6 degrees of separation

That's one of my friend Curt's favorite sayings, of course it makes sense to him as it seems to me that he knows about half the people in the world and at the very  least half the people in Montana.  He knows a lot of people, but me I just rely on dumb luck and the randomness of life to find our connections to the planet. So Elliston Montana a mere 22 miles from here is becoming a favorite place of ours. It's just a small railroad town, one bar, one gas station with one pump and the funkiest little target golf course you've ever seen called Blackfoot Meadows as it's right on the banks of the Blackfoot River. We stop and get our water jugs full of the best spring water in the west first. We kinda avoid the chemical treated city water here in Montana.

Then it's off the golf course where we had a credit coming after we were chased off the course last fall by the fattest Black Bear we've ever seen. The place is always quiet and always gorgeous . Maybe three acres of tees and greens all rolled into one. I carry a pitching wedge, a 5 iron for the chip and run and of course a putter. 

You'd think that a guy with years of blogging under his hat and hundreds of pictures taken would learn to keep his thumb and golf clubs out of the foreground....but nope...I'm still learning. Here's a pic of the course and the clubhouse where they had bug juice for us and an honor system pay box like we had at Stewart's Landing where we learned that the honor system works well....if you monitor it .

Then it's to the tavern for cold cerveza . We walk in and I tell everybody I finally broke 100. I'm kind of a roving ambassador for Alaska, for fishing , for fun and of course for myself. So it's no wonder 
Alaska fishing comes up and we meet Rhonda Webster who is Mindy Payne's aunt who runs Widespread Charters with her husband Ruben in Soldotna on the world famous. Mindy's dad Jeff is also a retiree from life on the river and well we just had a wonderful chat . They're all friends of ours so if any of you fishermen who were orphaned when me and MP retired these guys know the way and so here's the link to the adventure , great friends.....widespreadfishing.com , here's a pic of MP and Rhonda.

Back in the mid 70's I met a guy named Al Antilla who was playing country music at Honey's in East Helena. Al was from Elliston and I always remembered that when I met his brother Bob who was the yard manager at Spenard Building Supply in Soldotna Alaska. Bob was a wonderful friend and his office was right next to the warehouse portion of the store that was the first building project I worked on with Wayne Passe Construction in 1977. The building had flat top bearing commercial trusses which finally gave out last year when the snow load collapsed the building...how's that for connectivity ?  There are still Antilla's in Elliston of course and I hope someday I can sing them a country song like Al always did.  Maybe a song like this , in one of my favorite movies Mac Sledge sang about redemption 40 years ago , Tender Mercies .

So as we strato cruise along we ran into these young guys filling up with gas in Townsend Montana. I was so excited, the human spirit at work.  I asked the young guy how far they ride those things as they were in leathers etc. Well, they have a traveling club and had been to the east coast, Hatteras North Carolina and then into Canada and then Montana on their way home to Medford Oregon....Well, it took me back to the days when I got in a Volkswagen Beetle by myself and drove into the future. How cool, the scooters are 300 c.c. and get 150 miles per fill up AND they never ever drove on an interstate highway. Back roads are good roads. Carry on young man !

mmmm....and in the We're still Alaskan's category.....MP's got all these birds she loves and takes care of.  We bird watch, now with my new hearing aids we  ' bird listen ' . Maybe it's a sign of appreciation and coming of age but we like birds. So as we walked the other day the conversation fell on birds. We talked about our favorite, the Stellar Jay with it's huge personality and aggressive survival ways...and they're kinda social. We see Blue Jays but they ain't the same sooooooooo.....MP built us one. Jeez, that's amazing. 💚

Ahem,,,,ya know Kenai guide #003 , father of two wonders, a guy with 250 songs , who's disappointed as well as  uplifted and is crazy about Mary Patricia Brown is turning 70 years old in a few short days. Mmmmm, that's  a big number that I intend to increase, so come back to the ol Mile 14 soon and I'll do a list of the things.....70 brings 😎

 

It's like one huge golf course...

And I mean huge !  That right there is a typical windshield view of North Eastern Montana. You see me and MPeasy have a map of our new State that we highlight the roads we've traveled with a goal of seeing the entire State.  So, in between rain storms we did a 3 day 1,000 mile adventure to hike at Makoshika State Park in Glendive Montana ( I saw this stunning geography on Sunday morning television )  and then up to Fort Peck Reservoir to see the country that MP's grandparents homesteaded on and lost to the government when the Lake was flooded in the early 1930's and get a feel for how they lived, what they saw and who what their neighbors might have been like. And then we wanted to drive Highway 2 from Wolf Point to Havre with a stop at Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs near Malta. 

