Missouri Spring Fling!

The Missouri river is the longest river in the United States. Three famous fly fishing rivers come together to form the MO' in Montana. The town of Craig Montana is truly a fly-fishing Mecca. There are three fly shops, a bar, and a restaurant. No gas station, no post office, no church. Just the river and fishing. The river there is like fishing a giant spring creek and because of its depth in places is best fished from a boat. I don't usually fish very big rivers but I make a pilgrimage to the MO' every spring. It's a great place for an amateur oarsman as there are little to no obstacles to get in the way. The wild Rainbows drop out of the smaller tributaries in early May, hungry from their spawn and take flies with abandon. The Browns who were used to having the place to themselves are suddenly fighting for space and become very aggressive. The amazing thing about the river is the power of the fish. It is hard to find small ones and the average size fish seems to have more power than the steelhead we catch here that are twice the size. My favorite thing to do on the MO' is what the locals call "headhunting". Slowly slipping down the edge of the river looking for a rise form. When one is spotted, the oarsman backs up the boat and you wait to see the fish rise again. If it does the anchor is dropped and the bow fisher "feeds" dry flies down to the fish, sometimes working the fish for as much as half an hour. It always takes a few days to get used to this kind of fishing for me, but after a little while it feels like I can just make the fish jump into the boat......