A Walk in the Bob August 2022
Just back from a trip to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. The Bob is a complex of three wilderness areas encompassing 1500 square miles in north central Montana on the continental divide. It zooms out of the prairie and tops out at about 8000 feet. Its wild, scenic and has some pretty good fishing for westside cutthroat trout.
In 2018 I made a trip to the Bob entering via Young’s Pass on the east and fishing the Youngs and Danaher creeks and upper South Fork of the Flathead. The west slope cutthroat were big and willing and the burn ecology was stunning. I needed to go back.
The objective for 2022 was twofold: to fish the south and north forks of the Sun River on a loop to see the China Wall, a mile long fault block escarpment with a 1,000-foot exposure. I roped @James Henderson along who I have been promising to take fly fishing for years.
We entered the Bob at Benchmark on the eastern side of the range about 20 miles from Augusta. We traveled down the south fork of the Sun and up the north fork to Gray Lake. That’s where plans broke down and we turned around to retrace our steps to the south fork. The weather was clear as a bird with temps in the high 80s with zero humidity. The route was extremely exposed and despite an intake of six liters of water a day I suffered with severe heat exhaustion (at least that is my excuse). So, six days, 60 miles and a couple of thousand feet of elevation gain. A great trip, though short of objectives.
Highlights: The fishing in the Sun is fabulous with big willing cutts. My partner, a relative newcomer to flyfishing landed several in the 16+ range. We even landed several rainbows 18+ which we suspect had run up from Gibson Reservoir. The area remains remote. We went several days without seeing a soul. And unlike the SF Flathead which has become a pack raft highway, we saw only one other party fishing!!!!!
The scenery is stunning with large meadows and stark sedimentary reefs. Wildlife abounds. We had a resident family of sandhill cranes serenade us in the morning and horned owls at night. And yes, after 8 trips to Montana and Wyoming these last years, I finally flushed my first grizzlies. In fact, two; a big cinnamon looking fellow and a big yearling. Both were more flustered than us and headed for the deep timber.
So this trip will require a redo as I still need to see the China Wall and the Sun requires further exploration. Perhaps next time will involve a pack horse?
