No, not the crazy whitewater-type of kayaking. This was early May when Ghetto-C (Chris) and I decided to take our new (ok, used) touring kayaks out for a spin on Cliff Lake to catch some early season trout.
The down side was we got to Cliff Lake and it was still semi-frozen over. Fortunately Wade Lake is only 1/4 mile over and was wide open so we put in there.
Here is the new kayak rigged and ready to put out at Wade Lake on its maiden voyage:
Cliff and Wade Lakes are really cool lakes in SW Montana. They are pretty decent size but not huge, and are fully surrounded by National Forest land so there are no Dave Letterman-style "summer homes" dotting the shore. In fact, they are kind of remote and out of the way. Nonetheless the fishing is good, and they feature many bays and coves where the water becomes shallow and crazy tropical-colored. It's almost like flats fishing as you hang tiny chironomid patterns below an indicator on these flats and wait for the spooky fish to strike.
And strike they did! After a couple of strikes and fish landed (including a 15" rainbow I caught) we took a break for lunch. Here I am digging out a beer, you can see the crazy water color in the background:
It was rather cool (50 degrees) and becoming kind of breezy and cloudy, so after a few more hours of circling the entire lake and Chris catching more trout, we decided to head back to shore. Here Chris paddles across the middle of Wade Lake, the dock is on the far shore almost directly behind him:
All that was left to do was to get the kayaks on the Canyonero and start the drive home. Good times!
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