Rock Creek Rocks!

August 30, 2025

In Missoula to get gas and groceries.  Spent three nights in an NFS campground because there was virtually no dispersed camping.  Still, another streamside campsite and only 2 other parties in the campground.  Weekenders started showing up last night however.  

Rock Creek is a river about the size of the Farmington River in CT.  It flows through a tight canyon/gorge that is heavily forested with conifers.  NFS gouged out a narrow road that closely follows the "Creek".  Like the Wise River there are 4 or 5 very small NFS campgrounds.

Rain followed me from the Wise and stayed for the next two days with intermittent showers.  Nonetheless, there was a window of time to fish.  Caught 2 whitefish near my campsite but to get down to the river required scrambling down a 40 nearly vertical bank made of loose rock and dirt.

At dusk there was another break in the weather and tons of bus were hatching.  Caught every kind trout (except the big kind) including flying fish which are tiny trout that aggressively hit a fly prompting an aggressive hook set from me.  The poor fish gets yanked right out of the water, and flies 10 or more feet.

 A ranger told me as I was walking back to my campsite that the weather would be bad for yet another day making it 5 rainy days in a row.

Woke up in the morning to blue skies and it stayed that way all day.  I sampled several pools and had a warm and sunny afternoon the kind you dream about.  No one else on the river the whole time.  Excellent water level. Pretty.

 caught a dozen trout, brookies, rainbows, cuties which were mostly under 8 inches but there were 2 browns: 14 and 17 inches.  They seemed monstrous compared to the others.  All but one caught on nymphs hung under a grasshopper dry fly.  Nymphs never work, except when they do of course.

Missoula is as far west as I intend to go on this trip.  I'm hoping to try the Clark Fork River and some of the creeks that feed it from the mountain range to the west.  I'll try to find dispersed camping in the National Forests east of the river 

Sargasso River

August 27, 2025

I spent 3 nights camping near the highway that follows the Wise River.  The NFS campgrounds are tiny, 5-10 sites which are well spaced apart.  Only one other camper where I stayed each night.

Why the Wise River when it's right near the world famous Big Hole River?  Because they shut the entire BH down for fishing due to low water.  The ranchers of course, are still pumping gobs of water for their fields.  Call it seren-dupa-ty on my part.  I knew conditions in August would be poor but I didn't think they close the whole thing.  

Wise River pics above.  Pretty but only yielded some small brookies.  Prime grizzly country made me nervous.  The river was full of giant strands (3-5 ft long) of algae that made for slippery wading and frequent blobs of green goo on my otherwise, dry flies.  Nymphs constantly got caught in the Sargasso slop.

Well, that blew up my plans for a bit.  I'm in Butte for groceries and gas.  Headed to Rock Creek a bit southeast of Missoula.  Will look camping near the creek - if it's not closed.

Thermopolis next

August 16, 2025

Spent the night near Bush Creek where I stayed a couple of years ago.  Short but intense thunderstorm came just I was finishing supper.  Had to cross a Creek in the Tacoma which was a bit sketchy as the ramp on the other side had been damaged in a flood.

Saw a covey of 8 duskies on the way out.  Here's one:

 

Heading to Thermopolis now to see petroglyphs.  Not sure where I'll spend the night 

Butte Area Next

A look back at Browne's Lake from the trail up to Lake Agnes. 

If you zoom in on left side of the lake you'll see a tiny road that's cut into the slide.  White knuckle stuff but well within Taco's capabilities.

 Trail had about a1,200 ft elevation gain which left me huffing and puffing when I reached the top at about 7,400 ft.

It seems to be a fairly popular place for the people of nearby Dillon.  There were a half dozen anglers there looking pretty dejected as they hadn't caught anything.

I noticed a few rises a couple of hundred yards from them so I headed there.  Some sort of algae was giving the fish places to hide.  Casted a parachute ant a guy in the parking area recommeded.

 Bam!  Fish on.  Grayling.  Yep, you read that right, grayling.  Brian and I caught some in Alaska last year but I didn't think they existed in the lower 48.  That's the only type of fish that lives in this alpine lake.  The other anglers were not too happy to see me catch one right away...and then 3 more.

