First Day of Summer

Wow – it really was a summer day for our first official day of summer. We had temps just above 80 degrees, pure Montana sunshine and blue sky.

I was lucky to be out along the Missouri River this afternoon near Hardy Creek and the Missouri River. We saw several drift boats with fishing guides and fly fishermen (and women).

First of all, it was a gorgeous scenic drive. Even the rock outcroppings had large patches of green, and lush hillsides were the norm.

Hardy Creek is a MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks fishing access site (FAS). There was just one other car in the parking area but several vehicles passed by as I was taking photos. There were pick-up trucks, motorcycles, sedans and my favorite – a convertible with the top down, a guy and a gal, and fishing rods sticking up from the back seat!

Back to fishing – I saw several hatches and I’m guessing they were either mayfly or caddis hatches. They look just like gray clouds from a distance but that’s a good indication of what the fish are expecting for lunch that day if you can mimic it on your fly rod.

Here’s a happy boat of fly fishers!

I did chide them a bit for not wearing brighter colored shirts – a photographer’s delight. But, they looked like they were having a very good time. Even the guide looked like he was having fun. He was definitely earning his pay criss-crossing the strong current and holding the drift boat in a pattern when they were getting bites.

It just felt great to be outside on this first day of summer. I have many more photos to share so keep watching the blog and you may see a fish being netted!