Searching for fishing spots...

Geri had to work today, Memorial Day 2007, so I took the opportunity to explore south of Missoula into the upper section of the Bitterroot Valley, searching for places to fish. I wanted to try out my new waders and wading boots buts did not get the opportunity to ‘suit up’, as it were and get into the water.
I packed a lunch and my fly fishing gear into my car and headed south on hiway 93. I took along my new W.W. Griggs 7 foot 4 weight fly pole as well, hoping to get some fishing action of some kind with it.
I intended to try to find some fishing spot or spots along the East Side Highway that you access by turning east at the Florence, Montana junction and it then swings south down along the east side of the Bitterroot river. There are some small creeks that feed into the Bitterroot out of the east hills, and of course there are several streams that feed the Bitterroot out of the mountains to the west of the valley as well.
On of my first diversions off the East Side highway was the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge, which is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a part of the Department of the Interior. It is a beautiful preserve and I took several photographs while there. As you travel into the preserve you see lots of wetlands areas, special perches erected for large birds of prey, the Osprey to build their nests on rather than power poles where they would perish. The close up photos of these magnificent birds I took with my digital camera pressed up against one side of my binoculars! I though they came out pretty good considering what I had to work with!
I drove into the refuge and stopped at an area that has been developed for folks to walk around and see and hear the various species that inhabit the area, like the Osprey, beaver, woodpecker, kingfisher, loons and so on. Fishing is also allowed with artificial lures and on a catch and release basis only. I didn’t ‘suit up’ with my waders and such, but wore just my fishing vest and took my new rod into the walking area. There is an area (see photos) called Francois Slough that had large slow water where I did some fly casting with my new rod and a couple new locally crafted fly’s called Montana Cheap Trick and Montana Madness. The new rod handled beautifully, and now can’t wait to try it on some creeks that I know have fish in them. I walked the paths that are paved that lead back into the wooded area and then alongside the large Bitterroot River and back to the car again for a nice workout.
I drove out of the Refuge, taking more photos along the way. The refuge also has an old preserved homestead on it as well as a sizeable bison (buffalo) heard. I drove some of the back roads that eventually came out past the Stevensville airport and into Stevensville, Montana. I stopped briefly at the St. Mary’s Mission that was established in 1841 and a few more pictures. I dif not go into the visitors center but just walked around the grounds a bit.
The old church and Indian tee-pee looked good against the sky, clouds and mountains!
I stopped in a little new housing community as it was close to the river to shoot a few more scenery pictures. It is a shame to see the sign “Private Access Rivers Edge Property Owners Only”… Always trying to keep ‘others’ out…
After my visit to Stevensville, I drove out to Highway 93 and headed North toward Missoula. I took the Kootenai Creek Road and the Bass Creek Road for a little drive up toward the western foothills looking for some fishing accesses but with no luck. I did some walking around in the area as well for exercise and more photos.
I headed on back to Missoula and got home in the late afternoon for a little nap and some computer time.
I worked on Tuesday but have Wednesday and Thursday off. Geri has to work on Wednesday so I plan on driving up to Phillipsburg and into the Lower Willow Creek area to see how that fishing looks.

Enjoy the photos!

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(Click on individaul images to make them larger)

Planning for Cane...

