As a University of Montana student in 1990, I used to spend a lot of time in the Rock Creek drainage. It is about 20 minutes east of Missoula and is considered a Blue Ribbon fishery. Over the years, like all things it seems, things have changed a bit in this area.
Similar to the Blackfoot, all camping along Rock Creek is now in designated only areas. This is a result of more pressure in the area and of course an attempt to further protect the stream. There is an attempt to lesson the influence of the brown trout in the creek in order to enhance the cut throat's ability to propagate. I'm not sure how this is working, as I have not read the recent studies on the water shed.
However, in the spot where LR is fishing below, I did catch a beautiful cut which wiggled out of my hands as we fumbled for the camera. Most of the rafts today were upstream, as the salmonfly hatch has moved completely through the creek by this point. We were having success on golden stones, though the big bugs were still around. I think the fish have seen a ton of fly fisherman presentations and were pretty well schooled on what was going on. We chose a weekday evening for a reason, and things were still quite busy on the stream. We only caught a couple of fish.
I know some folks who have had some success hunting elk in the Welcome Creek Wilderness, but they tell me it is a ton of work getting an animal out of the area. To the north east of Welcome Creek is the Quigley road that takes one to
Sliderock Mountain (red flag on above map). This is an area I used to hunt in quite a bit, and once on the Willow road was cornered by a large bull moose. That was an interesting day. Driving up the Quigley road in snow and ice can be quite an experience. That also is another interesting story!
One year in the early ninties I was grouse hunting in the Sliderock area. It was a crip fall evening and the sky was perfectly clear showing countless stars. I was camped along the Sandstone Ridge with a (then law student) buddy and a couple of my bird dogs, a black lab (Lexie) and a lewellen setter (Rebel). At about two in the morning a lion came up from the Rock Creek side screaming its head off. It literally sounded like a screeching lady and scared the hell out of us. We jumped into the back of the jeep pickup as fast as we could until it stopped. Eventually, the cat went back down screeching the whole way. The next day I asked fish and game what would make that kind of noise and they said that it probably was a lion. I'll never forget that, ever.
Now, I ride my mountain bike along the Willow area. One can drop out eventually along the Skalkaho Road, and head to Philipsburg or over to Hamilton. Another nice area to grouse hunt used to be along Ranch Creek (see map), but I have not been hunting in the area in quite a long while. It is beautiful and eventually, like all the terrain in this drainage, climbs straight up. A last highlight of the evening was driving out and seeing the lower creek sheep herd. I'm going to post some pictures of this herd following this post. Rock Creek remains a treasure.
Max and I decided Sunday would be a great day to float once again as a double header following up on yesterday's lower Bitterroot float. After a quick confirmation call on the evening of the 4th, Nick decided that he would gladly fill the extra seat in the Odyssey (a great self-bailer that has seen many a stream in the States and Canada). For today's float, we chose the West Fork the Bitterroot, a long time favorite fishery of mine. This water holds large cutthroats.
Max had already been snooping around in the drainage earlier in the week - Thursday to be exact and alluded yesterday to the fact that the big flies were already up to Painted Rocks Reservoir. I had never floated the upper stretch (a bit more hazardous when running high and fast) of the West Fork, having usually floated from Piquett down to the highway 93 bridge.
The upper water is very accessible from the bank. I was pretty certain there were going to be numerous opportunities for foul ups with debris and hazardous snags, but that wound up not being too big of a problem. There was still plenty of water and it was running clear. Thursday Max had taken his pontoon down and scouted out things which had me feeling a bit more comfortable as well. The only log (jam) across the full works was at the Rombo campground.
We floated from just below the Reservoir to the Ranger Station. It was a beautiful day and the salmon flies and goldens were abundant on the upper part of this tailwater. There were two other rafts putting in at the same upper spot. One plate was from California and another Utah. Other than these two boats, we had the works to ourselves. This worked out well, as we simply stopped in a couple of spots I like. For instance, the below log Max is casting into. One year in this spot after a bit of business in the area, I snuck over to this hole late in the day and fished during a salmonfly hatch. The fish that day were cutthroats and rainbows (many large with kyped mouths) rising in a frenzy to hatching salmonflies. Literally three to five pound fish, dark colored and beautiful. An electrical storm came though during that day and I almost could not pry myself out of the water. Today in the same spot however I missed a couple of small ones and Max caught a few smaller fish on a copper nymph. There were not as many big bugs in this section today and I had the feeling we were about a week off (too late). Also, the fish had probably seen a few presentations recently.
While I was rowing, Nick cast into some really nice deep braided water along the main road and hooked a three to four pound fish which two times bound out of the water. It was hilarious watching his eyes as they bulged and the size of the grin on his face. The fish was so alive. Max struggled for the net while I tried to keep us out of the rocks. First the fish went under the raft (it was a fast section) and then after jumping, it found its way under a large boulder and broke off. From exaltation to dejection. Times like this are why I like rowing. The ability to take it all in. We cheered him up and said that was an amazing fish! After the float, Nick informed me that it was probably the largest cutthroat he has had on his fly rod and he had hoped I had my camera ready. It rose to one of Max's (a native Bitterrooter) hand tied salmon flies. Max ties very "buggy" patterns!
Honestly, the cutthroats here remind me of the cutthroats on Fernie's Elk. The only thing I would say is that I like this better as it's near home, without a border crossing and there are a lot less folks around. Nez Perce was flowing clear and brought the water level of the West Fork up nicely. This drainage makes its way along the back side of Trapper Peak (part of seen below and the top shot of Trapper taken along HWY 93). Trapper is a favorite back country skier destination. The West Fork had a major fire recently which is now quickly filling in with lush greenery. There are big horn sheep in this area though we did not see the herd today. One can drive through the Magruder Corridor and drop into the Selway when the conditions warrant. Today was a great float and we were content.
