Big Timber, MT

Friday, September 8

We woke up early for a day of fly fishing on the Yellowstone River. Andi arranged for a guide to take us out for a half-day in his drift boat. He’s worked with several guides in this area for photo shoots, so it was fun for Andi to come back and “play” in Montana.

Andi made us all a big breakfast — eggs, sautéed zucchini, and local North Dakota breakfast sausage we picked up near Medora on our drive yesterday. He also packed a cooler for a picnic lunch on the water — deli turkey, salami, cheese, crackers, hummus, and a bag of Grandpa Jim’s carrots. (Thanks Jim, they were delicious!)

Since we were camping on the river at a fishing access point (aka: boat landing), the fishing guide planned to pick us up at our campsite that morning. We’d then drive in his truck to another fishing access point up the river and then float back down to our campsite at Otter Creek to end our half-day float trip.

While we waited for Doug from Big Timer Fly Fishing to arrive, Andi flew his drone over our campsite on the Yellowstone River. It was a rainy, overcast morning. Up until yesterday, it’d been in the 90’s in this area of Montana and there hadn’t been any rain in over a month. A cold front moved in last night and temperatures dropped down into the 50’s.

Doug from Big Timber Fly Fishing arrived at 8:45am. After quick introductions, we let him know we were a family of inexperienced fly fisherman. Andi had fly fished a few times before; the kids and I never have. So, Doug took the fly off one of the rods and taught me how to cast in the open field beside our camper. “Take everything you’ve ever learned about fishing and forget it,” he said. “Think of fly fishing like painting the sky.”

Next, we hopped into his pickup truck and drove up the river to another landing. He dropped his boat into the water and then we all piled in — Tory and I sat in the front of the drift boat, Doug paddling in the middle, and Andi and Aden in the back of the boat.

It took me a bit to figure out how to cast correctly. I was also having a really hard time seeing the fly on the water on this overcast day, so Doug switched my fly out to a nymph with a bobber. That helped a ton! We stopped farther down on the bank of the river to practice more casting. The fish were not interested in eating after the recent change in weather pattern, but, we kept trying …

As the morning went on, I started to get the hang of fly fishing (even with two kids sitting around me). Doug said he was impressed with my modified casting skills. He couldn’t get over the kids climbing around me while I was trying to fish. “That’s mom life, Doug,” I told him.

Andi wasn’t having any luck fishing either, despite actually having some skill. Doug tried every trick up his sleeve — switching flys, etc. — but the fish just weren’t biting. Sometimes I had to remind myself to look up from staring at the water once in a while to take in our beautiful surroundings on the Yellowstone River!

Doug found a good spot to anchor the boat on shore, and we all hopped off to stretch our legs and eat a quick lunch. Doug took the kids on a agate hunting mission around the beach which our rock-loving girlie loved! They also discovered a few pieces of petrified wood which was really neat.

Tory wanted to learn to fly fish, so Doug gave her a quick lesson. She picked it up quickly! There’s a bit of a timing sequence to it — back, wait, cast. Tory did great.

After that, I had to fight Tory for the fishing rod in the boat. She wanted to fish the rest of the time.

Temperatures started to warm up into the low 60’s and the sun peeked out of the clouds a few times. That made a big difference and we started to get a few nibbles on our lines. Unfortunately, we’d floated back to camp by that point and our fishing excursion was over. We didn’t catch any fish. Bummer! But, we still had a fun time on the water.

We came back to the RV just in time. A big storm cloud moved in and about 30 minutes later, it started dumping rain. Aden, Tory and I were snug as a bug in the RV doing school while Andi prepped dinner for later this evening. The kids were so taken with their fly fishing experience, they drew a nice picture for Doug of our fishing adventure. We’ll mail it to him with a thank you card.

Around 7:00pm, Andi’s friend George, who is a local fishing guide in Big Timber, came over for dinner at our camp. George and Andi have worked together on photo shoots for many years. Andi grilled pork chops and red potatoes for dinner with steamed green beans. We sat underneath the awning of the RV and ate dinner while the rain poured down around us.

Tory and Aden kept themselves busy collecting sticks by the river to “build” us a fire. Sometimes on gorgeous sunny days, I can’t get them outside to save my life but on a chilly, rainy evening they were having the time of their lives playing outdoors.

After dinner, we stood around the fire and talked with George between breaks in the rain. It was super muddy at our campsite after all the rain today.

Andi and I cleaned up dinner after George left, and put the kids to bed around 9:00pm. We had a great day in Big Timber! Our first full day in Montana.