Keith, I had a similar experience to yours on the Kootenai. I was there maybe 5-6 years ago, in August, with a fishing buddy. We took a raft with with us and floated different sections of the river. We visited Dave Blackburn's place, as well, and fished with him for a day. What a spread, eh? Great guy and a real champion of the Kootenai watershed.
It's a big, beautiful river. Gorgeous country (I believe many of the shots in "A River Wild," the Kevin Bacon/Meryl Streep movie, were filmed on the river around Libby and at Kootenai Falls below town). No crowds. But other than fishing around the dam outlet for those big bruisers, which is really a whole different kind of fishing, I thought the fish, on average, were smallish. It was, at that time, a kill fishery, at least in many sections, and my sense is that had contributed to the absence of larger average fish. (My brother, however, fished the river a couple of years later and from what he told me, his group seemed to do a little better size-wise.) My buddy and I did have an interesting experience on the Kootenai. We were floating above the town of Libby, putzing along, screwing around, stopping a lot, and true to form, lost track of time. It got dark and we were still about five miles from the takeout and on an unfamiliar section of river, and having a heck of a time seeing where we were going. At about 10pm, the old plywood mill, which sits on the outskirts of Libby on the edge of the river, caught fire and exploded. We were probably 3-4 miles upriver from it at the time. The whole sky lit up in a big fireball. You can imagine the tremendous ruckus of a lumber mill on fire. There's no shortage of fuel; it was a scorching hot summer night; and there were continual explosions as the fire raced through the yard. Ironically, it served as a beacon for us and illuminated the entire river as we floated downstream. Passing by the mill in full blaze was as eerie, and unnerving, and surreal a scene as I've experienced. Gary Meyers Kirkland > Keith, > > What's the driving instructions for going there? > > yours in jest, > > Bill W > >> ---------- >> From: Keith Ayers[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >> Reply To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 9:55 AM >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: Kootenai >> >> My wife and I spent a week on the Kootenai about 4 summers ago in the >> first part of August. The weather was real hot that week and the fishing >> was a little tough. We spent the first part of the week in a campground up >> on the reservoir above the Libby dam and had it all to ourselves until the >> weekend. The last couple of days we rented a cabin that was right on the >> river and owned by Dave Blackburn who run's the local fly shop. We had our >> 14 ft. drift boat with us and floated the river every day. The flow of the >> river varied depending on what the dam was doing. It's kind of like a >> shallow Skagit with tons of trout. I didn't hook any monsters but the >> current in the big river makes playing even the small guys interesting. >> Small nymphs are what worked the best. I guess in the fall the big boys >> come out to play and hoppers and other drys work well. Below the dam there >> are some huge rainbows and bull trout that feed on kokanee that are killed >> by the turbines. I think someone caught a 30 plus pounder the year we were >> there. I talked to some locals who were fishing at the base of the dam. >> There technique was drift fishing just like you would for steelhead only >> they were using belly strips for bait. I attempted to cast my fly there >> but was not effective. I could see some huge bull trout cruising. They >> were big....no....they were gigantic! >> All in all it was a great trip and I would love to go there in the fall. >> We mostly did long floats probably over 13 miles of river and only saw a >> few other boats and fishermen. Definitely not like West Yellowstone in the >> summer. Of coarse, after this post all the lurkers will be planning their >> next vacation in Libby, right? >> >> Sincerely, >> >> Keith >> >> http://www.montana-flyfishing.com/ >> > >
