Sweetwater holds spring schools on the Bighorn River in central Montana, and fall classes on the Yellowstone River to the west. Accommodations were very comfortable. The company had recently purchased the Royal Bighorn Club, which purportedly belonged to a bunch of guys from Denver, including John Elway. The lodge is in the Crow Nation reservation and right on the Bighorn. Tuition for the week was $2900, which included lodging, meals, virtually unlimited fly tying materials, CPR/first aid training and certification, fly tying and casting classes, and 5 days of fishing. We had extremely comfortable rooms, a large main lodge for dining and hanging out to tie flies, DirecTV, WiFi. The only downside was that the reservation was dry, which meant we had to haul in beer and distilled spirits, and when they ran out (which happened quite often), we had to make the run to Hardin, the nearest town with a liquor store.
Soon after my flight landed in Billings, I was picked up by Pat, one of the fly fishing instructors. After collecting some essentials in town (beer, Woodford, cigars), lunch, and picking up the remaining students (there were nine enrolled in this class, but the lodge can handle up to twelve students) who got in later, we headed out to the lodge, about an hour or so away. Not sure whether this part of Montana qualifies as central or eastern, but it's completely different that the western part of the state. Rolling hills dominated this area; spotted an Antelope and its fawn. As we approached the lodge we spooked a bunch of wild Pheasants, which are abundant out there (the cackling of a cock bird was a nice alarm at the lodge in the morning). Weather started out with highs in the upper 70s and mostly sunny skies, but by the end of the week temps plunged into the upper 50s (it snowed in Bozeman) with occasional rain and thunderstorms.
Saturday afternoon and evening was spent getting gear ready and chilling out. The curriculum began in earnest Sunday morning with CPR and first aid training, then in the afternoon learned how to tie flies. This was my first time at the vice. Have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive, having been dependant on Mary tied flies for the last couple of years. But, as it turned out, with expert instruction by the guides, I was able to crank out a dozen or so bugs in a few hours.
We tied flies that we'd use on the Bighorn; scuds, sow bugs, wire worms, Griffith's Gnats, and streamers. Of course, a craft beer or two as I tied help keep my focus.
From Monday-on we spent most of our days on the river. We normally had three students and one guide-instructor in a Clack-a-Craft drift boat. We'd start about 12 miles up from the lodge, putting the boats in the water around 9:30 in the morning, and completing the drift around 5 in the afternoon.
While the Bighorn is one of the famous fisheries in Montana, and we did fish, it's not really vacation. While it may not be fly fishing boot camp, the purpose of the school is to learn the ropes of being a guide. Students were essentially instructors in training. And, as an entry level position as a guide usually means a lot of chores in the fly shop or at the resort, we were responsible for things like kitchen duty, filling and cleaning the instructors coolers, and rinsing out the guide boats at the end of the day, When on the water, we'd coach fellow students in the boat, and even took a few turns rowing and maneuvering the drift boat. And, as the river can get crowded, rowing requires as much technique as it does brute force.
The Bighorn is a tailwater, which means that it's dam-fed, which permits water temps to stay trout-friendly year round. Flies for the river mimic those used on spring creeks, such as sow bugs and scuds. But flies like pheasant tails, hare's ears, and BWO nymphs/dries also work well. And you don't want to be in the boat without some streamers. Since this was my first time on the river, I didn't have a way to gauge the fishing. As I said, we drifted for the most part, although there were some decent spots to get out and wade. Plus, the river was kind of high and moving fast. Although I saw rising fish on two afternoons, they ignored my BWO and Griffiths Gnat imitations. So we nymphed heavily weighted tandem rigs on 14-15 foot leaders, with strike indicators near the butt section of the leader. Once you get used to chucking so much weight, the casting itself wasn't too difficult, as you're not putting the flies more than 15-20 feet from the boat, if not closer. From there it's just line control and mending to keep the flies from dragging. What is difficult is determining the difference between the rig ticking on the bottom and a strike. What we learned early on is best summed up by the instructors: there's no limits on sets.
So, while this kind of fishing can become somewhat tedious, there were enough opportunities when a set meant a fish was on, sometimes resulting in a miss, or a lost fish, but on a few occasions brought some beautiful trout to the net.
I really didn't keep a count, but think I netted about a dozen trout over the course of the week, as well as a few suckers, all but one on nymphs. The last day of the school I picked up a decent Brownie on a tandem rig of an olive articulated streamer with one of Mary's white Woolly Buggers.
Not all of the fishing was on the river. Steve Wilson, one of the guide-instructors, and also the director of ops at the lodge, took groups of students up to Bighorn reservoir, a gorgeous dammed-up canyon that feeds the Bighorn. The idea is to expose students interested in guiding in Alaska to jet boat driving and troubleshooting, and also to get some fishing for smallmouth in as well.
The week went by fast. On Saturday we all got exit interviews, received our CPR/first aid cards, and school completion certificates. From there we departed back to Billings, as the staff had to get the lodge ready for another group of students. I couldn't get a flight to Buffalo that late on Saturday, so I checked into the Doubletree (the tallest building in Billings), and checked out some of the microbreweries in town.
It was an absolutely great experience. And key to the experience was our instructors. You'd expect Montana guides to be river hounds, and Pat, Alex and Steve were just that. They knew the river, and knew where the fish were. More important to me, though, was their attitude. As we floated, I watched the other guides, many of them older gents, and their clients on the river. In almost every case, the guides all seemed kind of curmudgeonly. Even the clients didn't seem to be having that much fun. Our instructors, on the other hand, had the attitude that you want in a guide. They were genuinely excited about being on the water, fishing, and instructing. And even when we were at the lodge, they were available to work on flies and knots.
Don't let appearances fool you. These cats are the future of fly fishing, and in my mind the future is pretty damn bright. You don't have to be an experienced angler to attend the guide school, or even aspire to be a guide. If you're a newbie, you're going to get fantastic instruction on every aspect of fly fishing. And even if you're experienced, the instructors will more than likely help you tweak your game, all while experiencing some great Montana fishing.
Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing
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