BrewFest and Fishing On The Same Day!

August 27^th, 2016
BrewFest and Fishing On The Same Day!

Thursday night we met some friends of ours for our usually Thursday night beer at the Great Northern Brewery in Whitefish.  The conversation turned to Saturday and what we were all doing.  Laurie was going on a girls hike with friends Friday night but was planning to be back Saturday for the Snow Bus BrewFest in Whitefish.  My wife wanted to go for a hike but Taylor did not want to because she had a Flathead County select soccer team she was trying out for on Sunday.  Ben said he would hike but really didn’t want too. Daniel has Saturday by himself and asked if I was going to go fishing. After little thought on my part, the decision was made that Daniel and I would float the river and fish then hit the BrewFest afterwards. Erin, our friend and bartender at the brewery had to work at 4 Saturday, which worked out perfectly, so she said she would join us for fishing.

Saturday morning I picked up Daniel and we headed to meet Erin at the House of Mystery boat access.  We picked her up and drove up to the Hungry Horse Bridge boat put in. That stretch starts about a mile and a half before the end of the South Fork of the Flathead River and meets the Main Stem of the Flathead River. Then heads west for about another mile or so to the first take out below the bridge. Sure, it is a short float, 2.5 miles I think, and sure the fish in that stretch are usually smaller in size. But, the fishing is always good and you almost always catch fish. The stretch of the South Fork from the Bridge to the Confluence holds a lot of fish and gives you a great chance to catch fish. Further, the confluence is another great piece of water that holds lots of fish and provides excellent opportunities for everyone to get out and do a little wade fishing.

By the time we dropped the boat in the water Daniel and I figured we had 3 hours to fish before we had to head back to pick up our wives to head to the BrewFest that evening.

Right off the bat Daniel missed a fish, then another.  Then we pulled over to fish a nice stretch of water and Daniel and Erin both landed fish.  We jumped back in the boat and headed to the confluence where I thought we each had a good chance to catch fish wading.  At the confluence Erin caught a nice fish and I missed a decent size fish.  Time to switch who was on the oars and for me to throw a fly for a bit while floating. Erin took over the oars and we fished along the railroad tracks on the way downstream. I think Daniel and I each landed a fish or two.  The wind picked up though and made it difficult to cast. Daniel decided to take a turn on the oars and allow me to continue to fish.  I boated a few more fish on the last stretch making it a great couple hours of fishing.

Now, pull the boat out, run home and clean up and on to the BrewFest! The BrewFest is for a good cause, the Snow Bus that provides free shuttles for people back and forth to Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort from downtown Whitefish during the ski season. A good cause plus any day you combine a good day fishing with a chance to sample dozens of beers afterwards is a great day!

We sampled beers from all over Montana and a few from Oregon. Some of my favorite breweries were there as well.  Blacksmith, Burn, H.A. Brewing and Madison River all had IPA’s on tap that I had drank before and loved and ‘sampled’ again.  One of my favorite beers that I had not had and sampled was Deschutes Brewery’s Sage Fight Imperial IPA.  At first I was not sure about it, a beer infused with sage and juniper berries sounded odd, but I still sampled it and, it turn out, I loved it.  It is a beer I will look for again in stores around Whitefish.

I know, no one reads these for the info, they want to see pictures!  Still a newby and will do better in the future! But, today I was focused on beer and fishing!