WARNING: There will be some incredibly profane language in this post as I quote from people I've run into, or should I say, have run into me on the river.
I hesitate to write this post, but I feel like it has to be done in order to accurately depict what we go through guiding on the Missouri River in the heat of the summer. Before we begin, I want to stress the reality that we all have a right to enjoy the rivers out here in Montana. Whether you are a kayaker, rafter, angler of any kind, guide or tuber, we all have an equal right to access and recreate on the rivers. However, or should I say, and we also all have an equal responsibility to respect each other's rights to not only access the rivers, but also enjoy and not be harassed when working or just trying to have fun.
As guides we get a lot of blame for the over-use of our rivers. Private anglers feel like we are putting so much pressure on them that they can no longer enjoy their experiences. Floaters complain that we act like we own the rivers because we scoff at them when they don't give us space or run into us. I'm going to share a few stories with you just to give some perspective and then you form your own opinions. Then maybe we can have a discussion on what, if anything, needs to be done about how people treat each other on the rivers and who should be limited.
This discussion begins with an interaction I had with a friend and his wife about a week ago. My buddy has been a guide. His wife enjoys floating. The conversation begins with my buddy asking me how the spring season is going to which I shared how good the fishing is but it's also pretty busy out there. Even for April, tons of boats are hitting the river, maybe to get out there before all the rec-floaters pack in and it gets too busy.
My buddy's wife shared an experience where she was floating down the river in a tube and had some woman fishing out of a boat, scoff at her as she floated right past the front of the boat and through this woman's line, she was fishing.
"I couldn't help it," she explained. "My short little arms and legs couldn't paddle hard enough to get away from them and all they could do is give me the look, like I was purposefully trying to ruin their fishing."
"Well," I started, which is where I should have finished but those of you who know me, know I can't, "do you know how frustrating it is to be trying to guide and get people on fish while giving other people space and then have someone float right through your line or even run into you?"
"It's my river too," is what usually comes from folks when we have these discussions, and although I don't know if that's exactly what she said, I'm certain it was very consistent with that.
"I get that, but where else in this world is that acceptable? Where else could you just let yourself cruise down the road or through a park without any concern of running into people and have that be, ok?"
Again, I want to stress the point from above; you have just as much right, you have just as much responsibility. And I tried to explain this but instead of trying to understand what we go through daily; she stormed out of the conversation. I was the asshole. So let me share these stories and you decide. Trust me, these are real stories. No exaggerations or hyperbole.
We got out late one day and tried our damndest to find a stretch of river that would be out of the way of wade fishers and floaters. We felt like if we started where most of the floaters would be putting in, we would be well behind the wave of rec-folk from that put-in and ahead of the next wave from the put-in above us. As it turned out, we got right in the middle of all of it.
The first interaction came below what we call the "Doll House." It's a sexy looking bank on the outside bend of the river with big boulders that cause swirls and seems that trout love to hang in and chow on bugs that drown in the eddies. In order to fish the seams adequately, you really need to get on the oars and slow the boat down so your folks can get a long enough drift before re-casting and hitting the next seam and/or scum line.
As we fished the bank, I heard a group of rafters coming from behind us. I looked back to see roughly seven or eight inner-tubes tied together, careening towards us. None of them were kicking their feet or paddling with their hands to try to avoid us. I dropped anchor and told my clients to sit down and brace themselves because these tubers were going to ram us.
As the floatilla of rafts bounced off of us, I looked at the guy closest to me and made eye contact. His ass was deep into his tube with his legs hanging over one side and a bag of potato chips in his lap. With one hand he held a beer that came from the cooler wedged into another tube he had tied off that floated along with him, and the other hand, he was stuffing chips in his mouth as he proclaimed, "Sorry dude, I couldn't control where we were going," Spit and chips spewed from his mouth with every word. As he finished his apology, he continued to stuff more chips into his mouth and then washed them down with beer.
"You have legs," I said. "You're very capable of avoiding us. Keep yourselves in the middle of the river and nobody has to be bothered. I don't come to your work and harass you. I'm just asking for the same."
"Sorry dude," as he stuffed more chips in his face.
Innocent enough, right? Yeah, it would be but it happens all the time. In this particular incident, nobody got hurt and life goes on but that's not always the case.
A few years ago, a floatilla of tubes rammed a bridge above of a set of rapids on the lower stretch of the Missouri below Prewett Creek. I got there about a half hour after it happened. All that was left of the floatilla was a couple elongated tubes pinned to the bridge abutment bobbing with current and random articles of clothing and drink cans and coolers littering the banks downstream. A couple of young women were standing on the bank of an island just down from the bridge. They were soaking wet, shivering and obviously shaken up.