Camped in a really nice spot nearby.

But it turned out to be a favorite pooping spot for cattle.

I'm headed up near Butte, Montana to f is sh the Big Hole a no d Wise Rivers.  Not sure where I'll camp.

UPDATE:  I wound up giving a stranded cyclist with a broken chain a ride and am back in Dillon again.  I'm headed to the Pioneer Scenic Byway to fish the Wise River.  Will camp in one of the NFS campgrounds because they are free for geezers like me.

Dillon Area

August 22, 2025

Based on a tip from the Game Warden who checked my license yesterday I looked a the Ruby River above the reservoir instead of the tail was waters below the dam.  It was more like a Creek than a river but just my cup of tea.

Clearish, Creek with lots of bends and meanders.  Here's the tail water.

Here's the upper river:

I went there right after supper.  Dusk, cooler, buggier, rises.  Caught 4 whitefish before it got dark.  100 nicer than the tail water IMO.  

 As I was making supper, fire fighting planes roared in low to pick up water from the reservoir.

you can see how low they came it.  They made at least 7 trips and it did seem to have a significant effect on the fires in the mountains to the east.

I'm in Dillon, MT now headed up to Birch Creek and Agnes Lake in the Beaver head Deer lodge National Forest.  Fishing, dispersed camping and hiking.

lake Agnes

August 23, 2025

Tried to get to a hiking trail via forest service roads that Gazateer shows as being connected but it turns out they aren't.  

I will try again this time via road to Lake Browne which has a hiking trail to Agnes.  

First hike at altitude (8,000) so I'll try it in chunks.  Wicked hot in the sun and in 40s at night.  Having trouble downloading Gaiagps maps but Google maps are a backup. Will try to camp near Lake Browne tonight.

Ruby River

August 21, 2025

Stayed in dispersed campsite next the Ruby Reservoir last night.  The were some terrific sites on a high hill overlooking the reservoir but completely exposed - no trees or cover.  I opted for a site down by the shore where there were plenty of tall bushes.

As soon as I finished supper a thunderstorm appeared to be headed right for the hillside making me glad I chose not to camp there.

There are 4 or 5 wild fires East of me that were burning last night but look a little better today.

I fished the tail water of the reservoir this AM and a game warden asked for my fishing license.  I don't that's happened on any of my previous trips.  The river was a bit meh, having high turbidity and very few biting fish.  Very hot today and fellow anglers told me to watch out for rattle snakes.

Headed further west and north tomorrow to fish the Big Hole river.  Finding a campsite will be top priority.

This is Stillwater River from yesterday.  Beautifully clear and abundant water.

Ruby River

August 20, 2025

Stopped at the Simms factory store in Bozeman but the news they gave me was grim.  Wickedly hot and dry.  Most Rivers now prohibit fishing after 2:00 PM.

Air temperature is mid 80s but the elevation makes the sunlight so intense that it feels way hotter.

I will try to find a campsite around Alder, WY in order to fish tail water of the Ruby River dam

101?!

August 19, 2025

Camped at Cliff Swallow fishing access site on the Stillwater River near Absorkee, WY.  Beautifully clear water and at reasonable depth for this time of year.  Fished at dusk in a huge pool.  Popcorn (i.e. frequent rises) with some trout coming completely out of the water.  Apparently, they see an awful lot of anglers as they ignored almost everything I put out...except a rusty spinner.  Rainbow took it with a ton of head shaking but no leaping.  That was all I got despite all those rises.

This morning I put on waders and got after it.  Fast water, slow, deep, shallow.  Nuttin.  Even the popcorn pool had no action.  

This afternoon I drove around in 101 degree heat scouting for places to try at sunset.    Very pretty river but I hope it's a little more generous tonight.

Headed further west tomorrow, past Livingston.  Will update when I find a place to camp.

Jack Creek Jack Pot!

August 19, 2025

Went to Legend Rock outside of Thermopolis yesterday.  12,000 years old. Plus 20th century graffiti.

Camped at Jack Creek campground near Meeteese, WY

30 mile drive on dirt road but I got a fabulous dispersed campsite.