The rock formations at Makoshika are amazing. Of course it was raining and the lady at the check in station told us to use our poles as the rattle snakes were the worst ever...yikes.... I didn't much like that part. But we got our hike in with me grumbling along about snakes. Then we retreated to Glendive as MP perused the 2nd hand store I walked into a music store .

What a surprise and the highlight of the trip for retired guide 003. This place had a as many guitars as any Guitar Center Franchise I've ever been in, for a music hound like me this was huge...but MP finally found me and we discovered the second room with a full sized Tyrannosaurus rex replica . We were astounded . This place is the coolest ever so stop and see it, buy a  t shirt. Guitars, comics, candy....AND as I talked with the owner about how he ended up in Glendive Montana and he showed me the new PRS SE with an acoustic Piezo pickup with two output jacks a guy walks in and says hi who is depicted on the shirt, it was Ron Thral who plays the double neck guitar for Guns and Roses . .The two of them were searching for a slower life so I congratulated them and off we went with a wonderful brush with stardom. 

With the record rains Montana has experienced everywhere it is incredibly green. Fort Peck is gorgeous and huge . MP chatted with some other descendants of the area as I took pictures. The two brothers were city folks who came up for a cousins reunion. There grandfather had worked on the Dam and they shared stories as we gazed on the project from a viewpoint that had a memorial for the dozens of men killed in construction. I loved the story of MP's relative swimming the mail across the river before construction.....I guess I'm just not a good enough writer to tell you how we felt as we drove off but I can tell you it was unusually long and quiet for me and MP.

All over the ' High Line ' as they call it you come across scenes like these. Most of the little towns once active main streets are shuttered and I wondered why, where'd the people go ? Why ? How does one town have a vital commercial are, small but successful and the next town is all shut down ?....How does that happen.  Here's Saco .

I guess every town starts out with big dreams....it's going to be a city someday .  Towns have these 100 year old buildings like this Bank in Big Sandy that now looks a bit out of place and  has a Real Estate office in it....The Visitor and Cultural center reminds me of a Pawn Shop in the inner city somewhere, strange .

Half way to Alaska on the Alcan highway is Laird River Hot Springs . I tell people it's like the lord put it there for car sore travelers. Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs outside of Malta is no different. Don't drive by without stopping. It's 3 pools are hot, clean and the friendliest staff ever , they're glad to see you and we're glad to see them.

And seeings how I'm passing out endorsements like I was making money from it I gotta give a nod to Ma's World Famous Diner is Loma .  It's owned by a Mexican Lady from Hermisillo so I had authentic Rancheros . Amongst all the cool fish mounts and memorabilia I spot this fish . Yup, and honest to goodness Kenai King Salmon right here in the heart of Montana....I'm feeling connected like I often do. We spotted their billboard up the road around Box Elder and when it said World Famous we agreed we were stopping. As we chatted in the cafe I told them you can't be world famous unless you think you are....

Now you've read through this so far and thank you....but you're probably wondering where the rest of the fish are....Well, I found them at yet again another fantastic State Park in Great Falls called The Giant Springs. Cold clear water creates the worlds shortest river as it merges with the mighty MO. The fish Hatchery has these huge Rainbows that I assumedare the Brood stock as  I know a little bit about old slimey. Well I'm told they're ' show fish '....So you got a place with 20 miles of riverside trails, birds and wildlife and Show Fish...did I mention it's all free ?....what a place.

I can't help but notice that Mile 14 has hit a milestone , 1/4 of a million reads . Wow, all I can say is mucho gracias for letting me share this trip around the sun with you. I'll keep the faith and as I said earlier I see it evolving like most things in life to something it didn't start out to be...the natural order of things at work here at Mile 14....

Humbled

 

Yup, I'm humbled by the fishing here in Mooontana. It's bad enough that ol slimey is way harder to catch than I had thought but the rules and regs are about as confusing as it is on the world famous.  I've always, well mostly always , been a rules guy so you can imagine my heart rate the other day when I had this conversation with a Park Ranger while putting the boat on the trailer....you know how I feel about Park Rangers.....

Him....well do I have to get my ticket book out ?

Me...I doubt it, we only caught a couple Walleyes but that darn lake is chuck full of Perch .

Him...You didn't keep any Perch did you ?

( Now this guy must have not have done so well in the interrogation class at the academy because he kinda showed  his  hand and I had the feeling ) sooo I said....