The river turns from a slow, meandering current to class-two rapids in this stretch. It's not all that dangerous if you are in a raft or boat and are following the current as it tumbles around boulders and over gravel bars and twists and turns until it settles and straightens out about 3/4's of a mile downstream. However, if you are floating without anything like a tube or even a lifejacket keeping you up, it can be pretty intense. None of these young ladies were wearing lifejackets and by the looks of them standing there, they were in no position to jump back into the water to get to the main bank.
As I noticed the girls on the island, I saw a buddy of mine rowing across the channel, back to the island. He had dropped his client's off and was ferrying girls from the island back to the bank along the railroad tracks, which some of them had already gotten to and were beginning to walk out.
"Munson!" I yelled, "you ok? You need help?"
"I got it," he yelled back. "These are the last two!"
I gave him a thumbs up and we headed downstream.
That same stretch a year prior, I pulled a kayaker out of the river and then raced down to rescue his vessel. It wasn't a big deal, and I would expect every guide would do the same. Most of us have played that role and would certainly jump into action without hesitation when things go south. We want people to have fun and to be safe.
That same day the dude with the chips rammed us, we were posted up on a pod of fish a couple miles downstream from where this incident happened. We call this stretch, "Grassy Banks." The water is moving just fast enough to created great seems along the bank and a giant gravel bed upstream brings food to these seams. Fish get stacked up and are often happy to reward a good cast and a good drift with the right dry fly. However, they will be finicky at times and a little spooky so slapping the water or putting a shadow over them will most often, put them down.
We were about 20 feet off the bank, fishing down to a pod of these rising trout. Again, I hear a group of rafters coming our way. I turn back to literally watch the guy on the sticks pulling hard to position the 18-foot orange raft with about 8 people, right in line to run along the bank, over those fish. He couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 feet from us while passing.
You have to understand, the river on this stretch is a couple hundred yards wide. If one were to just let the boat drift, you'd probably stay out in the middle. With very little effort at all, a person in a raft with oars would have no problem avoiding someone fishing the bank. This guy made the effort to float between us and the bank as if it were some game. But that wasn't the worst part.
As the raft slipped by us, I said, "Come on, man. You purposefully floated right through these rising fish."
His response, and I apologize if it offends you but..."Fuck you, you fucking boat nigger. It's our river too." And he flipped us off. The rest of the group just laughed. Nobody apologized or even thought to push back on what their captain did to screw with us, and nobody had a problem with what he said.
That's messed up right? But it's got to be the outlier...Nope. Ask any of the guides up on the Missouri and nearly every one of us has had a similar story of someone doing and saying equally offensive crap. In fact, that term, "boat-nigger," is used way more often than you would think. And what's our recourse? We can't do or say anything because we have clients with us. All we can do is drop anchor, let them go by, and take it. Why? Because it's their river too? Equal rights, equal responsibility.
A week later I was floating through the canyon with clients throwing hoppers. We came to a flat along the inside bend of the river. I turned the boat sideways so both clients could cast straight downstream. Again, we were on the inside bend, which is opposite of where the natural flow of the river wants to pull people. Another raft floats by and I watch the guy start pulling to get in front of us and when he got directly downstream, only about 20 yards from us, he relaxed and stopped rowing.
"Hey, could we get a little room here?" That's all I said. I didn't yell. I didn't call him out. I just asked for a little room.
Tied off to his raft was a tube where a young girl was drifting along in. On the raft was a woman I assumed was his wife and a boy who appeared to be about 14 years old. This guy was setting such a great example.
He turned back and said, "Yeah, you can have room. As soon as we're done floating here."
He then chuckled and turned to the boy, gave him a little head-nod and the then boy launched himself off the raft and cannon balled in front of us. Classic.
This kind of behavior is ridiculous, and the unfortunate thing is, I could go on and on and on with story after story of similar incidences. I'm just one guide. EVERY guide could come up with many, many more similar stories with similar language and an equally gross disregard for just respecting each other's rights.
I was wade-fishing on the Blackfoot on a stretch higher than where it gets big enough to float and a guy and his wife started fishing the same pool I had my client in. I looked at him like, "are you kidding me?"
"It's a big river," he said which is what they all say when you call them out on their shit.
"It's literally ten yards wide," I said. "You guys watched us walk upstream while you got your gear ready at the bridge."
"Well, we came here to fish this pool." He replied.
"We're already here," I said. "Etiquette would say you see us going upstream, you go down. Give each other space."
"Well, it's my river too." Again, the canned response.
"Yeah," I agreed, "and it's equally your responsibility to respect the fact that it's our river too."
"Fine," he conceited, "we'll just sit and wait."
He literally sat on the bank and watched my gal catch about 10 fish out of this pool before we were satisfied, we had enough and moved on. Meanwhile, this guy's wife was so embarrassed, she headed back downstream and started fishing by herself. What is wrong with people?
