Wednesday, July 23, 2025

I Was Floating One of many West’s Nice Trout Rivers. Then the Governor Dropped in on His Helicopter


This story, “Float to Wild Trout,” appeared within the August 1987 challenge of Out of doors Life.

For the final mile or so, I’ve been sitting relaxed with the canoe paddle throughout my lap, lulled by the gorgeous mountain surroundings throughout. A mule deer doe and fawn which have been consuming on the water’s edge certain away as we method. We’re gliding down the Smith River, a wild and pure wilderness wa­terway in west-central Montana.

In a lifetime of exploring and floating Western rivers, I’ve seen few to match this one. No marvel I paddle solely listlessly, watching the orange and white canyon partitions that seclude us from the remainder of the world.

All of the sudden, virtually ominously, the river good points velocity. We’re sucked right into a slender chute, and I’m shortly alert once we brush too close to the jagged rock on the left. I hear the roar of rapids forward.

“Get able to dig exhausting on the correct,” my associate and stem paddler, Sheldon Coleman Jr., shouts above the noise.

I alter positions. Now we hit the sharp river bend, and I stroke exhausting and deep with the paddle. We make the tum neatly, straighten, and enter a deep inexperienced pool that appears to haven’t any backside. It’s a scene of extraor­dinary magnificence. On the tail of the pool, canoes are beached on a skinny gravel ledge, and different members of our get together are already wading in waist­ deep water, casting. As we be a part of them, one of many anglers, John Bailey, hol­lers, “Strike!” His eight-foot fly rod is alive and dancing.

However earlier than John can web his trout, another person hooks one other. Then one other. All of it occurs at fast-forward velocity. Arriving late, I hurry to rig my very own sort out and discover that it’s troublesome with so many thumbs on every hand. Sheldon has the identical bother. However in time, I’m able to lay out a protracted line and watch a tiny dry fly float downstream. One of many many small trout, that are rising like raindrops over the pool, takes it. Earlier than the rise ends, we have now hooked and re­leased a minimum of a dozen fish from that one spot.

However in any respect as soon as, we notice that the shadows of late afternoon have fallen and the rise has ended. It’s chilly, and I shiver. So, we reboard the ca­noes and push out into the present.

The Colemans examine notes at camp after a day’s fishing on the Smith.

About an hour later and three miles down­ stream, we’re pitching a cushty tent camp on the sting of a grassy riverside meadow, at a website marked “In Lieu Boat Camp” on our Smith River chart. A camp­fireplace is quickly burning brightly within the purple nightfall.

The subsequent 4 days are as memorable, typically as thrilling, as a float-camping adven­ture might be. The instigator of this one was Sheldon Coleman Sr., who could be celebrating his eighty fifth birthday on the Smith. Sheldon figures that a minimum of half of his start­ days have been spent in related locations out­doorways, from the tropics to the Arctic. Sheldon, then the longtime president of the Coleman Firm in Wichita, Kansas, used this journey and others prefer it to particular person­ally check the outside and tenting merchandise the corporate manufactures.

The clothing store for the journey was John Bai­ley of Livingston, Montana, son of Dan Bai­ley, a legend amongst trout fishermen and fly tiers. Western Montana has greater than its share of untamed rivers, however John chosen the Smith as a result of its entry factors are pretty straightforward to succeed in whereas the most important portion of it’s distant. Our plan was to place in at Camp Baker, a Montana public launching website, and to take out 5 days later, 61 miles down­ stream, at a degree known as Eden Bridge, not removed from Nice Falls.

Though the Smith will be negotiated from Could or June — when the water is excessive­est and wildest — till October, we selected early September to keep away from the summer season­ time boaters and have the river to ourselves, in addition to to catch the most effective fishing.

I used to be sharing a canoe with Sheldon Cole­man Jr., who has since assumed responsi­bility of the corporate, his father having “handed over the reins” shortly after the journey. Additionally on the enterprise was John Nonetheless­man, a Montana rancher with a ardour for operating wild rivers anyplace.

Early the subsequent grey morning, I contemplated the knowledge of ready till September. A chilly wind whistled down the Smith can­ yon, driving rain and making the tents shud­der. However we had been effectively outfitted for any form of climate, and shortly a material shelter was stretched above our breakfast website. After the meal we broke camp, repacked the ca­noes and aimed them downstream right into a rain that continued falling till midday. Some members of our group solid flies alongside the way in which; others stopped to stretch and fish extra critically. We simply caught sufficient pan­ sized trout for the one fish dinner we loved alongside the way in which.

