My Montana Bachelor Party!

Well, as the title hints, I am getting married this upcoming weekend to the best catch of my life; the one that didn’t get away!   She is the one that lets me live the life I do and run wild in the mountains and on the water.

My best man and I headed up the North Fork of the Blackfoot for some incredible action on Kit’s Tackle marabou jigs.  Looking past the fact we didn’t make it out of the tent until mid-morning, the fishing was a blast…minus the headache.   But hey, it was a bachelor party right?  We started at the North Fork Trailhead and hiked upriver fishing our way through a gorgeous couple mile stretch.   Just a friendly reminder, there is no trail on the river and navigation is pretty brutal.  The crystal clear water filled with Cutthroat and GIANT Bull Trout is well worth the mild mountaineering undertaking.   Please keep in mind, it illegal to fish for the Bull Trout here, but it sure is neat to see these giant creatures in the river.  I actually had a monster Bull take my jig and run upriver and before I knew what was happening I had been “taken to the cleaners.”

We were targeting the Cutthroat Trout with Kit’s Tackle’s 1/8 ounce Pro Series “Black” and “White Perch” marabou jigs.  We were using ultra-light rods with 4 pound mono line for a finesse application.  We out fished the fly fisherman 20 to 1 on jigs and I had fun sharing a few 1/16 ounce jigs with the fly fisherman.   Let’s just say after a few casts they were very grateful for the Kit’s Jigs!   Even with the HOT weather, the elevation is high enough elevation that the hoppers were nonexistent.   By August, I would imagine it would be pretty beneficial and FUN to have a 3 or 4 weight fly rod and a box of well tied hoppers for this adventure.   The other thing we did notice was the overall size difference of the fish caught on jigs and small flies.  The fish that we caught on jigs were much larger on average than the fly fisherman were catching…food for thought.

So if you’re up for a fun adventure and a breathtaking beautiful place I would highly recommend a trip to the North Fork of the Blackfoot River this summer.  Remember to bring your bear spray…we saw Griz tracks all along the river!  Cheers to “Jiggin’ the Dream”

Here is a picture of a 21” Cutthroat that took my “Black” marabou jig soon finding it wasn’t the delicious sculpin he imagined it was!  Poor feller probably won’t ever eat another sculpin.

For more great fishing tip’s, blog’s, and great fishing tackle and equipment check out Kit’s Tackle website