Man am I glad to see this hot summer coming to a close. I watched some NFL games this week, shot my bow, cleaned my shotguns, and did a few other odds and ends to prepare for the start of fall.
We had some great fishing in July and August, we fought through the restrictions and the fish seem to be in good shape. The Blackfoot is open but parts of the Clark Fork and Bitterroot are still under early closure: we have to quit fishing at 2:00 p.m. We are still making full days on the restricted water by leaving early/ 6 a.m. fishing 7- 8 hours and pulling rods at 2p.m. and rowing off. It looks like the restrictions should end here in the next week to 10 days.
I took my annual vacation with my wife and kids to the Olympic Peninsula to visit relatives, hang out with whales and other sea critters and just kick around on the beaches. We took a charter with Randy Lato and had an awesome fishing day catching kings and silver salmon, and a few other weird fish. My son caught a halibut and was pretty stoked, we couldn’t keep it (halibut season closed) but he was happy to catch it. My wife, daughter, and son once again outfished me. We must have seen 2 dozen whales breaching, feeding, slapping their tails, making weird whale noises, it was extrememly cool being 100 yards away from these beasts.
We then drove and took the ferry to Seattle. Visited the Seattle aquarium and bought some freshly cooked seafood at Pike’s Place market in downtown Seattle. A great trip with my awesome wife and kids and our 2 dogs Griffy and Silas.
The week ended in Polson MT on Flathead lake hanging out with my family from my Mother’s side with a Hove Family reunion. It was awesome seeing my cousins, their children, my niece, my sister and her husband all of the kids, everyone. My mom’s family is amazing!
I start guiding this morning and am real busy until about the third week of October, then I’ll be taking my family hunting. The fall in MT is my favorite season, the fishing is great, trees are changing color, ducks, geese and arrows are flying after deer, elk, antelope. With the cooler temps we see a completely new group of insects with hungry trout packing on the calories before winter. Not to mention the brownies will be spawning and this is when you get the big boys.
Having these diverse seasons and spending time in the fields and streams with family and friends are just a couple of the reasons why we make this magnificent state of Montana our home.
Yeah I dig the Fall!