Our second night time’s stopover was at Can­yon Depth Boat Camp. Though it was nonetheless chilly, skies had been clearing as we pitched camp on a bench above our beached ca­noes. There have been recent black bear tracks within the tender earth throughout the realm. The final sound I heard after zipping up my sleep­ing bag for the night time was the haunting name of an awesome horned owl not distant.

ne of the numerous small trout, that are rising like raindrops over the pool, takes it. Earlier than the rise ends, we have now hooked and re­leased a minimum of a dozen fish from that one spot.

Subsequent morning was clear and chilly, and all of us moved a bit quicker to strike the tents and get underway as soon as extra within the vibrant sunshine. It was additionally the morning once we might have missed our greatest probability at a lunker trout, most likely the highest catch of the journey. We had been floating a gradual, deep stretch, and younger Sheldon was casting to ward shore from the strict. However possibly his thoughts wasn’t completely on his fishing as a result of he struck late when a brilliant trout rose and virtually leisurely inhaled his Royal Wulff fly. The subsequent factor I knew, the trout was lung­ing upstream whereas we continued to float down. I paddled the canoe to a shallow place the place Sheldon might step out. For a minute or so, he was in a position to observe on foot its robust run upstream. However unaccountably, the hook pulled out, and we fished extra critically for a very long time after that.

Late within the afternoon, we beached the place a wood signal indicated the Trout Creek Boat Camp. Just like the others we had seen alongside the way in which, this designated tenting website had been left remarkably clear by the opposite float trippers who had used it all through the summer season. Like those that had preceded us, we used the prevailing fireplace ring to construct our personal campfire. For gas, we burned solely driftwood or fallen deadwood that we had gathered far from the precise camp. Earlier than we lastly left the realm within the morning, all of us rigorously combed the spot to make certain that it was as neat and mani­cured as we had discovered it.

A wilderness river float journey that com­bines tenting and good fishing is definitely among the many biggest of all adventures left to the American outdoorsman. The Smith is just one very engaging instance. I can recall many others, from the Suwannee in Florida to the Rogue in Oregon, the place any­ one can escape to paradise for a number of days of refreshment.

Not lengthy after our departure on our fourth morning on the Smith, a helicopter shattered the stillness of the canyon lengthy sufficient to deposit Ted Schwinden, the gov­ernor of Montana, to hitch our expedition.

It was the primary time that the manager had seen this scenic a part of the state.

The fourth day could be lengthy remem­bered. It was heat for September in Mon­tana, however bracing. Nobody floated very far with out hooking a energetic rainbow trout. Via one stretch of water, my canoe companion hooked trout on 4 consecu­tive casts.

We camped that night time at Black Butte, and sang “‘Glad Birthday” to Sheldon Sr. I additionally welcomed the distinctive probability to speak about the way forward for Montana·s setting, forests, rivers and outside pursuits with the governor. Though not a sportsman, Ted Schwinden does appear to have a great ap­preciation and regard for the pure re­sources and outside alternatives within the West. Too a lot of at present’s different Western politicians declare to be outdoorsmen, however then vote for insurance policies and practices which are detrimental to all Individuals — like reducing roads by nationwide forests and overgraz­ing public ranges.

OL May 1963
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The next morning, the final of our journey, I arose early. After putting my tent and rolling my sleeping bag, I hiked alone alongside a skinny recreation path that paralleled the Smith for a final private have a look at a lonely, beautiful waterway. Not far past camp, I flushed a number of mule deer from a streamside thicket. One was a reasonably good buck, and that made me take into consideration fall looking float trips-or mixed looking and fishing advert­ ventures. Why not?

From the Black Butte Boat Camp, it was a 13-mile run previous Rocky Coulee and thru nation extra open than the deep and colourful Smith canyon we had left be­hind. Now, we paddled more durable, quicker, and handed up some splendid fishing holes that ought to have been totally investigated. All however one.

Round midday, John Stillman pulled into shore in order that he and Sheldon Sr. might stretch and munch a sandwich. Each made a number of casts there, too, and didn’t con­nect. However no sooner had been they underway once more than Sheldon solid right into a foamy again­ water and felt a strike he’s unlikely to for­get, The moment the rainbow tasted the hook, it got here catapulting out of the water. With Stillman holding the canoe in good place, Sheldon finally introduced the 18-inch-plus trout near the canoe, un­hooked it underwater, and allowed it to swim free.

Learn Subsequent: The Legendary Shark Fishing Document That’s By no means Been Damaged

We reached Eden Bridge, our takeout level, within the late afternoon underneath reducing skies. Throughout our 5 days on the water, we had met solely two different anglers.

Flurries started to fall as we drove south ward towards Livingston. Subsequent morning, renewed and heat, we might be heading again to houses in Kansas and Wyoming. However a part of every of us may keep on the Smith River for a while.

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