Geri and I took the Harley south of Missoula to Hamilton, Montana today. This was the city of my birth some 56 years ago. The day was beautiful and at about 70º and a light breeze, the weather was perfect for a day out on the motorcycle.
Earlier in the morning, we took Geri’s Subaru to a local trusted mechanic to have him connect his computer to the car to read the code the car’s computer was putting out to make the dash light ‘Check Engine’ illuminate. It had been coming on consistently over the past week or so. I has checked and replaced the PCV valve and the light went out for awhile. The mechanic’s computer was showing the code related to the ‘knock sensor’ and advised how to fix it other than direct replacement. We may have to finally replace it but when we got home, I removed it, cleaned it and reinstalled it. We will drive the car over the next few days to see if the dash light does go out. If not, I will order a new one in and replace it.
Geri and I arrived in Hamilton in the early afternoon after our leisurely ride south on highway 93. We passed several small streams that drain into the Bitteroot River and they did look inviting, although they may be running a little high right now.
My goal was to stop at The Montana Fly Fishing Center
(http://www.montanaflyfishingcenter.com/). We had read an article written by the proprietor, Dick Galli, about fishing in his area, the services and supplies he offered through his shop. What intrigued me was that he is an accomplished bamboo fly rod maker. I wanted to see and FEEL his work as I am very interested in a bamboo fly rod of my own, but the pricing I was finding for new rods on the internet were upwards of $1500 to $4000!!! As Mr. Galli’s advertising on his website was offering newly made bamboo fly rods at the $500 level and up.
We stopped in and Mr. Galli introduced himself. He made us feel quite at home and was very congenial. I related my interest in cane (bamboo) fly rods and interested in one myself. He allowed me to cast a couple rods outside the front of his shop. I tried a 3 weight and a 4 weight and was amazed how nicely they both cast with a weight forward line at the distances I was interested in reaching. I told Mr. Galli I would be inclined to purchase a new cane rod in late fall or winter sometime, finances being what they are. He offered to let me finish my own bamboo rod from his blanks as he teaches people how to complete their own rods. I was VERY interested in the opportunity. I will follow up with this splendid opportunity late in the year!!!!
With advice from on of Dick Galli’s friend and fly tier, Ted Trowbridge, we stopped at a local bread store for lunch. ‘A Place to Ponder’ bakery made us a great couple sandwiches and Geri ran into one of her dialysis patients there also have lunch. We then rode back North again then at Lolo headed west to Lolo Hot Springs to dip into their pool and soak in the hot springs. We had a great afternoon there as there were not many people there in the middle of the week. The hot springs have been enjoyed by the native American Indians for hundreds of years. Lewis & Clark also took advantage of the natural hot springs as well during their trek across the USA. There is a large outdoor pool and a smaller natural hot spring fed indoor soaking pool and we took full advantage of both while there. It was so relaxing lying in the pool and watching the huge billowy clouds just drift across the blue sky above the mountains.
We drove home in a warm afternoon and I tried to shoot several photos along the Lolo Creek area.

You can click on some of the images to make them larger.
Later…

Nice weekend…

Today was the second day of my ‘weekend’, which for my schedule is on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So I had another day to put some more mileage on the ’07 Harley-Davidson Road King. I drove out to Lolo and stopped by the new business out there called Iron Horse Garage. Montana Harley-Davidson gives them special pricing on their parts and accessories they use in their repair shop. I have delt with them a couple times since they opened their business, but never took the opportunity to go out and introduce myself till today.
Their retail area is well laid out with a nice selection of custom add on accessories, t-shirts, leathers and other doo dads. They also had 4 used motorcycles available for sale. I chit chatted with the owner and his wife for a little while and the owner was lamenting over not being able to get out of his 1200 Custom Sportster what he has into it in order to trade up to a new Road King Harley. I suggested he put the bike up for sale on eBay. He thought that sounded like a good idea.
I left there and headed on up Lolo canyon along Lolo Creek, which has a very high water flow about now. Probably way to much water for comfortable fly fishing. The weather today was in the mid 70º range with big billowy clouds and a light breeze. I took the opportunity to stop at all the roadside historical points and read the information about the injustices the Calvary inflicted on the native American Indians trying to heard them all onto reservations and off their native lands.
This valley that extends westward to Lolo pass and on into Idaho was also part of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805. The camp grounds were still locked out and will open May 15th through September 30th, so I was a few days early. I still stopped and shot a few photos and enjoyed the ambiance.
I traveled further west to about 7 miles east of Lolo Hot Springs and turned around as I had other chores to attend to in the afternoon. As I was heading back towards the town of Lolo I noticed the fuel warning light on the speedometer face was on then glanced at the gas gauge mounted in the left fuel tank and the needle was nestled up against the ‘E’ mark! I made it back into Lolo OK but not before collecting a small stinging insect near my upper left temple where my helmet met the skin. Ouch! It wasn’t enough to take my attention off the road and I was able to remove said insect and continue on into Lolo.
I gassed up at the Exxon station and the tank took 4.59 gallons to fill it. I whistled on up highway 93 into Missoula and home. I had some grocery shopping to do for our bar-b-que for supper and completed all that long before Geri got home.
All in all it was a very pleasant day!

