A tale of two rivers

 It's actually springtime on the Bitteroot River and as I see people towing the boats and the energy surrounding it I'm struck again how different just about everything on the two rivers I know is. You know I like lists so I'll put it into that kind of form or what I've noticed starting with this...

Favorite Tow vehicle on the Root: Toyota Tundra, new.

Favorite tow vehicle on the Kenai: Suburban , old.

Favorite Root boat : rubber or the Clackacraft head Hunter

Favorite Kenai Boat : Willie Predator.

Favorite Root rods : Sage, Winston

Favorite  Kenai rods : Lamiglass, Loomis

Favorite Root reels : Orvis , Abel

Favorite Kenai reels : Shimano, ABU Ambasedeur

Favorite Root bait : none

Favorite Kenai bait : salmon eggs

Favorite Root beer : Chardonnay

Favorite Kenai beer : Miller lite, if it's on sale

Favorite Root shore lunch : humus, celery,  berries and ahhh...Chardonnay

Favorite Kenai Shore lunch :  Pizza Boys delivery

Favorite Root donut : Sticky Buns

Favorite Kenai donut : Twinkies

Favorite Root Musician : Rihanna

Favorite Kenai Musician; Hobo Jim

Favorite Kenai Fish term : Hog

Favorite Root fish term  : nice little fella

Favorite Root attire : cargo shorts, Sims UV blocker ( with name ) 

Favorite Kenai attire : Grunden or Helly Hansen 

Favorite Root foot wear : Teva's or Keen's

Favorite Kenai foot wear : Extra Tuff's

mmmmmmm......and speaking of boats, I lucked out and found just what I wanted and what a value it is. Thank you to my new friends at Elephant Boys in Spokane . For about the same price as I sold my 23 year old guide boat with patches and welds and 3000 hours on the motor I got this beauty brand spanking new.

It's the biggest 16' boat I've ever seen. Wide at the chine and the sides are higher than my guide boat at 32 inches. It has beautiful lines and with a 10 degree V to the pad and a reverse chine it's gonna swim just fine. I wanted something lighter and easier to put on and off the trailer as well as go down the road well. I also wanted the tiller handle as I feel really safe with it and I should , I've run it for thousands of hours.

I started my guide career with Mercury and then went to Johnson ( OMC), then I had the Honda sponsorship and got fired and then moved onto Yamaha. So back to square one with Mercury I'm duly impressed. This motor has the innovation that Mercury is known for and the tiller handle is so ergonomically correct that it's amazing. This motor comes with the low idle troll feature as well as a heated handle...now that's a feature !  I suppose you can see that I just love boats. Years ago MP said she wished I spent more time making the house look nice...in Jeff's world parking this baby in the yard does exactly that !  To quote my old friend Shawn Whitmore when I asked him why he was routinely buying new  boats " I guess I'm just a little queer about boats ".

It's and RH brand boat which is now part of a company named Fish Rite that all salmon anglers are familiar with. I hope you keep an eye on Mile 14, fish pics to come. 

No matter where you go...there ya are...

 We have a three mile hike along the Bitteroot River at a place called Skalkahoe Bend that we just love. It has lots of wildlife and healthy interesting people that we meet along the way....And...right now the Bitteroot Water Forum ( BWF ) is doing a project to ' save ' it. Well this is something I know a little bit about and sometimes you learn more from mistakes than you do from your successes. I hate to be critical as I guess you could make the case that I didn't do such a good job of saving the last river I was on but I'm going to risk it. I doubt many of my new neighbors read Mile 14, yet, but if they do here's the deal...I just moved here from California and am going to run for City Council....just joking.

So there's the problem. As you can see the top pic shows the meandering nature of the river and the bottom is looking upstream showing a natural eroding outside bend. The bank is under cut and the flow accelerates to the first pic's log jam where the erosion is stopped by some tree's and then the natural collection of debris that the roots hold. The footprint of our path runs parallel with the river of course but all of 30 to 50 feet from it. And of course they have the usual stay the hell off the bank signs. Unlike on the World famous there are no boat mooring divits , no bank fishing paths, no 200 - 500 powerboats running by everyday throwing wakes at the shoreline...it's all natural. But they only have so much  meander to lose so with no ( or little ) public input they came up with a plan and the work started today.

All along the outside bend about 100 ft. parallel a swale is being built to create trees and yes, willows to hold the bank. Then this part of the bank will be armored with rip rap in hopes of holding off the erosion until the swale matures enough to hold the bank...great plan...But of course unsightly and certainly not natural. One of my observations from the Kenai after 40 years of projects is that there was little or no consideration for the aesthetics of the bank saving projects. The light penetrating boardwalks are now everywhere, shiney aluminum that in many cases is lying around the riverbank derelict from a lack of maintenance. So what could have been done better Hamilton Montana ?

