Jake on the oars.
Last week Jake, his friend Winston, and I made the hop over to the Paradise Valley for some time on the Yellowstone. Bozeman has been experiencing true August doldrums and, despite the heat, we were happy to get the cataraft out and wet a line.
The morning started early – 0530h – and pleasantly cool. Nothing like a cool mountain summer morning in the 50s. By mid-afternoon the sun was at full crest and the heat was on. A ‘red flag’ warning was posted; for those not in the know this is a wind warning and translates into a very windy day on the water.
The downside of the cataraft is that in windy conditions it functions less as a fishing rig and more as a large sail.
Afternoon break on the Yellowstone.
That said, nine hours later we emerged at the takeout, sunburned and hot. Fishing had been slow but a few fish were brought to boat and we all agreed that in the end fish count really didn’t matter. We had just spent a day floating one of the most pristine rivers in the West.
Not a bad day at all.
Tags: Rivers
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