09 March 2010
Boat Launches
)Published on March 9th, 2010 @ 08:10:41 am, using 1129 words, 169 views
A few posts back I talked about abusing boats - please allow me illuminate.
Missoula boat ramps tend not to be ramps at all, but rather a place to get a truck close to the river. Usually its a gravel bar with a fishing access sign next to it. Those are the marked ones. There are a bunch more sneaky spots where the boat is more of a rodeo ride to get in.
Those accesses can provide some drama to start the fishing day if you aren’t careful.
One of the harder accesses is Sunset Hill on the middle Blackfoot. It is a steep slope that runs about 100 feet down to the river and is littered with exposed large rocks. At the bottom is a rock about the size of VolksWagon bug that splits the pathway to the river.
The access is designed for rafters to be able to pack in and out lightweight boats. It is not designed for drift boats…………..
Unless you were headed down the Clark Fork for some fishing and you found it had a massive family reunion float taking up the mid river, which forced you back to Missoula looking for different water late which throws the Bitterroot drifts out, and the only don’t-see-another-angler hole in morning drift plan is Sunset Hill on the Blackfoot. The only problem there is you are pulling your new drift boat and not a lightweight raft. No one launches drift boats there, but maybe its only because no one has ever tried.
When I pulled up to the access looked over the precipitous lip towards the river my clients thought I was kidding -
“You aren’t going to launch here, are you?”
“No problem guys, I have done it a bunch” Which was partially true, because I had a number of times with my raft. Its important to keep the troops confident and I didn’t want them to waver.
My client turns to his buddy - “Yep, Jim he is actually going to do it. I thought he was just messing with us. I gotta see this!”
When I ordered my new boat, (look back two blogs and you will see the unfortunate chain of events that motivated me to get a new boat), I got it with a polycarbonate floor. Basically it is a plastic armour shoe that is glued to bottom that makes it impervious to rock shots. This durable characteristic of my new boat gave me the confidence to formulate a plan to slowly scrape over each rock down the boat ramp slope to finally get the water. After calculating angles and forces by drawing on my mathematic education that ended in eighth grade, my plan appeared fool proof. The rocks were sharp enought to stop the descent of the boat and the slope was steep enough to allow me to nudge it towards the river. After re-checking my math, (it was easy because I was wearing sandals), I dropped the boat at the top of Sunset Hill.
At this point Jim hands Bill a $20 and says - “I told you he was going to do it.”
To which Bill replies “Double or nothing he lives.”
I ask - “What are you guys talking about?”
“Oh nothing, we just were talking about the baseball game last night.”
As the boat sat teetering anchor bracket first above its rock strewn path I was quite proud of myself for solving the drift boat equation for this boat ramp. So I started nudging towards the first rock and the boat jumped a little faster downhill than I thought, but by digging in my heels I skidded it to a stop on the rock. I kind of got a rush of adrenaline as it happened so fast, but I did get the boat stopped and my faith in my boat launch physics was unshaken.
Above me I heard Bill up the ante on apparently a different baseball game to “$200″ On the other team “Living"?, He must have said “Winning"? Bill was also joking about calling this ramp “Hamburger Hill", but I thought I told them the name was “Sunset Hill"?
I was breathing hard from wrestling the boat to this point, so I stood up for a minute to catch my breath and leaned against my boat for support. At this point I learned that the other characteristic of my new boats plastic shoe was its slickness which was being displayed as it lept from rock to rock caterwauling towards the big VolkWagon rock at the bottom of the acess. Apparently my breath heaving lean against the bow overcame my mathematical calculations of a safe boat launch and the power of the gravity and slope took over at a much faster velocity than I thought was possible for a boat on dry land.
At this point I had a choice to make. To either step back and keep my body parts whole and boat parts broken or gamble that a running jump down the acess perfectly timed would land on the left side of the boat would veer it away from the monster rock splittin the path to the river and land perfectly in the water. Once I veered the boat off its course of destruction I then could hang onto the side and then roll into the rower’s seat to drop in the oars and row back to my clients. No good to save the boat from the rock and loose it to the river.
After very quickly checking my math again I started leaping towards the runaway boat. My guys later called it frenzied epileptic stumbling, but I think of it more like the perfect impression of Barry Sanders zig zagging in the backfield before he bursts for a 35 yd touchdown. Either way I actually made it.
Yes, I landed on the left side of the boat.
Yes, It veered to the left and avoided the rock and splashed down perfectly in the middle of the Blackfoot River.
Yes, We were airborne for a brief period of time.
Yes, I rolled into the boat and rowed it back to shore confidently.
Yes, It was a TA-DAA moment of guiding expertise and not sheer dumb luck.
No, I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, launch a boat at Hamburger.. er Sunset Hill again.
The Plus and minus on the day was we had good fishing, Bill ended up down $250 on the baseball game, and my new boat was officially labeled lucky.
****New for 2010, I will be posting short video fishing reports and general B.S. from the river each day. Trust me, it isn’t pretty, but its current. The videos are listed under “Fishing Reports” on our website http://www.classicjourneyoutfitters.com/montana-fly-fishing-reports/missoula-montana-fly-fishing-reports.htm *********
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