Smith Beta?

[Phall]

If we get canceled I’ll drive to ennis, stay with my buddy who got me on the trip, and fish all weekend. If the weather is shit there too, I’ll stay in SLC and go to Highboy at Alta. Plans are all good either way.


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[lifelinksplit]

FWIW the upper mad is fishing really well right now. Hope it all works out for ya.

[Phall]

We're game on. weather's looking pretty good minus some rain Friday PM/Saturday. Pics to follow.

[teleee]

Yeah buddy! Stoked for you. Have fun and stay warm

[Harry]

Awesome. Looking forward to some pics.

[Phall]

***SORRY for the sideways pics, I've tried my hardest to get them to fix, but fuck me, right?***

Buckle up, let's get weird. Rolled into Ennis ~7:30pm Wednesday, Grubbed up at the Gbar, then headed to my buddies where we did some gear prep/shot the shit until way too late.

Woke up Thursday and "worked" for about 2 hours before loading the rigs and heading to BZN for some supplies, flies, etc. Headed to White Sulpher Springs, and ended up at a Patriots bar in the middle of nowhere

Got to camp and exploded. We had a group of 5, two flycrafts, and one big NRS

We're off Friday AM. 65 and sunny. A bikini hatch was beginning to happen on one group as they floated by, but alas, the weather would not cooperate. Water was high and off color, with the river around 900+CFS

[Phall]

Again, sorry for the pics, they are correctly oriented on my comp, but uploader is fucking me.
Woke up to steady rain at Scotty Allen, and got rolling as we needed to make a 20 mile push to Crows Foot. Spirits were slightly dampened but with enough party favors from CO and enough booze to kill a horse, we giggled our way through the rain.







One of the few (~12) fish caught all weekend, none by me. Fishing the tributaries was key. I had two long distance releases.


We made it to Heaven on Earth in suprisingly good time, and they had the space heaters on to dry out. One Deep Creek turned into 3 and we stumbled to the boat. Giddy on gin, we continued on the last 4 miles.

One of the team might have have gotten a little too loose at HoE

Hank Shaw's venison Barbacoa tacos at Crows foot

[Phall]

Day three started a little drizzly as well, temps warmed up, but it remained overcast and the river was high. Ended up splitting off and running into a group hiking to a high cave with Pictographs which was one of the highlights of the trip.







Pulling into our last camp, the weather cracked, we made a huge fire, and drank to celebrate our last night on the river.

[Phall]

Day four awoke with plentiful sun, and we could feel the weather warming up. with the water high, we were optimistic the last 15 miles would be smooth sailing. The fishing still sucked, but we made the best of the last miles and enjoyed the sunshine. With water over 1k, we ended up floating the last 15 miles in roughly 3 hours. Made the long, dirt road drive back to White Sulpher, and back in Ennis around 9:30.
This river is a magical place, and I will be putting in for permits from here on out. If you can go, go. regardless of weather. 4 days was great with the high water and shit fishing, but 5 would be ideal if the fishing was on fire.

[mooseknuckles]

Nice work. The pictographs cave looks bitchin and those tacos are next level!

[Row Jimmy]

Looks like you had a great time! The water kinda blew up this week.

The Deep Creeks at H on E will get you if you are not careful!

[yeahman]

Nice man. Glad you made it to the pictograph cave.

[new yabyum]

I've always wanted to float it and have sent my contributions to Montana for a along time. Looks beautiful, starting to push the big 70 so hope it comes soon.

[teleee]

Phall, Row Jimmy, Anyone else who has done this float, it is starting to look more and more like our September trip is actually going to happen, with a good winter and a cool wet spring/summer to date things are looking reasonably good, so we are starting to get our plan together. What are some of the essentials you had along? What are some things you didnt have you wish you did? what are some things you brought that just took up space and you wish you hadnt brought? Any other ideas on what, not not to being would be very helpful! Thanks!!!

