I left Missoula (MSO) last Thursday morning (by myselft) and went to Laurel, Mt. (6S8) asked about trout fishing and was sent to Hardin, Mt.(FO2) about a 30 minute flight east. I call the airport phone and it is a disconnected number so I call a local motel and get a lady that tells me to come on and she will send someone to get me. Once there they said I needed to rent a car and go to Fort Smith, Mt. to fish the Big Horn Now that's about 30 miles to the southwest. Not. Ft. Smith has an airport (5U7). The nice lady, Denice, at the Ford dealership, which is where you get a rental car, trys to call a fishing camp on the Big Horn for me that she knows is reasonable and gets no answer. She trys another and they have a cabin for $95, a bit steep, but it is a luxury cabin with all the stuff. So I get the nice lady takes me back to the airport and she says there is no cel phone service at Ft. Smith so she will continue to call the first fishing camp until she gets them. She takes me back to FO2 and I take off.
I circle 5U7 and land. A few minutes late a green pickup comes rolling up and it has a big trout painted on the side door. It is Eric from Polly's Place Trout Fishing Service. He picks me up and takes me to the outfitter's shop at Polly's and I get all set up for trout fishing the Big Horn River. He takes me to the river and I fish the afternoon away until dark. I see huge fish everywhere but I can not catch one. I do finally get one small dump fish to bit. This small fish was dumber than me if you can believe that. Then I find a ride back to Polly's and clean up a bit in my small $45 a night room. The Big Horn experience was awsome!
Polly's is a small diner with a few small rooms for anglers. No frills! At dinner I talk with folks and get more advice and coaching. Next day is much better. I start out at dawn with a drop off from Eric and I plan to fish all day. I have a small backpack with a few snacks, a bottle of water and a rootbeer. I see one the guys on the river that I met the night before. He is from B'ham. Al. and speaks my language. That would be southerniese. A friendly angler he was and checked my rigging and made some adjustments and showed me where and how to fish these waters. "It is called the breakfast whole" his says. You just try it here for a while. Well, before he was off down the river in his boat I catch a nice rainbow. My mentor is pleased and I am having a squeally worm. That is one of my wife's saying. I continue the day with many catches as I walk maybe a mile or more down stream fishing the day away.
I get back to the boat ramp and hope to find a ride. A fellow drives up in a van and we begin talking. He offers me a cold beer. Well, this was a big improvement over the root beer that I drank a few hours ago. He and I chat and he offers me a ride to Polly's Place. We sit out enjoying another one of his cold beers and I offer to treat him to dinner at Polly's. We walk in and I raise my two clinched fists into the air over my head and shout " I CAUGHT FISH. I CAUGHT FISH" My new fellow angler buddies that were sitting around were beaming with smiles and cheered me on. I was on top of the world.
Next day I fly out at dawn. I hope to make it to Gaston's Trout Resort in Northwest Arkansas. The front is many miles out to the southeast and I hope to get through it or over it. NO WAY. Must stop in Clay Center, KS. (CYW) no one around. But there is number on the door to call and guess what, my cel to dead. I had no use for it at the Big Horn and now I do. So, I walk about a mile to a grocery store and call the number. Mike Spicer answers and he is on his way out of town in his mobile home but is nice enough to turn around. I get gas and he offers his little blue car and I go get a room for the night. Wishing that I had fished Big Horn that day.
Next after weather check I head out not know if I will be able to get through or over this front the same front that got me in MSO. Sure enough I am able to get VFR on top and make Gaston's (3M0) about 280 miles away.
Gaston's is a wonderful place I have been there many times. It is only a 2 1/2 hour flight from TUP. Has a nice grass strip, restuarant and cabins right on the White River. I get a license and put the waders on and out I go. I am not doing too well. I am fishing very much like I did the Big Horn. After a while a fellow near me losses a big one and he is using a spinning reel and corn for bait. I look in my fly box and have a black foam spider looking fly with a yellow foam head. I tie that one on and with in minute a huge brown trout hits it. Now I have no net, remember I am a flatlander and fish lakes. I am new to this river trout fishing and I have not all the gear just yet. I work with this big fish for many minutes pnly to get it up to me and reach for it and off it goes ripping the drag from my reel. This is done about three maybe four more times before this fish grows tired enough to surrender. I get a couple of pictures of it and release this beautiful fish. Some by standers tell me the resort will give you a pin and a certificate of sportsmanship for releasing a trophy fish. And I take the digital camera up there and they do believe it is about 4 1/2 pounds and give me the honor. I go out and sit by the plane and have a beer or maybe it was two beers
. I go back out to fish the late afternoon and evening. No luck! As I come back down stream to the restaurant there are some flood lights on the water and I can see some huge trout lurking there. A couple of young guys come walk by with the same idea. They see these big fish and become very excited. Just then I roll cast near this fish and it strikes. I have another lunker on the hook. These guys are going nutts. I ask one to find a net, which he does, and we get this fish in with a lot less effort and not near the exhaustion on the fish. What a day.
I have a steak dinner and glass on wine or maybe that was two glasses of wine. I never did check into a room and just pulled my bag out of the back of the plane and crashed on the ground behind the plane. It was pitch black dark out and I know no one could see out there. I do not think they like for you to do that. But what the heck. I have been dealing out hundurnt dollar bills on this trip like I was a blackjack dealer with a six deck shoe. So, I did it! Of course at day break I was up, stuffed the bag back into the back seat of the plane and went, where else, fishing.
If you have never been to Gaston's there is a phenomenon which takes place in the evening. The water being released out of the Bull Shoals reservoir is about 52 degrees and the warm humid air pools over this water and forms a thick cloud planket over the river. It stays there all night until the sun burns it off the next morning. Sometimes it is so thick you can not see a boat 50 feet away.
Anyway the next morning I go out fishing and I am letting the fly drift with the current and no luck. Out of frustration I reel the fly in and a trout strikes it. So I change my fish tactic and begin to strip the line in up current and the fish go crazy after it. I catch so many I lose count. After noon some time I take a break and when I go back this time I have purchased a $15 net and a few more flies 'cause the fish have worn my others out. I take along a bag in order to keep some trout for dinner this time. Well, the river has risen, they are running more generators and the fishing is over for the day.
I gather up my things and store them into Delta, I top off the tanks and head for TUP. What a wonderful trip I have experienced. I set my heading and sit back and reminiscene about the adventure. I have flown 4023 miles, puts 46 hours on Delta. She has proven herself a worthy aircraft and I have become a more experienced pilot and angler.