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Well we finally got our Smith River permit this year and we got one of the best times to go or so we thought. The river is super high. The ranger said it was the highest in 15 years. So the fishing was pretty slow. I only caught 12 in five days. It rained most of the day Tuesday and basically all day Wed and Thursday. We cut short our trip by one day because someone in our group got pretty sick. I was kinda glad because my tent was soaked by Thursday. We floated 59 miles in 5 days. It was a beautiful float down. The current was about 8 mph so you didn't have to row too much. I am attaching some photos. Also some of the photos will show how much it rained! But in the end, it sure is better to be in Montana fishing than to be at work!
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Looks like a great trip even if the weather did not cooperate... and those fish look great...
MacFly
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SO jealous Gibby. If the water wasn't high, I am betting the fishing in that weather would have been fantastic.
I am glad to see one of the rowers was smart enough to come in out of the rain.(the bimini on one of the boats)
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Yeah, he has a nice set up. It is too bad the river was so high. I found the flys they were hitting on too. I was catching them on black egg sucking leeches and san juan worms and purple prince nymphs. We still had a blast!
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The SJW is always one of my go to's on high water or after a storm, because you KNOW they are in there rolling on down the river.
What color out of curiosity.
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But the egg sucking leech worked the best. That thing was money. Basically a black wholly bugger with a plastic bead at the top.
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That trip looked awesome, to bad the water was high. Nice fish though
B
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Sweet------ both my draws ended up with too low of water and cancelled trips.
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If you don't mind me asking, what dates did you draw so if i ever do it again I can be more selective. Of course every year is different due to the runoff.
Thanks
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I had the 2nd week of July on one and the 3rd week of July on the other- they were drought years-
I then watched the snow charts after that- would have been right if I had drawn out by them but didn't.
Maybe next year.
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We had "a lot" of rain this year! May and June are the "raining season". Still looks like a fun trip. I have yet to do the Smith...but will soon! Great pics and I'm sure you had fun...love the bimini's! [cool]
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