Me....keep them, why would anybody keep them when they're the size of the Angel Fish in my aquarium ?

Him...Well that's a good thing because this is the only Lake you can't keep them until July 1st. 

mmmmmm....well with June 1 right around the corner and having promised some new Team Xers that we'd have an all you can eat Walleye feed before that date and figuring nobody could tell the difference we had some gorgeous Perch....Yikes....and we still don't have enough for the much awaited Walleye feed. Here's pic of MPeasy with her first ever Walleye, may the fish gods grant you more and larger baby.

At one point I was busy trying to tie this new fangled invisible line that I've been told to use and I glance up an MP's rod is hammered down with a Walleye bottom bouncer rig on it . Of course it got off but we now know the big uns exist . She kinda knows there's more to the trip than catching, after all we're the poster kids for  ' the joy is in the pursuit ' movement. She saw a Taniger and although that ain't a Grizzly Bear or a Mountain Lion it's a pretty big deal.

So she's looking in the trees.  Me, I'm looking at boats and fisherman. I'm wondering why this guy is in the middle of the Lake and how fast he's trolling and what's he towing and at what depth. And of course a boat in the high country of Montana is a beautiful thing even if he is running an old smokey two stroke.

So, I got the right depth . I can see the targets . I'm up early . Got nice fresh leeches , my first experience with those babies and they're about half disgusting, really slimey...AND  the rod goes off ! It feels like a...dare I think a large Wally finally ?.....nope, just another normal trout . Ain't know way this helps. It's absolutely impossible for even the most convincing expert pescador to succeed in telling people it's a red meat Walleye....kinda like the fabled White King...I could of  came through in the clutch if I'd offered an all you can eat trout fry.  But who wants to go to that ?

So any of you that were waiting on the Fish fry, it's been rescheduled for August 1st . If we need to we'll import some semi fresh salmon which will be a substitute people will like and I'll of course have crow on the menu for myself.  And to my buddy and mentor that told me " find the Perch and you'll find the Walleye " all I can say is thank you so much for damn near getting me my first and only ever fishing violation . 

FTF

 Of course that's an acronym for what the current CEO, morale and recruiting officer at Team X has decided will be our new motto. Fish through Friends or Friends through Fish , whichever floats your boat ... and that's what it's all about. In fact I'm thinking we'll slowly but surely evolve Mile 14 into a Team X resource and try to grow our brand of geographically and culturally diverse team of fishing friends. I even have a logo in mind.....You guys will want a shirt .

And why....?  Well., I had a bit of a catharsis in my fishing life lately.  I was at a Cinco De Mayo get together the other day and was introduced to a well known fly fisherman who regaled me with the difference between fishing for Montana trout with terrestrials and fishing for Alaska trout with beads and , ugh, even plugs . In the conversation I asked him what his favorite place to fish in beautiful Montana was and....mmmm....well it got real quiet real fast , I was told he doesn't tell people where he fishes. I didn't ask him where he caught the most or where he was going tomorrow, I asked what his favorite place was. So Mike all I can tell you is this....you're one of the few ( out of thousands ) of fishermen I've met with a me and me only attitude so you're gonna have to go to prep school to get that coveted Team X invite . In short it goes like this....we are ALL about the furtherance of this thing that brings us all so much joy. We strive to see all fishermen catch fish, we don't keep secrets, we enjoy seeing you Mike catch a fish as much as we enjoy catching one ourselves, maybe more......So Mike , try to be like this guy .

Me and ol K.L. there spent our first winter together in Mazatlan . When we weren't passing the day talking of books and Mexico fishing he took me under wing and steered the course for my new pursuit of Walleyes on Montana's beautiful Lakes. He made lists of tackle for me , he explained the spawn and where to look, knots, flurocarbon or braid , bait and best of all how to catch them for fun by jigging. I showed and told him I had plenty of tackle from guiding a lifetime in Alaska and he told me that I had two major problems... all of my stuff is to big and I don't know a thing about what I'm doing. So, shopping and Team X emeritus Ernie Mills fixed that with his generous donation of plugs and blades and, well just so much cool tackle and then K.L. fixed the later with patience and interest in my fishing. Mucho Gracias. Here's the first Walleye I ever jig fished two days ago. I missed two good bites before on the third I waited for the flutter on the down drop and set without feeling pressure like I've learned to do....magic is all I can say.

