed in our mirrors.

Bitterroot Mountains

The town of Wisdom is a few buildings surrounding an impressive, and suggestive, mural of Sacajawea.

Sacajawea in Wisdom

I had read about the Anaconda – Pintler Scenic Byway in a couple of guide books while planning the trip. Our BMW F800 GS bikes were built for that road, it was steep, curvy, and mostly paved. So. Much. Fun.

Anaconda - Pintler Scenic Byway

The town of Anaconda is an old copper town. As the byway winds down out of the mountains, you’re greeted with a huge smelting stack. The road curves down, joins the highway and heads into Anaconda. Closer to town, along the left side of the highway, there is a mountain of smelting byproduct. I’m not sure what it is, but it was jet black and impressive. Looked like something that could have been used in the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. Toxic as hell, I’m sure.

We continued through Anaconda to P-Burg for lunch. It is the wonderfully stereotypical red brick western town.

Philipsburg

After a good lunch, that included my first, and probably last, deep fried pickle, I snapped a photo of the carnage created by my helmet.

Carnage

The way home was less interesting and eventful. The most notable item was when we nearly ran out of gas in the town of Divide. Good times.

The other big lesson from this ride came in the form of a wicked cramp. After 5 hours on the bike, my right forearm felt like it was going to fall off. Geoff was kind enough to lend me his Crampbuster. The thing is a little bit of genius. I immediately ordered one and had it shipped to our next destination in Bozeman. I wouldn’t have been able to finish the trip without the thing. Get one if you plan to do any touring.

July 18th was our last day in Dillon. We met our guides @ 8 AM at the Brill’s house. Peter & I floated with Jeremy Garrett the lead outfitter suggested by Marty. We completed two floats. In the morning we drifted from High Bridge to Hanneberry, and in the afternoon we floated from the dam back down to High Bridge.

Beaverhead Floats

We had a great day. There were flurries of yellow sallies and caddis coming off consistently throughout the day. A few PMDs.

We nymphed all day — fishing a pretty standard two nymph & indicator rig. Jeremy had us keep the indicator relatively close to the split shot and separated our two flies by two feet or so. The fish in the Beaverhead hold in the quiet water off the seams.

Some photos:

Beaverhead Caddis

The Good Life

Beaverhead Rainbow

In my last post, I mentioned that we were lucky enough to have some friends allow us to stay in their house on the Beaverhead. Here’s how lucky we really were.

House on The Beav

Near the end of our morning float, I caught a nice brown in a riffle right below the house.

Brown Off The House

Our afternoon float began below the Clark Canyon Dam in the howling wind. After a little debate on wolf management (Jeremy is a hunter, and Peter is a conservationist who wrote a book titled: The Company of Wolves), we dropped the boat into the riffle below the spillway.

The Beaverhead is known for large fish, and it delivered. On our first float through the hole I hooked into a nice 14 inch brown. With the fish landed, our guide Jeremy, jumped out of the boat and hauled it back up to the top of the run for a second go. Second go, second fish. Peter estimates that Jeremy hauled the boat back up stream 10, or 11 times. Each time I stuck a sizable fish. It was a remarkable experience. Jeremy earned every bit of his fee and tip in that section alone.

Beaverhead Brown

We caught fish after fish on a fly called the Crack Back.

The Magic Crack Back

If you’re going to fish the Beaverhead, and are looking for a guide, you really should plan ahead and try and get on Jeremy’s calender. The dude rocks.

After fishing we made our way into town for dinner, and afterward met up with a buddy from work at a local bar. He happens to live in Dillon. He introduced us to the famous Moscow Mule. Despite being made from ginger beer, vodka, and who knows what else, it actually tasted pretty good.

We closed out our time in Dillon the next morning by making breakfast, cleaning the house, and setting out for Bozeman.

Dillon ranks near the top of our destinations on the trip for me. We had excellent accommodations, good food, the best fishing of the trip, and lots of good conversation.

Here’s one of the more memorable photos I took on the trip. The Hells Anglers on the deck of the house overlooking the Beaverhead. We’re lucky. No doubt.

The Hells Anglers

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