Sunday Greetings, all on this "Hump Day" for E-10 (the day on which half of this year's Extravaganza is in the record books and half has yet to be recorded):
Group Two arrived in belated style (it seems that, unlike Group One whose every arriving flight was on time, every Group Two incoming flight [from Orlando, Louisville, Denver, San Francisco and Salt Lake City!] was delayed), in true Tattoo style, with the inimical Lori Ware going up and down the aisle of the SLC-MSO leg of her trip tattooing with her self-created Rockin' C tattoos, laying them on everyone that looked like an Extravaganzer [with one errantly marked returning military veteran asking his seatmate, Doug "Popeye" Hamilton, "just what type of a cult have I involuntarily been initiated into?"].
And, with so many returning veterans in Group Two it truly was like a homecoming with, as shown above, Brian "Deer Me" McLeran being reunited with one of the Hooters beauties that visited him in his post-E-09 hospital room after he attempted "catch and release hunting" with a deer doing 60 mph--fortunately, he survived to tell it all but, alas, the deer did not, and, soon thereafter, the guide gag gifts of Lori "The Fawn" Ware and "Shanna Banana Rogers ["The Two Beavers] presenting their monogrammed gag gift of two beavers to their guide Evan "Beaver Man" Philippe, and, then, yes, the fishing activities of Group Two.
Fishing this year has been one week delayed both performance and weather-wise for our first two groups. Group One saw the remnants of a wet (as in "very wet") spring deliver high but very fishable waters (as earlier reported, The Ones landed an Extravaganza record number of (very) large browns while Group Two on Day One saw the "transition day" that normally greets Group One--the day in which the rivers do a major shift from wetter spring fishing to drier and hotter summer fishing. As a result (as with every fishing transition day), the overall fishing was "tougher" with technical proficiency meeting rewards and rookie-itus being met with greater opportunities on this, Day Two, after a (partially) night-long reliving of their casting, mending and setting lessons.
Witness the rookie boat of "Still Will" Burke and Tom "Canadian Dollar" Pogue (it seems that he came to us from his now native Canada with only Canadian dollars in his pocket--try that out for a successful guide tip!) who launched with RCR and Bruce the Builder (accompanied by trusty E-10 co-mascot Ma'am [shown above in the last picture retrieving a large brown from the Bitterroot] where the former had a day of invaluable casting lessons and the latter had a 15+ fish day sprinkled with two doubles (one shown above with Bruce the Builder's 19" brown on the right with RCR's smaller 18" rainbow on the left) and multiple rainbows, a la the single shown above. It seems that the largest catch of the rookie boat was that of "Still Will" himself, who somehow was left behind ashore after a (well-earned) potty break...hence his now extravagant new handle!
Other Bitterrooters included the boats of (a) rookies Duane "Colorado" Primozich and T.J. McIntyre (the latter being far too much of a ghostly unknown to have even earned his Extravaganza name) whose boat sported a gaggle of fish highlighted by a 17 !/2" bow; (b) that of Ken & Candy Deemer (Ibid) whose best catch, apparently, was Candy's $40 winnings at the Bunk House's Texas Hold "Em poker game the night before (the McLeran Brothers having been suckered in by Candy's doleful asking, ""Just how do you play this game...I've never played before?!?) matched by Hubby Ken's 18 incher on the water the next day [and, speaking of the McLeran Bros, they spanked over 15 Root fish "without a measuring tape" but with the largest of the bunch being Ralph's beauty "somewhere in the 14 inch range" {read "12 inches"}]; (c) of rookieites Joe "Da Dish King" Samillano and his bride Tracie "Sue" [because I have errantly so named her all Two-- that being the unknown-to-me name of her mother and, hence, now hers while here in Montana] who ventured way up to the upper reaches of the West Fork of the Root to pridefully report of a 15 fish day with a 15" incher being the largest {notice the symmetry of it all?!?}; (d) veteran Tom "Sockeye" Thornhill and his rookie bride Melissa who spoke be lovingly of a productive day highlighted by a brideful 17" brown--her first landed fish ever!; and (e) deservingly so, lastly, the besmirched vessel of rookies Paul "Woodchuck" Green (yes, there is a story there!) and Dean "Follow Me" Donogue (Ibid) who boasted first fish each and (winningly) the honor of being the last boat in to pick up the $365 Hooter's bar tab, thereafter bestowing on each the Honorary Miz Lori Group Two Whine Dye kerchief awards for their bemoaning the (alleged) facts that (i) they were really in Hooters before 6:00 p.m., (ii) they "were late" because they had to stop by Kesel's to "pick up something" [they rode in with me, folks!] and (iii) it was really before 6:00 p.m. when they had arrived in Hooters...nice try, whiners!
With the plurality of our Group Two boats going to the Bitterroot (in the wake of the beaming success of the Ignoble Ones), the balance sauntered up to the Blackfoot in the wake of hearing of Group One's John "Half Centurion" Kruger's now E-10 legendary battle with "a 30+ inch bull trout" with (very) mixed results. As so often happens, two boats will put in on one section of the river...one will light up the scoreboard, the other will just watch the lights. Such was the case with the boats of Fred "The Guitar" Johnson (who fished solo on Day One) and that of father-son combo Doug "Popeye" Hamilton and his son "Fire Pit Ryan"--The Guitar lit up the lights with approaching 20 fish (the largest being his Yellow Hat awarding 19 1/4" bull trout) and the watchers succeeding mainly to (literally) lasso each other and their bewildered guide, Popeye philosophically reporting to the assembled Twos at the nightly Boat Report that, reflecting back on the day, "the scenery was excellent." Orlandans Bobby and Kelley Kingsland likewise ventured onto the legendary Big Blackfoot to join Popeye in their day's end comments only to be contrasted (in, literally, every sense of the word(s)) by the "Beaver Boat" of Lori "The Fawn" Ware and "Shanna Banana" Rogers who guided their guide down the Blackfoot with one of their above-shown mascots bungee-tied to the back of their raft only to see Ms. Lori, among their 14 fish catch, earn a Yellow Hat for her "grand slam" of landing a bull trout, a rainbow, a brown and a cutthroat all in a single day.
So, there you have it, gang, Group Two, Day One...all together a wonderful but tougher fishing day...as the weather goes into transition mode here, those to follow will benefit, so sharpen up those fishing tactics Group Three-ers, as the table is now being set for your early July feast. It will be interesting to see how Da Tattoos do on the water today--something that I will report on to all in the morn.
Best to all from the warming scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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