I'm a Shimano and Daiwa guy. K.L. told me that 2500 size was about right and he too is into Shimano. So I settled on the Daiwa Regal because I remembered how smooth one was that I bought years ago and they're mid price with 8 bearings. I kinda figured for these fish smoothness was better than durability because unlike a Silver salmon they ain't gonna smoke drag and wear out your rollers etc. I put them on the 7' fast action Shakespeares that I used in Alaska and it's a sweet system that I could finally feel the bottom with . And I traded the Power Pro braid I love for the recommended 8 lb P-Line Flurocarbon ....out with the old, in with the new...anybody need a half dozen 4 and 5000 size Stradics with 20 lb braid  ?

So I got myself about 5 Plano boxes that are chucked full, a thing of beauty . I found me an old Canada 

Dry wood crate that they fit into perfectly   and thanks to K.L. I now the difference between a Flicker Shad and an X Rap all the way down to the use of Lindy rigs and Slow Death hooks, and oh, you gotta have it all in different sizes as well. And slip boobers, out with the Styrofoam red ones that could float a Volkswagon and in with the nice yellow wood ones that look like they could be hand carved.

Even Keith Holtan all the way from Alaska pitched in with the Skinny on these whirly bird jig thinga ma jigs that he said would help in stained water like we have now from spring run off....And I'm still wondering how he had intel on the Walleye bite in Lake Helena but hey...that's the way Team X works !

Being an ol Salmon guy I'm a big believer is scents . Now I know they don't call them Walleyes for nothing as they hunt with their exceptional vision but a good shot of Anise smell or maybe some Berkeley Gulp can't hurt eh ? And yes Phil, I'm still buying Pro Cure products although next time I see ya I gotta ask about that ' water soluble '  deal on the label of my anise spray.

And I got my connectors and beads all organized so you're not floundering around in a tackle box looking for an assortment laying on the bottom.....and then my rubber.....and more plugs ...and I'm thinking I need a few more .....well, we'll see as move along on Walleye hunt 2023. Did I tell you I announced an all you can eat Walleye feed before a June 1st....I love pressure , made a living getting used to it on everyday of fishing.

So thanks to K.L for the expert ( a friend told me once that an ex is has been and a spert is drip under pressure ) help and guidance. It takes village. Keith in Alaska, Marty at the Hardware store , Ben who showed me the needle trick, Willie that sends me links to tackle deals , the guy in the beautiful Lund yesterday that told me I was trolling to fast, Todd at Elk Mountain who told me where to find Pike....just everybody , thank you ! And Mike, I'm not saying you won't make the team, in fact we might need you as a kind of interpreter for some of the weirdness we bump into from time to time here in Montana....All I'm saying is this : to quote Team Xer Jacques Lizin from Arville Belgium " Think about it ! "

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April showers bring more showers

 Or so it seems around here.  As I type this thunderheads are building over the mountains and more snow / rain / is on the way.  Kinda slowed down the adventurous life here at Mile 14 and not much to write about until now...I was at the lake this morning at sun up like I like to do . Had my hearing aids in and it's one thing they really do for me, in a quiet setting I can hear the birds and the splashes of the fish and well, it's just great. I felt good. It might not be a 35 pound early May Kenai King but for me, right now this fish was great, my first of the new season..

I'm pretty sure that the one that bit the tail off my swimfish was bigger...guess it had to be. But we're off and it's a start . I'll be on the big water in the next few days and after spending the winter in Walleye school I'm confident we're gonna be eating Walleyes. A strange local fishing report landed in my text messages yesterday. Keith in Alaska sent pics from a friend who had many nice Walleyes on Lake Helena just yesterday, he even included a pic of the lure. Thank you Grasshopper !  But. it puts me in a predicament , Lake Helena is farm field fed and so full of chemicals that there are warning signs about the bloom and harmful effects.....never mind that the water is so thick that I see it clogging the cooling system on the beautiful Merc outboard I just bought.   So, I gotta give Lake Helena a pass, it's just too strange and new to me, we'll fish the Walleyes where the waters clean . Here's the view this morning from the lake. I saw two different Osprey dive and catch a Bass like the one I caught and I spooked a big ol Blue Heron into the air, or did he spook me ?

And how about this sunrise from the house. It's what made me the morning person that I am.

We fell in love with this house at first sight. It had it all, corner lot, privacy , upper west side , no stairs, expansive views...but we kinda glossed over that it had only one large garage and no place for my truck and boat. so after a year of massaging all the options and out of  concern from all these thunder storms with hail etc. I ordered and built a carport for the old white truck I love. MP and I hauled in gravel and leveled the pad. ( she shovels just like a guy ) 

Then we built the frame and took a few days off to get over those sore muscles. Then we set up scaffolding and the hardest day of all was moving the scaffold and driving several hundred self tapers into the roofing. And we ended up with this, problem solved.