The creek turned out to be full of cutthroat trout eager to strike at dries and nymphs.  Found a great looking pool where I caught a couple but could see some big boys at the bottom.

After the customary afternoon thunder shower I returned to the pool at dusk.  Bam! Caught 3 chunky cuties right away.    Super exciting to see them coming up from several feet down, zeroed in on my fly.  Hard to wait for them to actually get it in their mouth before setting the hook.

Then Mr. Big came up and took a tiny Adams fly.  Easily over 20 inches and fat!

Headed to Montana now and will be somewhere near town of Absorkee.

Thermopolis next

August 16, 2025

Spent the night near Bush Creek where I stayed a couple of years ago.  Short but intense thunderstorm came just I was finishing supper.  Had to cross a Creek in the Tacoma which was a bit sketchy as the ramp on the other side had been damaged in a flood.

Saw a covey of 8 duskies on the way out.  Here's one:

 

Heading to Thermopolis now to see petroglyphs.  Not sure where I'll spend the night 

Update:  I plan to camp near Jack Creek Campground outside of Meeteese, WY

French Creek?

August 15, 2025

Spent the night at Libby Creek campground just west of Centennial, WY.  11 hours in the saddle yesterday so I was too tired to look for dispersed campsites.  Good thing because there weren't any when I looked this morning.

Libby Creek looks smaller than I'd hoped so I'll likely go over to French Creek on the west side of Medicine Bow range and find dispersed campsites there.

Major battle with allergies and altitude (8000 ft) as expected. Hoping meds will see me through.

Is the soda bottle 80% empty or 20% full?  

August 13, 2025.

Des Moines, Iowa.  About 11 hours in the saddle today coming from Mansfield, Ohio.  Super humid and in the high 80s when I arrived there last night.  Forecast said maybe a sprinkle at dawn.  Sounds good.

Around 1:00 AM I awoke to distant rumbles of thunder.  temperature dropped, wind picked picked up.  Now there were occasional flashes of lightning.  Grr, time close up the tent windows.  Here's the sprinkle

The blue dot on the middle is my location.  Habitat held up just fine but was quite a start to the trip.

Here in Des Moines it's a dry, pleasant evening, perfect temperature.  Habitat was soaking wet when I opened it up but it's drying quickly now.  

This time tomorrow I should be camped a little west of Centennial, WY in the Medicine Bow mountains.  Will fish Libby Creek the next day. Probably 12 hours of driving tomorrow.

 8/7/25:  I'm planning on heading to SW Montana on 8/12/25.  I may spend a little time on the eastern side of the Medicine Bow mountains fishing some small streams.  Might do some antelope scouting on the western side for Brian who has a Wyoming doe tag for mid-September.

Thermopolis, WY is next to visit the Petroglyph site which is a few miles NW of town.  Geez, I went to the dinosaur/fossil museum there just last summer but was not aware there was a petroglyph site right nearby.  I've never seen them in real life.  Kind of surprising with all the running around I've done in the Rockies.

From there I'll head up into Montana and continue where I left off last summer, working on a bucket list of rivers I've always heard about but haven't fished:  Bitter Root, Clark Fork, Big Hole, Shields, Rock Creek, Jefferson, Wise, Black Foot, and various small "cricks".  It's highly unlikely I'll get to them all but I'll see where I can find a combination of good fishing and good dispersed camping.

In mid-September I plan on meeting up with Brian for his first rifle hunt for antelope in GMU 50 in Wyoming.  From there I'll either hunt for dusky grouse in the Radium Hot Springs recreation area in Colorado or go straight to Brian and Lindsay's house to see my new grandson Leif.

Getting a much later start than in previous summers.  The early summer I was on standby to go out and help with Leif who was having a difficult time.  Thankfully, his parents helped him find smoother sailing and they didn't need me to come out.   The other reason for starting later is that on previous trips I've wound up burning out after 6-8 weeks of camping and fishing before joining Brian for hunts.  In this year's plan I'll be out for 3-4 weeks before joining him.

So, the Taco is packed up, oil changed, Habitat waterproofed.  Adventure awaits come Tuesday.