Your E-19 Camp List

As we approach 45 days from Opening Day, I have had several recent queries as to “What should I bring/not bring, now?? as I prepare for my Extravaganza adventure.

 

To aid in the reply to those most timely questions, attached is our annual Camp List that outlines what we recommend that you should (read “must”) bring with you and that which you can and should leave behind.  Our mantra is “less is more” so pack lightly and, as always, save plenty of room in those bags for the bounty of E-19 products and supplies that, keeping with self-taught tradition, I will extravagantly shower you with during your E-19 stay for you to return home with!

 

Best to all on the early cusp of it all,

 

Rock Creek Ron

     ----<’///:><

 

 

 

Your First E-19 Flow Report

Here it is, E-19ers, your very first official Flow Report. Based on the water flow on Headquarters' own Rock Creek, charting in red will be this year's forthcoming flow report.

Today's flowage is 1560 cubic feet per second, down from 2,000 cfs this time last week in no small part to declining ambient temperatures which reduced Rock Creek's water temperature down to a downright crisp 39 degrees.

What we are looking to replicate this year is the perfect runoff that we had ten years ago in 2009, a bell curve reflected in the light green color in our attached chart, where the flow a decade ago from today started out at 1,000 cfs and then projected out into a near-perfect bell curve ending up with a perfect ending flow of 1800 cfs at the beginning of E-09.

Cross your fingers all, as what is unfolding will have a direct impact on our E-19 fishing fortunes!!

RCR---<'///:><

The E-19 Runoff is ON!!

 

 

Well, Gang, the reality of our quickly upcoming time together in Montana is before us, for, this week while our computer server was on the fritz, the water status in Montana has transcended from winter into spring.

 

Get this:  On Monday of this week, our Headquarters’ Rock Creek was flowing right at 600 cubic feet per second with a water temperature of 52 degrees but today, with increased ambient temperatures which have accelerated snow melt at the higher elevation, Rock Creek is currently flowing at 2,280 cfs (almost a fourfold increase in volume) and its water temperature has dropped ten degrees from a brisk 52 degrees to an icy 42 degrees, reflective of the fact that, indeed, the annual runoff, indeed, is fully under way.

 

“Where do we fall in relation to other years?”, you may ask; well we are still tracking at 100-106% of annual seasonal averages in both year-to-date precipitation and in snow water equivalency (“swe”)—putting us right where we want to be this time of the year---bravo, bravo, bravo!!

 

Come Monday next we will begin our daily charting of this year’s runoff and overlay what is happening in and along Rock Creek with similar measurements that we have been tracking annually now since 2007.  The one thing that we have learned from now twelve years of charting is that each and every year is different, but we are currently centered in between the years of high flow runoff that we have had (the most epic being last year’s) where water levels come June are high and water temperatures yet cool and those years of lower precipitation and swe where water levels come June were lower and water temperatures were higher.  Our goal is to end up right where we are currently beginning:  Right in the middle.

 

The governing factor in this year’s runoff can and will be measured by outside temperatures which, looking at the long term forecast for the greater Missoula area call for a pattern of perfect daytime highs in the mid-60’s and with night time lows above freezing (you can check out the Missoula weather via the link on  Der Blog), thereby paving the way for the result that we hope for:  Come E-19’s Opening Day on June 9^th, our barometer river Rock Creek flowing between 1,500 and 1,800 cubic feet per second with the flow then dropping as river water temperatures rise as it is that rising water temperature that triggers the “bug hatch” that we will fish extravagantly—more on that later!!

 

So start dreaming of your not-to-far-off arrivals to the primo fishing grounds of western Montana and of the wonderful bounty that awaits!!

 

Best to all amid the flow of it all,

 

Rock Creek Ron

   ---<’///:><

 

 

 

Nice try, -Group 3!!

 

 

As replied to and heard from Group Three veteran Greg "Coldsmoke" Cannif:

Okay, pal, I can (and will!) provide the Coldsmoke on tap for ya but you must deliver pescatorially!!

Can't wait for this all to begin again!