So with the chores, well some of them , we're ready for summer. Hope you come back to Mile 14. We're gonna do a cash recovery trip to Jackpot Nevada real soon. Catch enough Walleyes by June first to have that fish feed I promised and who know....adventure.....How's about a song ?  I used to sing this for all the little kids we love 35 years ago or so and it was a favorite . I was going to facebook it for them and forgot so.....I guess it's little apropos, a song about aging, moving on, changes.

 

Freeze Out Lakes

 We figured out real quick how that place got it's name. This place 103 miles from Helena and is ground zero to see the migration habits of thousands and I mean thousands of waterfowl and birds in general. Since re entry from Mexico I've been freezing , the locals say spring is 2 or 3 weeks behind usual....bad luck. This morning as I shot these pics it  was 28 degrees with a 20 mph wind. As I fumbled with a camera we met a couple of retired educators from Alaska who new my nephew in law and basically told me to quit sniveling about the cold....after all, we're ahead of Alaska in the spring department . 

So needing an adventure badly we leave the house an hour before sunrise after rolling out of the sack at 5 a.m.. We stop at the Town Pump for our favorite breakfast sandwiches and witness the early morning crowd at the store.....well, a guy with a cowboy hat and a side arm was looking out for everybody.  We get to the Freeze Out Lake waterfowl management area and pull up to the kiosk to get the handout info and walla , our first bird ,we see this guy froze to the ground steps away from the kiosk. Weird.

So we park where several people with those Spots Illustrated kind of camera lenses are set up and we find out yesterday was the day, 80,000 birds were there. We also found out that they fly north or into the fields to eat at sunrise so you need to be there on time. Now I'm a research guy and my friend John told me to go early but I shoulda asked  what he means by early. So, we missed the bite by a day and then the mini bite by an hour....but the good news was the lazy ones or the one that were just as cold as us were still around.

Naturally the wild life photographers were impressed with my equipment. This old Minolta second gen digital camera has been with me since 1998. I explain to a guy that it has great telephoto and because it's only 3.2 mega pixel I don't have to manipulate anything to print Mile !4... AND it has an actual look through view finder for aim and shoot which works out in about 10 % of your shots. And yes that stuff you see on the handle of the camera is Pro Cure from Kenai River fish bait... I've been gone going now 3 years and I think I finally don't have any Pro Cure stains on my body or especially in my hair, the stuff is like radiation, you can't get rid of it.

So we drive on with more hot coffee and come across this scene . I say ' they're bedded down "  and MP gets the new Bino's out that I bought her during our intro to birding and life in the 48 back in Green Valley AZ 2021. She focus's on the birds " seagulls " she says...and I ask Glaucous Wing or Bonaparte's ? , surely they couldn't be Herring Gulls .

Then we hit the mother lode . MP scans yet another frozen Freeze Out Lake and there he is, a coyote mid lake that new he was out of shooting range in more ways than one. But I parked as close as we could and hit magnum magnify and got this wild action shot....pretty impressive huh.....he's toward the upward middle.

Before we move onto the hypothermia picnic we had this shot here is my favorite. Like golfers say. it's the shot that keeps you coming back...or...maybe not....might get me to the digital camera store.

So we drive onto Choteau Montana . Mmmmm, I love these little towns, as I took pics with the Minolta I even had cowboy pulling a stock trailer give me a big ol wave and a smile.  Now it was still early in the morning, it doesn't take long to tour Freeze Out Lake with a wind chill of -52 so maybe the town was just quiet. Or, there ain't a hell of a lot of people there. I took these pics of downtown and the Penske moving van was headed out of town, not into town .

But Choteau Montana is not without interesting things . Montana I believe is the USA Dinosaur capital . It even looks like good Dinosaur habitat. So I got this Triceratops and of course every small town in Montana has cool old Movie Theatre. Now it didn't have a Buckhorn Bar like most but it did have and Antlers Bar, that's kinda the same thing ain't it ?

You don't approach 1/4 million reads if you're a blogger that doesn't see the obvious, everyday. every hour, every second .....it's right in front of you. THIS place is flat gorgeous ! ...but cold...stop that Jeff. 

So as we cruised the Rocky Mountain Front we snapped pics on a road neither of us had been on in our lives. So we have a new area to highlight on the map of our travels....Well played MPeasy, thanks for hanging around, it was a great day and I'm finally warm......JEFF stop that !