1. The BWF has been criticized for a lack of public input. You having scoping meetings for several reasons. To make the public more comfortable and let them know what to expect and to take suggestions on how the project could be handled to lessen any impact and maybe,just maybe , somebody might have a great idea about how to do it better, if you're listening.

# 1. leads to number 2.  If the bank must be armored it can be done organically with root wads and cabled trees. The clue is really in that first pic. You can see the trees holding the bank just like root wads would while allowing soil,  driftwood and river rock to build up....on the World Famous all those beautiful houses on the outside bend at Beaver Creek would be gone now if not for exactly that type of project. 

3. I don't know where all the $$$$ comes from but like many projects this one is gonna cost some serious lettuce. Now seeing's as it's public money for public property and that the erosion is 100 % natural has anybody thought about a mitigation approach ?  You take that same pool of money and instead of spending it on something that might or might not work you go and buy up some other riverfront for future public use and protection from development . 

4. I think that the BWF's approach should be a last resort thing if and when structures or homes are endangered which right now looks to be decades away if mother nature decides....

5. OK enough.... I know nobody likes new people moving into an area and wanting to change it into where they came from so I'll just shut up . But please BWF, have some meetings so people can get to know you, I'm new here and it's an interest of mine.

Speaking of water....who would ever have thought I'd have trouble finding a boat for my passion. Yikes, they tell me because of the pandemic and a slow down in manufacturing all the new 2021 models of the boats I'd like are spoken for...I went to Townsend Marine who says they are one of the largest Lund dealers in the USA just to see this.

I must be dumber than a mashed cat. I never would have guessed. As we drove up to the Marina I told MP that this is going to be fun as they hundreds and I mean hundreds of boats sitting around....well...wrong. They said I could order sometime in May and then hope for delivery by fall.

If I'd known I might have brought the big ol number 003 boat but it was just really to big and to purpose built for my new fishing life. I like the open with the tiller that I'm so used to but I don't need to seat 4 people and I want something light and easy to handle and to  tow to places I've never been before. Lund, Smokercraft almost all the manufactures make these boats in 16 and 18 foot and they look to be fantastic, they are a far cry from the skinny old red Lund that we all grew up in Alaska with. They are wide, have more V ( some up to 12 degrees ) and are lighter by half than what I'm used to.... I need to go from this: 

To this:

I really want to buy a brand new one and have the features etc that I want like oil bath hubs on the trailer. On St. Paddy's day we're going to Spokane as they have many large dealers there. No place in Montana has a new boat for me.....jeez...Louise....So if any of you, my friends see or know of a new or even used boat like this please holler, that ol white Chevy is ready to go where ever it's gotta go to make it's owner happy.

But all was not lost in our search for the next S.S. Minnow. When we went to Townsend we spent a night at the hot springs and discovered the coolest  picnic spot on the other side of a one way bridge over the Missouri near Toston Montana. The adventure continues....

All growed up.

 It's the weirdest thing. Until your parents pass and leave you alone there's just something where you still feel like a kid and it's a comfort to know that in somebody's eyes you're still just a kid...Odd to think that with MP's moms passing she's now an orphan of sorts. My folks left years ago so when Mary Beaudette went last week I guess I new the route a bit and wasn't surprised when we heard the ol ' she had a great life and that she was 95 ' ....when the people you love are 95 whats wrong with 97 ? 

Some how or another I used to think she didn't like me. She was just a mother who like all of them wanted the best for the kids and I was, well, a, mmmm....not as good at life as I am now. I think we just didn't understand each other and throw in a side order of being off to Alaska with her baby girl well our relationship took a awhile  but she came to love me and I her.

Mary was a tough woman. Growing up on a homestead on the Missouri breaks. Raising 5 kids without the help of a husband. Putting herself through college while raising the kids with no $$$$.  As I sat the other night and listened to MP and her sister reminisce I realized how difficult for her it must have been to have the kids in the orphanage while she made a future for them, the kids grew up on wild game and a pot of deer stew only had meat in it for the first serving.  BUT, the proof was in the pudding, her 5 children are remarkable individuals. I think the best thing a parent can help a child with is a positive self image and that she did, the women in the family have a certain strength and independence who were taught that there are no obstacles and their children were gifted this as well. 

Mary was moved into an assisted living facility after a crash a month ago. She was just to independent for that and she just choose to leave is what I believe. Our last gift besides the gift of love which is eternal was Phizer...The covid  strategy at the senior residence was to inoculate all the people who live there as well as all family and frequent visitors. So tomorrow we go to Helena for our second shot and our lives will get way closer to normal, just with one less person we really love .