 

RCR

 

Susan,

 

I really need to catch a 20" fish this trip can you take care of that for me as for some reason the fish are not cooperating. Thank you in advance because I know you will make all things happen.

Looking forward to seeing everyone and will send any flight changes we get.

 

Greg "Cold Smoke" Canniff

Mo Fish Pics!

E-19 Preview: A(nother) Great Day On The Water

Greetings from Headquarters, Fellow E-19ers!

Amidst spitting snow, icy winds and intermittent sunshine, our Montana Matters Troubadour Shane Clouse and I spent Thursday fishing the Bitterroot River (see separate email with more fish pics!) and had a very productive 20+ fish day, the highlight of which was the landing of the first 20" fish of this season, as shown above with our sterling Double Up Outfitter holding a beauty of a twenty inch brown caught this past Thursday by yours truly. Over the years, we have set this length of fish as our "gold standard" for a truly great specimen of our Montana fisheries and, in fact (as you wiley veterans well know) have created a coveted Twenty Inch Club where, during each Extravaganza, those that catch (and release!) a twenty inch or longer trout are anointed into this august group and sign up on our annual Twenty Inch Club Board, which boards are retained here at Headquarters and are available for your perusal upon your arrival.

Having sponsored now sixteen Extravaganzas, we have a pretty good handle on just how many entrants there will be in each years Club. Year after year the odds on average is that about one in a hundred trout that we land will be qualify for The Club. That is, while we purposely do not keep an accurate fish count, on average, each Extravaganza, depending upon local fishing conditions, will see between 1,500 and 2,000 trout visit our fishing nets and our annual Twenty Inch Club signup ranges from 13 to 17 entrants--again, about one per every hundred landed trout. As such, joining our Twenty Inch Club is, indeed, a very big deal and I am honored this year to provide proof-positive that such large natural trout do, indeed, populate our local waters--no hatchery fish being allowed in these here parts!

Omens continue to remain aggressively positive for our E-19 fishing, gang, as witnessed by now two very enjoyable productive days on 2019 waters!!

Best to all at the early stages of it all,

Rock Creek Ron
---<'///:><

E-19 'Tween Time in Montana!

RCR----<’///:><

 

 

 

Greetings from Headquarters, E-19ers!

One of the neat traditions that has developed over the last decade and a half in hosting Extravaganzas here in western Montana is our nightly après fishing gathering on the deck amidst a sampling of finger foods and (unlimited) beer [this year, gang, for the first time we are going to have a keg of locally brewed Coldsmoke on hand—how about that, Group Three veteran Greg “Coldsmoke” Caniff?!?], wine and cocktails to share the adventures of the day that we each had on the waters.  Typically we launch 9 boats/day each of which will cover up to 10 miles of water often without sight of another boat, such that, invariably, there are encounters both flora and fauna as well as pectoral that are “worthy of report” (and, wow, over the years there have been some doozies!!).  So it with great accumulated pride that I now extend to you the report of our very first boat on the water, son “Lefty” Tyler and my floating yesterday with our Double Up Outfitter, John “The Great But Propaneless” Gould.

As is reflected in the above fish pics, Lefty and I had a very chilly but nonetheless equally productive first 2019 day together, covering over 18 miles of the Bitterroot River (we really wanted to get a good feel for the condition of the river, both debris-wise as well as fish-wise).  The surrounding Bitterroot Mountains were snow-filled such that the wind that accompanied the day-long light rain was a chilly one, with ambient temperatures never exceeding the mid-40’s, but the fish we encountered really didn’t care, as their 40 degreed water matched the outside temps and nearly 30 of their contingency got to sample our net as they were landed, photographed and safely released.

Check out the selection of rainbows and browns above and you will see healthy, feisty and hungry native Montana trout in their finest colors—colors of the full spectrum on the rainbows and, in the second and third pictures, truly majestically bespeckled browns—the largest of which were in the 18-19” long variety and each of which (unlike trout from almost any other area of the Continental United States) are “thick as footballs” such that even the smaller fish in the 16” range fight bigger than their smaller size would mislead, particularly when the water is as cold as it currently is.

