For the last few years, we've been heading down to Wisdom for their Fourth of July parade and fishing. It generally leads to some fantastic days on the water, far too many cocktails, lots of good food and enough laughter to last a summer.
With my wife being in Michigan visiting family, the dog & I headed down on Saturday to meet up with some friends. The fishing was fantastic, hitting both the Big Hole and some small brookie streams. It's been a while since I've fished small streams for brookies and was giggling on each cast as the little bastards fought for the fly. One or two brookies may have been launched out of the creek on a hook set. We also floated the Big Hole and had some decent action and wet waded on the 4th for some epic dry fly action, searching for heads and tossing small flies on long leaders while the dog licked up cow turds and stood in the river avoiding the flies and skeeters. I didn't take many photos while fishing, just casting to risers and searching likely holes.
The parade itself isn't the biggest in the state. There's no free beer like there is in Lincoln, and there is no fisticuffs or fireworks like Butte. It's small town parading at it's finest. This year, they did two passes on main street. In previous years, they've done 3-4 depending on the size of the parade. Crowds this year were larger than years past, which is fantastic for the valley and the towns. The parade is the usual mix of horses, firetrucks, wagons, old cars and lots of candy. Forest Service, NPS also participate in the parade with wildland fire trucks, a vintage 1940's Willy's Jeep and lots of smiles.
I do love this valley and the people in it.
With my wife being in Michigan visiting family, the dog & I headed down on Saturday to meet up with some friends. The fishing was fantastic, hitting both the Big Hole and some small brookie streams. It's been a while since I've fished small streams for brookies and was giggling on each cast as the little bastards fought for the fly. One or two brookies may have been launched out of the creek on a hook set. We also floated the Big Hole and had some decent action and wet waded on the 4th for some epic dry fly action, searching for heads and tossing small flies on long leaders while the dog licked up cow turds and stood in the river avoiding the flies and skeeters. I didn't take many photos while fishing, just casting to risers and searching likely holes.
The parade itself isn't the biggest in the state. There's no free beer like there is in Lincoln, and there is no fisticuffs or fireworks like Butte. It's small town parading at it's finest. This year, they did two passes on main street. In previous years, they've done 3-4 depending on the size of the parade. Crowds this year were larger than years past, which is fantastic for the valley and the towns. The parade is the usual mix of horses, firetrucks, wagons, old cars and lots of candy. Forest Service, NPS also participate in the parade with wildland fire trucks, a vintage 1940's Willy's Jeep and lots of smiles.
I do love this valley and the people in it.
