Page 57 - Flathead Beacon // 3.30.16

MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE
OUTDOORS IN BRIEF
USFS EXTENDS COMMENT PERIOD FOR MINE PROJECT STUDY
The U.S. Forest Service has extended the comment period for the draft environmental impact statement for the Rock Creek Mine project near Noxon.
Interested citizens will now have until April 19 to send in comments on the proposed cop- per and silver project. Kootenai National Forest o cials said in a press release announcing the extension that they wanted to give people more time to review the draftsupplementalenvironmen- tal impact because it is a “complex document.”
The draft study released in February addresses concerns about sediment control and ground water at Rock Creek.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based
Hecla Mining Company is spear- heading the Rock Creek project. The copper and silver deposit has the potential to produce 2 billion pounds of copper and 200 million ounces of silver. In full operation, the mine would employ more than 300 people.
Written comment can be submitted to Michael Hu ne, Kootenai National Forest, 31374 U.S. 2, Libby, MT 59923-3022, or by email to: rockcreekmine@ fs.fed.us. Comments can also be hand-delivered to the KNF between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information visit fs.usda.gov/detail/kootenai/ landmanagement/projects.
Going on an adventure? If you would like to be featured in “Mountain Exposure,” email information to news@ atheadbeacon.com.
OUT OF BOUNDS ROB BREEDING MANNERS ON THE WATER
FISHING REPORTS FROM THE Bitterroot suggest Montana’s rst real dry y action of the year, the skwala hatch, is sort of on. “Sort of” is about as good a report as you can expect, even if the skwalas are full on, because with a hatch this early in the season, it can be good one day, and a blizzard the next.
Some say the best way to sh skwala is to sh with nymphs, but who wants to do that? I’ve been nymphing all win- ter. Skwalas are about dry ies. Big ones. That’s the only way to sh this hatch.
One of the Missoula y shops, while touting the impending hatch on its sh- ing report, also advised folks on some dos and don’ts on the river. Basic river etiquette. The skwala hatch isn’t a bad time to refresh are memory about how to behave.
Let’s start with what should be the easy stu . The other day The Professor and I were shing a nice run when a large group showed up. We’d been picking up some sh, but that was about to end. The group, a mix of y shers and gear heads, also brought along their dog, a huge Lab that looked like it might push 100 pounds. If I’d been duck hunting I’d have been happy to see that dog, but in this case I knew the pooch would be bad news.
The dog owner took up shing a respectable distance downstream, then proceeded to lose a nice sh when his dog tried to retrieve the trout as it splashed near shore. After that the dog noticed the two of us, and our small strike indicators oating through the run.
Well, the instinct to retrieve is a pow- erful thing in most Labs. Unfortunately, the good sense to control your dog wasn’t powerful in its owner. The pooch was soon swimming through our run chas- ing our strike indicators. If we hadn’t
complained I’m not sure the owner would have ever bothered to rein him in.
We decided to call it a day.
Here’s another example. One spring during the skwala hatch a group of us put a couple rafts in the river and oated together. We eventually came upon another boat that had anchored up for a break, but one of the anglers had waded out about midway into the river and was working rising trout in a foam line on the far bank. The position of the boat and angler gave us no option but to drift between that dude and his sh.
Those of us in the rst boat politely refrained from casting as we drifted past. That wasn’t the case for the second boat, where a dude I call the “Mouth” was shing from the front of the boat. As they drifted past, the Mouth dropped his y into the foam line and hauled out a nice
16-inch cuttbow.
The wading angler voiced his displea-
sure (that’s a nice way to put it) while the Mouth howled with laughter. We gave him an earful later in the pub.
It goes without saying that you always give waders a wide berth when oating. In a boat you often have miles of river in front of you, but waders may only be able to reach a hole or two.
Finally, don’t be a low holer, the y shop implored. Low holing is a term most frequently used to describe wading steel- headers who step below anglers in runs, but it also applies to drifters. If you’re posted up in a nice spot, see another boat drifting downstream, then quickly pull up anchor so you can have the water rst, you’re a low holer.
Don’t do it. There’s plenty of water, and in most Montana trout rivers, plenty of sh. Share them, be polite, and have a nice time on the river.
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MARCH 30, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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