I have found over the years that the first boat day on the water is usually a pretty good indicator of what is ahead for us come June and E-19, and, to that end, I can predict that we should have good fortunes as seen from this pre-runoff vantage point, a prognostication I will further date down later in the week after I again fish “The Root”, next time with Propaneless and our Montana Matters Troubadour Shane Clouse.

Best to all from the scene of it all,

Rock Creek Ron

    ---<’///:><

E-19 Pre-Runoff Snow Report

 

Well, gang, as we sashay our way to and through the merry month of April, I write to date you down on the still superb snowpack conditions in western Montana.

 

As has been the case for the last month now, SNOTEL measurements of the snow water equivalent of this year’s upper climes snow continues to be right at 98% of twenty year medians.  This is terrific news for us as we schedule each year’s mid-June Extravaganza with just this expectation for it is a healthy runoff/melting of those upper level snow accumulations that (a) flushes out our targeted rivers and (b) as the runoff wanes, results in the rising temperatures in our rivers which triggers the “hatching” of Montana’s extensive and healthy bug life and, resultantly, the increase in fishing interest and activity.

 

Right now our targeted Headquarters’ Rock Creek is flowing at 439 cubic feet per second and the water temperature is a very chilly 40 degrees.  In the coming weeks, as temperatures rise, the upper snow mass will begin its annual melt and the currently modest water flowage in and along Rock Creek (imagine it as a garden hose at present) will increase at least ten-fold into water flowage equivalent to that of a fire hose, ideally abating down to about three times its current flow by the time of E-19’s Opening Day, June 9^th.

 

We are getting close, folks, really close.  So much so that, literally, tomorrow I fly to Montana to take residence there for the next 10 days and to do our first fishing with our Double Up Outfitter, John “The Great But Propaneless” Gould (so nicknamed by us for his propensity to forget to bring the propane to heat our shoreside lunches!).  The first hatch of the year is of a stonefly called the skwala—a low riding dark bug about 1 ½” in length which emerges anytime of its choosing during the month of April.  I will float with Propaneless and my son Tyler “Lefty” Clausen this coming Sunday and, again, next Thursday with our Montana Matters Troubadour Shane Clouse where daytime highs are not expected to exceed the mid-50’s and snow will still be scattered during the early morning and late evening hours.

 

Simply stated, I can’t wait to get back on the water and to give you an update (with photos) of our first 2019 boats on the water!!

 

Best to all on the eve of it all,

 

Rock Creek Ron

    ----<’///:><

 

 

 

Check out the links to prior year's events!!

See the sidebar---<.’///:><

 

 

The E-19 Blogsite Is up and Running!

 

Fellow E-19ers:

 

For the past decade, each year we have created a dedicated blogsite for posting of date downs as the Extravaganza and, during the event, posting of pictures, descriptions of our goings-on as well as a board the newest members of our Twenty Inch Club (those that have caught [and released!] a trout measuring twenty inches or more in length), awardees of our coveted Yellow Hats (those that have caught [and released} the largest trout in each of our nine fishing days) and awardees of our even more coveted Yellow Shirts (that person who has caught [and released] the largest fish of each group’s three days of fishing.

 

This year’s blogsite is www.montanaextravaganza2019.blogspot.com and this email marks its first official posting, some would suggest appropriately on this April First (no foolin’!).  Not only will messages like these be perpetually preserved on this site but you also can toggle over to get access to our award winning film on the Extravaganza that we did some years ago as well as links to our best friends and providers,  our Double Up Outfitters, our land provider Rock Creek Mercantile as well as a current link to the weather in Missoula, Montana.  As we go deeper into April and, more so as we saunter into the merry month of May, the evolving weather and its resultant snow runoff become important factors in getting a glimpse as to just what Mother Nature has in store for us this June.

 

So take a peek at the beginnings of this year’s event and move into your “Favorites” the link to our E-19 blogsite, for, as we get closer to Opening Day, Der Blog will be the source of your then-unfolding E-19 communications.

 

Bueno, bueno, bueno as we now begin to warm things up!!

 

Best to all on the soon-cusp of it all,

 

Rock Creek Ron

    ---<’///:><