A Fish Is Caught

We had seen several drift boats with fishermen moving downstream on the Missouri River near Cascade, MT the other day. Most boats had a guide rowing and two people fishing. But, no fish were seen!

Our weather had finally turned pleasant for fishing (my opinion) with no rain, lots of water and some bright sunshine. I had heard that the Missouri was fishing good and that other rivers in the state weren’t producing.

I stood on the bank and watched the drift boats go by. Everyone seemed covered with long sleeves to protect from sun and mosquitos, myself included. The bugs weren’t bad though but it was one of the first sunny days I had spent outside so I knew I needed to slather on some sunscreen and cover up.

We were close to one of MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ fishing access sites, just about ready to call it a day and head over to Tower Rock State Park. Finally, we heard some action in a nearby drift boat.

I sensed there was some competition going on between the two fishermen in the drift boat. A few “about time you caught a fish” phrases were heard.

Each boat that I saw on the Missouri that day seemed to be rowing close to the edge. See the photo at top, also this one. Obviously, that’s where the fish were biting that day.

The fishermen in this boat were doing catch and release so I didn’t have much time for a photo. They caught it in the net from the fly rod, then measured it…more chuckles and teasing among the fishermen!

Right after this fish was caught I saw another one jump. It looked big to me judging from the ripples left after it surfaced, then disappeared.

Here’s the trout being measured.

I heard the guide say 21.5 inches. Then I heard the fisherman say, that’s 22 if you round it. More chuckles from the other fisherman.

These guys were having a great time, enjoying the beautiful weather and a Montana vacation with their buddies.