I know, this sounds like another whiny guide complaining about other users. I'm entitled, right? Or am I just concerned that we're ruining opportunities for everyone to enjoy these resources if we don't live by that rule of equal rights, equal responsibility? The problem is, if these encounters continue and we don't figure it out, we start legislating against the negative behaviors. But who's behaviors are the negative behaviors? Is it coming from the rec-floaters who don't respect the basic etiquette and are harassing the guides and anglers, justifying it through a feeling us taking it from them, or is it in fact, coming from the guides who are putting too much pressure on the river who also may have an entitled attitude? Well, it's whomever has the power to influence legislation that will ultimately win this war. Is that what we want?
I look at what has been happening on the Madison. There's a huge battle going on right now over this very issue. And unfortunately, what the question comes down to is who has more rights to the resource when in fact, it should be about defining the acceptable behavior and when and who will enforce it when users cross the line. We already put limits on fishing, seasons on when one can fish certain rivers, permits on some of the rivers for commercial use or even recreational use, and so on. Why can't we put similar parameters around use by all users on these rivers? Because it's our rights?
So, what really is the crux of the problem? There is over-crowding at times in specific places on specific rivers. I think I read somewhere that the first seven miles of the Missouri below Holter Dam is the most heavily used stretch of river in the state. The Lower Madison, the Blackfoot and the Clark Fork also get hammered. Littering is a huge concern. Public intoxication and harassment all negatively impact the quality of experience for everyone. I think we can agree on these basic truths. And if you don't, I would invite you to just sit and watch what happens any Saturday or Sunday at about 5 o'clock in Craig, MT at the FAS. It's embarrassing. Drunk people trying to back trailers down the boat ramp while everyone else waits, beer cans and other garbage being dumped in the toilets or just left inside the outhouses, people shouting at each other across the river, coolers of Naty Ice and White Claws getting dumped into the river, drunk people passed out on the bank, and on and on.
I tell you what would make my life easier on the Missouri if I were king for a day. We would charge commercial users more than $100/year and even though rec-floaters now have to purchase a conservation license, I'd make them purchase a permit for every vessel they put on the river every day. That extra revenue would go towards enforcement and clean-up. I'd also start having law enforcement writing tickets for boating while intoxicated, public intoxication, assault, littering, and checking every vessel for PFD's.
I would put time-restraints on when people could put in personal floatation devices such as tubes and personal rafts or unicorn rafts that are obviously meant for recreational floating and not fishing. One o'clock would be the daily start times, and, on the weekends, they could only put in at the Holter Dam and Stickney Creek FAS's. That would ensure most of the interactions between rec-floaters and anglers would be eliminated. It would also give anglers a chance to plan their float to avoid encounters.
A buddy of mine suggested that all guides would have to be off the river on the weekends by 4 o'clock. I would support that with one caveat, that the restriction only pertains to the stretch of river between the Wolf Creek Bridge and Prewett Creek FAS's. After 4 o'clock, the rest of the river is kind of a moot point.
I would also restrict any containers that are not reusable. You want beer? Get a growler. Water is easy. You want flavors? Throw in some water crystals. I pick up garbage bags full of Naty Ice, White Claw, and Miller Lite cans, and plastic water bottles all summer long. People drop bags of garbage off in the outhouses. If we can't choose to be more responsible, then screw it, let's enforce it. It's ridiculous how much garbage finds its way into the river every summer and for the most part, the guides are the ones picking it up because we're embarrassed to see it when we have clients.
I don't have all the answers to resolve these conflicts. Unfortunately, they are happening way too often. Covid had a big impact on the crowds as more people are doing things outside and more people are moving to Montana. What happens, as there's more use and more crowding, limiting the guides is usually the first answer because it's the easiest and we're a smaller contingency with less influence. But we are the ones picking up the garbage and fishing people out of the river. We don't litter. We don't drop toilet paper all over the islands or dump garbage in the outhouses. We bring millions of dollars to the area that in large part, get spent to take care of these resources yet we're the ones that get blamed for the crap that goes on.
We need to figure this out before we start destroying these resources or degrading them to a point where people stop spending their money out here. Roughly 15% of us work in tourism and travel. Many more work in industries that also make money off of us. We need to realize that we all live in a community where our actions have consequences and eventually it will come back to each and every bad actor.
Now, get off my lawn.
Keep 'em where they live...
P.S. I definitely encourage people to participate in a discussion that leads to resolving these issues. I don't expect to get 100% consensus, but please, one thing that drives me crazy is when guides go all PC and say, "well, they have a right to the river too..." By saying that, you are missing the point. Nobody's rights are more important or supersede anyone else's rights. No more excuses.
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