Later…

Perks of the job....

One of the perks of my job is the opportunity to ride the new Harleys that come to the dealership. This one is a new 2007 FLHRI Road King that is one of the rental bikes we offer in the fleet of rental and Fly and Ride program. We will be getting several more new ones in over the next few weeks and all of them will need some road miles driven on them prior to rental. I was a bit envious of ‘Shine’, one of our performance mechanics riding one of our new 2007 FLTRI Road Glide models (one of my favorite designs, and the style I have my ‘eye’ on to replace my Heritage Softail) over the past couple weeks.
Here I am in the garage this morning in my ‘morning’ apparel. Geri is up early getting ready for her day shift at the St. Patrick’s Dialysis lab so I though I would bring my blog up to date as well as plan my day off. Hopefully my order for new fishing waders will arrive today!
I got home last night on the rental Harley (I left my personal bike at the dealership yesterday) and drove into the open garage. Geri had the day off and had been mowing our lawn, so the garage door was open when I arrived. When I walked into the house she mentioned the bike sounded ‘different’ some how so I invited her to come out into the garage and see ‘our new bike’…. Of course it was not ‘ours’ so to speak, but it was for the next couple days anyway. She looked it over and said “Where is the backrest for the passenger?”. I said “It could have one added but is not supplied on the base model. You’ll just have to hang on tighter to ME, honey!”. “Are you going to take me for a ride?” she asked. “Absolutely” I responded “In fact, my love, if you will get ready to go, I’ll take you our to dinner tonight on the Harley!”. So she got her riding duds on and I took her out to the Nine Mile House out west of town for a steak dinner. We had a nice trip out and back and a great meal. The air was still a bit chilly this time of year when the sun goes down, but not very uncomfortable at all, and since the Nine Mile House restaurant is just up in the canyon hills a bit, as soon as we got out of the canyon the air temps were a comfy 65º to 70º again. The bike ran very smooth on the freeway, and the 6th gear selection makes the bike purr along nicely. A couple drawbacks I noticed however is when your stopped at a stop light the isolastic mounted engine-transmission does vibrate more than my Softail, which is a solid mounted drive train inside the frame. I also noticed a bit of noise from the drive train in 5th gear on city street driving around 40-50 miles per hour.
My 90 day probationary status with Montana Harley-Davidson was fulfilled on Sunday the 6th of May so yesterday, Tuesday the 8th I asked my manager to do what he needed to do to make me a permanent employee… or fire me! It was a busy day at Harley-Davidson, so Bill (my manager/supervisor) managed to print out and complete a performance review for me, which he scored me highly on, I might add. I saw the forms he completed but we did not have an opportunity to discuss the review documents or for me to sign them and get my copy. I had also asked Ashley, our “personnel” person to prepare whatever paperwork I would need to apply for health insurance and/or other benefits of the permanent position. She could not get them ready in time by quitting time, so I will have to go in today, my day off, and pick them up from here. Hopefully Bill will have completed all he needs to do as well to finalize my permanent position status.
One of my fellow Parts and Accessories Associates broke off a plug end in the earphone jack on his laptop computer, and asked if I could help him get it out. He will bring his laptop into work today so I will check that out for him when I go in to pick up paperwork from Ahsley.
So, I better get some stuff ready to go for today. Geri’s cars ‘Check Engine’ light on her dash is coming on regularly so I need to check that out today. I found the hose to the PCV valve off the other day and reattached it, and the light went out on her dash display and thought that was the end of it, but NNNOOOoooooo….. More troubleshooting. I let her take my car to work this AM. I also have PACE tapes to do, laptop repair, work on Chris’ family pictures I scanned weeks ago, fishing…. Where will I find the time????

Later……