The Tale of Leadfoot Dale and Shank Finger Kratzer

It seems like we just finished run-off around here, mostly because we did. The Yellowstone is still swollen, in a very healthy, gorgeous way. Grasshoppers are all over the place these days, including the backyard...and for a couple of weeks now, the fish have been eagerly looking up for a big, easy meal.

Last Saturday some friends and I decided to do a rare thing...Get up early and go fishing. Fishing on Saturday certainly isn't rare for any of us, but the early part tends to be. My girlfriend coined a quasi-motto for anyone riding in my boat..."When you're taking off, we're putting on". I don't have a problem with that, there's often many things to do on Saturday or Sunday morning before you can get to the river...ie) work, hike, clean the house, mow the grass, or go to church, even though I don't do any of those things. Oh yeah, and there's also SLEEP!

But on Saturday, my buddy John picked me up at 7:30 and we headed over the hill to the Yellowstone. We decided to float a lower stretch, from the Highway 89 bridge to Springdale. I had never fished that stretch, so it was nice to try some new water.

When we got to the boat ramp, we stopped to rig up some rods and were privy to an extraordinary display of unsportsmanlike conduct in the fishing world. Two trucks, each hauling a drift boat flew into the boat ramp doing about 35 miles an hour. They both passed us without slowing down, and proceeded to launch their before us. I swear, they were racing. I'm not sure who they were racing against, but they were racing. A man in tight jeans and white unlaced high-tops launched both boats in under 5 minutes, as though he was trying out for a NASCAR Pit Crew Position...

On second thought, maybe he's actually in IN a NASCAR pit crew...Check out this boat!

Haha! Pretty good looking ride!

My friend Jeremy politely reminded ol' Dale that there actually is an etiquette to launching boats, to which he quickly responded, "We'll be out of your way in just a minute."

They were out of our way in no time, but a simple, "Hey guys, do you mind if we launch these real quick before we go run our shuttle?", would have probably been appropriate. No big deal though, no hard feelings...made for a good story.

We started fishing hoppers right off the bat, and didn't have any luck until we got into a sunny bank. We picked up a few trout pretty quickly at that point, and ended up having a pretty good day on the river. After getting this nice brown on a hopper, it slowed down considerably and we decided to run some nymphs.

I couldn't keep whitefish off of my big Prince dropper, which I'm certainly not complaining about. I seem to have a special relationship with those under-appreciated natives. I had a great time catching a bunch of whitey's, but Jeremy had some trouble with one of his. He reached down to grab the line to get him in the boat, when a sudden quick release caught him by surprise.

It also caught his knuckle. Ouchski...

That right there is not a very cool situation to be in. The same thing happened to me on the Dearborn two years ago. Pulling in a whitefish, and stuck past the barb...only it was in my palm. So I immediately had empathy for Jeremy, but I do admit that I still giggled a little.

After the requisite 30 or so minutes of staring at the problem wondering what to do, Jeremy was able to pull it out himself, saving him from the dreaded "wrap hook, push down, and yank like hell method" that we were prepared to administer. I was extremely glad for this, because I often feel like if I ever have to employ this method on someone, I'm probably going to get punched in the mouth.

All was well, and we ended up with a few more trout and a great time overall on the Yellowstone. The fishing is superb in Southwest Montana at present, and it looks as though it will continue into the fall...Thank you mother nature for cool temperatures and lots of precip!!!

For a better look at Leadfoot Dale givin'er hell on the Jelly...take a look at this short video....