Montana is a very beautiful state. WIth a non ending display of skyscapes framed against yellow grasses, blue sky and green mountains.The following pictures were taken by Rad Davis from the driveway of my house. Glenn and I were returning from Helena following the edge of a rainstorm that was moving East. Once we had gotten out of town we noticed a 360 degree rainbow was starting to form over the eastern hills .As we moved further along and into the valley, the rainbow thickened and intensified and about 1/2 way home a second smaller rainbow had also formed. I ran into the house to tell Rad and he got his camera and did the following photos:
Sometime in early Sept. ,my brother Jay and Josh Rosenblatt came out to visit of 10 days of fishing. Needless to say Rad and I had a great deal of fun showing them our favorite haunts on the Missourri River . Josh had never been to the land of big fish before and it was quite an eye opener for him. We had a particularly interesting adventure when I got us stuck in the only whirl pool in the river and couldn t get us out ! Finally after about 10 times around Rad was able to switch places with me and row us sideways out of trouble. This inspired him to write :
The Ballad of Joshua Rosenblatt
BIG BAD JOSH
Ev'ry mornin' at the river you could see him arrive
He stood six foot six and weighed two? forty five
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip
And everybody knew ya didn't give no lip to Big Josh.
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh
Nobody seemed to know where Josh called home
He just drifted into Tinsky's and stayed all alone
He didn't say much, kinda quiet and shy
And if you spoke at all, you just said "Hi" to Big Josh.
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh
Somebody said he came from Mountain Top
Where he got in a fight with a bad ass cop
And a crashin' blow from a huge right hand
Sent a Pennsylvania trooper to the Promised Land-Big Josh
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh
Then came that day down on the lower Missouri
Where a whirlpool whirled causing Tinsky to scurry
Anglers were prayin' and their hearts beat fast
And everybody thought that they'd breathed their last-'cept Josh
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh
Through the spin and the spray of this man-made hell
Sat a giant of a man that the anglers knew well
In the front of that boat not knowin' what to do,
and with Tinsky at the oars, Josh didn't say boo-Big Josh
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh
"Any recommendations?" asked Mark with a roar
Then the guide in the back yelled "Pull the left oar!"
And three men scrambled from a would-be grave
Ol' Josh never panicked, just showed he was brave-Big Josh
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh
While the guide and Tinsky went to tradin' places
Josh sat in the front and stared at their faces
When the boat broke loose and pulled away from that 'pool
Everybody knew that Josh weren't no fool-Big Josh
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh
They didn't speak for a while, they just fished a bit
Ol' Tinsky and Josh, they both missed good hits.
Said Mark as they pulled into Pelican Land
"In the front of this boat sits a BIG, BIG man"-Big Josh
(Big Josh, Big Josh) Big Bad Josh :-)
Here are some shots of me that Rad took while fishing on the lower river. The riffle is just above where I got caught in the infamous whirlpool. I believe I missed a couple fish here while Josh and Rad timidily waited in the boat:
The next couple shots chronicle a large brown I caught on a hopper just above Pelican Pt. The brown was only about 18" but weighed close to 5 pounds. Funny thing was after the fish was released another very similar to it was caught on the other side off the riffle. Pretty damn good fishing !
Josh later got on the board with this Brown
trout:
We skipped a day on the Mo. and with Glenn in tow, decided to do a little exploring and crossed the Continental Divide just NW of Helena to fish the Little Blackfoot. The water was pretty low and we only found one school of fish. We discovered approx. 400 whitefish schooled up in one of the only deep holes in the section we were in. I dont think I ve ever seen so many fish in one place in the wild! As Josh had never caught a whitefish he floated a weighted nymph thru them. I guess they weren t exactly on the feed as it was pretty much ignored on many occaisions. But Josh perservered and finally caught the only Cuthroat trout that was in the school. As he had never caught one of those he was content with it...
Later that day we came back to Helena and went to Park Lake , one of the few places where Grayling can be caught. Greyling are members of the Trout/ Salmon family. They have a wide sail for a top fin and some bluish grey coloring. Very pretty fish. Luckily we were all able to catch a couple. When we returned to the Mo. , Rad showed Josh a secret spot ,known only to Missourri Rvier guides, where he bagged his elusive Whitey..... His trip to MT now complete.
