Well my daughter and I pulled our camper over to Craig Montana to guide the Missouri for a month or so. I wish I would have dragged it over there a few weeks earlier. I found that sleeping in our camper is much nicer than sleeping in the cab of my pickup! It was kind of spooky tandem pulling my drift boat behind a 40 foot fifth wheel trailer but we made it after spending hours running wires under the camper to make sure we had functioning lights on the boat trailer. We got our camper set up and it felt like a home away from home.
It was real awesome having some help with my boat, lunches, and cooking, and spending quality time with my teenage kid while I wasn’t rowing down the river netting guests trout!
Well, we decided to go out to eat one night and Izaaks, it’s about the only place to have a dinner in Craig right now. The food and service are generally good. Many clients and guides support this place, so I often run into the same guys I’ve been chumming with the last 20 years or so. This night was no exception, the river has been busy, the fishing and food has been good.
Currently when you become an outfitter, the State of MT gives you a new high number instead of retaining your previously given guide number. Up until 4 years ago you could tell how long someone had been a fishing guide or outfitter in MT. For instance if you started guiding in 1999 -2000 your number would be in the 8000-9000 range. If you started in the early 90’s your number would be 4000-something range. People with a 2 or 3 digit number have been in the game for over 30 years. Anyone with more than a four digit number started after 2002. Not that it is a status thing but when guys see a high number they usually would assume a rookie or new guide. So now, since I am a new outfitter my number is something like this # 336,889,334,213 it’s hard to get all those numbers on my tag and I look like a rookie. I had a guy walk up to me and say, are there really that many guides in MT now and point to my number? I replied I hope not. Now other guides see an old grey guy with a real high number and think, man why did this guy wait until he was over 50 years old to become a fishing guide?
One young guide in particular was giving me the stare down as he scornfully glanced at my outfitter tags as I rowed around him on the upper river. I figured what the heck he probably thinks it’s my first guided trip and I’m in his way, Oh well!
Anyway as my daughter and I were eating I overheard a couple of guides comparing leader lengths, how many split shot, what gotta have fly today, was it the sofa pillow, red headed slut, peep show, pill popper, yum yum, fire bead sow bug, blaw, diddy, blaw blaw, and what size. The names of the flies have changed but the stories sound about the same as they were 20 years ago. Man I hope I can start getting em on dries and streamers, well yesterday we caught a bunch of fish on dries and streamers finally, thank God!
The duck dinner was delicious, I had the awesome company of my kick ass daughter and we were a bit tired and I didn’t make it to Joe’s! I’ll tell you about Joe’s later.