[Phall]

Definitely didn't need the pistol, bear spray should be enough. We brought too much food, but that's not a bad thing. Bring a spare big trash bag to line whoevers dry bag gets used as the bear bag, it will help with smells. We had a big awning/tent for the group in the rain, which was very nice. One thing that we had was a speaker and some tunes for the whole trip which made the rainy days go by easier. If the fishing is good, and the sun out, it would just be A+. We had 2x 4L gravity filters which made water filtering a super easy task, no pumping or squeezing. We could have also gone with ~10 less beers per person, but, better to be safe. Purple was the ticket in fly color due to the off color water. Being Sept in MT, you could see snow, so there's that.

[teleee]

Perfect! Thanks Phall! That is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I forgot all about water filtration!

[Phall]

Those gravity filters really are money. Regardless of what you have or don’t, it will be epic. I don’t go a week without dreaming of that canyon


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[Row Jimmy]

teleee, I just finished 6 laps on the Smith. What a great season! Good water, cool temps, many cloudy days, lots of big bugs! Drakes, Goldens and Cicadas down low. Fish are in great shape. A couple years of high water really helps.
As far as water, bring a couple 5 gallon jugs, more or less depending on group size. Day 1 you can fill jugs at Indian Springs at mile 6, then on day 3 you can fill at Heaven on Earth Ranch. They have a spigot right next to their little store just for floaters. While you are there get a Deep Creek and a Homemade Ice Cream sandwich! If for some reason their water isn't operational, there is another spring just around the corner below the Lower Bear Gulch Camp, river right. There is a pvc pipe coming out the rock with potable water. That should get you to Eden without having to filter water. BTW, their is no water at Camp Baker so show up there with some water for camping.
If you want PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a river map with some notes.

Hope the water holds for you.

[teleee]

teleee, I just finished 6 laps on the Smith. What a great season! Good water, cool temps, many cloudy days, lots of big bugs! Drakes, Goldens and Cicadas down low. Fish are in great shape. A couple years of high water really helps.
As far as water, bring a couple 5 gallon jugs, more or less depending on group size. Day 1 you can fill jugs at Indian Springs at mile 6, then on day 3 you can fill at Heaven on Earth Ranch. They have a spigot right next to their little store just for floaters. While you are there get a Deep Creek and a Homemade Ice Cream sandwich! If for some reason their water isn't operational, there is another spring just around the corner below the Lower Bear Gulch Camp, river right. There is a pvc pipe coming out the rock with potable water. That should get you to Eden without having to filter water. BTW, their is no water at Camp Baker so show up there with some water for camping.
If you want PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a river map with some notes.

Hope the water holds for you.

That is great info! Since I am more or less in charge of putting this together any help you can give me is much appreciated. PM inbounds

[teleee]

If you want PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a river map with some notes.

Hope the water holds for you.

Bumping this up, looks like we are a last minute go! Thanks for the map and info I have been poring over it the last 2 days, getting stoked!

[Mr. Mike]

Looking forward to TR. This one has been on my list for a few years. I've actually pulled permits a couple of times for periods when it was likely the water levels would be too low and...the water levels were too low. Amazing you have enough water to float this time of the year.

[teleee]

Looking forward to TR. This one has been on my list for a few years. I've actually pulled permits a couple of times for periods when it was likely the water levels would be too low and...the water levels were too low. Amazing you have enough water to float this time of the year.

Yep we had pretty much written it off. But cool temperatures, no more irrigation and lots of wet weather recently have put us back in the game. It is still a game time decision but for the first time in over a month it looks like we are a go.

[Harry]

Good luck Telee ! The Smith is awesome, I have done it a number of times. Only in May or June though, never this late.

Looking at a map, your route will take you right through Big Sky, you have my number, feel free to stop by. Also you know where I work, feel free to drop in.




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[Norseman]

Makes me nostalgic. I grew up floating the Smith every year for like ten years. Almost always in June... man I bet a mid September trip will be fucking great.

[Row Jimmy]

Bumping this up, looks like we are a last minute go! Thanks for the map and info I have been poring over it the last 2 days, getting stoked!

Funny, I was just thinking about you and your trip. Flow looks good currently, and rising! Look forward to your report.